busy, busy, busy.....

i just realized that i haven't blogged for over a month now! its been a super busy month for me and baby bird. after talking about it and denying my true calling for years now........ I HAVE DECIDED TO GO TO CULINARY ARTS SCHOOL!! im pretty excited about it. i decided i wanted to go to Sullivan since i love louisville and we have lots of friends in the area! i went to louisville earlier this month for a tour and i wanted to start that day! it was great. we originally planned to move during the month of december, but then came to our senses and decided to wait for the spring thaw! now that things are a little more settled i plan to blog more, actually i set a goal to blog every day for the month of december. baby bird and i are participating in a random acts of christmas kindness countdown where each day we do something nice for someone. also we just got a new member of our family.... clancy, hes our elf on the shelf! so i wanted to share some of his mischievous acts!

halloween fun

i love halloween and baby bird loves dressing up, so this week has been so much fun! we have already participated in lots of halloween activities and its not even halloween yet! monday we drove to morgantown so baby bird could go to wvu's trunk or treat with her best friend! it was cold, the girls were tired and we all were very hungry but they had such a good time and got lots of candy(most of which went into the family store!). how cute are they....

little belle and cinderella!

tuesday we spent the afternoon spooning "pumpkin seeds" into mini pumpkins

we also carved pumpkins, daddy and i did most of the work while baby bird supervised

wednesday morning when we checked the mail baby bird got a suprise package from her aunt in west kentucky. she send her some halloween cookies, a coloring book, a dora book and some other halloween goodies. she was very happy and really liked the dora book!

today we went to the library toddler time halloween party, baby bird was very excited to see all of her friends dressed up. there was raggety ann, a lion, a sock monkey, a ninja pirate vampire, woody from toy story, a lady bug, a fairy, and a few others. miss karen read a story, we made a pumpkin magnet and then had lots of yummy food.

and then the clock struck midnight....

she was about to turn into a pumpkin!

here is some of the yummy food i made for the party, thanks to the ideas i found on pinterest

cobweb oreo's

mummified hotdogs

ghost bananas

tonight at our local grocery store they had a costume contest and trick or treat in the store. it was a last minute decision to take baby bird, we didnt know about it until the last minute! we got her dressed again and took her over and im so glad we did... SHE WON!! she was one of the four kids in her age group picked and she won a four wheeler ride on toy! she was pretty excited. i loved that they gave them healthy snacks like apples and orange juice!

we have more activities lined up for this weekend... halloween really is my favorite holiday! its so fun, especially with baby bird around!

thanks to Counting Coconuts for the inspiration for the pumpkin "seed" activity

my place on the map and the 4 seasons

it feels like its been forever since my last post, but i know its only been 11 days! however, the last 11 days have been incredibly busy! in addition to our home school group, my coupon group and toddler time at the library i also was busy preparing for my best friends baby "sprinkle"! baby birds best friend is expecting a little sister so we threw them an afternoon tea party to welcome the newest addition! it was a lot of work but it was worth it! we had such a wonderful time and baby bird got to spend some time with her best friend! i will upload pictures from the sprinkle as soon as i can.

i didn't have a chance to post any pictures of our last meeting so i'll start there! last monday we continued our social studies unit by looking at some maps and looking at our place in the world. we looked at the the continents on earth, north america, the united states, west virginia, and weston.

the kids and parents really enjoyed this activity! they liked seeing where they are on the map, and also enjoyed all the fun facts on the back of each card.

here is the finished product:

this week we started talking about the seasons! we set up a station for each season which had a book and some "leaves" that represent each season and "snow" for the winter. the kids moved to each station to learn about the season and put the leaves on the trees.

my favorite season!

spring!

summer!

baby bird loved the "snow"! she kept calling them clouds (we also used cotton balls for a cloud activity!)

and here is the finished product:

how cute is that! baby bird really liked this activity. she enjoyed using the glue stick, which is something that she rarely gets to use after the glue "lotion" incident!

a very special thanks to Miss Kindergarten for the wonderful and FREE "Tree through the Seasons" printable! she made my life a little easier. thanks again!

cleaning day

i woke up this morning and my house was a disaster. there were dinner dishes in the sink, random books and toys all over the living room, and towels on the bathroom floor. i have become pretty ocd lately about cleaning the house at night, because i hate waking up to a dirty house! it used to be the opposite i was more motivated to clean with a cup of coffee! i then realized that i spent the first 2-3 hours of my day cleaning instead of spending time with baby bird. there was no cleaning last night...

but it was so worth it!! daddy is home for a few nights so last night after dinner we popped some popcorn, had some sour patch kids and all cuddled up on the couch for family movie night. it was wonderful! i dont think any of us lasted the whole movie. it was so nice to just relax together. baby bird loves her daddy and he is away so much for work that when hes home we try to make the most out of it! now today, im going to make the most of it and have him help me reorganize some things and do some fall cleaning!!

long time gone...

wow!! baby bird and i are pretty exhausted. we have been traveling so much.. and we still are not home. in fact i am typing now from a haunted hotel. yes, you heard or rather read it right i am staying in a haunted hotel! why, you might ask? 1. i didnt know that it was haunted until i was awoken  the night before last with a feeling of someone in my room and then saw someone walk across my room 2. its the only hotel in sistersville 3. daddy is staying here while working and we wanted to visit him since we havent seen him in a long time! last wednesday baby bird and i packed up the car and hit the road with a good friend of ours. we had a jam packed 6 days! actually i think we did more in our 6 days than most people do in 6 months!! our first stop was ruby falls in chattanooga tennesse. this was purely by accident, as we hadnt planned to stop by we couldnt resist it after seeing billboards starting 150 miles away. i am so glad that their advertisting worked because it was beautiful and a nice break from our car ride.

we hiked a mile throught the cave and finally ended at the falls.

the reflection pool.. one of my favorites

ruby falls!

after the falls it was back in the car for the rest of the day. we pulled into new orleans, checked into our room and immediatly went to sleep! we had an amazing hotel in the french quater, or french tota as baby bird called it. if ever in new orleans, i highly recommend the maison dupuy. it was beautiful, clean and the staff was wonderful! baby bird liked exploring the french tota, jackson square, cafe du monde and a carriage ride around town! it was fun, and im already planning a trip back, minus baby bird :)

sitting on our balcony!

jackson square

beignets!!

after spending the day exploring new orleans we jumped back in the car and headed toward houston! we would have made it there sooner but we sat in traffic for 3 1/2 hours beause of this mess..

wreck on I-10

seriously, what are the odds?

we finally made it to houston and got some much needed rest before continuning on with our adventure which included the childrens museum, san antonio, seaworld and the steelers vs. texans game! we had such an amazing time! i forgot how hot it is in texas, but baby bird didnt seem to mind!

very focused!

she LOVED painting her face

baby chicks!

seaworld!

baby bird loved the sea lions, they are super cute!

waiting to see "that whale"

probably not the best idea.. we were sitting in the very last row of the splash zone thinking we would get a little wet. we were drenched! baby bird was livid! she still tells me that "that whale in big trouble"

shamu

san antonio river walk

the alamo

ice cream!

as you can see from the pictures, we had a lot on our plate! by satuday night we were SO exhausted. sunday finally came and it was time for the main event...

GOOO STEELERS!

 

we didnt win the game :( but we had so much fun!

after the game we got in the car and started heading home! our plan was to drive to memphis, stay the night and tour graceland in the morning and then finally go home! we almost made it to memphis, we were so tired that we stopped an hour outside of memphis, got some sleep then got up early to go to graceland.

baby bird and i agree... we need this car!

i love elvis!!

we had such an amazing time, but its good to be home.. well almost! we are leaving the haunted hotel soon and heading to our house for one day before heading to the pumpkin festival! this post has been ridiclously long so if you are reading this... thanks for following!! i could have posted SOO many more pictures, this was the abbreviated version!!