Tot School

Please visit here to see more Tot School posts.

Last week, we were on vacation, so there was more Life School going on than actual Tot School, although, we did get a little bit in. We went to Branson, MO. While there we met up with one of our China travelmate families. This is the second time we've been able to see them this year and feel so blessed to be able to keep this connection for the girls, as we all think it is important as they grow. The girls are only 5 days apart in age and are absolutely adorable when together ( and separate :-). We were truly blessed to be able to find such good friends through this process. Here are some pictures from our week.

with her new princess puzzle

on the Branson Scenic Train with Daddy

playing with Mr. Potato Head

Lots of time in the pool

Here are some with our friends






And a few of my favorites from this week:

tot school

Oh, man, the week went by so quickly, I didn't get a chance to write about the previous week's Tot School. Time flies when you are having fun, and when you are visiting family-yes, again! I tend to pack up AG and myself when AG's Daddy has to travel for work. So, if he's gone for more than one night, you can bet we're not staying home. Off to Nana & Papa's we go-and they don't mind a bit! And, so that no one thinks that I am slighting my in-law's, Ma spent the night with us on Monday.


Since we were gone, Tot School was kind of sporadic. I always take the time to try to introduce her to new things or review things throughout the day, so I don't feel like it's a total loss. I had decided to work on themes each week, with this week being the first. I didn't do as much as I had planned since I decided on Tuesday morning to leave, but I did manage to take some things with us.



I did a daily shape:


M-square


T-triangle


W-circle


T-heart


F-star


I didn't actually do much for Thursday & Friday b/c she already knows those shapes really well.



Monday we did a square person-sorry no pic.



Tuesday we made a triangle kite.

Wednesday we made a panda head out of circles.

Next week, we will be on vacation, so we will do some things involving different shapes as kind of a review.

Go here to see Tot School.

Sweet book giveaway

Lisa at BlessedwithGrace is giving away the sweetest book HERE. It's Dance Me Daddy and it's been on my amazon wish list for a while now. I had decided to wait to get it for Father's Day next year, but I would love to win it.

Please go check out BlessedwithGrace. Lisa has a great blog about her life with her daughter and has some fabulous giveaways, one of which I won a few weeks ago- Kai-Lan and Yo Gabba Gabba DVD's.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

My new bloggy friend, Lisa, over at BlessedwithGrace, has a weekly blog carnival called Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. You can head over there to see more tempting recipes. We tried one of them this afternoon- yumm0!!

Today, I am going to share the meatloaf recipe that I use, when I can get my DH to agree to eat meatloaf. He says he doesn't like the texture of meatloaf. I can understand, since I hated it growing up. But, now I do like and don't get to have it often, hmmm, something is wrong with this picture.

I got this from somewhere on the internet a while back and didn't think to save the link to give credit where credit is due, so I hope I will be forgiven if the original author comes by, if so, please claim your recipe!

BBQ MEATLOAF

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 tbsp. minced onions
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. water3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. prepared mustard
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp. wine vinegar

Mix meat, bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Put in loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Combine remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Baste occasionally with sauce, covering meat.

Serves: 6.

Enjoy!!

Tot School

Last week we were at my parents and this week they came to visit us. It was great to get to see them again so soon!!

Here are some things that AG worked on this week:

This is her felt board "The Hungry Caterpillar" that I made last week, while visiting Nana and Papa. She picks out the food to put on the board while I read the book.


She worked with her shape sorter quite a bit this week.


She put her Easter eggs into an empty egg carton. Then, she sorted them into the colored baskets.



She played dress up in her new Snow White dress, that I got at a consignment sale this week.


She read lots of books with Nana. We also went to the library for storytime, where she painted and checked out some books.


I also got this bike trailer at the consignment sale this week- it's great! We love being able to ride our bikes again. AG loved it and wanted to go again and again. She also almost fell asleep in it twice!


I guess we had alot more of life experiences this week as opposed to actual school, but that's fine, she loved them all!

Here is a favorite from this week. She was showing us how to twirl the magic wand, which her Papa taught her!


Head over here to see more Tot School links.

Tot School

Head over HERE to see more Tot School links.

We spent most of our week at Nana & Papa's. I did get some pictures, but not alot. So, this week is kind of sparse...

This first picture was taken back in June at our visit, but they did the same thing this visit and I didn't get a picture.


We also drew shapes on the sidewalk and had her step into it when I called it out. She did really well. I drew a star, square, triangle, and circle.



We picked out things around Nana's house that are purple this week.


She did lots of kitchen play this week.


She played with her fill and spill bottle quite a bit.


She played with her new Mr. Potato Head. She seemed to like this and wanted her Papa to help her out.


And, she always likes to draw on her chalkboard.


Here is my favorite pic of this week-she was laying on her princess couch and looked so comfy!

Tot School

We had lots of fun with Tot School this week, as we always do. Here is what AG did:

This was our basket for the week: green


I made her a match the colors file folder game from FileFolderFun


I finally remembered to take the camera to gymnastics- here is our little monkey


She put straws onto a pipe cleaner, this proved to be challenging enough to keep her busy for a bit.


She colored with crayons, color pencils and markers throughout the week. And, we had an impromptu lesson on cleaning up our messes when she wrote on the table with her markers instead of the coloring book :-)



We tore, crumbled, and glued tissue paper. This was her first session with the glue stick. She did pretty well, but I held it and she helped to spread it on the paper. She really had fun with this.


She found pompoms in dried beans. She liked this one, too, and did it several times.


She put golf tees and cut straws into flower foam. This only holds her attention for a few minutes, at most, but she likes it b/c she asks for it.


We worked on drinking from a small cup instead of a sippy cup. She has done really well with this all week and is so proud of herself!


Here is my favorite picture of the week-we took her to ride the carousel on Sunday.


Head over to this Tot School post to see what other tots are doing.