The Waffle Maker

Aaron made the kids homemade waffles after we found this antique waffle maker just like the one his Grandma used to make him waffles in when he was a little boy. He is a wonderful cook! The waffles were very yummy! Thanks for being such a wonderful Dad!

garage sale finds

60 cents for a tin box of magnets abc's and numbers
1.00 for a scrable game I already took apart. I am making a movable alphabet box. Liz and Jon love using the tiles to make words! Well worth the 1.00 price tag. Cam is using the gameboard to make up her own game. It will be interesting to see what she does. aim made her own monopoly style games so cam jumped on a game board to modify with modpodge.

McNeill family reunion

Two  years ago  cam learned how to kayak at Jeri and Larry's pond. this year Little-man loved going out in the boat.

tents, sand pits, and crickets

We went tent camping all weekend the kids had a great time playing in the sand, riding the 4 wheeler, and sleeping in a tent. Hot dogs and dad's grilled chicken washed down with juice boxes were the menue highlights.Cam and trent got to shoot skeet. Aaron made me a red neck tent canopy for shade out of old tent poles and a tarp. it was a fun weekend. We went smimming at the gravel pits and got caughtt in the rain.

Phonics object boxes

I have been working on my phonics object boxes. here is my new list. By the way, I just love the Wades minature figurines that come in Rose Tea! they are perfect for this and my kids love them. I found my first ones at a garage sale for a dollar for 5 of them. There are over 2,500 wades figurines. I think I may start collecting them. Tonight when we went to Walmart I bought a box of tea and the little green christmas tree came in it for $3.12. The tea is good too!
In the phonics boxes the ones marked with a (*) are little plastic toys we already had in the depths of my toy box.
A
apple ( I made from felt)
alligator (plastic toy)

B
baby bottle (*)
bouncy balls
Beaver (Wade)
bear (Wade)
box (made for greeting card)
brass bell (antique store $2)
boot(*)
picture of hot air balloon

c
cat puzzle
car(*)
cross eraser(*)
cup

d
doll(*)
duck(*)
dice
picture of girl drinking from a water bottle

e
elephant (Wade)

f
falcon (Wade)
flower
fork(*)

g
girl paper doll(*)
green paint chip

h
hammer(*)
horse (*)
heart (cut from felt)
picture of hands holding red heart
hat

i
inspector guy (*)

j
jack

k
kite
plastic letter k

l
lion (Wade)
lemon(*)
leaf(cut from plastic floral arangement)

M
man or mayor (Wade ringmaster figurine)
marble
map cut from picture and laminated
mirror(*)

N
nickle

o
owl (Wade)
ox (*)
orange slice (*)

p
pink paint chip
pink pig
plastic pig(*)
guitar pick
porcelain poodle

q
quarter

r
rino (Wade)
ring
rose (from same plastic flower arrangement)
ribbon
rock
round circle

s
sheep(*)
shoe (*)
screw
spider (*)

T
tiger (Wade)
tree (Wade)

u
umbrella

v
picture of vioets cut from magazine
picture of violin

w
wood block

x

y
yellow yarn ball

z
zebra picture (cut out and laminated)

Ring toss board

Aaron made Little-man a ring toss game. I bought a small board and shaker peg for the center. Aaron drilled the center hole and put a screw in through the bottom. our local self-serve lumber also had wooden curtain rings on clearance for $0.99 better than the dollar store price. I took a little metal eye hook off each one. Two were already broken but there was 10 in a package and only four will fit on our peg at a time.

Homemade manipulatives

Thanks to an idea from "Pink and Green Mamma"'s blog I went out yesterday and found the screws and thingies to make her wooden block manipulatives. Pitty-pat loves to screw and bolt but kept taking apart his plastic work bench toy. This made it very dangerous for little-man who just wanted to climb it, so we got rid of it. I hope to dig around and find a block of wood today so I can drill the holes and get it finished.