Counting to 100 with Maddie

        Happy Sunday evening! I have a love/hate relationship with Sunday evenings. On one hand, I love the relaxation and family time in the evening. On the other hand, I hate the thought of the busy week ahead. I am already dreading the 6 a.m. alarm going off!

        A few days ago we received Maddie's progress report. She has really improved on her sight words and letter sounds! I am very happy with her progress. We have worked really hard on her reading. However, I apparently have slacked in the math department. The only place she needs improvement according to her progress report is counting to 100 and number recognition. I was so focused on reading and sight words I forgot about other subjects! 

        Friday night, Justin went to see "American Sniper" with the guys. I turned on "Sleeping Beauty" for the girls and I worked on a counting packet. Maddie LOVES anything I make for her to do, she is easily impressed. I knew counting games and worksheets would go over great with her. Tonight, we worked on her counting. She really had to concentrate and think it through. I love knowing she is challenged. I really think this new activities are going to help her with her counting. Check out the new activities and worksheets on my teachers pay teachers site. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Counting-to-100-and-number-recognition-1654435

Have a great week! 

Danielle

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs

        We are finally back in a good routine! It feels great to be back on schedule! Maddie and Ella are thrilled to be back at school. My husband, Justin, is a grill master. We grill out every weekend from the time spring breaks until the first snow fall. On Sundays, we cook a big meal to finish out the summer weekends. We miss the yummy grilled food when the weather is cold. So, tonight I thought we would have a little summer food in the winter. Baby back ribs in the crock pot was on the menu. The crock pot is a great way to cook ribs. The ribs turned out great tonight! I have done them a few times before but I think I finally perfected the recipe. 


Crock Pot BBQ Ribs
1 package of ribs
Worcestershire sauce
bbq sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red cooking wine

dry rub:
season salt
pepper 
garlic powder
onion powder
chili powder (to your liking)
brown sugar

Rub the dry rub over the ribs then sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce. baste with bbq sauce. Next, put ribs in the crock pot standing up. Put water and cooking wine in the bottom of the crock pot. cook on low for 6 hours. Finally, baste the ribs again with bbq sauce and put them in the oven at 425 for 5-10 mins. 

Much love,
Danielle

Fun indoors!

        The bitter cold weather and snow is here in full force! School was canceled Thursday and Friday because of the cold and snow. Justin and I had a "date lunch" planned for Saturday. Other than that, we had no plans to leave the house! Our lunch was great... I really just needed to get out of the house. We both had Christmas gifts to return and gift cards to spend. Justin's mom came out to watch the girls and we ventured out. Saturday was cold here but sunny! No matter how cold is is outside, if the sun is shining I am a happy camper! 

        Since the girls hadn't been out of the house since Wednesday, they were antsy! They had a lot of energy that needed to be used up today. I decided today was a great day for an indoor obstacle course! I put one together last year and it was a hit! We had donated a couple things I used from last year so I had to get creative again with the obstacles, I just used whatever I could find. They started by climbing over the toy box. Then, under and through the play house. Next, they high-kneed over the ladder, zigged zagged around cups, jumped over pillows, limbo-ed under a stick, finally, they rode the car to the bathroom door. They had a blast! It kept them busy for quite a while... thank goodness!

       

                                                          Kenzie the spectator :)

 

        Hopefully, we can get back to school and a routine again this week. My sister in law and I are supposed to be going and working out daily too. It really has yet to happen. Maybe...just maybe we will start it this week. I have been busy working on new projects. I have a new color and shape packet available on my teacher pay teacher site. 

Much love,

Danielle

Winter blues

As we are all well aware, the winter solstice begins on December 21st. That was 12 days ago... Is it spring yet?! I get very jazzed up for Christmas! I LOVE Christmas!!! But once Christmas is over. I am ready for 70° weather, sunshine, and longer days. We are at the end of week 2 on winter break from school. The girls are ready to go back. I am ready for a routine again. I'm ready for 8:00 bedtimes! The first week of winter break was busy. We had 4 family Christmases and a boat load of preparing to do. I slacked off with sight words, flash cards, and anything else school related. 

Today, I finally broke out the workbooks and activities I made. Maddie has started to enjoy word search puzzles. She really loves any kind of puzzle. I put together a sight word word search for her. She was so excited!

Ella picked a letter and she worked on a letter focus work book I put together. She worked on the letter D. She pretty much has the letter D down. But, those pesky lower case b's and d's will get her every time. I will be posting the word search and workbooks on teacherspayteachers.com very soon. 

Tomorrow is a much needed girls shopping trip with my sister in law! Well, only if we don't get a bunch of freezing rain... Did I mention I hate winter?! These momma's need a break... So keep your fingers crossed!

Much love,

Danielle