How we organize schoolwork

We aren't homeschooling but I feel like our little guy needs a little direction in the morning while the bigger kids are getting ready for school. And I like to make sure there is always something the kids can be doing IF we have a few spare moments.

 

I have a little folder for him that I am prepping (usually) on Sundays. Nothing too serious, just a couple pages for each day, and 1 or 2 activities a week.

I keep his work with the big kids Homework/School work stuff.

We have a notebook for each big kid, a pencil pouch with a few sharpened pencils, eraser and a set of toddler colored pencils.
They each have a folder with pages and activities for the week in it and flash cards. Sometimes there is enough time while I am finishing dinner to do a little work and chatting. I know some people would fill this down time with T.V. but we haven't made T.V. important for our kids, we don't have cable and I just feel like we could just as easily fill that time with something constructive. Our kids love the work books, I can usually bribe them with the chance to do an extra page.

During the week the kids real homework folders go there, that way we know where stuff is, easy to get to in the kitchen and homework time isn't drama. There is not a minute or 4 to spare looking for homework folders in the morning and no extra time to hunt down a pencil or lined paper for homework in the evening.
I also put a little snack in there. It's not usually snack time when we do homework but we all have those days when dinner is longer than expected.

We keep this in the drawer closest to the table and island area where we do homework. I think homework can already be a stressful thing for some kids, making it just a little easier by being prepared and having everything right there, easy to grab.

Who wants to share their homework area? Home school or not. However you make school work easier, I want to see!


Continue Reading ...

Colgate Slim Soft

I got my first Voxbox and I was a little hesitant to try a new toothbrush, I really liked the one I had.

I received a free complimentary Colgate Slim Soft toothbrush, some toothpaste and mouthwash to try out and share my thoughts on.

 

 

While it doesn't LOOK that special, and really it kind of felt pretty flimsy, I actually love it! I have been using it just over a week now. I can tell a major difference, it feels like it pre flosses with the longer very very tiny bristles.  Makes flossing a breeze and I feel like I might even get a minute of my morning back!

I didn't toss my old brush right away, I can say for sure I won't be going back and I need to stock up on the slimsoft for the rest of our crew!

 



Continue Reading ...

Starbucks Birthday Party

Today is our little Finnley's 4th Birthday but we celebrated yesterday!

 

First I want to say Starbucks had nothing to do with Finn's party, but our local store was nice enough to donate some supplies.

 

Second.. pictures are totally lame. We had a slight disposal issue 20 minutes before party time... so I didn't really take much for pictures. Real life, what can ya do?

 

Many months ago Finnley started saying he wanted a Starbucks birthday with a pink cake. I was thinking... okaaaaay tiny nutter. But he never wavered, even when we talked about a farm party, baseball.. nope he wouldn't have anything to do with it. So Starbucks it was.  I know WHY he loves it. Tuesday used to be our in town day, we would always go to Target and Starbucks. Boy loves his banana bread and white hot chocolate, every Tuesday. I got him hooked on Target Tuesday so I have no one to blame but myself. What kind of  4 year old kid wants a coffee birthday party? A super cute one, so charming, it's hard to say no to him.

 

I didn't know HOW I was going to make this happen. Not like I could get a bunch of tots all caffeinated up to send home. So while I did some coffee themed stuff. I mostly went for colors.

 

First I found these little color your own coffee cups at Hobby Lobby

I just printed off little names instead of the inserts they came with.

These cups were the first thing that made me feel like I could make this thing happen.

 

Focusing on greens and browns. I made a banner and used the hot sleeves as the spacers between Happy and Birthday.

 

 

I emailed Starbucks but they don't sell party kits or anything, they said just to ask and the store could hook us up with some supplies. And they did!

 

Sticking with the theme, I tried to plan some green and brown food ideas.

 

Green Jello, in sample cups of course,

Green grapes

Banana Bread.. Finn's very favorite from Starbucks

And some cupcakes

 

 

Brown Coffee Filter Poms.. no way was I spending $4 on a small but not tiny Styrofoam ball. I used a Styrofoam apple from dollar tree instead. Still lightweight and round. Good enough!

Finding green snacks is hard!

We made a snack mix of

yogurt pretzels

green sundrops

pb chips

chocolate almonds

and some green animal cookies

 

 

Some little tea lights in coffee beans, vanilla meringues and some mocha wafers rounded out the over load of sugar.

 

ohh and cake

 

Had a little malfunction with the cake topper.. but he was still happy so it works!

 

Getting a little help blowing out some candles

 

And a PINK cake.. might be light pink but it counts!

 

 

 

Drinks

 

 

Also not pictured.

 

Pin the logo on the latte cup. No outrageous drawing skills here but the kids all got plenty dizzy and gave it a try.

 

My favoring part is probably the favors

 

The little cups, a little bag of cookies to go, just some F's and 4's in the Starbucks logo bags with a cd.

I got the pack of recycled cd cases to match the colors, cutesy'd them up with some washi tape and made a mix cd of Finn's 12 favorite songs. You know, cause Starbucks always has their little cd selection by the register, and Finn has good taste in music. He gets it from me ;) Put this all together in a Starbucks bag, we used the hot sleeve as a tag.



Continue Reading ...

Little Closet Update

After moving some stuff around in our closet and getting Summer clothes put away, I decided I need to clean out my jewelry. I have too much and don't wear it often because it's hard to see what I have or untangle it.
 

Before

 

  

 

during the purge

 

 After (for now)

 

 

I just picked up some clearance and sale items, I needed somewhere to hang scarves, necklaces and bracelets. A spot for sunglasses and extra buttons and a couple little mirrors. I didn't expect anything to look too perfect, it's in our closet so it doesn't matter much. Just has to hold everything and be reasonably priced. For around $20 I put this all together and I think it will save me a few minutes and a little sanity.

I need to see some other jewelry organization! Who else has a little area?


Continue Reading ...