Halloween Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division and More on Terrific Tuesday

Teachers Pay Teachers
I've been trying to crank out more mystery pictures for Halloween. It is really encouraging to see the feedback from other teachers that say how the pictures were helpful and that their students liked them.

I just finished a set of multi-digit multiplication and division worksheets for the upcoming holiday. These are great for centers, individual practice, and more. Each worksheet also has an answer key to help when it comes time to correct the worksheets.

The larger the math problem, the trickier it gets to make the worksheets. I need to figure out an easier way to have the worksheets cover more difficult concepts. 

They are pretty fun to make! After I put the worksheet together, I duplicate the slide so that I can color the image in Photoshop.

You can find the Halloween Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division Mystery Pictures packet on Teachers Pay Teachers.

I am split on what to create next. I've been thinking about translating the worksheets into Spanish for dual-immersion classrooms or Spanish classrooms to use. I've also considered doing Halloween sight words and decimals too. If you have an opinion, comment below!

Currently Reading
It's been a while since I have shared what I am reading and here's why:

This book weighs in at just over 1,000 pages. I haven't read a book this long before and it is smaller print than I am used to. From Goodreads:

"Speak again the ancient oaths,
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
And return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Roshar is a world of stone swept by tempests that shape ecology and civilization. Animals and plants retract; cities are built in shelter. In centuries since ten orders of Knights fell, their Shardblade swords and Shardplate armor still transform men into near-invincible warriors. Wars are fought for them, and won by them."

This isn't my first Brandon Sanderson, which is good because I think I would have abandoned this story or not even tried. My current thoughts:
-The characters are interesting so far. Kaladin and Shallan are interesting.
-The style is pretty similar to the first few Mistborn books
-I don't know if I can finish 1,000 pages

Before you read this book, read some others by Brandon Sanderson so you can keep the faith that this book will be good. Book 3 is coming out next month so it would be nice to be done with the first 2 books by then; however, life is crazy and I am easily distracted. haha. We will have to see.

LDS General Conference
We had General Conference September 30th and October 1st. The church leaders speak to all of us on various topics that they want us to hear. You can find them here.

In order to re-listen and try to learn from them (because I am horrible at remembering to set aside time for Gospel study), I have been downloading different audio files of the talks onto my cell phone and then playing them when we go for morning walks. 

This is one of my favorite talks from Conference. You can also find it here.

Being a Mom Update
Naptimes have been rough. Baby A is 1 1/2 years old. She sleeps great at night, but right now naptime is a pain. We are trying to figure out a new naptime because she would only sleep in the morning and then be super crabby by dinner or she would just be on a sleep strike. Any tips out there? Please share below!

Jazz up your meal preps

C has a 4 day weekend because of the holiday and today is my birthday, so meal planning is postponed until Monday. However, I did want to share this post that I found for meal prep.

(site here)

Seriously, what did we do without Pinterest and the internet?? I was searching for some ideas for recipes because I get tired of the same old thing multiple weeks in a row. I am curious to try some of these. If you are looking for more ideas, follow my Pinterest board here. 

How can I save some time with cooking meals?

We are starting to meal prep! C's cholesterol and mine both came out on the bad side, so we're hoping this will fix our cholesterol issues and help us to be healthier. 

We figured we'd keep it simple and do chicken as our main protein. We went with 3 different seasonings and seasoned the chicken separately. We baked all of the vegetables and chicken together. 

We baked everything at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cutting the chicken in half helped it cook a bit faster. 

C ordered these microwave safe containers to use for the meal prepping. We filled each with 1/2 a cup of rice, some chicken, and then lots of vegetables. 

Depending on how everything tastes, we may cook the veggies separately from the chicken. I'm not sure if we cooked the vegetables too long, but it would depend on personal preference. 

Does anyone have any tips for prepping? What about favorite recipes? Share them below!

A Schedule for 11/12 Months

So I've searched for a schedule for A several different times in order to find a sense of balance; however, every one I've seen doesn't really fit us, so I thought I would share ours. The times aren't exactly the same, so I'll just add the time range of when it happens.

Baby A Schedule

6:00-8:00 Wake up and have break fast

8:00-9:30 Playtime, then mom gets ready for the day

9:30-11:30 bit more play time, nap between 20 minutes to an hour

11:30-12:30 Lunch

12:30-2:00ish Daily Outing
Some days we get out sooner and/or have more outings than this one, but we always go out at least at this point in the day

2:00-4:00ish Snack then Nap
A takes a nap in this area. It has lasted between 30 minutes to two hours before.

4:00-5:00 Play

5:00-6:00 Dinner

6:00-7:00 Play time, Bath, story time, and bed
The goal bedtime is 7:00, but if A slept past 5 then I'll keep her up a bit later.

Hope this is helpful! What schedule do you have for your 11-12 month old?

2017 Reading Challenge: Jogging Level

2017 Reading Challenge Continued

I've finally come up with level 2 of the 2017 reading challenge. The jogging level can completed in any order you'd like. This round has an edition for children again, so your kids can participate too! 

Some of the options are similar to level one, but there are thousands of books to pick from so there shouldn't be any trouble finding a match. 

For this challenge, I'm going to be using this Pinterest board to keep track of book ideas so be sure to follow along. I am getting really excited about this challenge. 

What books are you looking forward to reading in the new year? Do you have any set goals for reading?

Four Months and Counting!

Why does my 3 month old hate tummy time and why is she in love with her legs?

I like making these announcements in Photoshop. I think it's a bit of a step up from just posting one picture and commenting on things that are new.

My mom and I struggled to get pictures of Baby A on her blessing day, so she thought I should try and take a few. Baby A hates her blessing dress! She cried most of the time, but I did get the funny one where she is sticking her tongue out at me, so at least there's that.

We are supposed to do tummy time every day, and we do, but she cries the whole time. I've tried all of the tricks in the book and on the internet....any recommendations? I try and have her in different positions, different surfaces and toys to grab her interest. I am at a loss.

When Baby A was first born, she had a lot of trouble with gas. Doing bicycles with her legs was the only thing that worked. Now, she plays with her legs and swings them up all the time. Is this normal?

Every week I feel slightly less and less like a zombie and more like a human being again. While I do love Baby A, I can't wait until she starts sleeping through the night. I've always had trouble sleeping, but this is a lot, even for me.

Graco Baby Swings: A Review

a bit blurry but a better view of the whole thing

           My parents gave us this wonderful swing for Christmas! Baby swings are a must have it seems. There have been a few instances where Baby A has an explosion and I can just stick her in there while I clean everything up. It's also nice when she is fussy. 

           She hated it for a while until Calvin figured out that you can switch the direction it swings and now she loves it! She loves staring at the teddy bears on the mobile and the music option. 

Pros:

+I picked this one mainly because it has the highest weight limit of any other option of baby swing that I found. The weight max is 30 lbs when most swings were 20-25 lbs. 

+It swings in two different directions.

+You can take off the seat portion and have it as a little rocker, which is nice if you want to keep an eye on the baby while you are getting ready.

+It comes in a gender neutral color, so you can use it for a boy or a girl.

+It has 6 different speeds of swinging. 

Cons:

+It takes up a ton of space. I have no clue how we are going to store this once Baby A is done with it.

        We got it at Babies R Us, but you can find a similar one here at Amazon. 

        Does anyone have a baby product that they really love?