Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time
I love this print of the Cicero quotation by Studio Mela. At the moment my garden is mostly just a pumpkin patch, but I can dream. I’m a little more solid on the book part. Throw in an iced coffee and now we’re talking.
How about you? What would your “all I need” poster say?
The Fourth of July is a special holiday in and of itself, but it’s also meaningful to me because I met Tim 19 years ago today. It’s nice to have fireworks every year to mark the occasion.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
let all that breathe partake
let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
{Directions for making the Star-Spangled Wreath here.}
Lily is working really hard on learning to read. Because she’s a game-loving kind of girl, I made these bingo cards using an idea from Family Fun to help her with word recognition. I kept all the little decodable reading booklets that came home throughout the school year, so I went through them looking for words she should know. After making a list, I made some bingo cards out of card stock and wrote the words in the squares (using some of the words on more than one card). Lily gathered some pennies for markers and we were good to go.
Instead of just reading the words off of the list, I’m making the game a little more challenging by saying the definition of a word so Lily has to think a little harder. So I say “the opposite of mean” for nice and “the kind of animal Gunther is” for dog. Once she’s mastered all of the words from the booklets, I’ll make some more cards using words from some of her favorite books. Can’t wait to get to all those splendiferous words in Fancy Nancy.
How about you? Have you had a struggling reader? What methods or ideas worked for you?
Are you feeling inspired? One of the nicest things about the Fourth of July is that it comes with built-in entertainment. If you have fireworks, sunshine, and maybe some water to splash around in, you’re all set. Anything else is gravy. Between you and me, I’m happy with some potato salad and a sparkler on the Fourth. But it’s nice to know that, if the mood strikes, we can print out some ice cream cone wrappers and dress up our dessert a little bit.
Patriotic Ice Cream Cone Wrappers from Martha Stewart / Fruit Pops from Bakers Royale / Ice Cream Sandwich Pops from Living Locurto / Patriotic Cake from i am baker / Easy Sand Candles from Martha Stewart / Fourth of July Pinwheels Party at Hostess with the Mostess