My Latest Amazon Haul!

Last week I did some shopping! Not necessarily back to school shopping, but I will use that excuse with my husband to justify deliveries. I just happened to be browsing Amazon (shocker, right?) and noticed that Learning Resources had a lot of their products on sale. I am a huge fan of Learning Resources educational toys. I have found so many fun ways to use these items in speech so I thought I'd share what I got! 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. This means that if you purchase something using my link, I may make a small commission (which is always extremely appreciated!)

First up, 

Rainbow Ice Cream Cones! My students love all things food related, so I knew this ice cream set would be a hit. It's designed to teach colors and work on fine motor skills. But there are so many things you can do with this set. Pretend/dramatic play, following directions (taking ice cream shop orders), requesting, counting, using "more," spatial concepts (on top!)

The next item is a Math Cube set. No, I don't teach math and you wouldn't want me tutoring you child in math, but these cubes can be used so many different ways. Imagination/creative play elicits so much expressive language. Let your students play and stack and see what they come up with. I have also had a to of luck using these with smash mats. We stack the cubes on top of the pictures for each production and get a ton of articulation practice that way (tallest tower wins!) These are very easy to wipe down and keep clean as well. 

How adorable are these Shape Sorting Cupcakes?! I do have a lot of little ones on my caseload so working on colors and shapes is a bonus with their language skills. This past week we pretended we worked at a bakery and took cupcake orders. We also had to make sure we put the cupcakes in the oven to bake (be careful, it's hot!) and delivered the cupcakes to the customers (boy and girl Little People figures). I also plan on pairing these with the story, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff

I have had my eye on the Farmer's Market Color Sorting set for a long time now.  This set is very engaging for teaching colors and sorting. But the pieces that come with the set are great for creative play. Combine with a cash register (I personally own this one) and you are all set to play supermarket with your students. 

Last, but not least! This one is not from Learning Resources, but I just had to have it. The Big Pop Game Board has been so much fun. It was hard to bring it to work because Kameron was loved using it at home. For him, I was able to sneak in some addition practice with it by him adding up the dice to see how many bubbles he got to pop on his turn. In speech, this has been a hit with my articulation students. They practice a target before the roll the dice and take a turn. The game didn't come with instructions and is incredibly open ended. You and your students can make up your own rules on how to play the game! 

 

Back-2-School Jokes

 

It's that time of year again. School has started here in FL. Although I work year round, I do enjoy getting back into a routine again. My kids just started their 1st grade and 4th grade year. So many of my school based SLPs friends are getting back to work and starting to plan for their sessions. 

And what better way to start the school year than to kick your sessions off with a good laugh? I complied a list of 12 of my favorite Back-2-School jokes. 

Q: Why did the M&M go to school?

A: Because he really wanted to be a Smartie!

Q: Why was the teacher wearing sunglasses to school?

A: Her students were so bright!

Q: What is the king of all school supplies?

A: The ruler!

Q: What kind of school do giants go to?

A: High School!

Q: Why did the music teacher need a ladder?

A: To reach high notes. 

Q: What did the buffalo say at drop off?

A: Bison (bye son)

Q: Why did the student eat his homework?

A: Because his teacher said it was a piece of cake!

Q: Why do math books always look so sad?

A: Because they are full of problems!

Q: What dinosaur has the best vocabulary?

A: A Thesaurus!

Q: Why isn't there a clock in the library?

A: Because it "tocks" too much!

Q: Why can't pirates learn the alphabet?

A: They keep getting lost at C!

Q: What did one pencil say to the other on the first day of school?

A: Looking sharp!

Ideas for Improving Working Memory

    

    Do you ever feel like you get a huge wave of kids with similar disabilities at the same time? Right now I have quite a few kids with working memory difficulties. In a research study published in 2016, they found that children with developmental language impairments are often reported to show difficulties with working memory. This has also been evident with auditory processing disorders. This may be the possible cause of the inability to segregate and group incoming information. If you are unfamiliar with the term 'working memory' think of 'short-term memory.' Both of these terms refer to information you temporarily hold in your memory, so that they are available when you need them. I have seen it frequently referred to as your brain's post-it note! However, working memory specifically is important for putting information that we are learning together with our current knowledge base. It helps with manipulation and transformation of visual and verbal information, such as remembering instructions and problem solving . Working memory continues to develop until the person is around 15 years old. But as we all are individuals and unique, some can hold more information than others. 

Having trouble with working memory can have negative affects on our children. Children with working memory difficulties may have difficulty with concentration, following multistep directions, completing tasks, difficulty self correcting. They are easily distracted, show slow progress even when working hard, miss important details, and have trouble waiting their turn. 

But here is the good news! There are lots of exercises and activities you can do to help your child or students with strengthening and improving their working memory skills. Since I have quite a few kids on my caseload that need this, I complied a list of some of my favorite suggestions that I found and that were recommended by super helpful co-workers. 

1. Road Trip Game: this is fun for groups. Do you remember playing "I'm going on a road trip and I am going to bring...." game we played as kids? Each person in the group verbally adds an item to bring on the road trip (or to a party, the beach, a picnic, etc) but also has to remember what the others before them wanted to bring... in order!  The next person in line repeats what the others before him/her said they would bring and add on his own. For example, Child 1: "I'm going on a road trip and I am going to bring apples." Child 2: "I'm going on a road trip and I am going to bring apples and cookies."

2. Missing Items! Bring out a tray of items. Give the child a few minutes to look at the items and try to memorize what was on the tray. Have the child close his/her eyes or turn away from the tray. Remove an item (or a few) from the try and see if the child can figure out what is missing by visiting their memory of what they previously saw. You can also simply cover the tray with a towel and see if the child can recall all the items that were on the tray. 

3. Memory (often called Concentration) This simple card game is great for working memory skills. Pick out pairs of cards, mix them up, and place them face down on a table. Have the students take turns flipping over two cards at a time to see if they have a match. Keep the cards in the same place so you can work on remembering where they were. Pro tip: Kill two birds with one stone by using matching articulation cards if your student is also working on that skill!

4. Card Games! If your child likes to play cards, there are tons of great working memory games you can try, like Go Fish or Old Maid. My family is a huge UNO fan. Not only do we have to remember the rules and which cards we are holding while playing, but they also what cards our opponent is holding, too. Cards are also easy to keep in your bag and play with your children while you have some down time. Play card games while at a restaurant waiting on your food or while waiting on big brother to finish soccer practice! 

5. Simon! Simon is a fun electronic strategy game. To beat Simon, you have to recall a pattern of colors and repeat it back in the correct order by pressing the colored buttons. The longer you play, the more complicated the patterns become! Bop It! Would also be a great option for listening to verbal directions and executing them quickly. I like to have these games readily available for car trips!

6. Student Teacher! When your child/student is learning a new skill, have them teach it back to you. Have them explain the process, it will help them process the information as they say it out loud. 

7. Operation: Recall. Operation Recall is a TpT activity I created years ago for one student specifically struggling with this skill. 

A few other suggestions for kids that need extra help with working memory.... 

• Make it Multisensory! Multisensory strategies engages more than one sense at a time. It can help kids keep information in mind long enough to use it. Let your students see, touch, and move while learning a new skill. Use graphic organizers and allow students to take notes. 
• Chunk information into smaller bites. 
• Make sure your child is free of distractions and able to listen to your directions. Have them repeat it back to you. 
• Find ways to connect information. This can help your child with long-term memory as well as working memory.

Research article mentioned above: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0265659016655378

4th of July Jokes to use in Speech!

Summer is here and it's just about time to break out all the red, white, and blue! Nothing is better than laughing with your students. Good, deep belly laughs. About a year ago I started telling jokes at the beginning of my sessions. It's just a fun way to set the tone for the day. I have searched the web for the best, kid approved, 4th of July jokes. So here are some of the best patriotic jokes your students will love!

 

What did the flag do when it lost its voice?

It just waved!

What snack goes great with peanut butter?

Fire crackers!

What is a firecrackers favorite treat?

A POP-sicle!

What is the most patriotic drink?

Liber-tea!

What did the little first cracker say to the big firecracker?

Hi, pop!

What dance was popular in 1776?

The Indepen-DANCE!

How do ducks celebrate independence day?

With fire quackers!

What do dad's like to eat on 4th of July?

POP-sicles!

What do you call a snowman on the 4th of July?

A puddle!

What do you call an American drawing?

A Yankee Doodle!

What happens when dinosaurs light fireworks?

You get DINO-mite!

How much does freedom weight?

A Washing-TON!

5 Ways to Play: Flower Garden Playset!

Welcome to the second edition of the Toy of the Week: 5 Ways to Play series. There are so many ways to use toys, games, and regular household items (more than just their original intended use) to teach and elicit lots of language. I chose the Flower Garden Playset as my second toy of the week. This set has been a fantastic, engaging activity for both in person and teletherapy sessions. Below are some ideas for using this playset and eliciting some great language! If you have more ideas, please share in the comments. 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. This means that if you make a purchase using my link, I may make a small commission. 

Same or Different? This activity gives lots of opportunities for teaching and using same or different. There are multiple flowers that are the same color however they are different shapes. You can ask your child if they want a flower that looks the same as yours or if 2 flowers shown are the same or different. Stack some tall and some short. Talk about how they are alike and how they are different. 

Spring Theme! This set is perfect for using with a spring theme. Read a spring themed book then pull this set out to play. You can discuss the parts of the flower and what they need to live and grow. Such a great spring vocabulary opportunity. 

Requesting. When you're working with little ones, this set allows for lots of opportunities for requesting. Don't just hand them the flowers, have them ask you for the ones they want. Let themes for more, don't just offer more. Take it a step further- the box is see through. Don't just open it, wait for them to ask you to open the box (whether thats tapping on the box or using words/signs to request)

          

Build a garden over Teletherapy. If you are an SLP or teacher using distance learning, these flowers make a fun activity to use digitally. It works best if you have a doc cam or OSMO set up, but it's not necessary. Have your students tell you what to add to create the flower garden. This is a great way for them to use descriptive words, too. 

Following Directions. Have the flowers, stems, and other pieces out and available. Give your student directions to build a garden. You could easily make these directions simple or complicated based on your child's level. 

All good toys can be used in more than one way. These are just 5 examples. I would love to hear your ideas or ways that you would use them in therapy! 

To purchase this set, use the link here!

Check out my last 5 Ways to Play post here.

Celebrating Earth Day in the Speech Room!

It's almost Earth Day! Thursday April 22 is the day the world celebrates, but I have been doing these activities all week long! I love decorating my speech room with these beautiful globes. Greens and blues are such pretty spring time colors. I wanted to round up all of my favorite activities to use to celebrate our big, beautiful planet. If you have any great activity ideas, please share! 

I have been sharing the story, Earth Yay! with my students all week. It's such an adorable, animated story about the planets and why our Earth is so special. 

You can access this story from Vooks. I'm sure you have seen me mention them before, but if not, they're a website/app that brings stories to life! I have been using this site for a long time, but ever since teletherapy became a regular occurring event, I use it all the time now. My students in person and online enjoy using Vooks. 

You can get a free 30 day membership to Vooks by clicking here. 

 

If you know me, you know I love a theme! So what's a holiday without a matching ART-tiulation worksheet? This has also been a hit with my teletherapy students. Pull up and share the PDF with your student. Then, choose the annotate feature and let them color in the picture as they practice their sounds. 

I put my Earth Day ART-ticulation 50% off this week.  Click here to grab a copy!

It doesn't have to be Earth Day to talk about keeping our planet clean. This garbage truck and tiny garbage & recycling bins are always a popular toy in my therapy room. We use it all the time to "clean up" speech words and engage in pretend play.

I got mine, here.

Last but not least,  a FREE download for you. Quick themed reinforcement games are a favorite over here. I always get lots of repetitions and the kids have a lot of fun competing for the most points.  I created a FREE Earth day game that you can snag here. (It's one that I created years ago and will probably get a makeover soon!)

I have a few more activities that I plan to do but haven't yet so I don't have pictures. But, they are all saved on my Pinterest board if you want to check that out. 

Have a great week, and Happy Earth Day!!

Our First Adventure with the Family Adventure Challenge Book!

These days, finding activities that my kids are excited about and doesn't involve a screen, is huge! Since Christmas time, I have seen ads on Facebook for The Adventure Challenge Books. I was intrigued, but it took a few friends to show off their adventures before I finally bought one for my crew as a Valentine's Day gift. 

A few weeks ago we finally had some free time and decided to partake in our first adventure. 

   

When you open the book, there is a legend that tells you how much time the activity will take, if you need to make a trip to the store to complete it, if you need to be outside, etc. So you can easily choose an activity that fits your availability for that day. 

We decided, based on the requirements, that our first adventure would be an activity called FLOATERS!

After we scratched off the explanation of the activity, we learned that we were going to have to collect fruits and vegetables from the fridge, grab a bucket of water,  and have a bobbing challenge! We were also instructed to create a point system for each food item. Then, we each had 60 seconds to grab as many fruits/veggies out of the water as we could. 

    

Bobbing for fruit proved to be a much harder task than the kids expected! I was proud of their determination to keep trying and not give up. 

This was such a fun way to show our kids that mom and dad can have fun, too. No worries about getting wet or dirty, after all, we had to follow the adventure rules!

   

Plus, I got to show them who's boss when I  kicked all their booties with 22 points!

I think we are going to get one of those old, large wrestling belts and create an Adventure Challenge Champ belt to pass between the winners after each challenge!

One of my favorite things about this book is that it creates a scrapbook for you! There is a place to stick on a picture from your adventure and then write a little summary of what you did. These books would be fantastic gifts for friends or family. There is also a couples version (which is now my new go to gift for weddings!) and best friends version. 

I cannot wait to see what our next family adventure will be!

If you want to purchase your own book, use this link here and code SPEECH for 10% off your purchase!

Bring the Coffee Shop Home!

I am a huge coffee fan. My usual order is a venti iced coffee with classic and cream. I've probably spent half of my income at Starbucks... sometimes visiting my favorite baristas twice a day. My bank account was screaming at me to stop, so I decided that there has to be a way to make these delicious lattes at home. There is! Of course, I still make the occasional coffee stops but I can confidently say, my lattes are better!

I make my coffee with a Keurig. Nothing fancy with the one I own, but there are some fancy coffee makers out there. The secret weapon is the milk frother.  I add half oat milk and half vanilla almond milk creamer to the frother and whip up a latte. So easy and so good.  And way less sugar than my usual order. The frother has both cold and hot settings so you can make iced or hot coffees. 

Whatever your coffee order is at the coffee shop, you can make it at home. Starbucks sells their flavored syrups online and a quick google search can get you the recipe for just about anything on the menu. I may have even ordered paper cups with lids so I still feel like I am enjoying a cup from Starbucks! 

I have linked everything I use, and a few extra items on my LIKEtoKnow.it page.

  See it here!

5 Ways to Play: Counting Surprise Party!

I am very excited about this new blog series, Toy of the Week: 5 Ways to Play! There are so many ways to use toys, games, and regular household items (more than just their original intended use) to teach and elicit lots of language. I chose the Learning Resources Counting Surprise Party as my first toy of the week because I have used it so much since COVID hit. This set has been a fantastic, engaging activity for both in person and teletherapy sessions. 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. This means that if you make a purchase using my link, I may make a small commission. 

This toy set was created and intended to use to help children learn colors and numbers. But as we all know, every good toy can be used in more than one way. 

Here are 5 ways I have used this toy in therapy.

Number 1: What's Inside?

Work on those inference skills by giving your child clues about what object is inside the box. For example,  take a peek inside one of the boxes and say to your little one, "Ohhhhhh!! This one has big ears, loves carrots, and can hop! What do you think it is?" As your child's language grows, switch it up. Tell them that they get to be the teacher and let them give you clues about what is inside. This is a great way to also work on descriptive words and object function. 

Number 2: Following Directions!

These are great objects for working on listening and following directions. Set out the objects and the boxes on a table or the floor. You can use simple directions, such as: "Put the cat in the orange box." work on spatial concepts, such as: "Put the duck behind the blue box" and temporal directions, such as: "Before you put the bear in the green box, put the teapot in the purple box."

Number 3: Simple Reinforcement

These presents bring a lot of engagement to my sessions. I often use these as simple reinforcements for answering questions or practicing a target speech sound. After the child answers the questions, they get to open one box. During teletherapy, this was often a reinforcement for finishing one activity before we moved on to the next one. 

Number 4: Make Skill and Drill Practice More Fun!

Grab some flashcards and lay them out on the floor or table. These can be for shapes, letters, numbers, vocabulary words, articulation targets.... anything! Place one of the presents on top of each card. Have the child tell you which present he/she wants to open by naming/ practicing what is on the card first. Since there are 10 boxes, you can easily get to 100 trials in a session with this activity. 

Number 5: Movement!

So many of my students need movement breaks between activities. Hide these presents around your therapy space. After each task is complete or after a certain amount of time, instruct your student to go search for one of the presents and bring it back to you. This helps bring excitement and engagement to your sessions as well as work on attention to task. 

As I said before, all good toys can be used in more than one way. These are just 5 examples. I would love to hear your ideas or ways that you would use them in therapy! 

To purchase this set, you can use this link, here!

Making Magic Words in Speech!

And for my next trick.... Magic Words!  Don't you just love when you find an activity that makes your students just light up? Occasionally, speech can become a little dull, especially if you have a student that has been with you for a while. Finding new ways to make speech practice fun and exciting can be a little difficult. Magic Words is a fun way to get your kids excited and get a lot of practice in, too!

All you need for this activity is a plain piece of white paper, a white crayon, watercolors, and a paintbrush. I got this Crayola watercolor set with a brush from Target for just over a dollar. Before the kids come in to speech, I write their target words for the day on the paper with white crayon. When they arrive, I tell them the paper is magic paper that makes special words appear when they paint! (or you could say the paint is magic.... whatever works!) 

As the students paint on the paper, the paint won't stick to the crayon, so it makes their words appear like magic! When they discover a new word, I have them practice that word 5 times or put it in a sentence, depending on their level. The amount of giggles that come out of this activity is pretty darn amazing. 

I have used this activity for more than just speech words. I have also written sight words, spelling words, numbers, letters, a secret message... just about anything will work! Just this morning I  drew shapes for a little guy learning those.  I personally haven't tried this, but was a great way to get kids engaged during teletherapy! You would have all the materials on your end and do the painting. The student can practice their word as it appears on your paper! 

I hope this activity will bring a fresh, new idea to your speech room!

Hilariously Sweet Valentine Jokes for Speech!

Happy, happy February! In February I always love a good Valentine theme in speech. Lots of holiday vocabulary, kindness, and lots of love. Although most of my students have come back to see me in the clinic, I am still doing a few teletherapy sessions a week. As I have mentioned before, one of my teletherapy students told me a joke at the beginning of our session a few months ago. I loved how it just lightened the mood and started our session out on a happy note. So now, I start all my sessions out with a joke!

Since it's no secret I love a good theme, of course my jokes need to be themed as well. I have been searching the internet for the best, kid approved Valentine jokes. I wanted to compile a list here to share. So here are 18 hilariously sweet Valentine jokes approved to tell in speech, enjoy!!

What did the painter say to her sweetheart? 

I love you with all my art.

What do you call the world's smallest Valentine card?

A Valen-teeny!

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Olive

Olive who?

Olive you!

 

What did one volcano say to the other?

I lava you!

How did the phone propose to his GF?
He gave her a ring. 

 

What did the one sheep say to the other? 

I love ewe!

 

What did the farmer give his wife for Valentine’s Day?

Hogs and kisses.

What did one light bulb say to the other light bulb on Valentine’s Day?

I wuv you watts and watts!

 

What did the baker say to his sweetheart? 

I'm dough-nuts about you!

What do you say to an octopus on Valentine’s Day?

I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand!

 

What do you call a ghost’s true love?

Their ghoul-friend.

 

 What do you write in a slug’s Valentine’s Day card?

Be my Valen-slime!

 

What kind of flowers should you NOT give on Valentine’s Day?

Cauliflowers!

Why do skunks love Valentine’s Day?

They are very scent-imental creatures.

 

Why did the sheriff lock up her boyfriend?

He stole her heart.

What do you call two birds in love?

Tweethearts!

 

What type of shape is most popular on Valentine's Day?

Acute triangle. 

What did Frankenstein's monster say to his bride on Valentine's Day?

Be my Valenstein! 

Speech Therapy Games That Get Lots of Repetitions!

 Who doesn't love games? I know that more than half of the reasons that my students look forward to coming to speech is to see what game we get to play that day. I mean, I chose to be a pediatric speech therapist as my profession because I wanted to have fun with kids every day (among other reasons of course!)

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. That means that if you purchase something using my link, I may make a small commission. 

I am constantly looking for new games to play in speech. But when looking at games, there are certain criteria I require for it to be a game we play in speech. It must be a simple game. Not a lot of rules, not a lot of complicated pieces. And definitely not something that takes a long time to set up. It's a bonus when the game is open ended enough that I could easily make up my own rules for the game. I also need the game to be fast paced. And one that easily allows turn taking.

I have these criteria in place because I want to get lots of repetitions of speech productions during my short sessions with the kids. Research has shown that successful speech therapy is tied to at least 100 speech productions in a session. Fast paced, turn taking games allows the student to get in lots of practice between turns in the game. We want maximum productions in a minimal amount of time. I complied a list of my go-to speech therapy games and linked them below. 

Have one you love to use? Please share!

Games shown above:

Pop the Pig

Greedy Granny

Pop up Pirate

Shark Bite

Let's Go Fishin'

 Jenga

Candy Land

Connect 4

Chutes and Ladders

Winter Jokes Approved for Speech!

Happy, happy new year! In January I always have a winter theme in speech. Lots of winter vocabulary, snowball fights, and lots of fun. Although most of my students have come back to see me in the clinic, I am still doing a few teletherapy sessions a week. As I have mentioned before, one of my teletherapy students told me a joke at the beginning of our session a few months ago. I loved how it just lightened the mood and started our session out on a happy note. So now, I start all my sessions out with a joke!

Since it's no secret I love a good theme, of course my jokes need to be themed as well. I have been searching the internet for the best, kid approved winter jokes. I wanted to compile a list here to share. So here are 15 Winter jokes approved to tell in speech, enjoy!!

 (If you have any, please share. The cornier the better!)

Q: What falls in the winter but never gets hurt?

A: Snow!

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Icy.

Icy, who?

Icy (see) you!!

Q: What do you call it when a snowman has a temper tantrum?

A: A meltdown

Q: What is a snowman's favorite snack?

A: Ice Krispy Treats!

Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?

A: Frostbite!

Q: What is the best breakfast cereal to eat in the winter?

A: Frosted Flakes!

Q: What d mountains wear to keep warm?

A: Snowcaps

Q: What did one snowman say to the other?

A: Do you smell carrots?

Q: What do you call a snowman party?

A: A snowball!

Q: How does a snowman get around town?

A: He rides an icicle!

Q: Who are frosty's parents?

A: Mom and Pop-sicle!

Q: What does a snowman take when he gets sick?

A: A chill pill!

Q: Why did the girl keep her trumpet in the snow?

A: She liked cool jazz music! 

Q: How does a penguin build a house?

A: Igloos it together! (Glues it together)

Q: Where does a snowman keep his money?

A: In a snowbank!

My Virtual Holiday Card!

 It's time again for my virtual holiday card. I truly enjoy writing this post every year. It forces me to sit down and go through all the photos in my phone. I am reminded of all the small, special moments we experienced during a crazy year.  It also makes me incredibly grateful and humbled that over 23 thousand of you are still here and show support to my little creative corner of the internet. 

Since we just got our family photos done, I figured it would be the perfect time to write this post. 

A funny (well, funny now!) story about this holiday shoot is shared at the end of this post!

This year was definitely a year filled with firsts. So many firsts. First time homeschooling.  First time being a teletherapist! First time both of kids rode their bikes without training wheels. Kenzie played her first season of softball. Well, I use 'season' lightly. She played two games and then COVID hit and shut everything down. She learned that she loves dance more than softball and probably has hung up her glove for good. But I'm so proud of her for trying something new. We also got to experience our first year of drive through birthday celebrations. To be completely honest, I hope these stay around! My kids got so excited to decorate our car and drive by friends and teachers' houses to wish them a happy birthday! 

    

In June we jumped into the world of milkweed, caterpillars, and butterflies. This was such a fun learning experience for us all. Watching the lifecycle of a butterfly is absolutely amazing. But clearly raising caterpillars just wasn't enough and we decided to also get a Goldendoodle puppy! Our little Chip joined our family on June 19.  You can read the whole post about our little guy here.

In July I tried paddle boarding for the first time! It was such a fun girls day out on the water. July also brought the grand opening of the new Pier here in St. Pete and our annual trip to Rainbow River. Kameron started speech and had his first therapy session with Ms. Bethany on July 1! 

School started back up in August. We decided to send both kids back to school instead of continuing the virtual option. They have both had a fantastic year so far. In September my car was in a crazy freak accident while parked in my office parking lot (I shouldn't be surprised, after all it is 2020!) We joined the Elks Lodge (what we call our neighborhood clubhouse!) Kameron started his first season of T-Ball (no more pre-tee for this big guy!) He was awarded Most Improved Player. 

November was a big, emotional month. It brought us a new family member. My sister gave birth to my niece, Willa Blue! We also lost a family member. On November 20th, my grandpa gained his wings and made it to Heaven. He was such a special man. I am so glad that my kids got to know their Great Grandpa so well. 

And now here we are in December. This year has been one like no other. I think my biggest take away from the year is to slow down. COVID forced us to slow down and say 'No' to so many things that we think we have to do. I have learned that a slower life is a happier, richer life. My kids don't need to be involved in every activity. It's ok if we miss a practice. It's ok to not check your email at 8pm. It's ok to say no to things that don't bring us joy. In the words of Living with Landyn, "If it's not a hell yes, it's a no."

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here. Thank you for reading my posts. Thank you for supporting my TpT store. I read every review. I celebrate every sale. I truly enjoy having every single one of you along with me for this ride. 

Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

and cheers to an even Happier New Year!

As promised, here is the behind the scenes story of this photo shoot!

Oh this is a shoot I will always remember. Ready for this Instagram vs. reality story? So about 15 mins before these sweet family pictures were taken, I had to wrestle a dead squirrel out of that cute little puppy’s mouth. My bloody hands had to be edited out of these pictures. (By the way, the cute puppy is now named Cujo) And the whole situation caused me to almost pass out! I had to use a cold can of Busch Lite to ice my wounds. It's ok, you can laugh. I laugh about it, too. I will always remember this shoot and the story behind it. 

Thank you to Erika Johnson Photography for always capturing our family so perfectly (dead squirrel and all!)