five on friday…art work and stories

one of my favorite things about the girls being in school is getting the chance to see their creativity come to life in the form of art and in libbi's case, her writing. i go back and forth between being impressed, laughing hysterically, and sometimes being a bit embarrassed - ha! 
this week's five on friday features some of my favorite original pieces from some of my favorite girls. enjoy! 

one.
this one is not quite an original artwork, but i definitely thought it deserved some recognition. 
laney's teachers do a survey each week where they ask the children in her class a question and then their answers are featured on their class newsletter for all to see. it ranges anywhere from "what's your favorite color?" to "what's inside the egg?" and everything in between. a few weeks back, the question of the week was, "what are you really good at doing?" and when i saw laney's answer i wasn't really sure how to feel. 

on one hand, i was proud of her for telling the truth. because she does, in fact, wake me up…every.single.night. and so i guess she is really good at it. but i also felt like i should explain that to her teachers (and all the parents!) lest they think my poor child has to wake me up during the day because i'm sleeping on the job. ha! i hope the other parents weren't feeling bad about themselves and their parenting skills after reading what laney is so good at. it's okay - the good lord gave us all different talents in life. laney's just so happens to involve waking me up. ;-)

two.
here's one of laney's latest creations from school. the perks of having an older sister? you learn to color earlier and better because she forbids you to scribble scrabble. laney is our little color queen! 

and one of libbi's creations: 
and a funny little backstory about libbi's. apparently the assignment was to create a robot. after they completed it, the art teacher had a high school student recreate the kindergartener's robots out of clay. they were then displayed next to each other at the art show. libbi's robot was adorable and the high school student did an excellent job of replicating it. however… 

when i asked libbi about the name "boo boo" that was labeled on her robot, she seemed a bit confused. she kept telling me that was NOT what she named her robot. she couldn't understand why it was named boo-boo when that wasn't the name she had given it. i was a bit confused myself, until i flipped her paper over. once i saw her little kindergarten handwriting on the back, the name change suddenly made sense. there in her precious left handed scrawl were the letters b-o-o-b. that's right. boob.  i asked, "did you name your robot, 'boob'?!" and she very casually replied - "yes. mrs. xxxxx said we could name it whatever we wanted. so i did." 

and just like that, it all became clear why someone made the executive decision to change boob's name to boo-boo before he was on display for the entire community to see at the art show. 

three.
the past few weeks have been such loooooong, rainy weeks. we've been stuck inside for a good part of it. but when it hasn't been raining, my girls have been outside. they love being outside. all three of them could stay out there for hours. they've really been into the sidewalk chalk lately. libbi and laney drew chalk outlines of their bodies and then filled them in. 

libbi decided to add ovaries to hers.
just kidding. they're actually pockets. couldn't you tell? ;)

four.
reading libbi's stories that she writes and being able to see her imagination at work is so much fun! and i have to admit, it's sometimes a bit funny, too. one of my all time favorites has to be a portrait of jeffrey that she drew for "dad's day" at school. her teacher displayed all the pictures that the students drew and each dad was supposed to identify himself from the picture his child drew. 

as you can imagine, jeffrey wasn't immediately drawn to libbi's. haha! bless her.
i posted this picture on instagram, because all i can think about when i see jeffrey's portrait is maury povich saying, "the results are in…. and you ARE the father!" and the audience gasping because it's such a shock. hahaha!

five.
and finally, i can't forget baby liza. she is growing up every day and changing so much! she is just the sweetest thing and has the cutest smile i've ever seen. the big girls adore her and she feels the same way about them. i love watching her discover new things each day. our sweet liza pig. and she loves to draw with sidewalk chalk just as much as she loves eating it. :)

i am so thankful for my girls and their creative minds. :)
happy weekend, friends!

five on friday…. by the numbers

it's been a doozy of a week for the tippins fam. between "snow" days and sickness we've been homebound quite a bit. so for a quick catch up, here's our five on friday by the numbers….

FIVE.

the number of bottles of tamiflu we currently have at our house. the bottles states that it is "tutti frutti" flavored. i beg to differ.  it's more like just straight toot. gag.

FOUR.

the number of people taking those doses of tamiflu. might i add that some of us are better at taking it than others. but i'm not naming any names (cough, cough…LIBBI!) libbi and liza both had/have the flu, but laney and i are taking one for the team and downing our preventative tamiflu on the daily. here's to hoping it works! 

THREE. 

the number of times a day i've been giving out medications. ha! i feel like the resident nurse calling everyone to the clinic for their meds. liza also has a lovely double ear infection so she gets a cocktail of amoxicillin and tamiflu. laney and i take our tamiflu, then libbi takes hers plus tylenol/ibuprofen for her fever as needed. we're our own little pharmacy….or something. ;)

TWO.

the number of snow days we had this week. which actually means zero days of snow and two days off of school. ;-) but it worked out in our favor….because if there is ever a time to be sick with the flu - snow days, when there isn't any snow but it's too yucky to go outside, and school is cancelled so you're not counted absent are the days to do it! 

ONE.

the number of days this tired momma wishes her children would sleep in. haha! just kidding….kind of. 

seriously, it's hard when everyone is sick and irritable, but there is really only ONE place i'd want to be - and that's with my girls, sick or not. i'm thankful that a week sick at home means a week at home together. 

hope y'all had a great week and here's to a (restful) and HEALTHY weekend!

five on friday....

it's time for five on friday again. a quick list of five random things that have been going on in the tippins house as of late. most of these are things that have made me laugh this week. it's been a long week, and it's always nice to laugh. :) 

one.
it seems as though i maybe should have made blogging more consistently one of my new year's resolutions. but, y'all! i can barely even keep up with what day it is. i am SUCH a creature of habit and these holidays in the middle of the week have really put a kink in my routine. between christmas, new year's, and now school days being cancelled due to the weather. i am so confused about what day it is. and i'm ready for our "normal" routine to start back. anyone else feel this way? 

two. 
when both girls went back to school this week, they had a visit from a local police officer. he came to talk to the classes and teach them about safety and the importance of wearing seatbelts, etc. the girls were very impressed. laney more so with the stickers he gave out than the information he shared, but whatever. i asked libbi if the officer had discussed what to do if you were in a dangerous situation and she said, "yes." i was thinking that he may have talked about calling "911" with the four year old classes, so i asked, "did y'all talk about calling for help?" and again she said, "yes." 
i was preparing myself to be impressed when she explained how to dial 911 in case of an emergency, so i said, "how do you call for help?" and she very seriously replied, "HHHEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPP!!!!!" at the top of her lungs. well played, libbi. well played. 

three. 
i lose my phone at least 50 times a day. for some reason, i never remember to turn it off of "silent" so i never hear it ring. the problem is, then i forget where i put it and no one can call me to help find it, because - duh - we can't hear it! i'm pretty sure one of jeffrey's biggest pet peeves is that i never know where my phone is and that it's always on silent. oops. 

four.
the girls and i are going to see "frozen" tomorrow. i think i'm more excited than they are. i've been dying to see it! i've tried to take them a few times already, but libbi is adamant that she "doesn't like movie theaters." she says they're too loud and too dark. which is probably true. she is sensitive to loud noises and can get overwhelmed easily, but i know that she'd be fine once she got there. since her cousin blakeley is going to be there tomorrow, too. libbi has now decided that she can brave the theater. as long as she can sit by blakeley. and have popcorn. and m&m's. (and she asked me before bed tonight if she could drink coke, too. ha! i said, "you don't even like coke!" and she said, "i know. it's gross. but that's what people drink at the movies. i wish i liked coke.") she also asked if the lights would go off and the curtain would come up when it was time for the movie and someone would say, "introducingggg, FROZEN!" 
hope she's not too disappointed with our popcorn, water, and stadium seating. ;) 

five.
i've saved the best for last. and y'all may not think this is funny at all, but it cracks me up. i can't stand it. it just makes me laugh every single time i watch it. there's an app for the iPad called "doodlecast" and it's really cute. it gives writing prompts and then records your child's voice and drawings as they finish the prompt to tell the story. things like, "what is your favorite toy?" or "who is wearing the boots?" 
libbi really loves this app and it's fun to see her use her imagination and start to make up stories and illustrations. laney loves it too, but she just likes filling the screen with scribbles. i have to go in periodically and delete the stories she's made because it's literally 30 short stories that are filled with nothing but red screens and laney's heavy breathing. ha!

anyway, today i was deleting some of laney's "stories" and i came across a few that the girls had done together (unbeknownst to me). i have watched them and laughed and laughed. this was one of my favorites. but a few points first - 
-you can't blame the girls for their answer - they were basically set up. ;)
-we've had many a conversation about "bathroom words" and how it's not appropriate to use them in certain situations. laney likes to just throw out all the words she knows in a string of potty humor and the girls think it's hilarious. 
-they failed to remember that their "potty story" was being recorded for posterity. the internet never dies, ladies. 

enjoy, friends! :) 


happy friday! 

five on friday...

it's time for the first "five on friday" of the year.... and i'm sorry to say - it's not really anything groundbreaking. just a typical random post! but here goes nothing, 
five on friday 2014 style ;)

one.
my goal for this weekend is to get our lives back to normal. {whatever that is}
things have been so wild since christmas. i actually hurt my back on christmas eve and have been out of commission since. i'm pretty sure i'd rather birth another baby than have back pain. since i haven't been able to move (literally!) that also means i haven't been able to clean up all the aftermath from christmas. and we've been homebound. since we've been stuck at home, the mess just keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse....if my back didn't hurt, i'm sure my head would. ;)


two.
i feel like my vocabulary has consisted of a few select phrases the past two weeks. they have become the soundtrack of my day, playing constantly on "repeat"
"share with your sister."
"who had it first?"
"just leave her alone."
"get off the baby."
"be kind."
"be kind."
"be kind."
"you JUST ate!"
haha! does anyone else feel like this?! ;)
my girls love each other, but they fight just as hard as they love. and with the excitement of christmas, different schedules, no school, grandparents, cousins, and everything in between - they have been a little "overstimulated" lately. we all need a good detox this weekend.

three.
i'm not really sure why our girls got any clothes for christmas. they've either been in jammies or dress up clothes every day since. both laney and libbi change clothes a million times a day. we have tried to institute a "one wardrobe change a day" rule because the laundry quickly gets out of control, but they somehow always find a way around it. libbi is very particular about her outfits, while laney couldn't care less. she will wear anything and everything. lately she's wanted to be "prince charming" which means i wrap a blanket around her like a towel. i'm not sure where that came from. tonight she kept telling me she wanted to be "beautiful, beautiful like God" and i think she meant an angel? again, i'm not sure. but she wanted Liza's blanket draped over hear head like a shawl. who knows???? but it's often in my best interest to just go with it. ;)

four.
libbi has taken to calling laney, "lane-ster" and it cracks me up. every time.
she'll say, "c'mon lane-ster! let's go play" and of course lane-ster calls libbi, "yibs."
lane-ster and yibs are quite the dynamic duo (aka double trouble) these days. and laney still likes to call me, "momma pig" (thanks to peppa) and jeffrey is "daddy pig" so naturally we now add "pig" to the end of their names - ha! if anyone were to hear us, i want to explain that it's because of peppa pig and the pig family - we are definitely NOT calling each other pigs -ha!

five.
little liza pig is just the happiest little baby. she doesn't even hold it against me that i STILL haven't posted her 4 and 5 months posts - even though she's about to be 6 months! what?! time is flying by, isn't it?!

hope y'all have a great weekend!

trying for the weekend...

five on friday, full force ahead....

in the spirit of my 31 days of honest effort, today's five on friday is all about ways we're going to dig in and do life this weekend! no matter how little sleep i've had, how "busy" we think we are, or how fussy  a certain two year old may be, i'm determined to make this weekend a good one...full of family, fun, and lots of memories! :) 

 **********************

1. the girls and i spent today at my parents' house. libbi and laney just love being outside at their house and swinging on the "playground" (as libbi calls it). those girls could stay outside all day. and for the most part, we did. it's such a beautiful time of year and we just had the best time swinging and playing and enjoying the fall weather. we topped our evening off with dinner at the mexican restaurant. pretty much the best day ever as far as my girls were concerned: grandparents, swinging, and cheese dip. what more could they ask for? 

2. tomorrow we're celebrating my niece's first birthday! we can't wait to celebrate sweet little mattie and her first year of life. there's just something so precious about first birthdays. i love the promise of the year ahead and the celebration of the year behind. plus, any time there is cake involved, i'm in. :)

3. after the party, the girls and i are going to a festival at the local park tomorrow. it's always an adventure taking all three out by myself, but we're making memories and that's what counts. and again, there will be cake (and other food) at the festival, so all of us tippins girls are up for the challenge. 

4. jeffrey and i are celebrating our anniversary this weekend! it's been a crazy, busy, wonderful six years. i'm so thankful for his friendship and his love. we're going out on sunday, so once again, there will be food-ha! i'm starting to detect a theme here....and possibly a good reason for why i've still got baby weight hanging around. 

5. finally, we're in the process of moving the big girls in together. and when i say, "in the process" i mean i'm basically prepping libbi for sharing a room with her sister - ha! but, seriously - i'm in the beginning stages of planning out their room (if you follow me on pinterest, i'm sorry for blowing up your feed with shared bedroom pins). i have to keep reminding myself it is a work in progress. i don't know why i feel like there's going to be this grand "reveal" and all will have to be complete before they can move in. obviously that's not the case. and i'd also like to know if it's possible for me to become one of those people that has a ridiculously low budget, and stays under it. you know they type - they write posts like - "how i designed susie's room for less than $200!"? yet they still have all these fancy looking pieces and somehow just got really "lucky" with their thrift shop finds. 
do those people really exist? and if so, how can i become one? all tips (and cheap thrift store finds) welcome ;-)

happy friday, friends! can't wait to see what the weekend brings!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good. 

Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!" 

Psalm 34:8

this is day eleven in the series "31 days of honest effort" 

(click the link to read all posts in the series) 

five on friday...free activities for your littles!

i may be a little late, but i'm back this week with more educational activities for your preschooler and free printables!  this week's five on friday features more activities for your little ones this summer! in honor of "national watermelon day" on august 3rd (who knew?!) this week's theme is...yep, you guessed it: watermelons! 

to read more about the five on friday series and to see theme's from week's past, CLICK HERE.
read on for this week's five on friday: watermelons.. (all printables/links at bottom of post).

one
paper plate/torn paper watermelons: give your child a paper plate cut in half. you can finger paint edges green, the center red/pink and add seeds to the middle (using fingerprints or actual watermelon seeds). you can also have your child tear small pieces of green paper for the edges/red/pink for the middle and black for the seeds. this is a great fine motor skill for older children.

two
seed matching/chocolate chip watermelons:  you can write a number on a watermelon "slice" and have your child add the coordinating number of seeds (using chocolate chips as the seeds) he/she can eat them when finished! or feel free to use the printable - cut them out, laminate if you choose or cover in contact paper. seed matching - use the printable, or paper plate watermelons, or draw your own. add "Seeds" to the watermelons. have your child find the matching slice with the same number of seeds.

three
watermelon book: read the watermelon poem with your child. sing it, chant it, make up motions to it. cut out the rectangles for the book. have your child illustrate the pages in the book. have him/her read it back to you or to a younger sibling.

four

one in a melon photo frame: you can use the watermelon from the first day if you chose to paint instead of tear paper. otherwise, paint a paper plate to resemble a watermelon (green edge, red/pink center, black seeds). cut a hole in the middle and attach a picture. you can write directly on the plate or use the printable tag included. 

five
watermelon treats: enjoy slices of watermelon. freeze cubes of watermelon to make "popsicles", put a popsicle stick on a watermelon triangle to make a popsicle. bake cupcakes and dye them green using food coloring. ice them in red and add chocolate chips for the seeds. the possibilities are endless! while you are making/eating your watermelon snack - you can also make a popsicle stick watermelon. paint three sticks green, and four red. hot glue or tape together. add fingerprint seeds or actual watermelon seeds (See picture for example). 

via google images

feel free to email me with any questions - i'll be happy to help! mrsamytippins {at} gmail {dot} com

**CLICK HERE for free printables and directions from above.

and finally, if you're interested, in honor of "watermelon week" you can get 10% off the watermelon themed personalized placemats from my etsy shop, one good name. just enter the code "watermelon10" at checkout!

happy friday, friends!

five on friday -activities for littles and FREE printables...

happy friday! hope y'all had a wonderful fourth of july...it rained, and rained, and rained here. luckily, the girls were able to go to their grandparents' house so i'm pretty sure they weren't too bummed about missing out on all our previous planned festivities that were cancelled due to the weather. ;)

this week's five on friday features more activities for your little ones this summer! the calendar for this upcoming week is based on the theme of, "seashells." if you don't have any lying around from past beach trips, you can find seashells in the craft department at most stores - walmart, michaels, hobby lobby, etc. we've even found some at the dollar store before. and if you don't have time to get out and about to find some shells, you can always use clip art, noodles, or even rocks and just "pretend" they're shells. :)

to read more about the five on friday series and to see theme's from week's past, CLICK HERE.
read on for this week's five on friday: seashells...

one.
sorting seashells. you can use a sorting tray if you have one - i have a few leftover from my kindergarten teaching days - but really, anything with separate compartments works. ice cube trays, lunch trays, divided plates, etc. you can even use hula hoops, masking tape, or yarn to make sorting circles. depending on the age and ability of your child, he/she can sort seashells by color, size, shape, attribute, etc. get creative!

two.
seashell painting. you can use some of the shells you worked with yesterday and paint them adding glitter, stickers, and other accessories. set up a seashell museum (older children can even "name" and describe their shells for the museum). you can use air dry clay to make shell impressions. when it dries, you can paint the impression. or just use regular old playdoh and make shell impressions. roll out the dough, flatten, and repeat. rolling "snakes" out of playdoh and flattening it out are great fine motor skills for little ones!

three.
seashell sand pail. use the printable at the end of this post to help your child practice one to one correspondence as well as number recognition. you can print one copy of the attachment and laminate it (or cover it with clear contact paper) to conserve paper and time :)
write a number on the sand pail with a dry erase marker and have your child place that number of shells on the sand/in the pail. wipe off, write another number, and repeat.
there are a number of extensions for this activity... you can write number words instead of the numerals for older children and have them practice reading the words then placing that many shells on the mat.
your child can write a number by themselves and place the shells on. you could start with the shells on the mat FIRST, have your child count them, and he/she writes the corresponding numeral on the pail.
for younger children, you can practice numbers up to five. count to one; put on one shell. count to two; put on two shells, etc.
if you choose not to use the printable, you can use tea light containers, bowls, or even actual sand pails to complete the activity.

four.
paper plate oyster. paint a paper plate (make sure it is not "wax" covered) and fold it in half. place a cotton ball on the inside for the "pearl" inside the oyster.
ABC shells. label the inside of 26 shells with the 26 letters of the alphabet. have your child place them in ABC order. or flip them over and identify the letter on the back. you can also use these to spell out simple sight words (it, on, and, are, is, then, that, why, you, etc, etc, etc).

image via

five. 

seashell pearl cookies you will need vanilla wafers, icing, pink/red food coloring (if desired), and yogurt covered raisins.
tint the icing pink to resemble the inside of a shell. ice the flat side of one vanilla wafer. place the yogurt covered raisin on top as the "pearl" ice the flat side of the other vanilla wafer and place on top of your "pearl" at a right angle.

image via

PRINTABLES:
seashell calendar AND sand pail game

don't forget to check out the five on friday activities and FREE printables from week's past (sea life, flags, stars and stripes, beach, and more!)

feel free to email me with any questions or comments. hope you enjoy! :) 

five on friday; activities for littles and FREE printables...

after all the birthday celebrations, i'm a little behind with my "five on friday" post this week, but better late than never, right? maybe i'll just call it six on sunday and add in an extra element? whatever works-ha!

if you're just joining in on the fun, then you may not know what all my five on friday entails. i've created a calendar of five thematic activities for little ones to complete each week during the summer. if you click on the links below, you will find the activities, crafts, and FREE printables for each of the previous week's themes....

the first week consisted of "FLAGS AND FATHERS"

week two continued with "BEACH TIME" and here we are with week three.

this week's five on friday theme is "under the sea" (because who doesn't LOVE the beach?!) 

one.

sorting and graphing rainbow goldfish. you can use sorting trays, cut out circles, ice cube trays, even hula hoops or yarn circles to create sorting mats. sort the goldfish by color. after your child has sorted the fish, you can complete the goldfish graph (FREE PRINTABLE at bottom of the post). 

you can also make goldfish patterns on strips of paper. 

two.

use the FREE PRINTABLE (link at bottom of the post) to create fishy races. glue or place the goldfish in each row to correlate with the numeral at the beginning of the row. you can always cover the numeral and use number words for older children. 

three.

if your kiddos are anything like mine, then they love to play in the water! my girls love to fill and pour and refill and pour over and over and over. measuring cups, spoons, shovels, buckets, etc are all they need! you can include some seashells (i've found some at hobby lobby, michaels, walmart, and the dollar store), fish cut out of sponges, and ice cube boats to play with. 

(ICE CUBE BOAT DIRECTIONS)

your little ones can go on a buried treasure hunt for an object that you've hidden in the water table, collect seashells, go fishing, or just play! :) 

image via alphamom.com

four.

continue last week's fun of hand/foot print sea animals. add your newest animals to an ocean mural, make a sea animal bunting, or just display around your home for a nice "beachy" feel! :) 

five. 

anything involving food is always a favorite for my girls (and me, too!) ;-)

here are two fun snacks you can make with your little ones:

first up, a graham cracker ocean scene: you will need a graham cracker square for each child, blue icing (or white w/blue food coloring) goldfish crackers. 

spread the blue icing on the graham cracker for the "water." place 3-4 goldfish on top. you could also use swedish fish, or any of the sea life gummies.

another fun snack idea:

fishing for snacks: give each child a pretzel rod and scoop of peanut butter. have him/her dip the pretzel in the PB and "go fish" for a goldfish cracker using the pretzel rod as a fishing pole.

thanks for stopping by for "five on friday" - as always, feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments on the activities. and since i was a little late posting, i have added in an "extra" printable. click on the link below for the fishy color words printable! 

have a great week, friends! :) 

UNDER THE SEA PRINTABLE

FISH GRAPH

FISHY RACES

FISH COLOR WORDS PRINTABLE