Den Update and Fall Book Basket...

I meant to post this weeks ago at the beginning of September and you see how well that went so we'll just call this our 'Fall Book Basket'. And on top of that I meant to post these pictures back in August...seeing the theme that is my life right now?!? Anyways, we flipped the kids bedrooms around and moved Avi-Kate out of her crib. When we did that we moved ALL the kids toys in to their rooms and out of the den. (Hallelujah!) In all of this we moved one of the bookshelves in to the den. I am loving having this shelf in the den now. It's twin stayed with the rest of AG's stuff and holds the rest of the kids picture books.

This shelf  holds the kids most favorite authors in the top left corner. (Willems, Falconer, Dewdney) The red bins hold board books and small toys for the kids to play with. Finally, the top right corner holds a seasonal/monthly selection of books aka my book basket. For years I've wanted a designated section that I could change out every month or so. Currently on the shelf we have the following titles plus this Little People Playset:

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Fall Leaves Colorful and Crunchy

The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat

Ten Little Pumpkins

It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse!

The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin

The Fox Went Out On a Chilly Night

The Busy Little Squirrel

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Fall Pumpkins Orange and Plump

Fall Harvests Bringing in Food

Animals in Fall Preparing for Winter

Fall Weather Cooler Temperatures

Fall Apples Crisp and Juicy

Apples for Everyone

Pumpkin Circle

Fall Mixed Up

The Fox and the Falling Leaves

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

Awesome Autumn All Kinds of Fall Facts and Fun

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

A few weeks back they had all of the seasonal Little People sets on sale and I was able to pick up last year's version of the Pumpkin Party set for $10 instead of $35. I was also able to snag two Christmas sets to add to the Nativity sets we already have. More on those when I get them out later in November.

Since we took this picture we've relocated our diplomas back to over the desk that is back to being on the other side of the den now. We've also picked out a new paint colors for the den, back hall, front hall, and kitchen. The den and hallways will be a shade darker than the color in the kitchen. Both are a soft muted grey. We've painted a test on the walls and we love the results...now if we could just get around to finishing it. Ha. Story of my life. I had Andy rehang the large bulletin board and it is now over the bookshelf. I covered it with some extra fabric I had on hand and hung up a plethora of pictures of our college family. The wheels are turning in my head to decorate the top of the shelf for Christmas and the bulletin board. I'm contemplating putting our Jesse Tree Ornaments and Advent Activities here. I still have a few weeks to mull it over so we will see what I come up with. The other idea we are talking about is putting a small tree in the den this year. (I've wanted to do this for years but we haven't had the space with all the toys in the den.) Now that we've rearranged the layout I think we might be able to swing a small tree and let AG put his monorail around it. He was pretty excited about setting it up around the tree and having a tree that he can help Avi-Kate decorate with their ornaments. Lots to do and mull but I'm excited about all the possibilities. I love this time of year. 

And here's a shot of the bulletin board that I posted on my Instagram...

Book Basket for January...just a little late!

January's pickings are somewhat slim in our personal library. I very easily could have added to it with help from the library but it's just been so busy lately. (Hence the reason why I am just now posting this at the end of the month! Oh, well.)

My first picks for January are snow and ice themed. Living in Georgia, we don't always get snow/ice every year but on occasion we do. I then decided to pick a theme to couple with this so that we would have more books to pull from. For Christmas, we gave AG Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems...he had been wanting it for awhile so from that I spring boarded in to doing a fractured fairy tale theme. Since I'm so slow moving this month I'll probably just leave these books out and add our Valentine's titles to it for the month of February. Then in March we'll move on to spring themes coupled with Easter.

White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems
Somebody and the Three Blairs by Marilyn Tolhurst
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf as told to John Scieszka
The Frog Prince Continued by John Scieszka
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story From China by Ed Young

What are you reading this month?

In other news I've been making AG some after school materials because he wants to have some activities to do when Avi-Kate is sleeping. This time is actually perfect because we can work one on one while she is sleeping and use materials that she's not ready for yet. I'm still trying to map this out and how it will work in my head...I plan to do a post on this soon once I figure it out.

November Book Basket...

November is off and running and Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away! Goodness me. I have so much to do in the next two and a half weeks. Anyways, since Thanksgiving is literally around the corner I went ahead last week and put out Thanksgiving themed/November books on the first day of the month. I also left out the fall books that we had out since the kids were enjoying them so much and they all tie together.

I also decided to pull out a few presidential books/history related books since this year is an election year. My personal favorite being John, Paul, George, and Ben! It's hysterical and the illustrations are amazing. AG had his first real lesson in civics last week when I went and voted.

The Story of the White House by Kate Waters
John, Paul, George, and Ben by Lane Smith
Arthur Meets the President by Marc Brown
The American Flag by Patricia Ryon Quiri
Presidents of the United States by Christopher Chant
The Thanksgiving Surprise by Peggy Archer
Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation by Diane Stanley
One Litt;e, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G.Hennessy
'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
The Magic School Bus at the First Thanksgiving
Turkey Bowl by Phil Bildner

I went ahead and pulled the Christmas books this morning and they are currently sitting in a massive stack on the dining room table. And I'm quite sure there are probably a few more that will find their way in to the stack before it's all said and done. Books have a way of hiding out depending on where the kids 'relocate' them to. Ha.

I have lots to blog about this week so I will be checking back in very soon. I'm off to get a much needed shower while AG is at school and Avi-Kate is asleep.

Fall Learning...

Since fall is now officially upon us and it's finally starting to feel fall-ish here's a little of what we are working on. Learning at home is really important to me and the teacher in me is really enjoying creating simple activities and spaces for our kids to learn from/in. Our kids are young and as such most of what we do is self directed by what they are interested in. (In my education classes they'd describe this as Developmentally Appropriate Practice...I'm sure Evan and Lori are laughing at me as they are reading this post.) Anyways, I may not have a classroom but I still love to teach. :)

I ordered a bunch of new fall books and a fall activity for AG with his Scholastic book order. The Chicka Chicka puzzle is stashed away for Christmas. We have a pretty substantial library of childrens books due to me starting my collection all the way back in high school. My goal is to really start adding lots of seasonal books. I have a decent collection of Christmas books but that is it as far as seasonal stuff. Anyways, all that to say that I ordered lots of fun fall books to put on our shelves. I also pulled out all the fall books we had and currently have all the books on the play table in the play area of the den. I am on the hunt for a basket to make it our official 'book basket' for seasonal learning. 

We have a bulletin board hanging in the play area that I'm currently showcasing AG's work on from school. When something comes home it gets dated and added to the board. Over the weekend I'll pull everything off and file it away in my weekly file folder. (More on that in the next post. Finally!) I've toyed with adding a board to put seasonal stuff, projects we do here, Avi-Kate's artwork on, etc. I just haven't gotten that far, yet. 

Since the first day of fall is this weekend we are making fall cookies this week together. I need to make the dough so it can chill in the fridge before we roll it out. Then we'll bake and ice them to take to the farm this weekend. We are also looking to go to the pumpkin patch in the coming weeks I just need to decide where. In another week or so we'll head to pick up fall flowers for the flower pots. (I've been delaying this because I want the mums to be in full bloom for Mtn. Day Weekend.) AG really likes helping plant flowers and wearing his gardening gloves that Nanny bought for him. There you have it...a little bit of what we have been up to and have on tap for the weeks ahead. I'm already mulling fun plans themed for Thanksgiving/Christmas. Crazy, I know. (sigh) The holidays will be here before we know it. 

Clearly...

...I spoke to soon.

A couple of days ago I posted about not even thinking about potty training till later in the year.

AG peed on the potty tonight.

Yep. On the potty.

Details to come. It was quite amusing.

Laying a foundation for learning...

As a mom with a background in Early Childhood Education I am very passionate about laying a solid foundation for my children when it comes to education. My teaching philosophy and classroom management style go hand in hand with how I parent and raise my child. It is my hope and desire to provide my children with spaces within our home that they stake as their own. Spots where they can play, experiment, and grow. These spaces also have to adapt and change as they grow. For awhile now I've been looking forward to creating a new space for AG to "learn" in. So here are some new areas in the Edwards household that our geared towards AG...

First up, is his play space. (Which we created over the summer in a corner of the den.) This space now contains two bulletin boards that will most likely change with the seasons for right now. As AG gets older these will be come more detailed and interactive. For now, less is more. Learning at this age is all about exploration and at his pace. My goal right now is exposure to different pictures, texts, and vocabulary. The first board contains calendar photos from my collection. Three are taken from Williamsburg and the top right is taken from Berry. All relate to the fall. And AG has had experiences at Berry/will have experiences at  Williamsburg this fall. The next one just contains the vocabulary word "Fall" at the moment. As we do different things this fall we will put pictures of AG up on this one. The first big thing that will be highlighted will be Mountain Day next weekend. I'm also thinking we'll put a collection of leaves collected from Berry around the edges. (Once they change!) 

Second, is a space dedicate to "art/writing". This would be a very early version of what an elementary school teacher calls "the writing center". The small, white, magazine stand is the perfect size for AG's "writing center". It's a separate space from his play table. It contains his materials. As he grows this will be expanded to contain a variety of materials but for right now Color Wonder Paper and Markers are perfect! And they make Mom very happy because they are mess free. Ha. The space for magazines is the perfect spot to keep AG's books from the library. This is in addition to the book basket on the floor in his play area that I fill with books from our personal library.  His writing center will be getting a coat of fresh paint in the coming weeks. Along with his Mom's old toy chest from when she was little. The toy chest contains different manipulatives that are in individual containers.

Third, AG's having his morning juice while pondering what toys he sees out. We rotate his toys in and out. Every couple of weeks we pull stuff out of the attic and put stuff up. I do this for several reasons. One, it cuts down on the space looking cluttered, it provides variation, it gives AG time to appreciate what he has, he gets excited to see something he hasn't seen in awhile, etc. I try and put stuff out that are similar in nature. In November, I'll probably go ahead and pull out his Little Drummer Boy set and Nativity set so that he can get two full months to play with them since they are seasonal.

The last space that has become an "AG space" is the fridge. Right now I'm doing things seasonally. So, here are calendar photos representing "Fall". The top space on the fridge will always contain a picture of a real piece of art. I love Norman Rockwell and this is one of my favorite pieces by him. The spot below will always be a picture of art taken from a children's book. We currently have checked out the book that this picture is taken from. I showed AG the picture in the book and then pointed to the fridge. He smiled, laughed, and pointed with me. He totally connected the two things and it was fun to watch his brain process what I was showing him. I have quite a collection of calendar photos to pull from and am always on the hunt for new ones. I look forward to changing these out every few months.

That's my biggest project from this last week. Next up, I'll be showcasing the shutter now hanging in the back hallway. Stay tuned. :o)