Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  While I thought about sending out some freebies this week, I remembered no one is doing school right now!  Hopefully everyone (besides my misbehaving 5-yr old) is taking time to enjoy a little down time.  But I wanted to wish you a quick Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Here are Oliver's hospital photos, plus a few I took around the tree at home.  

I love photography!  Here are 2 quick Christmas (or anytime) photography tips:

• A bad picture is better than no picture.  Keep that in mind when you get discouraged about low lighting, uncooperative kids, etc.
• Don't miss Christmas because you're too busy with the camera.  Take what you can and put the camera down.  Or, if you're like us, videotape the kids opening their presents.  I can't tell you how much these videos mean to me!  They are hilarious to look back on!  

That's it :)  I will be back with more freebies and posts after the new year!  

Candy Canes, Christmas Fun, 2 Free Emergent Readers, AND a SURPRISE!

After having false labor all of Tuesday and Wednesday last week (26 hours of contractions, folks!), my husband and I went on a date!  We don't date often, maybe twice a year, so this was extra special to me!  Afterwards we took these maternity pictures in front of the tree.  Feeling as big as a house, I let him play photographer for the night.  I just didn't have it in me!

But Friday morning we took these:

Oliver Logan Scott.  6lbs, 11oz, and 19.69".  He looks just like my 3-yr old!

It is our third boy!  He was delivered via planned repeat c-section.  Things were supposed to go smoothly, but alas, childbirth is never smooth.  We had a very scary first 5 hours after birth that included blood in my urine, a panicking/angry nurse, a CT scan, and a threat that I was headed back into the OR for reconstructive surgery on my bladder.  Things got a little better after the doctor came to see me (he was delivering other babies while we waited) and swore up and down he and the operating doctor didn't touch my bladder.  Although I felt more confident in my surgeons, what in the world happened to me, and why was I bleeding so much?

Just as both surgeons had stated, the baby's head had broken a few blood vessels as they pushed him out.  It took a lot to flush me out, more than the few bags I was given.  Since I wasn't allowed to drink (remember, I was supposed to go back in the OR), I couldn't exactly help flush the blood out.  But that night I was told that I needed to drink before they drew my blood again, as my veins weren't very good. I drank 3 pitchers of water, not liking the idea of having difficulty giving blood!  The nurses came to do my blood and I told them I had drank a lot.  When I asked them how my urine looked, they about died laughing!  It was probably close to exploding!  And there wasn't one drop of blood in that bag!

Oliver ended up being jaundiced, so we had to stay an extra day.  That was no fun, missing all the cuddle time.  I was so glad when he was able to come off the lights.  And I was even happier when we were discharged!

Now, on to the post!

I started to send this before I had false labor for over a day, but I couldn't finish it.  In the days before Oliver was born, my goal was to keep homeschool short and sweet.  I wanted to take extra time to teach on the birth of Christ and the meaning behind the candy cane, as I might not be able to do much teaching until after Christmas (long after).  The Legend of the Candy Cane is so sweet to me!  I didn't know that the candy cane represented Jesus until I became an adult.  I want my children to remember that Jesus is why we have Christmas.  Here are some fun activities and printables we are using in our homeschool.

Candy Cane Poem Printable- I love that this printable features a picture of Baby Jesus in the manger at the bottom of the page, and that there is room to tape a candy cane to the right.  I also love that there are 2 copies of the poem on one page, as I have 2 little boys :)

This Candy Cane Poem Printable- features 4 poems to one page, if you need several.

Fingerprint Candy Cane

Book Marks  

Connect the Dots

Candy Cane Coloring Page:
1
2 

Patterning 

Here are some other fun Christmas activities we did!

Dot Marker Mystery Pictures 

Mystery Picture (Rudolph) Hundreds Chart

Reindeer Paper Bag Puppet

Christmas Wheel Printable 

Gingerbread Templates- I used these kid silhouettes as gingerbread men.  I printed them out and let my kids color them and decorate with googly eyes, glitter glue, markers, etc.  This was fun and quick!  

Also, my 3-yr old learned all of his blend ladders well enough to move on to learning word families!  Hip hip hooray!!!  What an exciting time for us!  I wanted to be sure we started his adventure in reading before the baby came.  That way he at least had some things to practice during my postpartum time.

Because he learned his blend ladders, reading word families is a breeze.  He doesn't have to sound out each individual letter.  All he has to do is recognize the beginning blends and add on the final consonant sound.  Easy peasy!  But of course he memorizes each word with just a bit of practice.  

Since I have been down this road before, I merely pulled out the "flashcards" I had made for my 5-yr old 2 and a half years ago (I know, I can't believe he has been reading for that long!)  The flashcards are die cuts from the Dollar Tree- mostly frogs, but also leaves and fish.  I wrote a word on each frog and taught them one at a time.  If a child has a good foundation, they will learn those word families in no time.  My youngest reader learned 2 word families in just a couple of days!  I also taught a few sight words at the same time, that way I can get him reading books- which is where the emergent readers come into play.

Since my son is only 3, I need very basic emergent readers.  And because I teach phonics, I do not want a bunch of sight words in his emergent readers.  The emergent readers I found online A) had mostly sight words.  B) highlighted the END of the word- the word family.  This can teach eye regression.  When a word is typed like this: cat- the eye is FIRST drawn to the END of the word.  That is not how I want my son to learn to read.  I'm not saying those emergent readers are wrong or bad.  What I am saying is that they don't work for my teaching methods.  

But these do!  Simply print in color or black and white, cut along the dotted lines, and staple along the edges.  These took a long time to make, so I hope someone out there can benefit from these little books!  I do plan on making more as my son learns!

-Ad family book

-At family book


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FREE Multiplication Mats

If you saw my post with 7 free BW skip counting puzzles, then you'd know my Thanksgiving had a little bump in the road regarding our Christmas tree. But I have good news!  My husband resurrected it from the dead- at least for the time being :)  It still needs to be replaced, as one of the wires is broken. The middle half of our tree doesn't light, but with all of the decorations you can't even tell.  Funny thing is he said it was like that last year, but I don't remember that!  We are hoping to find a good deal on a tree after Christmas.

So Saturday morning, before the clouds rolled in and totally killed my opportunity, I dressed up my boys and snapped some of their Christmas pictures!  It truly was a Christmas miracle.  I had little hope that my children would cooperate without Daddy home, but they did!

Mickey was his brother's idea

Duck lips, anyone?

Dressy pictures of the boys- check!  Then it was time for their pics in their Santa jammies!  I wasn't originally planning on getting Santa hats for the boys, but the idea came to me at the last minute. Dad picked them up at the Dollar Tree! Score!

They look so much alike!

 

Boy, am I glad those are done!  With their baby brother or sister to arrive any day now, I had to get those done asap!

Now on to your freebie!

Today's freebie is similar to my addition mats.  Each mat includes one large grid.  Really, it is two grids overlapping. On the left are one set of tables, and on the right are a different set.  I went in order starting with the 2's tables through 9's. Meaning the 2's and 3's are on the same mat, 4's and 5's on another, 6's and 7's, 8's and 9's, and then the 10's and 11's. But after I did all of those I forgot all about the 12's tables! So, even though I didn't originally want to make a mat for the 1's tables since they are so easy, I had to have another table conjoined to the 12. Therefore, the last page consists of the 1's and 12's tables together.  Forgive my disorganization there, but I don't think anyone will mind too much!  Each mat (page) has a different theme.  The themes are birthday, ice cream, pre-historic, monsters, breakfast, and gardening!  

Inside each square is a cute clipart with a product. On the page following each mat is another large grid with one image to match the theme and a multiplication problem.

There are MANY ways to use these, and I gave a few suggestions when I posted the addition mats.  

You can find these FREE multiplication mats here.  Also, these were designed to be printed in landscape, not portrait, so don't forget to check your settings!

I have made similar mats for subtraction too (different themes!), so be sure to Subscribe by email to receive updates!

If you have been blessed in any way shape or form by the services I've offered on this blog, you may want to send a monetary gift my way.  If so, that would be most appreciated!  I love what I do and am looking forward to helping others educate their little ones.

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