Matthew the Archeologist

This morning I needed something to keep Matthew busy so that I could get some dishes done. I've been saving this sensory box for a yucky day!

This activity brought out some get vocabulary. Some of the words that we talked about were: archeologist, bones, fossils, ribs, and skeleton

I picked up these dinosaur skeletons a couple months ago from the Dollar Store. The black beans were leftover from the Halloween Party sensory table. Everything else came from toys that Matthew already had laying around.

He loved using his "Special Tools" to pick up everything.

And don't you just love his "scientific" glasses? He did!

He found this rouge bean mixed in with everything else. We called it the dinosaur egg. He LOVED that! For him though, eggs are for eating. So, all of the dinosaurs were taking turns eating the egg.

I started off by showing him how to find the fossils with his brush and shovel. Then I hid them again and let him find them on his own. After I knew that he was involved, I moved over to the sink and started the dishes. He played with this box for an hour. When he was finished, he took the dinosaurs into his playroom and played with them some more!

Dressing up isn't just for girls!

Dress up is not just for girls!

This week has been a slow week. We started off the week with a crazy snow and ice storm that kept us inside all day on Tuesday. Then, I did not work on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday Scott and Matthew (who had been sick basically all week) were both camped out in the living room at not going anywhere.

When we have weeks like this where we really aren't going anywhere or doing anything (which is not often), I start to get this feeling in the pit of my stomach. The feeling that I feel is like my son is bored and I feel bad about that. I feel like it's the same toys, same space, still no friends to play with day after day. So, I try to have a bag of tricks handy!

This week, my bag of tricks contained some extra Halloween costumes that I bought when they were something 75% off (or maybe more, I don't really remember). I thought that if I bought these extra costumes:

1. We would have something to play dress up in for fun.
2. There is enough variety that hopefully he could find something to dress up as for next Halloween, so it would be a money saving strategy.

The costumes that I bought can be seen below. There was one more that did not get pictured, that is a costume of a dog.

Matthew really enjoyed himself. He was certainly intrigued by the handcuff for the policeman costume. However, when I put them on him, he totally freaked out! Oh well!

Room overhaul update...

I showed you what was basically the before pictures of our guest room "overhaul" last week. Demolition has commenced that progress is being made, so I wanted to give you an update.

I wanted to get a picture of all of the plaster and drywall (yes....we had two layers of wall in there) all over the floor. The same day that I took the previous pictures, Perkins Construction came to do the demolition. By the end of the day, there was over 2 feet of wall just filling up the room. I missed that picture, but these are good too!

Oh the mess!

This is the insulation that was in the ceiling. It's in a pile to go back where it came from!

That think piece of wire was once the electric to the light fixture. That simple little fixture, will be no more!


I've been helping with some of these. For those that don't know, "Perkins Construction", is my father's business. So, when he does these little jobs for us, we are pretty much obligated to help. I can't complain though, as my only jobs so far have been to removed all the stuff from the room, vacuum the hallway floor, and pull nails out of the framework. I'm pretty good about helping where I can, so I also managed to get the faceplates off the outlets. My big job for the upcoming week is to get the floor that was under the carpet out of the room and into the dumpster. No big deal! I really don't mind helping! I've learned a lot over the years.

Drywall is going up on the ceiling this week. I'm excited!

Winter Friends Wednesday!

I went for a hop today and found this blog hop that I linked up to!

Warmer Weather!!!!

Do you see this kid?

This is one happy kiddo!
We really enjoyed our first day of fun in the "sun" on Wednesday! We went up to the park that is around the corner and ran, played in the dirt, and laughed! I've been missing these days! I love my winters and all of the snow, but I am excited to get back to playing outside again.

Room overhaul!

You can't imagine that groan that came from my mouth when my Dad told me that he was coming to my house to fixed up my extra bedroom/craft room/stock pile room/whatever room (so I had a ton of crap in there). For those that don't know me, I live in a home that I rent from my parents. The house is an older home with three stories. We have an unfinished kinda icky basement at the bottom. The main floor has a small kitchen, a large dining room (that we use as a playroom), a nice sized living room, a "full" bathroom, and another extra room that my husband uses for his "man cave". The second floor has two very large bedrooms, a third smaller bedroom, and a full bath. On the top, we have the attic. The attic is huge! It's kind of finished, I guess, but not really a place that you'd want to live if you didn't have to.

Back when my parents bought this house, the extra bedroom was my bedroom. I remember when first went to see it. My room was a kitchen! A full kitchen! When I first saw that, I was very disappointed! My best friend thought it was awesome and that I should keep the sink in my room and have my own little lab. It all came out though and turned out really nice.

Nearly 20 years later, it's time for a makeover! My Dad is ripping down all of the walls, insulating, rewiring, hanging a new light fixture, new ceiling, new carpet...and I'm guessing a new coat of paint! I'm super excited!

We've been asked a couple of time what that room will be when it is done. We're not sure. Maybe a craft room, maybe a new nursery or a bedroom for Matthew when we have another child, maybe it'll just be a extra bedroom/craft room/stock pile room/whatever room again, but I'm thinking that it's going to be too nice for that! So, I'm really thinking hard about what it should be. I love the idea of just having an extra bedroom for people to enjoy, but since we've lived here, we only had one person stay with us for one night. Is it really worth it to keep that room all pretty for the possibility of having people stay in it once every two and half years?

Yesterday was day one. Scott and I had just a couple big things to move out of the room and then we decided to we wanted to see if we could get through the walls. Scott asked me if I wanted to bet him that he could punch through the wall. He couldn't! But hammering the crap out of a wall is great therapy! And you can see everything that we did during our therapy session below!

Also, stay tuned for some more pictures. The room looks really cool right now, so I gotta show you what happened when the dusk settled yesterday.


Some before....

The first busts into the wall...

Casting for Recovery

This past weekend was the "Casting for Recovery" event that I mentioned a few weeks ago. This year, the event was moved to a new location and it was, honest to goodness truth, the best one ever!

The new location was at the Marriott on 228. The food was amazing! The fashions were fabulous! I wanted to show off some picture of the event.

Food is always very important! We started with a salad and some rolls. For our main course, we had chicken, red potatoes, and squash. Very yummy! We wrapped it all up with the most amazing cake that I've ever had. I wish I had a picture of it!

This is one of the Chinese auction tables. There were something like 40ish prizes. I, being ever so lucky, took home 3 of them! Out of a room of over 200 people.....I was excited!

At this table, you can learn more about Casting for Recovery and buy different items that help raise money for the cause.

And....the Perkins Family...the "Original Four". I love that we are all out volunteering together.

Thank you!

Thanks again to everyone that joined in on my link up party! We were able to add a few more people to the party, but did not make it to the goal of having 15. I think I have a solution for that. I think I'm going to have to have a button (like I did), but also have the code for it so that you all can add it to your pages and bring others over to the link up.

This is a learning process for me. Last week, I learned how to make that button that was used for the Valentine link up. If was very simple, and taking it a step further should not be that difficult.

Be on the lookout for an end of the week "Summer Weather" linky!

Warmer Weather!

I'm so excited! I kept hearing a rumor that the temperature was going to be headed in the up direction this week. I checked out weather.com and sure enough, we'll be in the 50s on Wednesday and Thursday and up to 60s on Friday!

I love winter, but I'm getting to the point where it's getting old! I'm ready to get outside again....and Matthew REALLY needs to get out! I decided that this will be a great day to head to the zoo! My kiddo loves the zoo and animals, so I know we're going to have a blast!

Besides being able to go to the zoo, I have already been thinking about some of the other things that are on my "to do" list for this summer. Some of it may not happen, but we do the best that we can......

1. Finally take our Hershey trip
2. Kennywood
3. 4th of July fireworks!
4. Take Matthew to a Pirate game! (I won tickets at an event his weekend)
5. Go see the Washington Wild Things (I won tickets to this too)
6. Visit lots of parks many days of the week
7. Celebrate my hubby's 30th birthday!
8. Saint Ferdie's Fair
9. Saint Sebbie's Fair and market...especially the market!
10. Lots of trips to Soergel's to buy fresh veggies and see the animals
11. Cold Brusters on super hot days!
12. SWIMMING!!!

What else is on your list??

Valentine Party!

Today was the Valentine party for our playgroup! I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoy this parties! Each one is better than the last too. I remember back to the Halloween party....I was so worried about everything being perfect, everyone be perfectly happy, and having everyWHERE decorated. In the end, I had fun, but I was sweating like a dog, because I was just running around in circles the whole time! This party, I actually did sit down and talk to a few people.

Here's a couple pictures. I have probably 10 more than what are here, but I don't want to post them without permission from their parents to post their pictures. So, if you are someone that reads my blog and you had kids at the party, let me know if it's okay to post a picture of you kiddo. If it's all, cool I'll add a few more.

This is my cupcake holder, candy heart "display"

Matthew stealing a banana!

Opening up Matthew's Valentines!

Miss Olivia!

Olivia and Mommy!

She liked the ball pit!

Puzzles

My son is amazing! Just before he turned 2, I got my son very interested in puzzles. Now, he will take anything that can go together and try to put it back together. He always surprises me.

Lately, while I am making his meals, he has been putting this Diego puzzle over and over again. I am so proud of him! Anyway, I just wanted to show him off!

Blog Hop Skip & Jump Wednesday!

I'm blog hopping today!

Fine motor activity!

I was just thinking of ways to make lunch fun today when I came up with this little gem of an idea. I thought I would put some grapes on skewers. Well, of course Mr. Matthew had to get in on the action! I was about to say "No way little man!" Then, I realized that this could be a great motivator for a little fine motor activity. So, I handed him a skewer, refilled the grape bowl, and grabbed my camera to show you.

He loved it! He skewered his grapes for about 15 minutes.

Then, he ate every single one. Success for Mommy!

The Factor Tree

Here's another great resource for someone that is either a homeschooling parent or maybe just a child that needs some math practice.

This week, BzzAgent asked me to try out and review a site called "The Factor Tree". This site is practicing Preschool through 6th Grade math skills. If you are interested in trying out this site, you can get a 2 week free trial using the code BZF.

When you log in to the site for the first time, it will take your information as well as some about your child. Then, it will take you through an evaluation test, which starts at the Preschool skills and continues through the grade levels. Each time you login, you will come to this screen.

It finds the places where you made the most mistakes and starts producing "worksheets" that will help you build any skills that are lacking. I have used the site three times and have not found any part that does anything in the way of teaching new skills, but it will help you if you ask for a hint. The hint button brings up pictures, equations (if needed) and an explanation of how you can find the answer to a problem.

As you are doing the problems, there is a pie chart off to the right to tell you how many you are getting correct. I thought that was a nice idea, but for the child that might be struggling, it could be a source of anxiety if they see that they are missing too many.

Overall, I liked this product and could see how it might be helpful to some students. I wanted to give you a few snapshots of what you might see if you try out this site. Also, if you do decide to try out the site or have tried it in the past, I would love to hear your reactions in the comments below. Thanks!

I like that there is an organized list of the progress that the student has made.

I also liked that this pop up box came up to remind you to congratulate your child.

Here is an example from third grade geometry.

I like to move it, move it...

Did I tell ya that I won some tickets to see Madagascar Live? I was on Macaroni Kids Pittsburgh and found out that they had a little contest coming up to win tickets. I decided to give it a shot...and I won! Scott had to work and my Mom was the one that sent me the original e0mail about Macaroni Kids, so we took my Mom and Dad.

Matthew did better at this show than Sesame Street Live.

I took some pictures to show you, but I was not allowed to use my flash because "It can really scare the animals". The pictures are not perfect, but I really just want to be able to show the costumes. I was impressed that Melman was up on stilts. I mean, maybe it was only 3 feet off the ground, but he was like that for almost 2 hours. He had to walk around a bit and under stuff a lot. I was really impressed!

The penguins were a true highlight! They were awesome!

This show is touring the U.S. If you liked the movie, I know you will be impressed with the live show.

Letter of the week is V, v, v..."

We got started on our V today. We didn't get to put the vegetables on it, because we got sidetracked with our special Valentine project. Matthew is getting really good at this "Letter of the Week" stuff. We sing our song:

To the tune of "Wheels on the Bus"

The letter of the week is V, v, v
V, v, v
V, v, v
The letter of the week is V, v, v
All week long.

Usually I add other verses that include words....

V, v, v is for Vi-o-lin
Vi-o-lin
Vi-o-lin
V, v, v is for Vi-o-lin
All week long.

We sing this song at different times during the week. It's getting so that he is able to remember some of the words that put into the song by the end of the week. He was already able to put in violin for this week, but I think that is partly because he is very interested in violins and other musical instruments (Thank you Little Einsteins!).

Great information on Homeschooling!

I've been linking up with "No Time for Flash Cards" for a while now. Each week I look through probably 5 to 10 link up that interest me. This week, I stumbled across a blog post that I thought some of my readers might find helpful....I sure did!



I have contacted the author of this blog and asked if I could repost what she wrote for all of you. I realized that doesn't make much sense! She needs to get the perks of your traffic to her site. So, I'm just going to repost a bit of what she wrote. If this sounds like something that you are interested, you can most on over to her "Homeschool Hoop-La" and finish reading.

"The school provides you with $1500 per student as well as a list of providers from where to buy your curriculum. The awesome part is you can even choose Christian curriculum providers such as Sonlight, Abeka, AO Publishers and tons more. What I really love about this is that you can try curriculum risk free! At the end of the school year you are given a list of the non-consumable items that need to be returned. These are things like readers, teachers manuals etc. You keep any workbooks or items that you've used up during the year. At first I was a little disappointed about having to return the curriculum but after realizing I'd run out of storage in about 2 years, I wasn't that upset! Of that $1500, you need to use at least half the money on curriculum of your choice but the other half can be used to pay for non-competitive activities or lessons (such as ballet, gymnastics, karate, piano, ukulele, voice, etc) or field trips, year passes to museums, galleries or other educational locations."

Wanna read more about it???

Flat Stanley

I'm bummed with myself. I had good intentions of doing something with my son this past January. I thought that we would read "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown and then make our own Stanley and take him around town with us. After we shot a couple of pictures, I was thinking that we could put him in an envelope and send him to some of our friends in our playgroup.

I have borrowed this book from the library twice and still have not done this activity. Can I get some motivation up in here?!