Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ten Things I {Loved} About Summer '12

This has been the craziest busiest summer of my life.  Even though I didn't attend any professional development workshops, share information at any educational conferences, or take a vacation I feel like I have been running a marathon!  The main reason for that is that I have a 4 1/2 year old, 28 month old, and an almost 3 month old.

With that being said, I want you to know that despite the late late late night hours, temper tantrums, potty training, requests for food every 5 minutes, and shedding a few tears as I think to myself what in the world am I doing?!?, I wouldn't change anything about my summer for a million dollars!

My teacher buds and family members are asking me if I'll miss teaching, and I know I will in many ways, but in so many ways I'm still teaching.  I believe that parents are a child's first teacher.  I have always been able to tell which students got lots of quality time with parents and took part in lots of "real life" experiences.  So I consider myself tremendously blessed to be able to spend these few years with my little guys.  I haven't blogged nearly as often as I wanted to {for obvious reasons} so I thought I'd just post something that captures some of my favorite memories of summer '12!

1.  Jaxon {our newest addition}
  I love this little guy SO much!

2.  A "mini" Family Reunion
My family is AMAZING!  I am so blessed with wonderful parents and siblings, I have an awesome brother-in-law,  and I have the most adorable nieces {yes, my sister has 3 beautiful girls}!  Oh, and Mr. Perry is pretty incredible himself!

My sister {the Dr.}, brother {the lawyer}, and you know who!

This is Mr. Perry's side of the family.  Once again, I have to say that I have wonderful in-laws, three handsome brother in laws, and a sweet sister in law!  This was supposed to be a goofy pic, but I'm afraid I'm looking quite normal!  Here's a silly one. . .


3.  Cow Appreciation Day
These are some of the cutest cows I've ever seen!  We had fun playing "dress up," and I seriously heard "mooing" for about 3 straight hours. . .thought I might lose my mind!

4.  Science Week.  . .These boys love science, and when we made lava lamps, crystals, and all kinds of other messes experiments in our kitchen it was right up their alley!  I will forever cherish the light in their eyes and the look of awe and amazement!  


My little scientist's notes. . .


5.  Pizza Week. . .this was one of my favorites for sure.  
So much that we decided to stretch it out over two weeks!  
Sol's tiny fingers are getting ready for scissors and he's been our "master paper tearer" this summer!

Our pizza song. . .

Christian has become a cutting expert!

Another one of Sol's jobs is the "official trash collector."  He sometimes gets frustrated because he can't cut with scissors yet so I give him something else to do!



We made a giant pizza to go along with the poem "A Pizza the Size of the Sun."

Christian is learning about labeling, and I love his cute little spelling!


We are really working on following directions {preferably the first time and without whining} so the boys made little chefs as a reminder.  The template came from one of my favorite TpT sellers 
"Miss Kindergarten Love."  Click on the picture that's below to snag a copy!



  
Here are some great books we've enjoyed!

 We "followed" directions and made pizza bagels which are easy, cheap, and fun to make!






 6.  Alpha Pops! I cannot tell you how much I love this product by Learning Resources Co.  They are so much fun!  I purchased one set for the boys to try them out, and then decided to get two sets so they would each have their own.  My favorite thing about them is their versatility.  

ABC order. . .


 Letter Recognition. . .

 Color Review. . . 

Matching upper/lowercase letters

 
They're also great for pretend play!  We LOVE alpha pops!

 7.  My New DIY Post-it Calendar
 






8.  A new boppy cover that tricks helps Solomon practice his ABC's...multitasking is no longer optional!  I must entertain, feed, monitor, play, and try to do a bazillion things at the same time!

9.  Jaxon, Jaxon, Jaxon {couldn't resist adding him to the list again} He's just so darn cute!




10.  My handsome men!
  

I hope your summer was wonderful too! 
 Jax is sleeping pretty well at night so I'll be back to regular blog posts soon with lots of great stuff!

8 comments:

  1. I love all your "home school" ideas for the boys! I have taken this school year off to spend with my 3 year old and am anxious to try some fun activities with him too... it's motivating to read what other parents are doing at home before sending our children off to school. As a teacher I agree that you can tell right off the bat which children get a lot of attention/teaching at home. I love when a child comes in and talks about all the fun things they do at home and all the BOOKS that are read to them! It really makes me smile! Enjoy your time with your sweet boys. They are lucky to have a Mama who cares about them as much as you do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enjoy your little one. . .I hope your time is filled with many memorable and special moments!

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  2. I have so missed reading your blog. What a great way to spend the summer. Loved all the pictures. Your boys are beautiful.

    Mandy
    A Special Kind of Class

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  3. Your family is GORGEOUS!!! Looks like you had a lot of fun this summer. Love those letter pops. Enjoy this time with your family!!
    Robynn
    BusyBees

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. . .I blame Mr. Perry's good looks for our 3 handsome little men!

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  4. Your little ones are precious! And I love the "eat more chicken" costumes--so cute!

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  5. I think I may have told you this before, but you come from great stock! You and your siblings are clearly very smart, motivated, and disciplined people.
    Sol's writing and spelling skills are super impressive! I know I'll get a lot of firsties this year who can't write like he can.
    The alphabet pops are awesome! I'll have to look into getting a set of those.

    ReplyDelete

 
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