Proof Reading

Because this blogging world is new to me, it takes a while for me to catch on. After reading my last post I have definitely learned that I should proof-read before publishing....sorry about that!!!! Apparently I can't edit once it has been published....live and learn! ;-)

Morning Message

One thing I like to do with the kids is have a Morning Message ready for them. Obviously they can not actually read it yet, so I read it to them, but there are certain skills I try to reinforce while reading the Morning Message.

• First, I make sure I point to each word as I read so they will start to learn that these letters make up words and that I read them from left to right.
  
• Also, I start out each Morning Message the same way "Good Morning Hailey and Blake" and I always end it with "Love, Mom" so they are learning to recognize those words and they feel confident when they can read that part.
  
• After the reading the message I pick a letter of the day and Hailey has to circle as many as she can find.
  
• We also talk about spaces between words
  
• And although it was not my plan yet, she is fascinated by question marks and exclamation marks...so we talk about punctuation.
  
• I also feel it serves an important purpose because they kids know what the plan for the day is instead of just being drug around from place to place. Here is an example of a couple of our morning messages -

AND



This is what it looks like when we are done talking about it:



One thing I have learned with my Morning Messages is that I need to work on my penmenship! Sometimes Hailey will have a hard time finding a letter if I wrote to quickly or it is too sloppy...oops!

I would love to hear if you decided to try a Morning Message!

Pinterest

My first piece of advice for everyone is to start playing around on Pinterest!!!! Such an AMAZING website. Basically it is a way to sort and store any and all ideas you might find while searching websites or reading great blog ideas. I was always reading ideas and then later forgetting them or not being able to remember what site I saw it on. Not any more! It is also great for us who plan to one day build a house...any time I see something I like I just "pin" it. It is wonderful...but addicting, so be careful...pinterest at your own risk ;-)

You can follow my pinterest pins here:
calanagan

Blog Intro

So, this is my first official post for the new blog....I can't wait to finally get this blog up and running...thank you to all of you taking the time to read it. My goals for this blog are to entertain you, befriend you and hopefully inspire you.

Some things you might notice if you start to follow this blog are:

• I am not computer savvy at all!!!! In fact that is the one reason I have put off starting this blog. I am hoping to learn as I go and maybe even take a computer class along the way....please bare with me and give me feedback or suggestions along the way.
• This blog is a hodge podge of things which will effectively represent the randomness which is my life. (One day when I learn how to use my computer I will hopefully create tabs which will help to sort the randomness....one day!)
• I tend to write like I talk so you will see lots of "....". I am not sure why I use so many of those things...perhaps to represent the flow of thought...not sure (see I did it twice in one sentence, maybe I will work on this for the future before it gets too annoying)

What I hope to write about when given time (which does not come easily in this house)

• My random every day thoughts, ideas, about me, get to know you kind of things
• My craft tutorials, ideas, and suggestions
• My kids....you will see A LOT of my kids, I am sure! And the many crafts/activities/lessons I do with them
  
• My decorating and sense of style (I am hoping this will give me reason to actually decorate my house the way I want it)
• And the process of building a new house (which we are hoping to start soon)
  

Happy Reading and Welcome to Candy Apples!!!!