Falling Leaves

Here's our "Fall Fun" tree.  J, K, and I thought up some fall fun ideas together. I wrote them down on leaves, color coding them by food, trips, and crafts.

When we do one of the things on the leaves, it will "fall" to the bottom.  J and K helped make the tree and colored in the branches and trunk! 

We are looking forward to our falling leaves :) 
P.S. It's even promoting nutrition!  J asked if we could have squash with our dinner tonight so we could have that leaf come down! 

Happy Autumn, Happy Fall!

Happy autumn to all!  Even with the pouring rain and dismal sky, we can begin to celebrate the vibrant colors of the maple trees turning all around us. As I sit here, finishing my pumpkin coffee (decaf, of course), I am ready to embrace our new season!  With a little detour trip to the pediatrician's office (conveniently next to the "donut shop," as my kid's so nicely call it), I figured we could begin our celebration with Pumpkin Munchkins' and a discussion about the season changing.  Yesterday, we made a list of all the things we'd like to do during this season, and I will share with you when we are done! I got an idea for how to display our hopes for the season from another mom's website I stumbled upon...
http://dinosaursandoctopuses.blogspot.com/2011/09/autumn-bucket-list-80-ideas-and-special.html.   I will be cutting out various colored leaves this evening...

Back to School Open Houses...Opens Creativity and Productivity at Home

Corey and I attended "Parents Only" Open Houses- two nights in a row...one for K's pre-k and one for J's first grade class.  As a former teacher, I completely understand the reasoning for having just the parents. As a mom of three...I grumble at having to find a sitter two nights in a row at the "witching hour" (6:00 p.m.) in our house. 

However, after attending both, it made me come to a wonderful conclusion; back to school nights inspire parents (or at least, this parent) to get more creative in our everyday learning and routines. Walking around the school, without having to corral the kidlets, gave me an opporunity to focus on the awesome projects and behavior models used in school.  I am inspired to use more charts and positive reinforcement and also to remind my kidlets that they need to behave at home the same way they do at school.  It makes everyone's day and night run smoother that way. 

J and K both love their school environment, and as much as I have tried to stay on task as a teacher to them, it's easy to get caught up in the everyday craziness of just running our household.  I have decided that on our autumn equinox, that would be tomorrow...ahem...we will begin a daily project or lesson.  Throwing myself back in to "teacher mode" will be a great way to make our days more productive together, and by productive, I mean - making memories and laughing and learning together! 



J's "All About Me" design (the popsicle sticks are skis)



K's "About Me" project

Finally! It's Begun!

Hi!  I'm Erin.  I'm a stay-at-home mommy to three amazing children, J, K, and Little L. I have been wanting to start a blog since my son, J, was born, six years ago.  But, as all mommies (and daddies) know, our intentions sometimes get away from us when we have so much fun and fascinating new "mommyisms" to explore.  My husband, Corey,  and I wanted a way to remember the every day things that our beautiful children say, accomplish, struggle with, and learn, and it seems this is the best avenue for us.  I hope you enjoy our journey with us.