what a beautiful photo! y'all look so happy!! and congratulations on celebrating your 5th anniversary! (you know, 5 means “grace”, as far as biblical symbolism goes… so here's to your year of GRACE! 🙂 )
you know, i'm not even sure if i've left a comment on here before. but i subscribe to your blog via reader & this post was the “I MUST COMMENT” post for me…so here i am, commenting.
you just need to know that your adorable little family is so inspiring 🙂 your honesty about the ups & downs of mommyhood, marriage, & LIFE continue to keep me feeling at least somewhat normal 🙂 i showed my husband your adorable “popi week” gifts & told him that although i hate surprises, i'd totally be down with a celebration like that. keep up the parties, the celebrations, the “rockin' mama” weeks & crafting. you are a blessing & a certainly seem like a beautiful soul.
Congratulations on the big number five! Okay, I've been married 8 years now and it seems like we had kids really fast, and we have three as well. I think you definitely hold the record for doing it in under 5, and not going crazy in the process. I don't know how you handle it!
i think all of your blog readers are aware of that. you two are one of the cutest couples i have ever…met? haha even though we haven't met. i can tell everytime you post photos how strong your love for each other is…and all that you do for each other.
Kindergarten is coming in September and we are leaning towards the road of homeschooling. With this comes some nervousness and excitement, but I am glad to have a friend who is hooked up with a pretty good charter school system that we might try out too! The girls have never gone to official preschool, but we do preschool activities at home, so I figure that is enough (at least I hope!).
I must admit Kindergarten is not my ideal grade to teach, during my short stint teaching, I taught fourth and that was my dream grade. They, well most of them, came to me already reading, so I am not too familiar with teaching the basics and nitty and gritty of reading. I have been going back and forth with my BFF via email, she has taught kinder, and she has been giving a plethora of tips and direction on things to do (thanks Lin!).
We do a lot of doodling in the house, but now every afternoon we are gonna give it some direction. We will pick a letter and just start doodling things that start with that letter. I am sure this little activity will evolve as we go, but I hope it will keep learning the alphabet and sounds a lot more interesting and fun!
{click on images to enlarge}
We each had our own sketchbooks (I gave her mine since she likes to steal it so often and I got myself a brand new one from my stash), then we just started drawing. Actually, she wanted to draw a bird so we started drawing a tree first. I drew my tree and she would draw her own version. I drew my branches, them she would draw her own, thus I think you get the idea of how this little session went. We started brainstorming things that started with a B and we came up with: bird, branches, butterfly, bear, bow tie, ball, bag, and Brave. After we drew, she wrote all the words on the left as she copied what I wrote on my left. Little kid writing is so cute!
It was really fun for her and kept her engaged, which is a good thing! I think you are going to start hearing more about learning activities for little ones on this blog because we are switching to school mode so very soon!
Linda also suggested Zoo Phonics as a good program to teach reading and Star Fall as a good site to teach kids letters and sound. I remember Star Fall well because I used it in my classroom and I remember lots of good things from it. Anyone have any other sites or programs to recommend and make this task of teaching reading not seem so daunting?
I loved all your recommendations regarding reading chapter books to the girls at this age. I picked Pippi Longstocking to start with because they have seen the movie so they are somewhat familiar with the storyline. I figure they are a bit young to stay engaged the whole time, but hopefully knowing the plot will help them while listening. I think after we are done with Pippi, I may try some of the chapter books that have a different story every chapter and see how that goes! The wonderful thing about reading, is you can experiment with different stories until you find the right one to keep their attention! Thank God for variety, right?
Do share tips and stories of what you do to teach little children to read. I am all ears to learning how to make this task seem not so scary. I am already gonna say, "Thanks!" because I know you all are going to give such good advice!
happy anniversary!!
happy anniversary! My hubby and I just hit 5 a couple of days ago!
Happy Anniversary! My hub and I will celebrate 20 years later this summer.
happy anniversary! lovely photo. 🙂
happy celebrating.
what a beautiful photo! y'all look so happy!!
and congratulations on celebrating your 5th anniversary! (you know, 5 means “grace”, as far as biblical symbolism goes… so here's to your year of GRACE! 🙂 )
happy anniversary!!! 🙂 what a beautiful photo!!
Happy Anniversary!! Beautiful photo 🙂
Happy anniversary!
Happy anniversary! We hit year #2 on the Fourth of July. 🙂
Congratulations on five years! What a beautiful picture!
Happy anniversary!
you know, i'm not even sure if i've left a comment on here before. but i subscribe to your blog via reader & this post was the “I MUST COMMENT” post for me…so here i am, commenting.
you just need to know that your adorable little family is so inspiring 🙂 your honesty about the ups & downs of mommyhood, marriage, & LIFE continue to keep me feeling at least somewhat normal 🙂 i showed my husband your adorable “popi week” gifts & told him that although i hate surprises, i'd totally be down with a celebration like that. keep up the parties, the celebrations, the “rockin' mama” weeks & crafting. you are a blessing & a certainly seem like a beautiful soul.
blessings 🙂
have a happy one:)
Congratulations on the big number five! Okay, I've been married 8 years now and it seems like we had kids really fast, and we have three as well. I think you definitely hold the record for doing it in under 5, and not going crazy in the process. I don't know how you handle it!
so sweet! happy anniversary. 🙂
i think all of your blog readers are aware of that. you two are one of the cutest couples i have ever…met? haha even though we haven't met. i can tell everytime you post photos how strong your love for each other is…and all that you do for each other.
cutest couple award.
Congrats Dahling!!!!!
Happy Anniversay! Love the picture, and your beautiful lil' fam. We'll be five years as well next month! It's a great landmark!
You are such a beautiful bride 🙂
Gorgeous picture! Happy Anniversary!
Aaaaw!! Happy and blessed anniversary to you two!
xo, Hazel
Happy anniversary!
Happy Happy Anniversary!!!! It just keeps getting better and better… just when you think it can't, it does! 🙂 And you two are the cutest couple ever!!
aww what a cute picture! Congrats and happy 5th! 🙂
Happy Anniversary Ruby <3
You are a lovely example of love.
BOTH of you:)
–S.S.
http://www.tout-est-des-roses.com
congrats on the FIVE years! so, have you ordered your wedding photos, yet??? 🙂
love you!
cheers!
Happy Anniversary! My husband and I just celebrated nine years earlier this week.
Happy Anniversary! It looks like it was a gorgeous day!
Yay for five fabulous years of marriage! It just keeps getting better doesn't it?! Cheers!
SO cute — happy 5 years to you + ben, you're both the sweetest! xo.
Such a pretty picture! Happy anniversary.
Say not all that you know, believe not all that you hear.............................................................
Absolutely gorgeous photo! Happy Anniversary!
so pretty! Happy Anniversary…a little late! 😉
awww!! you guys are too cute for words!
happy anniversary 🙂
i've been following your blog, you are truly an inspiration 🙂
God bless!
we're almost to our one year and it's gone by SO fast! it'll be our 5 year before i know it. goodness. you two are adorable together!