I'm back, I think....

I am not a writer. I love to teach. I love to craft. I love to create. To write about these things is not something I enjoy. So, here's my new idea for this blog. FEW words, pictures and freebies.

So to kick off February and Freebies................ Here's the first one:

Click on the image to download from my store. Check back tomorrow for another freebie.

Teena :)

Snowman Counting Mats Freebie

Starting next week, I'll begin watching one of my friend's little boy. I can't wait. I'm busy putting together themes for the month of January.

First up will be Snow & Snowmen :) I put together these adorable counting mats using artwork by Cheryl Seslar.  To download your free copy , click on the image below. I plan to use my collection of real buttons with the mats. Available for free until Friday, January 6, 2012. After which they will go on my sites.

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I hope your little ones enjoy using them.

Teena~

The Polar Express

Victoria is reading and doing activities for the Polar Express this week. To support and enhance the home/school connection, I am creating a few activities for her to do at home. I'll also put together a few for the little tot to work on as well.

First up: I used her spelling words for the week to create an alphabetical order train. You can download the file by clicking on the image below. 

Please if you download and use, leave a comment and let me know if you enjoy the game. I really hope to get myself back into blogging.

~Teena~

Hello again....

Told all of you I am an awful blogger! LO and I have both been fighting the evil cold bug. I think we finally won the battle (or at least I have). She's still a tad under the weather and has absolutely no desire to do tot school, so I haven't pushed it.

In honor of Fire Prevention Week (October 9-15th), I'm putting together a little unit to do with her in conjunction with our Fall and Alphabet units.

One part of the unit will be these adorable 4 piece puzzles using graphics by ScrappinDoodles. I like to print, cut and laminate. Then attach to sticky back felt or foam to make them thicker for little hands.  You can download the file by clicking on the cover below. 18 adorable half-page size puzzles included.

That's all for today. I have laundry to do and a kiddo to play with!



Fall is here..

We had a wonderfully busy first weekend of fall. Saturday was spent enjoying the sunshine with a picnic lunch at our local park and lost of playtime! We followed that up with Bingo and Spooky Buddies the new Disney movie. Fantastic time had by all.

Sunday morning was spent at church. We tie-dyed t-shirts with our Sunday School students (I'm the proud teacher of 10 toddlers & preschoolers this year). The shirts are awesome and will be proudly worn as we walk for hunger in our local Crop Walk on October 16th.

Then off to our next adventure. The local Fall Foliage Festival. Music, funnel cake, ice cream and lots of vendors. What more could someone ask for. My brownie troop manned our community bake sale table for an hour, using their incredible manners and smarts. I'm so proud of the troop and even more proud to call one of them my daughter ;).

The LO was with us this whole time, pitching in on the fun but it sure did wear her out. She has a cold and wasn't up for much with Tot School this morning. We read and acted out From Head to Toe by Eric Carle (she gets to pick out the book we read), practiced some shapes and colors on the felt board, and did a quick visual discrimation game/matching for fall. She was tired by then, asked for Dora and her juice cup.

Here's a quick picture of the matching game. I printed two copies - cut both out. I laminated one set but then simply slid the pictures in a trading card sleeve to keep them stationary. I will laminate the second set later today. I really liked having the cards in the sleeves, it kept them in place when she bent over to place a card on top to match. This game along with several other fall games will be included in fall toddler pack I'm putting together. It should be available in my Teachers Pay Teachers site soon.

Learning is fun...

First, I'm a horrible blogger. I know this! I can not always find time to get here everyday. I mean to, I really do, but the reality is it won't happen.

My last blog post, I promised you the files for Officer Buckle and Gloria. I haven't forgotten. I need to add/fix up a couple things and I will post it for all. I should get to it by the end of the day.

We had to change our homework routine and tot school a bit. LO is just too tired to do homework at the same time as Big Sis. Our tot school time is now during the day while Big Sis is at school.

Over the last several days, LO and I have continued practing the letter R and introduced some fall activities. Today I lucked out and found some super sturdy magnets for magnet sheets. I've always wanted to do them with her, but the magnets were way to pricey. I decided today in the clearance aisle that $1.50 for 8 was the best is was going to get. I scooped up the remaining two packs they had and headed to the register. Imagine my surprise when they rang up for 50 cents a pack! WOOO HOOO..

Came home and made up this Letter R Magnet Sheet. She loved the activity sooooo much, it occupied her for 30 minutes. YAY!!!

Click here to download this cute magnet sheet for free. I used adorable graphics from www.scrappindoodles.com

We also played an apple shape matching game this week. She had a blast!

This game is available in my TeachersPayTeachers Store here.








That's all for today!

A quiet night...

WOOO HOOO!! It's a no written homework night in the Fisher household. Victoria's assignment was to read us her book for school. She did a fantastic job. Taking this opportunity to play. I'll be back tomorrow morning with the printable pack for Officer Buckle and Gloria.

R is for Robot..

Homework in the Fisher household can be an adventure! Victoria is either super willing or completely against. Well, tonight it was the latter! OY...what a night. 45 minutes later, a headache (mine), and the threat of losing TV for the remainder of the week, we finally accomplished 10 complete sentences. After the school homework, I thought for sure the vocabulary game I made her would be dismissed immediately. I was proved WRONG! She loved it.

They are reading Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann in school, so I whipped up a quick set of tile cards using her vocabulary words to go with it. She was so excited and can't wait to take them to school tomorrow to show them to her teacher! I'm making a few other things for her to use tomorrow night, I hope she likes them. I will upload and share the complete file by the end of the week.

The little one wasn't left out either. Her tot school time continued practicing the sound of "r".  I made up some 4 piece puzzles of items starting with the letter. I quickly discovered, she needs a mat to build them on. I cut the pieces diagonally for the first time this made it much more difficult a task. Tonight after the kiddos are in bed, I will whip up a mat for her to use while building her puzzles. The outlines will greatly increase her success rate. We built a robot, a raccoon, a race car and a rabbit, just to name a few. We also colored a RED apple. All in all it was a great night.

R puzzles completed with lots of help from mommy!

Until tomorrow's adventures in homework and tot school! Have a great night. I'm off to watch Toy Story 3 AGAIN =)

Rectangles....

Tonight's "homework" and tot school time focused on the letter R and rectangles. Rebecca loves matching mats and file folder games. Here she is doing her "homework". We also colored the lowercase letter r and practiced finding different color crayons. You can find the file for the matching mat here.

I've been trying for the last 15 minutes to upload a closer picture of it, but blogger and I are not friends this morning. It's really cute =) and used artwork by Trina Clark from www.digiscrapkits.com (Seriously, anything made with her artwork is adorable!).

I'm off to get dinner going in the crock pot - pulled bbq pork one of my DD's favorite dinners and prep for tonight's tot school/homework time!

First night of homework.....

Last night was Victoria's first night of homework. I decided to make Rebecca a part of the homework experience and start an introduction to the sounds of letters. Mind you Rebecca is only 2, but it's never to early to start.

I printed a capital R in a coloring font, set her in her booster with some crayons and we all did our homework. I introduced the letter to her, made its sound and let her color. When she finished, I asked her what letter it was and wasn't too surprised that she remembered. What shocked me was when I asked her what R was for - she Rebecca. I had only said this once while giving her the sound.

This morning she excitedly grabbed her paper and ran out to show Grandma her homework, yelling, "look, Grandma R for Rebecca." This child amazes me!

Tonight's "homework" is lowercase r coloring and a rectangle matching mat, I'm off to put together. I'll upload the file for the game later today.

A Return to Blogging

I've been away for so long. Life just got in the way and to be quite honest, I don't find my life exciting enough to blog about. Here's what's happening.

Our life is taking a major bend in the road. For the last 27 years, we've owned our own business (a fitness year) that has allowed me to be a stay at home mother (my dream). This year a chain fitness came to town and put a major hit on our business. I'm sad and frightened that it is forcing us to close our doors.

I tell myself that the Lord will not give me more than I can handle. I pray this is true.

Random Pics :)

We had a bear visit us Monday afternoon. He took a nice nap in the tree over the neighbor's house. Isn't he/she a cutie?

Victoria's soccer adventures ended last night. She wouldn't pose for a pic by herself but with her pal she would :)

And finally The Birthday Girl!!!! Happy Birthday Rebecca. I'm still in shock that you're already one!

More to come tomorrow.

Happy 1st Birthday Rebecca

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday my little baby turned one. What a fun filled but bittersweet day. It feels like just yesterday I brought her home from the hospital. Along with celebrating her birthday, she decided it was time to take a few more steps. I'm really thinking by the end of this week she'll be off and running. :( Time is going to fast.

She thoroughly enjoyed her Spaghetti & Meatball and chocolate cake for her birthday dinner. Everyone was very disappointed at what little mess she made. Momma - not so much :). I'll post some pictures later on today. Have to recharge the camera battery to upload.

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!

Teena

Great Giveaway at Mama Smiles

Hi Everyone :)

Once again it's been forever since I've blogged. I keep swaring I will keep up with it but don't. Broken promises I know.

Rebecca finally has enough hair to send me on the hunt for some really cute bows to put in it. On my search for the cutest bows I found Daisy Ribbons They have some really cute things there. Then when logging onto my facebook account this morning -- wouldn't you know on of my favorite bloggers posted a link to another awesome blog Mama Smiles with a review and giveaway from Daisy Ribbons. You should really stop by and check it out! Daisy Ribbons is giving the lucky winner with a US or Canada address 2 selections $12 or under. Seriously go check it out!

I know I'm headed back to the Daisy Ribbon Site to place an order. Two of these cute little ribbons (oh if I win ;) won't be enough! They will make an awesome gift for my little one - she's ONE today!!!!

Okay gotta run and decorate a cake :)

Teena

Love......

Life is sooo much fun :)

Life in the Fisher household is never boring. Rebecca is in constant motion exploring every nook and cranny. She's quick with a smile and always likes to put on a show. Her most recent favorite activity is to sneak into the kitchen cabinet and remove the straws off of every Capri Sun she can get her hands on. Sure does make it tough for big sis to drink at lunch if mommy on a coffee deprived morning packs a strawless one :).

We're counting down the days until summer vacation and we can't wait. No big plans as of yet but it sure will be nice not to rush around in the morning. Long mornings in PJ's and fun afternoons running through the sprinkler or playing in the pool - what could be better. Oh and those sweet strawberries picked fresh from our garden YUMMY!

Speaking of those strawberries - I hear some calling from my fridge. Off to find a snack :)

SO It's been forever :)

So, it's been forever since I've blogged. Sorry! Life here is crazy. Here's what's happening - the shortened version. Victoria is still very active with dance and Daisies. Add Spring and I'm rarely inside anymore :). We've been working outside trying to get the flowerbeds ready for planting soon and raking out the strawberry patch (Mommy no longer will tend to this since Daddy and Victoria found not one but 3 snakes in it). No more strawberry picking for Mommy!!!!

Rebecca started crawling yesterday! We've officially named her the carpet inspector. Let me tell you she can find everything and has. If you ever drop the back to an earing let me know she can find it in 2.2 seconds or less.

Mommy started her own website two months ago It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but only now found the courage to do so. It's mainly digital games right now but I am adding finished centers as little Miss Rebecca and her big sis Victoria allow :).

I'm also excited about being part of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKE SALE again this year. This great national event helps fight childhood hunger. As part of my fundraising effort I have added a GREAT AMERICAN BAKE SALE Game Category to my site. All profits from the games sold from that category will be donated weekly to the organization.

Don't need printable games but want to be a part of the fundraising effort - please stop by our team page and make a donation! Click on the button above to be taken to the site!

I'll try to do better with the blogging PROMISE :)

Teena

My Happy Girls

I can not believe how fast life goes by. We are enjoying every minute of it! So much so that I just don't have time to post as often I would like.

COMING SOON - MY OWN SITE

So after years of selling on Ebay and almost a year on Etsy - I have decided to branch out onto my own site!!! Angie from www.heartlandgraphics.org is busy designing it - YIPPEE!!! I'm very excited!!

I promise to get some new pictures of the girls up soon AND to become a better blogger :)

Teena

I'm SITTING I'm really Sitting

Yes, I'm sad to say and excited to say my little Rebecca can sit by herself. Where oh where has the time gone?