Weekly Theme: Trees & Leaves!

I've been thinking about trying something new on this blog! I've had a lot of people (when they found out I was expecting my fifth little one) ask "How on earth do you do it all?" The short answer is, of course, "I don't." In fact, I still consider myself quite the amateur at this motherhood thing (hense the name of the blog!) But, I did think it would be fun to share some of the tips and tricks and fun things that I have found along the way. And hopefully other people will jump in on the comments section and share what things work for them!

One of the things I really enjoy doing with my kids is having a weekly "theme." It started when my oldest child was about eighteen-months-old. Being the responsible mom that I was, I read an article somewhere on the internet that said that eighteen-month-olds should have a 300 word vocabulary. I of course panicked that my poor child only knew ooohhh about 200 words, and therefore I must take action to help her!!! (I have sinse learned that none of my children are ever at a shortage for words.....I have never since worried that they do not speak enough!) But, I had so much fun with the weekly theme idea, that I tried to keep it up!

So, I thought I would start by posting the weekly theme ideas every week that I use at my house. Right now I only do the theme ideas with my three-year-old. My older kids are all in school now, and I'm a big beliver that kids need some unstructured time to just be kids. And with our crazy schedule, the older kids don't get a lot of unstructured time. I do put together themes for my other kids when they're not in school (so I'll have some for the older kids at the end of November, when they're out of school for Thanksgiving Break).

The weekly theme for next week (I start them on Mondays) is Trees & Leaves. If you'd like to join in, I've posted a link to all the activities I'll be using here:

Trees & Leaves 

It also includes a list of all the materials you'll need for the week (I try really hard to use stuff that's just around the house - and you can always substitute something you have as opposed to buying "stuff") There is also a snack for every day of the week and a list of all the ingredients for those as well!

If it sounds like fun, you're invited to join us! You can use all or just part of the weekly plan - my confession: I don't always do all of the activities listed either!

I'll post throughout the week, how we've been doing the activities, and I'd love to hear from you, if you try any of them as well!!