Spelling Names and free printable Bookplates

M has been spelling his first name for a good 1 1/2 years now, but I am always on the lookout for some way to help him learn how to spell our last name and practice spelling it.  He is just not interested in learning it, mainly because it is quite long and a little intimidating. 

But he LOVES writing his name on the inside cover of books, so I made up some cute robot nameplates for him to use on as many books as he wants.  These are sized at 4 inches by 3 1/3 inches – a standard shipping label size.  Print them out on shipping labels, have your little one stick them in his books, then write his name on the lines.  The deal around here is you have to print both first and last names to be able to use these.

Click an image below to go to the download page.

Robots and Rockets Nameplates:

 

I also made up some more “girly” ones, in case anyone is interested!

Flower Fairy Nameplates:

 

Flowers and Hearts Nameplates:

 

Have a beautiful day!
Nicole :)

Spring Fever

Spring fever has officially hit our house. 

Grumpiness, restlessness, a desire to run away – far, far away from Minnesota… and that’s just Mama.  It definitely hits me the hardest.  My husband is an eternal optimist – February always makes me happy because I know it’s not much longer now until spring (he says while I shoot eye darts at him along with mental warnings to just shut it because he knows full well what I consider real spring is at least two more months away); and M always has the hope of coming snow to break up the monotony of our days (while I shoot eye darts at the skies and wonder just how did I end up in this cruel, cruel cold wasteland).

So.  There you see the real me.  The real pregnant me,- because throwing up all of January, just to be hit with gray skies and snow in February does not. seem. fair.  We need some happy yellow daffodils poking up through green grass.  Not more grayness, covered with an occasional layer of whiteness and blah-ness. 

We recently went here, as everyone in the family is desperate for Mommy to act somewhat normal again:

I kept thinking how lovely it would be if they would just leave me here for a week with a pile of good books and a pillow (and please try to get rid of the rest of the people milling about.  Because sometimes they talk.). 

And it seems M has caught the flower bug.  He has grand plans for his very own garden this year.  He spent an entire afternoon looking through a flower book and marking all the flowers he wants to plant:

 

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that here in Minnesota (sigh) you have to choose based on hardiness, not prettiness.  So here’s what the book looked like when he was finished with his page marking:

He wasn’t actually finished… he just got to the “G”s and ran out of bookmarks. :)

My husband saves things like vegetable trays from Sam’s Club, thinking that they’ll come in useful “someday”.  I fake-smile at him and mentally scream things like “Declutter!  Peace!  Sanity!  Small home!”, while he thinks things like, “Useful! Recycle! You never know!”.  As long as he stores his “stuff” out of sight, I am okay with it.  And, clever man that he is (and he is, I admit) he used a little super glue to attach an upside down cover to a tray, then poked some drainage holes through the bottom of it.  M will be using this to start his garden – hopefully sometime this week we’ll get around to actually planting the seeds:

Because in this cold and cruel place you have to start your seeds inside, two months before spring, if you actually want anything to grow. 

Now I’m off to continue my hibernation attempt (if only everyone would leave me alone, I’m sure I could sleep through March).

Your little ray of sunshine,
Nicole  :)