preschool co-op

Bee went to a traditional preschool last year and loved it, but when I heard some friends were organizing a preschool co-op, I decided to try it. We've been having a Monday morning playgroup with these same kids for two years now, so all the children are buddies, all the moms are well acquainted with each child's personality, and the kids feel really comfortable at each home. (And I should mention that all of the moms in this co-op are pretty amazing, so I knew Bee was in good hands.)

A few details, in case you're interested:

-There are five children in our co-op, and all are 4 to 5 years old and starting kindergarten next Fall. (I think 5 kids is the perfect size for a class).

-We teach in two week rotations, two days a week for three hours, rotating houses. (It makes for a busy two weeks, but once you're in the preschool mode it's nice to stay in it for a while and then you have a little break before you teach again a few months later.)

-We follow a pretty detailed schedule so that the structure of the day stays the same no matter who is teaching. The kids are really into the order of things, and can usually tell you what we're going to do next.

-We're basing our curriculum on children's books. A new book each week which helps you figure out your art or science projects. For example, I just taught Where the Wild Things Are, so during the week we made Wild Thing masks, talked about manners and how we are not Wild Things, learned all about seeds and how things grow (like the jungle growing in Max's room), and for music had a wild rumpus dance party.

Last week we focused on Thanksgiving, and I chose the book The Story of the Pilgrims. It's not a complete history lesson, but it was perfect for this age group. During the week we learned about the pilgrims and the indians (aka Native Americans), focused on being thankful, baked pumpkin muffins, made Thankful trees with paper leaves, and dressed up as pilgrims and indians for a feast.

I remembered these paper bag vests from an old Halloween costume we did at Martha Stewart Kids, and the kids had fun fringing the bottoms and decorating their vests. We strung indian necklaces (cheerios on some yarn) and made feather headbands (grosgrain ribbon with a slit cut in it for a feather).

We also made these super easy pilgrim bonnets and hats, so the children could decide whether they wanted to be a pilgrim or an indian for our feast.

The kids and I are in charge of the decorations for the kids table at Grandma and Grandpa's this year, and I'm thinking these would be awfully cute at each place setting. Bee and C will have way too much fun chasing their cousins around while we finish dinner.

Family nearby, good food, happy kids.. all things I am truly thankful for.

a birth announcement for baby m

Since sweet Baby M arrived early, I thought a postal theme might be nice for her baby announcements. Just a little postmark with her name and birthday (I've changed some information here for privacy, including her name). I kept it simple.. letterpressed in gray, with a lined red and blue striped envelope.

My friend Sue Corral at Page Stationery printed these for me. Back when we were both art directors at Martha Stewart, Sue showed me the ropes, and then she left to do what every art director dreams of doing: starting her own stationery company. Page Stationery is now 11 years old, and Sue has perfected the art of letterpress printing. I love the nice thick card they use, so the letterpress makes a nice deep impression. (You can see their pretty holiday cards here..)

Lining envelopes always makes things feel special. I printed this striped pattern myself, but you can line an envelope with wrapping paper, colored glassine, old maps, copies of blown up photos, etc. I always use this tutorial, which uses a glue stick (I like to use a spare catalog for scrap paper, turning a page for each envelope so you don't get any glue residue on the next one).

So when is it too late to send out baby announcements? I always like to wait a few months to take a birth announcement photo. My babies tend to look like scrawny old men for the first few weeks, then get progressively cuter as they put a little chub on. Three months is my favorite age for pictures... you can get them to smile on cue, yet they still have that sweet new baby feel. I got these announcements out the door when Baby M was 4 months old, and they are mostly sent to friends and family who live far away and have not seen her, so I'm calling it good.

Now on to the Christmas cards!

a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

There seems to be two constants in my sons life: legos and Star Wars. Other toys come and go, but he always returns to those two. So I wasn't totally shocked when C told me he wanted to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween.

We always try to make our costumes from stuff around the house. And if we do need to buy something, I try to make it something that will go in our dress up box after Halloween. The boot covers gave me a little trouble, but all in all, this was a pretty easy costume. We borrowed a karate shirt from a friend (a few sizes too big so it hangs down like Luke's), grabbed some tan cords we already had, and made some boot covers and a belt out of some tan felt.

The poses C came up with are awesome, I think he's been practicing these for a while.

My daughter Bee had specific instructions for her costume. "Princess Leia, but not when she's wearing a dress... like when she's a fighter." I can't recall Princess Leia actually wearing this outfit, but Bee thought it was perfect.

We found some cream colored long underwear for $8 at Target, we made a cape out of some cream fleece and boot covers from brown felt, and I happened to have a white yoga belt that we wrapped around her a few times. We put her hair in buns, and handed her a Nerf gun.

Baby M joined the group as Yoda, wisest of the Jedi's. We already had a light green onesie and pants, and a brown wooly cardigan. I cut some ears out of green felt and sewed them to a light green pilots cap (a hand me down from Bee). I wish I had a photo I could show you.. the serious little faces Baby M makes were perfect for a wise Jedi master.

Just your average brother and sister team taking on the Empire. Happy Halloween!