Celebrating Your Tots ~ Last Call for September Tots!

This is the last call for September Birthday Tots! Does your tot have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th birthday in September? If so...

We need your info by September 2, in order to include your tot in our monthly post, which will be up SOON!

AND, if you have an October Birthday Tot, I will need your info now or by the end of September!

Get Real With God ~ Proverbs 31

Lately I have been getting real with God in a very mighty way. Any of you who have really explored the Proverbs 31 woman know what I mean!

I struggle with most personal Bible studies. I have tried many and I just could never seem to find the perfect fit. Something that was both challenging in character areas but also challenged me in the area of Bible knowledge. I have had studies that were SO overloaded with Biblical knowledge, I wore myself out with it and there wasn't much left for personal growth. On the other hand I have done studies that were focused on just personal growth, which is great, but didn't give me the deeper study of scripture that I long for.

Finally I found an author that writes personal Bible studies that are right up my alley...Elizabeth George. On a whim I ordered her guides for Proverbs 31 and Philippians. They sat on my shelf for awhile and finally I decided to give Discovering the Treasures of a Godly Woman: Proverbs 31 a try.

Within 1 lesson I was hooked. It is everything I personally love in a Bible study. I have to dig deep into scripture, and deep into myself. I can also easily complete a lesson or 2 each day without any problem. This book takes Proverbs 31: 10-31 apart, verse by verse. I have always studied Proverbs 31, and thought I was very familiar with it, and still I am learning so much.

I am working on memorizing the entire thing and am about half way through without looking ;). Memory work is not my strong suit, but I know it is so important to hide God's word deep in my heart and brain!!!!

I highly recommend this study to anyone ready to be challenged as a woman. As I finish my study up, I will try to share more about how it has really rocked me. Will you let Proverbs 31 ROCK YOU?

Now I Know My ABC's ~ Ss

It's time for some fun Ss activities!!! We hope you enjoy these! If you are new, you can visit our ABC webpage to find links to any other letters we have done, letters (with books listed) coming up, as well as the PDF of the cover sheet for your ABC notebook!

I decided to focus on shapes because LO's seem to be fastinated by them. While my LO has known her shapes for some time I can do shape activities one day a week and she loves every minute of it! I figured while some might know their shapes already, they will still have fun doing their 'Ss is for Shapes' pages.

A Circle Here A Square There
by David Diehl

Summary: A scoop of ice cream is a smooth circle. A wrapped gift is a secretive square. A piece of pizza is a tasty triangle. This colorful book shows kids the shapes that make up the world around them.

Ss is for Shapes Collage

- Cut out construction paper shapes like the ones used in the book (Circle, Square, Triangle, Rectangle, Heart, Diamond, Star, Oval)

- Have your LO glue them onto a piece of construction paper and label them.

- Have LO color the Ss template

- Cut out and glue to the Shapes collage and add 'is for Shapes'.

- Hole punch and add to alphabet book binder.

Shapes Safari

Print off the pages for the shape safari from Making Learning Fun and follow the directions on how to play. This is a favorite activity of ours and we play it as well as the number, alphabet and friends safari {we turned the friends safari into family safari}.

More Shape Fun

Shape Beanbag Toss game
Shapes Can Be card game
Highway Shape Cards
Preschool Express Shape activities
StepbyStepCC shape activities

A great book called: Kitchen Table Play and Learn has a wonderful lesson plan for Shapes! Click here to read my review on the book! It is a wonderful book to have! I plan to use it lots this fall!

Treats 4 Your Tot

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

Handmade Toddler Cloths, ends 9/4/09

Kimochis, ends 9/3/09

Brainy Baby Puzzles, ends 9/3/09

Strider Running Bike, ends 8/31/09

Tony the Tractor from Haba Toys, ends 9/12/09

Noah's Ark from Tier Toys, ends 9/9/09

Wheely Bug Toy from Prince Lionheart, ends 9/7/09

Plasma Car, ends 9/12/09

Plan Toys Eco Town, ends 9/9/09

Do A Dot Art Set, ends 9/1/09

Once Upon a Book ~ Seals on the Bus

Seals On the Bus
by Lenny Hort

Summary: Different animals--including seals, tigers, geese, rabbits, monkeys, and more--make their own sounds as they ride all around the town on a bus.

Circle Time

Wheels on the Bus: Sing the "Wheels on the Bus" but with a twist - sing the book Seals on the Bus.

Language

Letter Tiles: Print off the letter tile pages you want and bring out your magnetic letters. You can also use scrabble tiles.

Math

Animals On The Bus Counting: Print off, color and cut out the school bus. Give your LO the bus and a box of animal crackers. Say a number and let him count out that amount of animals and place them on the bus. After you are done with the game, they can eat the animal crackers.

Games

Seals on the Bus : Print off the game pieces then as you read or sing the book have your LO place that animal in the bus!

Snack Time

Graham Cracker Bus: Tint cream cheese yellow and spread on a graham cracker. Add animal crackers and enjoy! For pictures of this snack (with yellow tinted frosting go here)

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Meet...Zeke

Zeke is 3 1/2 year old but thinks he is 10 year old like his big brother. He is a real blessing to our family. He has wisdom and a sense of humor that truly do surpass his years. And it seems that I am calling his daddy daily to say "you'll never guess what Zeke said today". Zeke is our 4th child. He has an older sister (13), two older brothers (10 and 7) and a baby sister (1). After a whole year of failure to thrive and malabsorbtion issues and many many clinic visits Zeke was finally diagnosed with Mastocytosis (too many mast cells, there for too much histamine in his body). He is much healthier now and we are so grateful to be blessed with his chatter and laughter in our daily lives.

His Favorite Tot School Tools...

1. Fisher Price Little People
2. Woody-Click people and buildings
3. Leapfrog Fridge Phonics® Magnetic Set
4. Leapfrog Fridge Wash & Go™ Magnetic Vehicle Set
5. Leapfrog Alphabet Pal
6. Lauri Tall Stacker Pegs Building Set
   
7. Lauri's alphabet puzzle
8. Go Diego Go! 123 Game
   
9. Dinasour flash cards
10. Measuring cups

His Favorite DVDs/TV shows...

1. BOZ
   
2. Signing Time
3. Cars
4. And any movie about tractors

His Favorite Books...

1. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
2. John Deere books about Jonny Tractor
3. Our homemade books (we take pictures and put them in a photo album and then print out words to go with each page, we make up our own stories or simply retell the trip or even that the photos were taken at)

Zeke's Mommy blogs at...Growing in Rejoicing

Do you want your tot to be featured one week? Go here to read more details!

Did You Know ~ Green Juicing

Believe it or not, vegetable juicing is one of the best keys to optimal health and yet most people have never tried it. People who have the healthiest digestive tracts know the importance of juicing and make it part of their daily routine. Some even swear by juicing most meals and eating raw whenever they feel the desire to chew. When you implement juicing into your life and make sure you are getting the required fats, water and healthy salts your body needs, nothing compares to the health you can achieve! Juicing is the easiest way to consume a large amount of raw food, gives the digestive tract a break, cleanses the colon, gives you more energy and an overall sense of well being very quickly! How many things that you do each day can do all of that?

Vegetable juicing works because it balances the acidity that most of us struggle with. We all need about one pound of vegetables for every 50 pounds of body weight to balance our pH, and juicing is the easiest way to manage that.

It's important to eat plenty of necessary fiber found in legumes, whole grains, and whole fruits and vegetables. Juicing releases the nutrients from the fiber of the juice, allowing you to drink vitamins and minerals that would not otherwise be absorbed by the body and leaves the fiber behind.


My husband sent me the list below the other day excited to see once again how healthy our morning ritual of drinking green juice is for us. We both love it and look forward to starting our day off with our green juice. Our friend Joel has been teaching and preparing raw foods for over 8 yrs now and works with Dr. Mehmet Oz in NYC. Joel and I held raw classes together for a few years. I have not read his new e-book yet, but I'm sure it is full of his delicious recipes and easy style of preparing super nutritious meals.

We all know that eating plenty of greens is necessary for optimum health. Eating fresh, organic, local greens is the best medicine we can give our bodies. A daily green juice is one of the best ways to ensure that we get plenty of greens. It makes it so easy, and even those people out there who don't love greens will enjoy a delicious green juice because the flavor can be masked. Green juice is a wonderful way to make sure children are getting all that they need daily for their ever growing bodies!


Here are 6 Reasons to Consume Green Juice Everyday:

• Juicing helps in the absorption of nutrients – If your digestive system is less than optimal, it can be difficult to absorb all of the nutrients when eating greens. Juicing will break down the cell walls of vegetables so that they are pre-digested for you. This means that all of the nutrients go straight into your system.
  

• Juicing means that you can eat more greens – you probably aren't going to eat a whole head of celery in a day…but you can easily drink a whole head of celery juice. Juicing also allows you to consume a wide variety of greens all at once. You most likely wouldn't have kale, cucumber, celery and parsley for breakfast, but you will enjoy it as a juice.
  

• Juicing is a great way to get loads of chlorophyll, which is the building block of our bodies. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green, and it is perhaps the most powerful element that exists in the universe. It is medicine for our bodies. It increases the flow of oxygen to all parts of the body, which means we release more carbon dioxide, toxins and stress. Plenty of oxygen means that our bodies become an aerobic environment where disease cannot live. An anaerobic environment is where disease thrives.
  

• Green vegetables contain nearly all of the trace minerals we need – Most people are seriously lacking in essential minerals which mean that our bodies are not equipped with the necessary resources to fight disease and feel fantastic. Green juice is a great way to get all of the vital minerals for vibrant health.
  

• Green juice provides us with the enzymes that we need to cleanse, detoxify and renew at a cellular level. Enzymes are also needed to digest food. We cannot have amazing health without enzymes. Cooking and processing of any type destroys all enzymes, so raw food, especially greens, is absolutely essential to maintain healthy enzyme levels. A daily green juice is a sure way to maintain enzyme levels.
  

• Juicing makes greens taste great – As mentioned above, juicing can make greens more palatable. This is because they can be sweetened with an apple or carrot. It is essential not to overdo it on apples and carrots because they can raise blood sugar levels, but adding a carrot or apple to a green juice transforms it into a delicious juice that most people will enjoy.

Sheryl Walters

Delicious Green Juice Recipe: (organic veggies only)

2 Sticks of Celery
Handful of Spinach
½ a Cucumber
1 bunch Parsley
1 carrot

When you are introducing small children to juicing, it is best to keep it simple and use only a few ingredients. Children like bland juices with a touch of sweetness. Please don’t make the excuse that they need sweet juices or they won’t drink them. You are truly kidding yourself and cheating your children if you believe this to be true. Here are some tips to making delicious juices for them. Remember do not use spinach until they are about one-and-a-half years old. Children tend to become allergic to the oleic acid in spinach if introduced too early.

Use any of the following two ingredients: cucumbers, celery, parsley, romaine lettuce, apple, kale, and then after it is made, add some coconut juice (water) for extra potassium and many other health benefits from the coconut juice. You will soon realize that juicing for one person does NOT require a lot of vegetables until you are consuming more than 4 ounces of juice at a time and juicing several times throughout the day. Once you work up to this level of juicing it would be a good idea to join a local farm group or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). If you already belong to one of these then now you know another great way to not waste what you get each week. You can simply juice them.

To make juice go a lot further and to increase the availability and ease of digestion mix half water and half juice, especially for children. Begin them on 1-2 ounces of juice per day and then work up to as many ounces as they ask for. Go for small successes and not struggles when introducing anything new to your family, especially children. Even if they drink only one ounce, that is great. Try to increase it an ounce a day until you reach 6 ounces daily. Nothing is healthier than fresh-made vegetable juice. Follow the same rule for yourself. Start off with three ounces and then slowly increase the amount of juice you are making. This means you are drinking six ounces when mixed with the purified water. For those of you who only drink your juice straight, there is much debate over whether you gain more benefits from diluting it with water or just drinking it straight.

To learn more about juicing and truths about health that will guide you to living the best way you can for you and your family - visitAnother great recipe and way to get in your daily greens - by Joel.

Kale Salad

• 1 head kale
• 1 red pepper diced
• 2 TB Hemp seeds
• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TB lemon juice
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp your favorite herb mix

Chop kale into bite size pieces add remaining ingredients. Then the secret to making this salad really tasty is to massage the kale mix for 3-5 min. Enjoy!

Get Real with God ~ Mommy Discipline

I cannot function at my best when certain things are left undone. I was smacked in the face with this reality (yet again) as I read my current personal growth book...Small Changes for a Better Life: Daily Steps to Living Gods Plan for You, by Elizabeth George. The chapter I was reading was about...Discipline. And it wasn't for who you think. It was for ME-the MOM! Ahhhh.

When I sit at my computer, my back is towards my combo room. What is a combo room? It's an invention made up by me because we have a really old house with a strange floor plan. When we renovated 5 years ago I decided to make the room leading into our bedroom (which is about the size of a small bedroom) my office/laundry room/closet. It works well and honestly I think it is a genius idea ;) but there is one small problem. When this room is a mess, many other areas of my life are a mess.

When I get to cleaning in here, and I mean really cleaning, other areas of my life become more disciplined. As I began cleaning today (which I still am) I also began thinking, why do I let this room get like this? Why do I let it get like this when I know that it affects me in other areas? Why don't I keep up with this one room perfectly since I know that I spend a lot of time in here and it affects how I function and feel?

Now, I am a fairly disciplined person in many areas. I get asked a lot how I write/lead 4 blogs and homeschool, support my husband's ministry work, and do my own ministry work, etc. I can do it because I am very disciplined and focused in many areas. I try each and every day to be the best I can be at everything I am doing, doing it all as if it were for Christ...who strengthens me-(Colossians 3:23, Philippians 4:13). As I was reading my book today I was smacked in the face with the honest truth-there is always room for improvement.

So, I seek to improve. I seek to be more disciplined with my time and other areas of my life. I seek to arise earlier, and on a better schedule. I seek to be more patient and loving to the people who matter most-my husband and children. I seek to keep my priorities in check.

Now, I seek to finish cleaning this room. I know it will make me better in other areas, and I desire to be the best I can be in ALL areas, not just some of them.

Now I Know My ABC's ~ Rr

It's time for some fun Rr activities!!! We hope you enjoy these! If you are new, you can visit our ABC webpage to find links to any other letters we have done, letters (with books listed) coming up, as well as the PDF of the cover sheet for your ABC notebook!

A Rainbow of My Own
by Don Freeman

Summary: A small boy imagines what it would be like to have his own rainbow to play with.

Rr is for Rainbow

Needed:

- Black construction paper & chalk
- Print out the Rr template
- White crayon
- Watercolors

To Make:

1. Have your LO color a piece of black construction paper with chalk.
2. Print out the Rr template.
3. Cut out the Rr's and trace with a white crayon on the chalk picture.
4. Have your LO watercolor paint on another piece of construction paper (white or very light colored), let dry.
5. When the paint is dry, glue your rainbow chalk Rr's on and write 'R is for rainbows' on the page.
6. Hole Punch and add to your alphabet book binder.

Rainbow Puzzle

- Print off and color 2 copies of the Rainbow page.
- Cut out one of the rainbows (each arch) to create a rainbow puzzle for your LO to put together.
- Add a velcro piece to each arch if your LO likes them to stick together.
- Hole punch and add to your alphabet book.


More Rainbow Fun

Make a Rainbow Shaker
Fruit Loop Rainbow
M&M rainbow sorting mat

Cute Tots

Tots sure are cute, aren't they? Be sure to click on the photos to visit the mom bloggers of these cute tots!

Is one of these tots your tot (or has your tot been featured as a Cute Tot in the past)? Grab this button for your blog to share with your readers...

<a href="http://totallytots.blogspot.com/search/label/Cute%20Tots" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Cute Tot" src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/carisafrank/cutetotfeature150.jpg" /></a>

Want to send in a photo of your Cute Tot? Click Here!

Treats 4 Your Tot

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

No Throw, ends 8/29/09

Turtle Taylor Crayon Wallet, ends 8/28/09

Spooneez, ends 8/26/09

Plasma Car, ends 9/7/09

Chic Tots Blanket Bag, ends 9/14/09

Snack n Play Travel Tray, ends 9/3/09

The Ultimate Potty Training Package, ends 8/23/09

Once Upon a Book ~ The Little Train

This Little Train
by Pamela Schiller

Summary: Illustrations and rhyming text show a little train with cars of various colors "rockin' on down the track."

Circle Time

This Little Train

Sung to: “This Old Man"

This little train, painted black
It comes chugging down the track
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

This little car painted blue
It has seats for me and for you
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

This little car painted yellow
It shimmies and shakes like a bowl of jello
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

This little car, painted green
It's the fanciest train car you've ever seen,
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

This little car; it is grey
It takes you places far away
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

This caboose; it is red
It will take you home to bed
With a "Choo-choo; Toot-toot"
Hear the whistle blow
this little train goes chugging home.

Language

All Aboard the Reading Train: Print, color and cut out the Train Engine. Now make a bunch of rectangle train cars with wheels to add to your 'Reading Train'. As you read a book, add a 'book car' to the train on the wall and see how many books it takes to go around the room.

Math/Snack

Train Steam Puff Counting: Go to Teaching My Little Bookworm for directions on how to make this fun counting activity

Art

Box Train: Get a big box that your LO can sit in and have them decorate it to be a train. You can also decorate a few shoe boxes and attach them together with yarn and your LO can take their dolls or stuffed animals around on a train ride.

For more train activities go to Book Worms Book Nook for a Freight Train book lesson plan.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Crafty Corner ~ Transportation

Airplanes

Plane from No Time for Flashcards

Trains

Choo Choo Train from Our Crafts n Things

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo from Our Homeschool Creations

Cars

Race Cars from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Buses

School Bus from Our Crafts n Things

School Bus from No Time for Flashcards

School Bus from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Trucks

Monster Truck from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Shape Truck from Our Crafts n Things

Other...

Traffic Light from A Mommy's Adventures

A few other links for you...

• Transportation Crafts from Enchanted Learning
• Transportation Theme on Making Learning Fun
  

Not crafts but oh so cute...

~Muffin Tin Monday Transportation Theme

~Transportation Theme post from Mind Games

~From Michelle at Delightful Learning...

Prayer Train

When I pray with my little ones, I ask them if they want to be the engine or the caboose. The engine begins the prayer and the caboose closes the prayer. If I am praying with more than one, I add a coal car or passenger car. {we vary the types of trains we pray, lol} It is a great way to encourage little ones to take an active part in learning how to pray together. And they love being different parts of the train. :-)

Do you have a transportation craft on your blog? Email me (CarisaAtTotallyTots@gmail (dot) com) so I can add it here!