Fall Jars

I switched things up a little in anticipation of cooler temps.  There's still an entire box of fall things in the attic just waiting to come out-can't wait!

Come on cooler temps!

Let's Go Cardinals!

Went to a baseball game last night and brought home a winner!

Just Hanging Around

Look what my husband did for me while I was at work!

I'll admit, I had already purchased the baskets and towel bars, but he put them up without me even asking! 

Thank you Pinterest for yet another great idea.

Everything looks much more in place now.  The texture the baskets add to the bathroom makes me super happy too!

First Anniversary of a 21st Birthday

Tonight we celebrated my brother's girlfriend, Hannah's birthday.  Happy birthday Hannah!  I hope you and Luke have a blast tomorrow on your actual bday!

I made this ice cream sandwich cake.  My friend Elizabeth made it for a bbq this summer and it is fantastic!

Dino apparently had too much fun.

Happy first day of school eve!

Exciting Speech Room Additions

School is upon me. 

My kiddos start back on Monday and what an exciting year it is becoming!  I'll be welcoming a student clinician and new 6th graders.  My new elementary school will also be welcoming me and I am oh-so-excited to FINALLY work with littles again.

This year, I've added a few new "toys" my repertoire of tricks.  I thought very carefully about how I would use them in my therapy and how they can target a variety of goals with multiple age groups.

1. First off, the biggest, brightest shining star: the IPAD!

I thought long and hard about this one, especially when my only school was at the middle level.  I'm banking on the fact that it will be extremely motivating for my older kids.  For my littles, there are SO MANY great apps out there that I'll have to practice great restraint from purchasing too many. 

Obviously, I was also worried about the expense and risk of using it with kids.  Let's just say, it's not going to school until it gets a very strong case!  Any recommendations are welcomed.

2. Next up, Bananagrams

If you've never played Bananagrams before, it's very similar to Scrabble.  I'm thinking this will be a great station or whole group activity for kids to practice vocabulary, sight words, phonemic awareness, articulation, etc.

3. Finally, I decided to go with Operation for a fun, hands-on way of targeting idioms as seen below.  This brilliant idea came from Pinterest (of course!)



Lantern Festival

Last weekend, I went to the Botanical Garden to visit the infamous Lantern Festival with my in laws. Unfortunately, Eric had to work :0(  

If you've not heard of the lantern festival, according to the Botanical Garden's website you can expect "Elaborate outdoor sets crafted of silk and steel celebrate Chinese culture through bold color, dazzling light and striking design. The exhibition offers visitors a unique opportunity to witness a spectacle rarely staged outside of Asia."

Overall, I'd say the event was very kid-friendly.  There were drums and gongs to play, "wishes" to hang from trees, and zodiacs to discover!

These gals had a great time using the maps to be our tour guides.

Art by day, magic by night!

Mr. dragon was made entirely of plates, platters, and teacups!  During the evening hours he even puffed smoke.

All the different facial expressions in this photo just cracked me up.  Playing that drum was so much fun!

Look at all these beautiful wishes, just hanging from a tree!

                     

Overall, a great time was had by all. What fun stuff have you done lately?

Shall We Dance?

If you're familiar with this song, then you've probably guessed that the last show of the Muny season was The King and I.  We opted not to do photos at the theater since it was so dang hot and we were literally sweating our faces off.  Instead, we got pictures of our last summer show at Pi. 

We even had a couple extra friends join us for Mary Beth's bday.  Happy birthday Mary Beth!  You don't look a day over 21 ;0)



Fly Me To the Moon

It's been a long 1st week back to work after my summer 'o' fun.  Not much is moving around the house, my classroom isn't yet finished, and there are zero trips to report on.  So I decided to share some pictures of a flying excursion from last winter.

 

 

My grandpa decided to take Eric up on the offer of an airplane ride.  I don't know many 80+ year-olds who would agree to this. 

We circled town and flew over my grandparents' house.  My grandpa shared that this was actually the second time he'd been in a teeny tiny plane.

He loved it!   It was a great memory that I'll tuck away and cherish.