Wow!

I finally have a minute to sit down and thank everybody for all your kind words, prayers, and friendship.

It's so uplifting to feel cared for in hard times like right now for us.

To top it all of, my two daughters got sick yesterday with a 102 fever, and I think I am getting it too, lots of body ache for me :(

My husband recovery is going so so, he is in a lot of pain, not even the pain killers are letting him (us) sleep.

But with all this we are trying to get things done around the house.

and hopefully we get back to our teachings with Jessica very soon.

Honestly, thank you soooo much everybody for all your kind words

I think I need to explain...

Hi everybody,

I really think I need to explain what's going on in my life right now, mostly for the sake of my blog and followers.

We've been going through some really rough things this month...

My husband just had surgery yesterday, so blogging will be out of the question this week I guess.

So besides being a nurse right now we got the news that my daughters are going to be part of a wedding in a couple of months, so we have been trying to get ready for that, fitting dresses, shoes, hair, etc.

Also my older daughter (14) is flying to Ohio next month, so we are trying to get the tickets, and trying to set up schedules between Ohio and here (dropping her off and picking her up at the airports) and the scare of the swine flu being in Ohio now doesn't help either, I'll have to be alert, maybe she won't even fly.

I'm also looking for a high school for my older daughter (too long of a story to get into that) is just a complete mess on it's own.

I am also studying, trying to finish my Child Care training for next month so I can become a preschool teacher this coming school year, if I am lucky enough to find a job here in Florida.

Yeah :( So I guess everybody knows my secret now: I am not homeschooling my kids as everybody thought. (at least not for now lol)

I just love teaching. Sharing knowledge is the best thing I can do for everybody, specially for the little ones.

So I guess that answers one of the most popular question between homeschooling moms... I am not homeschooling in the summer, but I'll keep on doing fun things with my little one, and blogging as I do now (but more ofter if life lets me) until God knows when :)

Even if I become a preschool teacher, I would keep on blogging about it also, since it helps so many homeschoolers, who I admire A LOT, and also relaxes me to sit in the computer and get away from my everyday chores

So, here is a little piece of my life right now

I know things will get better, so please deal with me and my blog.

We are always doing new things with Jessica, is just that sometimes, like now, is not possible to take pictures and write about them.

But for though times like this I have come up with an idea to help my followers

I'm going to start posting some helpful resources, so please feel free to write me and let me know what are you going to be working on and I'll post some worksheets and resources on your request as much as possible.

I'm here to help :)

A Super Award for me :)

Wow! thank you so much to

The Adventures of Bear

for giving this award

I really appreciate it

thank you

Here are the rules for this award:

Tape it up on your blog somewhere.

Pass it along to 5 fellow super bloggers, and comment on their blog to let them know how lucky they are today!

When you present your Super Blogger awards, link back to the super blogger who gave it to you.

So here are my chosen ones:

letters numbers and books oh my!

My little Gems

Totally tots

4 Krazy Kings

Preschool Playbook

More Earth Day activities

Today my daughter had so much fun

with this sissors skills project

for earth day

We took this worksheet

and Jessica cut some

green construction paper for the land

and blue for the water

and glued it to the worksheet

at the same time I explained to her

that the Earth is where we live and

we have to take care of it :)

Earth day activities

Today we are starting with a few

Earth day

activities and worksheet

explaining to my daughter

that Earth day

is to inspire awareness and appreciation

for the Earth's environment.

You can find all this worksheets here

Is never too early to teach your kids about

taking care of the Earth :)

Earth day April 22

Earth day is coming up pretty soon,

and to teach Jessica a little bit about saving the planet and recycling,

I'll be doing this Earth day lapbook that I found

Want to join me?

Letter I

We finally are trying to get back to our normal life

if you could call it normal lol

Anyways...

we continue with the letter Ii

our art for this letter is painting with Ice

First we print the letter I on watercolor paper

then we color with watercolor pencils

Then I gave Jessica an ice

to rub it on top of her color sheet,

she was fascinated by the blending effect

of the ice with the watercolor pencils

And here is the final result after is dry

At the end of all the letters I'll be making an

Alphabet Art book, so for that

I will need to iron this one to flatten the page :)

Here are other I worksheets for you to download

I make sure Jessica practices her I sound

while coloring or writing her letter I





And for this last worksheet
I tought Jessica that the letter I
has two sounds
I for Ice Cream
and I for Igloo



Enjoy!!!

Some freebies for your kids

Hi everyone, I know lately I haven't post at all, but life just got extremely busy for us. Besides all the things and pets that we have to care for now, my husband got me all excited this week looking for houses and visiting them because the time has come for us to buy our first house. How exciting is that :)
I am super happy I hope it works out. :0) But anyways... that's why we haven't been active and home lately.

I do feel guilty though that I am not posting anything new, so here are some free printables that I found yesterday in the little time that I get in the computer lately lol

A complete free printable vintage circus carousel merry go round

and a complete free printable Victorian mini theater

with set and characters for the play Cinderella!

So here are the links for them

http://www.vam.ac.uk/files/file_upload/45900_file.pdf

http://www.vam.ac.uk/files/file_upload/46025_file.pdf

Toy Theatre Instructions (PDF 155KB)

Toy Theatre Model (PDF 3.12 MB)

Cinderella Script (PDF 140KB)

Enjoy!

Fingerpaint Recipe

I just found this fingerpaint recipe, and thought I would share:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup cold water
Food coloring

What to Do:
Put the cornstarch, salt, sugar, and water into a pot.

Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
The mixture will start thin, but eventually thicken.

When it does, take the pot off of the stove and let the mixture cool off.
Once it's cool, divide it into small containers

(small jars or leftover yogurt containers work well)

and add a few drops of food coloring to each.

Doesn't this sounds easy to do? and very affordable too :)

what's keeping us so busy?

Well... we decided to do some Spring cleaning

around the house,

is a great way to teach them things

about the daily life

or I guess you could call it Montessori also :)

We also decided to work on shapes

since we found this great workbook

at the dollar store

Here is a picture of some free play

Jessica just takes all her toys out

but her favorite are her babies

and last but not least

we are pet sitting for our neighbor (for free)

and Jessica is having a blast with them

since they are little is more for her size

we do have a Golden Retreiver of our own

so she is use to pets

so right now we have a super full busy house

we have a Golden Retreiver

2 chickens, we got them when they were baby chicks

a caterpillar, Jessica wants to raise a butterfly again

(we did it last spring, awesome experience for every one in the house)

and now 2 more puppies, but they'll be temporarily here

So now you know what has been keeping us

extremely busy without posting all this days... lol

Letter H and hopping like a bunny

Today we decided to continue with the letters

H for holes

We took the letter Hh worksheet

and printed 2 papers for this letter art

Jessica colored one of the letter Hh

then we cut it, she cut the straight lines

and I did the curved lines

after that we took a hole puncher

and punched all over the colored Hh

then she put glue on the second Hh worksheet

and...

this is what we got,

now Jessica wanted to do some more,

so she glued the little circles

that we got from the hole puncher

and that's what we got at the top (the first picture)



After doing the letter H

we started thinking on what words start with H

so what better that Easter time

to start hopping like a bunny

you can get the bunny mask here

We also thought of the word Hot

since I had to cook,

Jessica decided to do the same

cook the playdoh style

and these are the hot meals that she cooked for me

sorry for the blur, not easy to take pictures with

really dirty hands lol

Besides that we gave each other lots of

Hugs!

Here is a review of some of our words in Spanish

Hop = salta

Hot = caliente
hole puncher = perforadora

here = aqui

hug = abrazo

Enjoy!

Smart Blogger Award :)

Wow! thanks so much to

Preschool Playbook

and the awesome comment she has written about me.

I never expected such a wonderful Award

Accordingly, The recipient of this award is not your everyday blogger. If you visit their blog, one thing is for sure, you will learn something (but most of the time, a lot) that is really worth the time you spend reading their post. Their post is always well-written, with good grammar, very insightful, inspiring, and thought provoking. Their posts leave you wishing that you’ve written it. They always have great stories to tell, either about life, about themselves, or about their family. Once you read their blog, there’s one thing that will stick in your head; that they are absolutely, no doubt, a Smart Blogger!

Link the one who gave this award and let them know you posted it.

Pass this to as many Smart Bloggers as you can think of and make sure to write something about them (like why you think they are a Smart Blogger).

Let them know they have an award by dropping them a comment on their blog.

I would pass this Smart Award to:

1+1+1=1 I absolutly love her Tot Books

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman I am loving all her craft ideas

ABC and 123 doing such a great job putting together lots of resources for us

Teaching Generations Wonderful resources to teach our little ones to read

Thank you so much everyone for such a wonderful job!

Decorating Foam Easter Eggs

A confesion...

I bought this set of Easter Eggs on sale last year

right after Easter, when all Easter items start going on sale,

I bought it only for $1 when the original price was $5.99

is worth it if you have a good hiding spot

and yeah...the glue on the foam was still good :)

So... out to check what's on sale after Easter lol

Dora's Easter Basket book

This is the book we are starting with this week

We follow the activities in the book

like counting Easter eggs in Spanish

And placing treats inside the Easter Eggs

matching the colors with the eggs

Say it in Spanish:

one = uno
two = dos
three = tres
four = cuatro
five = cinco
six = seis
seven = siete
eight = ocho
nine = nueve
ten = diez
eleven = once
twelve = doce

that's how far the book goes in the Spanish counting :)

and the color words in Spanish are here

Dying Easter Eggs--the Natural way!

Here is an article I found,

Dying Easter Eggs--the Natural way!

This Easter, why not color your eggs using nature's very own dyes?

It's possible to come up with a great number of colors

using natural ingredients that can easily be found in almost any kitchen.

Pale Red: Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries

Orange: Yellow onion skins

Light yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground cumin

Yellow: Ground turmeric

Pale green: Spinach leaves

Green-gold: Yellow Delicious apple peels

Blue: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves

Beige to brown: Strong brewed coffee

To dye the perfect Easter eggs the natural way, here's what to do:

1. Place eggs in a single layer in a pan. Cover eggs with water

2. Add a teaspoon of vinegar.

3. Add the natural dye material for the color you want your eggs to be. (The more eggs you dye at once the more dye material you will need to use.)

4. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Remove the dye material. Remove eggs and put them in a bowl.

If you want your eggs to be a darker shade, cover them with the dyed water and let them stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Stained glass easter eggs

We made this easter eggs

from plain cardboard

we started by tracing a egg shape foam

then manually I traced the inside

and cut it leaving a hole

then put glue all around the cut egg

then put paper on top of the glue
we used different types
crepe paper
gift wrapping tissue paper
and even a plastic treat bag
but I don't have a picture of this one
since Jessica put so much glue on it
that got stuck all over the paper where we left it to dry :)

Anyways, here is the final result,
decorating part of my computer desk :)

The Golden Egg Book

Last night we started reading

"the Golden Egg"

and for a craft

we took some glue mixed with a little bit of water

yellow yarn

and a water balloon

We dipped the yarn in the glue

(careful... really messy) lol

and covered the water balloon with the yarn

we used lots of strings to be able to cover

the balloon as much as possible

leaving some empty spaces just for the art of it :)

once done, we let it dry

and our finished result...

after we popped the balloon
we have a golden egg

Thanks to MoreMomTime who I got the idea from here