Random Things of Beauty

So I've been wanting to do a personal post for some time now ... but I just didn't have the inspiration. Then today I had a sweet new visitor to my blog who left a wonderful comment and I took some time to visit her site. I'm so glad I did, because it was the inspiration I needed! She is over at The ArtsyGirl Connection and had a beautiful fall craft that she made out of old bottles. Go check it out! With that in my mind, I realized there were some neat things that I had been wanting to blog about and my ideas came together.

I have some random things I'm posting today ... but they are all things that have brought me joy in some fashion. I am really enjoying the beginning of fall here. I love this time of year when the air gets crisp and the leaves start to change into such beautiful colors and then fall and get blown around everywhere. I love being able to snuggle into my blankets at night without having to put the heat on and then wearing sweaters again in the daytime. Below are some other things that have brought beauty into my life.


Isn't this morning glory just beautiful? I love how the light shines through it. It is amazing to me the tiny blessings the Lord brings. The ones that if I'm not looking closely and paying attention I would totally miss; like this single little morning glory flower that bloomed in my vegetable garden. It somehow crept and climbed its way from over in my neighbor's garden on the other side of the fence into mine. It must have made its way over sometime last year - because my neighbor doesn't have that morning glory vine in her garden anymore! You can see how tiny and easily missed it could be surrounded by all the vegetation of my little garden.



So, I didn't even realize until I brought this watering can home that I have a collection of them! I didn't know what I was going to do with it until I collected some wildflowers and saw what a perfect fit they would be. It was on a hike with my son that we collected these pine cones and small turkey feather so I added them to the display. This goes so well with my names of God poster with the fall colors in it.

This was another wildflower arrangement I made after another hike this time with L and J.

It is barely visible (more so in the first picture), but I stepped outside during a rain shower yesterday when the sun was shining behind me and caught a glimpse of a faint rainbow. In the second picture, you can see the sunshine reflecting off the leaves. I thoroughly enjoy watching as the leaves are changing colors.


Now for some fun pictures of my little J:

He just loves this little chalkboard I found on Amazon. He is starting to draw people and creatures now and he is so excited to show me and tell me all about what he is drawing. This picture was Oscar the Grouch! It just lights up my heart.



This little guy is a climbing bear that his Grampa Bernie MADE for him. It is really sweet. You pull the wooden knobs and the bear shimmies up to the top. We've all had fun playing with it together. I love hand-made toys!


J is really into building and creating things now more than ever. His daddy is really enjoying it too. Here they put together a cool boat using his Trio building kit. He loves using the diagram and helping to make what's in the picture.



He was really creative with this little guy; using his Trio blocks to make a body and then putting his Mr. Potato Head pieces on to make the face, arms and feet. We both were laughing really hard when he was done putting him together. It looked so stinkin' cute and he thought of it all by himself!



I just love how he never seems to tire of dressing up and playing fireman. Here he got his helmet, gloves, jacket and boots and then off he goes to "fight the fire" and rescue people.

Well, those are a few of the things that have been touching my heart lately that I thought I'd share. Thanks for taking the time to visit and spend some time with me here!

Home Preschool - Farm Unit

We had a great week in our second unit of preschool, The Farm. J is really enjoying learning so many new things and he keeps asking me everyday, "Let's do preschool mommy!" I am blessed to stay at home and it is wonderful to have so many good curriculum ideas available on the internet. We are doing unit-based learning so we are not doing the alphabet in order. Most of my printables come from Home School Creations although this week's Farm Preschool Pack came from 2 Teaching Mommies. I enjoy getting new ideas from Jolanthe's link-up too.

Click the button below to see what other moms are doing:

Barn Size Sorting

In this activity, J was sorting by size. He separated the barns into small, medium and big. He does this one pretty well, but had a little trouble with a couple of the smaller ones.

Number Matching - Tractor

In this activity, he had to recognize numbers 1 through 10 and match up the piece of the puzzle with the matching number. When he was done, he had a picture of a red tractor.

Just having a little fun putting the number strip on his head.

Number Matching - Cow

This one was learning to recognize numbers 11-20. This was MUCH harder for him. We will spend a lot of time working on his numbers. When he was done, he had a picture of a cow. Here, saying Cheese!

Animal Shadow Matching

This one was an interesting activity - matching the shadow with the animal. He really had fun with this one, but it was pretty easy for him.

Gigglebellies - Old McDonald Had a Farm

J just loves music and dancing so I pulled up this song on You-Tube. We really like the Gigglebellies and Old McDonald went with our theme. They are very colorful and engaging and we like the songs. So far, we just watch them on You-Tube but they do have a DVD available.

Do-A-Dot Letter F

We haven't gotten out his do-a-dot paints in a while so this was a nice activity.

Tracing the Letter F - Capitol and Lowercase

This is a really challenging activity for J which I like. It is so great for his fine motor learning and part of the three R's (reading, writing and arithmetic). We used the giant pencil just for fun. I'm still trying to find a good kids pencil for him. Maybe we'll use a short golf pencil next time.

Matching Capitol and Lowercase Letters

Pigs in the Mud - Matching Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

This is something J asked me to get out several times just to do on his own. It is matching the lowercase letter on the pig with the uppercase letter on the mud part of the page.

Potato Stamp Art

Our craft was using potatoes to do art work. I cut a potato in half and then put different colors of do-a-dot paint on them so he could stamp them on the page. I made one of my own after J was done since I liked how it turned out!

The Reading Nook for the Day

J found a great place to read one afternoon. It was very cute.

Books We Read:
Richard Scarry's The Animals of Farmer Jones



The Noisy Farm by Marni McGee

Picnic Farm by Christine Morton-Shaw

Let's Go to the Farm by Vermont Story Works

I am also linking up at Get Crafty - Red Ted Art's Blog

and Our Country Road - Pinterest Tuesday

And Finally, Linking up to Play Academy!

Next week's theme: Dinosaur Unit

Thanks for visiting!

What My Child is Reading (The Farm)

One of J's favorite activities is reading books and I absolutely love cuddling him on my lap and reading. I like to link up to What My Child Is Reading blog link-up. Not only is it a great way to record the wonderful books we've read, but I've found so many new good book ideas by visiting each week.

We have started doing home preschool and this week was a unit on The Farm. Our books followed that theme.

Click on the button below to see what others have been reading!

Richard Scarry's The Animals of Farmer Jones



Richard Scarry books are always a favorite in our house. This was such a sweet and simple story. All the farm animals are anxiously awaiting Farmer Jones and wonder why he hasn't come to feed them. Happily, they all end up with their food.

The Noisy Farm by Marni McGee

This book was so much fun for us as it takes you through a day on the farm with all the lovely sounds the farmer hears. Very fun making all the cute animal noises together.

Picnic Farm by Christine Morton-Shaw

We love picnics and what's great about this book is it shows kids the different types of foods that come from a farm. The kids visit the farm and all the animals and then they have a picnic with the food from the farm.


Let's Go to the Farm by Vermont Story Works

This book was very educational. It's a real working farm and the pictures are photographs that are painted over. Pretty neat and I like the detail about farm life.


Thanks for visiting!