Friday Favorites

HAPPY Friday, friends!

This week has actually FLOWN by thanks to some great weather, feeling like we have school-at-home a little more under control (PRAISE JESUS!) and a birthday! 

Erika, Narci and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us and if you're linking up with us make sure you grab our graphic, link back to one (or all!) of us and share your own Friday Favorites post.

First up on my list of FAVORITES was some face-to-face grandparent time.  They drew the circle to ensure that nobody got too close and I swear that they all stood there for 30 minutes and just talked her ear off.  SO SWEET!

Harry Potter Birthday Dinner

So last week I had a pity party about all three of my kids birthday parties being cancelled, them missing celebrating at school with their friends and postponing our annual family fiesta indefinitely - then I decided to suck it up, make the most of the extra time and make the kids birthdays memorable in their own way.  

I immediately knew that I wanted to do something Harry Potter-themed for Luke and so I hit Pinterest HARD for food ideas and then just kind of ran with it from there.  I added a few items to our weekly grocery list and started to plan things out in my head. 

It was even better than I had thought and Mason, Griffin and I  (particularly Mason) had so much fun pulling it together for him and making it really special.  It's for sure a birthday none of us will ever forget.

 

Happy Bday Luke

Y'all.  Luke is TWELVE!!!  TWELVE!  I still can't believe that his birthday is happening out during a pandemic quarantine BUT his attitude about the whole situation pretty much sums up his personality perfectly. 

Luke is flexible, loves being at home, is easy-going and independent.  He's still a HUGE Harry Potter and Lego fan, loves to fish and while I'm sure this isn't how he anticipated 5th grade ending he is SO READY for Middle School. 

I'm not sure anyone other than me cares to see 20+ pics of my kids on their birthdays but that's okay because looking through a year of camera roll for my favorite pics is a birthday tradition at this point.  What a great year 11 has been!!!

Cadbury Mini Egg Cupcakes

Who doesn't love Cadbury mini eggs and who doesn't love cupcakes?!?!   Why not combine them, right?  I saw  this recipe pinned on pinterest and figured I'd try it out since it's mini egg season :) 

Staying Busy - Part 1

Today I thought I'd share the first one of who knows how many installments of "Staying Busy" where I'm going to share some simple things we're doing around here to keep ourselves occupied :)

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!!! 

Erika, Narci and I are so excited that lots of y'all are linking up with us and if you're linking up with us make sure you grab our graphic, link back to one (or all!) of us and share your own Friday Favorites post.

First up on my list of FAVORITES is Griffin learning to ride her bike without training wheels! SHe's been riding non-stop ever since and has even been pulling tricks like waving, standing up on the pedals, etc.  FAVORITE!

THREE THINGS

I know that in years to come I'll want to look back on here and remember how we were handling life during quarantine so I thought it was fitting to do a three things post today and highlight a few things that I know I'll want to remember.

This week has been all about figuring out what works for each of my kids as far as learning goes and it's been interesting to say the least :)  I feel like I KNOW my kids as a mom but not as a teacher (hopefully that makes sense) and it's been fun and a challenge to get to know them more this week as learners.  

Easter/Spring Books

I changed out books out on the playroom shelves last week to feature some of our new and old FAVORITE Easter books.

Teacher Tuesday - Online Teaching

So this is a post that I feel overwhelmingly under-qualified to write - but I feel like that's why some of you want to read it.  How a non-online teacher is setting up an online classroom is for sure something that I was googling last week - and as most things in teaching - sharing best practices is how we all get better.  Ideally I would have a month or more of this under my belt before sharing, but I know lots of y'all are in the same boat as I was/am and so I'm sharing today.   So... take from this what you find helpful and leave the rest.  ;) 

Easy Science At Home

Last week we had a loose "school at home" schedule that we ran which included a science portion in the afternoons.  Every day I tried to do a simple experiment with them and while a couple were a flop here are the ones that the kids really enjoyed...  

Puzzles

Hey! Lots of y'all have been asking about the puzzles that we've been doing and apparently everyone is in puzzle mode because Amazon, Walmart and Target are pretty much sold out.  I'm so excited that I found some of our very favorite puzzles and brands for great prices with free shipping!  

Happy Puzzling!  

(you can click on the pics below to shop the affiliate links directly)

Friday Favorites

Well - what a week.  It's been full of highs and lows and really sad moments and really sweet moments and I'm just kind of a ball of emotions right now... you know??  

That said, I have so enjoyed keeping up with things on here this week and am so excited that lots of y'all have asked to confirm that Friday Favorites would still be happening!  If you're linking up with me make sure you grab our graphic, link back to me and share your own Friday Favorites post.