a typical day in my home school preschool

At our house we are doing home school preschool, this week's letter is E. We learned the sounds it makes and how to write it; and today we learned about electricity because that starts with E! One of the things we did that I don't have photos of was the demonstration of a static balloon lighting up a florescent light bulb. The kids loved that!

Above: my daughter drew a picture of electric wires and how we should never touch them. If you look hard you can see other pictures she drew about lightning and not touching outlets. Safety was a big part of this lesson as well as how some things are powered by electricity.

We even ate lightning shaped lunch!

Above: my son is coloring a worksheet I made.
If you want to use it too, go ahead!

gift giving

There are a lot of newborns in our neighborhood this month. I thought it appropriate to congratulate the mothers with mini cupcakes! The frosting is home made chocolate ganache! Yum!!

Recycled birthday party in neutral

A fun way to decorate for a party is to use a neutral palette in your decorations and party favors. Re-purposing items in your home can be fun. I used book paper, mini cup cake papers, and white streamers to make these simple party decorations. Some of the favors are origami boxes made using paper grocery bags, and the others are just white paper bags with book paper name tags. Go with the things you already have around the house and you will be surprised at the unique and creative things you come up with!

mum

I took this photo just for fun and I am in love with it now. I think it's one of the best photos I have taken. My husband bought me the flowers a few weeks ago and they're still going strong!

DIY ruffle shirt tutorial

Remember the cute shirt I made my daughter a while ago? Here is the step by step tutorial!

The supplies you need for this project are: a sewing machine, scissors, and two matching t-shirts.

First, cut neck and sleeves as in the above photo

Sew a loose, straight stitch on the top half of sleeves (the part that will be seen when the wearer's arms are down), about 1/2 inch from the recently-cut edge of both sleeves.

pull thread from both ends to gather sleeve

Sew gathers in place (by sewing over the entire length of the previous stitch with a nice, tight straight stitch...be sure to back-stitch the ends so it doesn't unravel).

Cut a long strip from the middle of the second t-shirt


Sew a loose, straight stitch down middle of the strip


Pull thread to gather and ruffle


Pin the ruffle to the front of the shirt in a random pattern. Sew along the middle of ruffle to attach it to the shirt.

Create small pleats along one side of the neck line and pin, then sew pleats in place.

Voila! Here is the finished ruffle shirt!

chocolate chip cookies

One of my many weaknesses.

stuff

Sharing a still life photo I took this week.