Week 14, Week 15, and a Photoshoot Friday!

Oops I skipped an update for last week. I was keeping track of the things we were doing, but Tristan was having some nap time troubles so I haven’t really had any extra time to blog…and some days even shower. Yikes. But the past two days have been back to ‘normal’ so I am trying to update this as fast as possible! Here’s two weeks worth of projects (last Thursday and Friday are MIA as is my memory of what the crap we did those days). Also we had a Photoshoot Friday today to keep us in the Christmas spirit!

Week Fourteen Recap

Monday:

Ashley, Aubrey and I took the kids to the Frozen Winter Palace at the Short Hills Mall. It was quite the drive and the wait, but the kids were very well behaved and they had a blast! They got their pictures taken with Olaf and with Santa. There was even a snow globe to play in that had the Frozen sing along on a loop. The kids were in their glory and although it took all day, it was worth it. And yes, the sangria margarita martini afterwards also made the drive home crammed in between two car seats a little more bearable!

Tuesday:

Today we started to talk about the letter M. We have been slacking on the alphabet this month. Christmas has taken over, so we might put letters on the back burner until January. We did play some Music with our instruments and Marched around the house, but I still need to draw some sort of M creature for them to paint. We painted some toilet paper rolls red (that will eventually become Santa’s) and some egg cartons white (that might eventually become snowmen). We had a big picnic with all of our large stuffed animals.

Wednesday:

After we ate and got ready today, we pulled out the train set to play with. I made a large oval track and they were very good about watching where they sat/stepped so they would not knock it down. Slowly over time, they are playing with things the ‘right’ way, and it is so neat to watch. Tristan set up the house, barn, and boat, while Lily connected the train cars together and pushed them around the track. They’ve come a long way from the first time we played with the trains and they were both basically mini Godzillas, stomping and crushing. Once the trains were cleaned up, we moved on to project time. I bought some foam ornaments complete with sticker pieces and a place for the kid’s faces from Michael’s. They said 6+ which is probably just about the right age to use them! But we didn’t do too bad of a job sticking on the reindeer’s ears or Santa’s hat. I admit I guided them just a tad! They came out very cute, especially with the goofy pictures we took to put inside of them!

Not sure when this or the creamer snowmen projects were complete. Could be the blur that was Thursday and Friday! Christmas projects and the like have just become a whirlwind! I will try to get back on track in more ways than one come January!

Week Fifteen Recap:

Tuesday:

We had a guest star visitor today for the morning—our cousin Dani! She wasn’t feeling so good so she mostly stayed on the couch and watched TV while we played, until it was time to have snack and play with play doh. I was very proud of the kids for sharing their play doh toys with Dani. Usually they fight over who gets what, and today they were content with what they had!

Wednesday:

Since it was almost 50 degrees today, we ventured outside for a nice long walk. We were a little crazy in the morning so some fresh air definatley helped us calm down and get ready for nap. After we got back from our walk, we decorated some foam gingerbread men. I drew a few lines in Elmer’s glue and gave each kid a handful of tiny pre-cut shapes. Both kids took circles and covered the punched out eyes, and Tristan even added a triangle for a nose! I love watching them do these sorts of simple projects on their own and drawing from other projects we have done in the past!

Thursday:

Sadly it was back to being chilly today. We did our usual morning routine, complete with a dance party. I try to find kid-appropriate videos via YouTube for them to dance to but some of them are just so weird. I found an animated version of C&C Music Factory’s Everybody Dance Now and Tristan got down with Phineas and Ferb.  After we danced our sillies out, I started some prep for a photoshoot Friday. I needed to make a sign for Santa’s workshop, and the kids helped me color it. Tristan took his time and he can almost color in the lines! So impressive! Then we had some free play and then it was time for snack. Once we were fed and pleasant again, I pulled out a new play doh toy Aunt Meghan got us. She was also an angel and bought two of the same thing so there were no fights or whines. It was one of those toys you put the play doh in and smush it through a hole to make snakes, crazy hair, or a banana, as the kids did. They played with those for 30 minutes with NO FUSSING. It was amazing. It was also neat to see them not only manipulate the toy in its regular use, but find different ways to play with it. Lily used her cookie cutters to make a helicopter and Tristan got to work cleaning the play doh out of every nook and cranny.

Friday:

We started the day out with a Photoshoot Friday! I had made a tool bench out of a big orange box I got from Fab.com last year (probably for Christmas). I kept meaning to incorporate it in a Photoshoot and it wasn’t until I was brainstorming what to do with the elf and Santa Pjs I purchased from Target on Black Friday that it came to me. Yesterday the kids helped draw the sign for Santa’s Workshop so they were very excited to dress up today! They both wanted to wear the beard and be Santa so we took turns. I love how cute all of the pictures came out! After we were done being models and having free time play, we had some snack and worked on some odds and ends projects that have been collecting in my project basket. We completed our foam reindeer, stuck the fixings on Frosty, and made Rudolph out of a toilet paper roll, googlely eyes, a red pompom and our hands. We added some more red paint to another empty creamer bottle and shook it up. Those will hopefully be turned into a Santa this afternoon.  Hopefully both kiddos nap just long enough for me to finish my quiet chores. Fingers crossed!

Happy Friday! Hope everyone gets everything done they need to this weekend and can relax next week. Hey, a girl can wish!

Week Thirteen Recap!

Tuesday:

Whew. After having a week plus off and being completely apart from each other, I thought this morning was going to be a tough one. But it went freakishly well! So well that I even managed to do some pre-Christmas decorating toy purges without the kids even realizing I was moving some toys far far away. We started Elf on the Shelf with Lily last week, so the first thing we did when Lily woke up was go on a hunt for Holly. I let Lily explain to Tristan who she was and what she is doing here. After we got dressed, we had a good amount of free play time. They were playing so nicely together and sharing so well that I did not want to interrupt. I even heard a big smooch at one point, some giggling, and Lily saying “syrup kisses!” When we started to whine, we changed it up and had some snack while listening to some Christmas music. After we scrubbed the cheeseball residue off our fingers, we painted some paper plates green that will eventually become Christmas trees! At first I handed them the wire bottle brushes to use, but after their hands became smeared with green paint, it became a finger painting project!

Wednesday:

Another cold and gray day. We stuck to our usual plan of attack, but after we got dressed, we did some yoga and danced to some of our favorite Greg and Steve songs. Today’s project of the day was turning a toilet paper roll into a snowman! In the morning, I gave each kid a TP roll and a foam brush and let them have at it. I used tempera paint so we will need to apply another coat of paint after lunch. When we were finished painting, snacking, and listening to Christmas songs, I pulled out the parachute and we played with that for a little bit. That extra 2 feet of room from toys being moved elsewhere yesterday really opened the room up for so many activities. Too bad we can’t loft the couch and chair, dorm room style! We made a fort with the parachute and hung out in there for a little bit, reading Christmas books and singing songs until someone broke the golden rule of forts—no farts (or poop) so we had to open it up and air it out!

Thursday:

We got a lot accomplished today after breakfast and getting dressed! We crumpled up red tissue paper to make decorations for our paper plate trees. This is a great fine motor activity but it also gave me some time to prep other projects! After we glued on our ‘ornaments’, we glued faces on our toilet paper roll snowmen! Our last project of the day was making Christmas ball ornaments using their handprints. Ash bought little kits that came with an ornament, white paint, a makeup sponge, a chunk of orange crayon for the carrot nose, and a black marker. You paint one hand and have them hold the ornament from the bottom, and their fingers look like snowmen! Since their hands are so tiny, I was able to do each hand and make ten snowmen!

Friday:

Jordan was home sick today so our schedule was slightly different! We had our breakfast and got dressed and then headed out to the grocery store for some treats we need to make for holiday parties this weekend. I had planned on making sugar cookies with the kids today anyway, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands handy if needed! They really liked rolling out the dough with me and then using tiny cookie cutters to make some different shapes. Halfway through I had the “why did I do this thought?!?” moment but it was actually fun. The both helped to wipe the table off and sweep the floor too! And the best part was trying what we made!

Sidenote---Michael’s sells decorated toilet paper rolls. Huh?!? I mean I admit I waste money on stupid things but if I can make it at home or use something I have I try to do that first. They also sell kits to make snowmen out of paper plates. Instead, go grab a pack of 100 plates from the Dollar Store and make your own fun projects! But steal borrow your ideas from pre-packed stuff! hehe

Enjoy your weekends! 

Week Twelve Recap

Monday:

Nothing better than a rainy miserable Monday to start off the week before vacation. Ugh. Luckily for me, the kiddos have been rather pleasant and we got to try some new activities this morning. After we got dressed after breakfast, I brought down the Chromecast and found some toddler yoga videos on YouTube. I found Cosmic Kids, which is a story-telling adventure while doing simple poses. I have never done for real yoga in my life, but I thought this would be fun to try. We started with Squish the Fish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cNjAj_o0SI and the kids lasted through the first five minutes, which I was impressed with. I think if I learn the story and the moves, I can prompt them and they might last for the whole adventure. It did end up with me in a plank position with both of them on my back, but that’s about right when it comes to the two of them! After we were all stretched out, we did some Greg & Steve songs and then we painted our Ladder L’s. We got a chance to read our new story---Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See (which I might have to make another felt board story for) and then got ready for nap. Our nap schedule was a little off today, so we didn’t finish lunch until about 3 and I had some straightening up to finish upstairs so we played up in Lily’s room for a little bit then came back down for fruit snacks and some TV time. It is supposed to be bitter cold tomorrow so I’m prepping for a few different projects and sensory activities to keep us busy and entertained!

Tuesday:

Remember that week of perfect fall weather we had this year? Yeah, I miss that. It is bitter cold today so we are stuck indoors again. Not that I have any desire to brave the wind and chill. Lily is currently sitting up in her bed zoning because the wind is so stinking loud. Brr. Anyway, we started today as usual with some breakfast and then did some yoga before we got dressed. I am enjoying the stretching and moving it provides before we start the day. The kids did a little bit of it today, so hopefully if we continue this as part of our routine, they’ll start to participate more. After some free play with cars, blocks, and then musical instruments, we started our Thanksgiving projects. First they each painted a paper plate brown (mainly because I have no brown construction paper, but it also was a good time killer). While they were painting I prompted them with questions about what they were thankful for. I asked what their favorite foods and toys are and who they are thankful for. Their answers were adorable as usual and I jotted them down on multicolored hearts I cut out. Once the plates were dry, we glued eyes, a beak, a gobbler, and our hearts to them and voila---Thankful Thanksgiving Turkeys!

Wednesday:

Man, I thought it was Thursday allllll day today. Bummer! But we did manage to get a lot of stuff done! After breakfast, yoga, freestyle dance time, and getting dressed, we did some laps around the house, straightened things up, and vacuumed. Once we got some of our energy out, we started our projects. First we glued precut ‘feathers’ together for our Toilet Paper Roll Turkeys! Then we glued on eyes, beaks, and gobblers onto our TP Turkeys and attempted to attach the feathers. Our Elmer’s glue wasn’t holding too well, so I ended up hot gluing them together during lunch. Our next project was making your basic handprint turkey. And then we added some footprint Pilgrims and Indians! They came out very very cute!

Thursday:

Today started off a little slow. We ate breakfast and did some yoga before getting dressed. They can get up to about minute five before they lose interest, or sit on me as I am trying to fold my body into an awkward shape. I have been trying to make it the full fifteen minutes myself but I, too, get easily distracted. The movie Sofia the First was on the Disney Channel and they became entranced which gave me a full ten minutes to prep a project and straighten up some stuff around the house. For our project, we made another crafty turkey out of a paper plate and some scrap pieces of paper. With the excess paper I had from other projects this week, I cut out some simple shapes for the kiddos to glue onto the paper plate to make Shape Turkeys! I cut the plate in half and on one half, we smeared some Elmer’s and the other half was colored brown. While the kids were gluing the shapes, I was asking them what colors and what shapes they were using. We added eyes, a beak, and a gobbler to complete the look. Added bonus--the only thing better than using fine motor skills to pick up and glue tiny shapes is using fine motor skills to peel dried glue off your hand! It’s slightly more mild outside today so after nap and lunch I might attempt a super bundled fast wagon ride, just to get us out of the house and switch things up a bit.

Friday:

Well, it’s Friday. I would like to say we did another awesome turkey project or tried out a new sensory project. But truth is, we did not. We pretended to take off in a space ship this morning and then floated through the house like astronauts. And then we just had free play time. I brought them up to Lily’s room after they ate lunch, put Frozen on, and attempted to pack, fold laundry, and post this blog while they were preoccupied. Tristan had a rough week with naps so I haven’t been getting much done, and I didn’t realize how much I appreciate but also need that full hour to myself. Today I was finally able to get him to go back to sleep in the back and play and suddenly a tractor appeared blowing leaves, a gang of motorcycles revved up the street, and my hopes of getting anything done during nap disappeared. We’re off a week so we’ll figure it out when we get back on schedule. 

Week Eleven Recap

Monday:

The letter this week is K, so after lots of kisses, we colored some Kangaroo K’s and hopped around like kangaroos. We painted some more leaf pictures with our own water colors and tiny brushes. The paint sets were from when my mom taught preschool so they are a little dry, but I actually like the brownish colors they mixed and painted their leaves with.

 

Tuesday:

Once we were dressed after breakfast, we dove right into project time. I had cut out some K’s and we used glue sticks to attach them to a kite! We also worked on some fine motor skills by threading the string (ribbon) for the kite through a little circle. After nap and lunch, we attempted to fly our kites outside, but there was no wind. That was a slight letdown and caused a slight meltdown, but we fixed it with a wagon ride and some singing.

Wednesday:

Today was nice enough for an early morning walk after breakfast. We even got some outside playtime in where we played in our cars and pretended the toll was one Kiss for the letter K. After potty and snack, we used a new medium to color some leaves---oil pastels. I always loved cray-pas in art class. The kids were slightly less excited than I was (plus this is about the fifth sheet of leaves they’ve painted) so project time didn’t last too long.

Thursday:

Brr it was quite chilly this morning! We ate our breakfast, got dressed, and did some cleaning up and running in laps. While I did some painting for a Photoshoot Friday, Lily and Tristan played with playdough for a little bit. We had a rough start after nap and lunch, but we attempted a project or two anyway. I have wanted to salt paint with them for about a week now but I misplaced the glue pens I bought for the project. Oops. I let them doodle a few lines by themselves with the glue pen, then helped them do some loops. They used salt in a salt shaker to cover the glue. While that was drying, we glued the leaves we have been painting with different mediums onto a paper plate. After the salt was dry, I mixed food coloring with water and showed them the magic of gently touching the brush to the salt. They were pretty impressed but wanted to paint the normal way.

Friday:

This morning after breakfast, we headed up to Lily’s room to do our first Photoshoot Friday in quite some time. They had a blast dressing up like munchkins and posing in front of the Wizard of Oz backdrop I made. You can read a little more about that here and see previous Photoshoot Friday ideas we have done. We came downstairs and did some cleaning. I love how much they love to help. I am tempted to get them both mini working vacuums for Christmas. Just kidding. But how sweet would that be? We had some snack and continued to free play. Their new favorite spot is under the portable changing table in the dining room. They pretend they are on an airplane or helicopter. I love the imaginations they are developing!

Check back this week for some fun Turkey and Thanksgiving inspired projects!

Behind the scenes of a Photoshoot Friday!

I admit I have been slacking in the Photoshoot Friday department this year. It was a whole lot easier when they were a lot less mobile.  Naptimes are now spent prepping projects for the afternoon (or the week) while also trying to squeeze in a shower and some quiet cleaning. The summer was spent playing and being outside, which didn’t leave a lot of room for designing a set. But now that they are older and love to paint and be big helpers, they might have a hand in helping me prepare for some more shoots!

Where do the ideas come from?

The first photo shoot I did was when Lily was just a few months old. Jordan had just gone back to work and I was looking for fun and creative projects to do during the day with Lilypad, even at a young age. I saw a Pinterest post of a mom who used towels to create this hilarious creative backgrounds she would lay her sleeping baby on. I put her in her tiny bathing suit and experimented with an assortment of blue towels and blankets, her seahorse toy, and a brown blanket (for a surfboard). She was actually quite awake during this shoot. I did a few more photo shoots over the next few months with simple backgrounds for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.

Once I started watching Tristan, I did a solo shoot with him as Superman ‘flying’ over a town. I posted the pictures to Facebook and got a lot of positive feedback, along with the ideas to add Lily to the shoot. The beginning ones were very simple. The outfits were the center of the shoots and then I formed a scene around them with towels or blankets and simple props. As soon as they became a little more mobile, things became a little trickier.

How do I brainstorm?

I usually start with an idea based on an outfit or toy that one or both kids have or a prop I can easily make. For the Gone Fishin’ photo shoot, we had just gotten Lily a cute wooden fishing game and I had a large box leftover from something that made for the perfect rowboat! The Wild West shoot came from Ash finding those onesies on clearance somewhere. I have done a few holiday ones but the one that hit home and meant the most was the Restore the Shore shoot. I re-create my favorite parts of Seaside Heights’ boardwalk and we got the kids Restore the Shore T-shirts to wear. They posed with hammers and tools, ready to rebuild.

How long does it take me?

When I first started, I would sketch up the backgrounds I wanted to create the night before and get all the materials ready. For the first few shoots, it was just some stuffed animals, a few basic cardboard props, a towel or blanket, and Lily & Tristan, dressed to impress. Then things started getting a little more involved. I can usually draw and paint a background during a naptime. Or while the kids are painting their own projects or entertained by food or playdough. I usually prep slowly during the week then finish up last minute details Thursday night. I found it’s best to get them right when they wake up, after breakfast and before we get dressed. They’re usually pretty pleasant after they are fed.

How much does it usually cost?

Usually, absolutely nothing. I try to use outfits we already have or can borrow. If I do purchase an outfit for a photo shoot, it usually has another use I intend to get out of it. I use cardboard I have stockpiled in the garage. I do buy paint, but I also use that for other crafts and projects. For the safari shoot, we got Lily a Power Wheels jeep at a yard sale for $4 and I found the hats and vests at the dollar store. We bought her a drum kit at the same yard sale for about $3 and I couldn’t wait to do a shoot with it! For the kitchen shoot, I had made Lily a mini kitchen set out of cardboard and packaging tape and I had a fun time making a little kitchen scene for them to play in!

Do they always turn out the way they were planned?

No, of course not. Sometimes I change my mind halfway through making a ‘set’ or painting a background. Some days, I can’t get either child to sit still or cooperate for longer than 30 seconds which makes trying to capture their cuteness slightly difficult but sometimes the outtake shots end up being the best and silliest. I usually set them up, run a few steps back (or up) and start snapping shots. At times it’s frustrating, until I take a deep breath and remind myself it’s all for fun and they are two year olds.

So why am I interviewing myself about Photo Shoot Friday? Because it’s back, baby. At least for this week! We’re traveling to Oz along the yellow brick road and welcoming Dorothy as a member of the Lollipop Guild and a part of the Lullaby League. Here are some pictures from prepping for it and some cute ones of the kiddos being munchkins!! They actually had a lot of fun with this one and took direction from me on how to pose. They also stayed in costume for a while after and played up in Lily's room. I did take Tristan's hair out right away though and it's back to it's normal state!

And just for fun, here are some blooper pictures when we didn't quite have the scene set right! Notice the blanket escape on the sailboat, the sitting up surfer baby, a pirate on a mission, a Wild West town being torn to shreds, and a very miserable skunk. Even these are just too precious! 

Have a great weekend!

Week Ten Recap

Tuesday

Today was a rough one. We all had a nice long three day weekend, but maybe the time change or the sugar added to our systems caused a bit of chaos. We played with some toy cars and drew and colored a pretty cool track for them to drive on (with a Target included cuz who doesn't drive there at least once a week)? When this got old and the crayons and trucks became weapons, we headed out for a stroller walk. I pulled something in my leg on Monday at some point and I am limping like a pirate with a peg leg every couple of steps. Walking and being active did help it out some yesterday, but last night I could not wait to snuggle in bed with the heating bad. Must be that I am creeping closer to old age or something. It made it an adventure to chase both of them around the house, especially when they were up to no good! After nap and lunch, Aunt Lyss came over to play with us. We played with dress-up, read some books, and were moderately bums. Some days, that just happens.

Wednesday:

This morning had a much smoother start, thank goodness. We were able to eat breakfast, get dressed, and have some free play time with almost no whining and/or fighting. When we got a little antsy, we hopped into our chairs and painted our Jellyfish Js with water color and a paper plate with tempera paint. That plate will be turned into a jellyfish at some point today or this week. After our project, we cleaned up and went outside for a little bit. Even though they each have an almost identical car to sit in and wheel around out there, there is always some sort of argument. Today they kept crashing into each other, which only made them both angry and was driving me nuts, so our cars got put on the other side of the fence while we all took some deep breaths. The cars came back and they pretended to go to the store and get me stuff that was on my list. I happened to turn my head toward the gate I was inches away from and jumped about ten feet in the air when I saw a large praying mantis staring back at me. After I regained composure, we talked about ‘her’ and watched her move slowly. Lily made up a story about her walking around the gate and then giving Lily and Tristan hugs.

Thursday:

Rain, rain, go away. Please. We had a decent morning for being stuck inside for all of it. There were hardly any fights and no tears, which was a pleasant change of pace. I brought over some toy cars I found while cleaning out my parent’s attic and the collection was enough that both Lily and Tristan picked a favorite and there were no fights. We rolled out our car track and finished covering it. I started to cover it with some packaging tape to preserve it until I ran out of it. I wish the Target I drew on the track could be hopped into, Mary Poppins style! After we cleaned up cars, we painted some birthday cards for Uncle RJ/Daddy and had a little snack. Then the kids each put on one of Tristan’s rain boots and started ‘ice skating’ around the house. Lily started doing this a few weeks ago and I love the imagination of it all. We watched a few videos via the Chromecast, which I absolutely love. Nothing stops them in their tracks like watching their favorite Disney or Sesame Street YouTube videos on the big TV, especially when we have not done so in a while. We watched “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and I got the idea for a Photoshoot Friday to put into the works. I think I am going to have the kiddos help me out to make the backdrop and the costumes for this one.

Friday:

Brr it’s quite blustery out today! I had the bright idea to do our project in a different spot—at our small Mickey table. Lily and Tristan both listened and played while I set up our paper, got the paint ready, and pulled out today’s ‘paintbrush’ (a wire bottle brush). They both sat down nicely and started to paint…and push the table into each other. We took some deep breaths and continued to paint until it was time to change the paper and then meltdowns began, the table was pushed, and someone toppled over their chair. Needless to say, project time ended abruptly and we had some cool down time. After we settle down, we managed to get outside to blow the stink off and take a short wagon ride but our play area was still a little damp from yesterday’s rain. Grammy (my mom) texted me and asked if she could drop some stuff off which was a nice break in our routine. We played for a little bit and sang some songs with her, and then it was naptime. I have a few projects and tricks up my sleeve for after nap, but we’ll see how our moods are. This week was slightly lacking in the crafting department and I blame the crash of a Halloween candy filled sugar rush. I promise I’ll be back on my game next week. I did get a lot of cleaning and reorganizing done this week though, so I don’t feel like a total bum!

Have a fun weekend!!

Week Nine Recap

I can't believe it is the ninth week of doing these lessons! It has been a fun experience and I overheard Lily tell Tristan while they were playing in her room "Ok now we do a project" and I watched Tristan pretend to paint Lily's feet and stamp them on a pretend piece of paper!!

Monday:

Whew today was a rough one. I am not sure if it was the weekend apart from each other, or the impending time change or the barometric pressure or an alien takeover, but wow did we have a rocky morning. There was about fifteen minute total where no one whined, cried, hit, bit, screamed, or threw a fit. I would say about seven of those peaceful non-consecutive minutes were spent doing some projects. We painted our letter of the week which was an Iguana I, and glued a witch together out of triangles. We took a lot of deep breaths today and had a few time outs given. Luckily, after nap and lunch we became our normal selves again and kept the aforementioned bad behavior to our usual minimum.

Tuesday:

Things were a lot better today. We had a few time outs and deep breathing exercises, but it was nothing compared to the meltdown chaos that yesterday provided. After our breakfasts, we helped each other get out of our PJs and put our clothes for the day on. The focus skill for this week is putting our pants on and pulling them up with little to no help. I am making a conscious effort to not put Lily in skinny jeans this week so we can master this skill. Once we were dressed and ready to go, we had some free play time so I could get some laundry started. This is usually when things get a little hairy, so once they did, we switched back to a more structured day and climbed into our seats for project time. We made a skeleton by gluing Q-tips to a piece of black paper. I made the outline of a body and handed them each a handful of Q-tips. At first, Tristan started dotting his Q-tip in the glue like we were painting and Lily started placing hers horizontally, which looked like ribs. Chances are, this project will not be staying glued on very long, but as usual, it is fun to see how they tackled a project when given little instructions. We zipped through that project so we practiced some more fine motor skills and peeled stickers to decorate premade monster faces.

Wednesday:

It was quite warm out today, so we started the morning off after breakfast with a nice looooong walk. I found more sidewalk chalk at Walmart last night finally so when we got back, we spent some time coloring with the new full sized pieces. Lily and Tristan also helped me to get some of the leaves out of our play area, and since it was warm enough, we took off our shoes and played in the sandbox for a little bit. We came inside to wash hands, use the potty, and get ready for snack, and they started fighting about who was standing where. Yes, toddler problems. Before I could sprint down the hall, they bit each other. I have been trying to keep them as busy and as active as I can, but sometimes I need to minute to grab snack, refill cups, straighten up. I know it’s the age and they are together all the time, but man, this week has been quite a patience tester! I have tried the calm, “use your words” approach, the scary “I am raising my voice sternly at you so please stop” approach, straight up ignoring them, time outs, and everything in between. I just keep telling myself to belly breathe, and if I am calm, they will be calm. Calm but stern? This is totally karma for the seven years of almost constant physical fighting my brother and I did which was pure torture to my mom. For that I am sorry!

After nap and lunch, we were refreshed and regrouped. During nap, I put together a few possible projects we could do, depending on the mood of the afternoon. We ‘painted’ a piece of paper candy corn with orange, yellow, and white rice and then we built a foam scarecrow face using googlely eyes, shredded paper for straw hair, and a foam hat. I was using cheap glue, though, and ended up with a nice clump of sticky rice in my hair from shaking off the excess that I did not find until later. These are the days!

Thursday:

It was back to being quite chilly this morning and the kids were back to being noticeably more behaved, so we did some fun things inside to make the morning go faster (and smoother). While I got my stuff organized, Lily and Tristan spread out a blanket and had a picnic with the fake food. They ended up bundled and snuggled and giggling which was music to my ears. After we cleaned up, we started our projects for the day. I have some odds and ends that need to be completed from previous projects (like the color of the week), so we did some gluing. We painted some paper plates black for spider bodies. While they were painting their plates, I began painting their piggies! I used green on the base of their foot and black up around their toes to make a Franken-foot picture. We took a break to go potty and try out a new game. Using a hula hoop and some packaging tape, I made a spider web that we tossed pompoms at to see if they would stick like bugs. They did not quite stick like I had planned unless you smushed them to the tape, but we still had fun tossing the bugs at the web. I might try this again with different tape and maybe some lighter pompoms or some crumbled up paper. When they started sticking their faces to the tape, we cleaned up and moved on to the next thing---snack. After our snack, we glued on some googlely eyes to both our spiders and our monsters. Then it was time for nap and lunch. After lunch we took a nice long stroller walk but since it was still a little chilly, we came back inside and played with the chalkboard in Lily’s room instead.

Friday:

Happy Halloween! We finished up all of our Halloween themed projects today with a secret spider web watercolor and making an Olaf inspired pumpkin statue! For the spider web, I drew webs on two sheets of white paper with a white crayon and had Lily and Tristan paint over the drawing with water colors! Thank you to Nicole for the idea! The kids went nuts when the web started to show! Lily and Tristan played upstairs in Lily’s room with the dress up clothes and blocks for a little bit while I organized all the junk that has been piling up around my bed. It is so nice to be able to let them play freely in there for short spurts of time while I straighten up. After nap and lunch, I have a few more simple projects up my sleeve, like making a ghost out of cotton balls and gluing to tie up some more loose ends. I am making a taco dip tonight and I might also let them help out! 

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! I tried to train Lily and Tristan to go for the good candy this year since last year Lily seemed to be attracted to the shiny silver wrapper of the Three Musketeer Bar where as I am more of a Reeses or Twix girl. Here's to gaining a few pounds and making a few memories this weekend!

Lily's Rapunzel Costume!

Thanks for the inspiration,'Punzel!

This year I thought I could skate by with choosing Lily’s costume for her one last time before the demands started. I was thinking a retro chick with a poodle skirt and saddle shoes. Or Lucille Ball. Mostly because I wanted an excuse to buy her saddle shoes! But we asked her, and she said 'Punzel. I was so impressed with how quickly she came up with that answer, I had to oblige. I still planned on making it as long as I could find something simple to replicate. She came with me to Joann’s to pick out the fabric. I stumbled across a great tutorial with a pattern here, and even though it was a 5T, the pattern was a perfect jumping off point. I figured I would have to hem some things but I also knew I’d be layering her up that night and since I’m not always a super star seamstress, I figured this would give me enough room for error!

I liked the idea for the bodice of this costume, but I wanted to make a very full tutu for the skirt. She absolutely loves her big purple tutu, so I wanted her to feel comfortable in this one and actually want to wear it. I used the same technique as I did last year to make the skirt and it came out great. But when I went to attach it to the bodice, all hell broke loose. Well, not really. It just didn’t line up the right way, and when she tried it on, it was too tight on her belly. As per usual during my sewing adventures, I spent a nap time with my exacto knife (I really need to stock up on proper tools for my sewing kit) cutting the skirt loose from the top. I was considering using just regular purple fabric for the skirt, but when I tried to measure it up against Lily, she said "No mommy, tutu!" Sigh. At least I thought I did a pretty good job getting the bodice part right without too many re-dos or headaches!

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

I un-looped all the tulle from the elastic band and laid it in groups of three, all uneven sizes. Another fun project I may have grumbled a little during. But hey, you live and learn. I folded each group of three in half and then pinned it to the bodice. I did two layers of this, and then sewed them together, leaving the back open on either side of the Velcro to ensure it fit and was not tight around her waist. It fit! The skirt was a little long and needed some cutting to even it out.  

The last step was to add the white trim around the bodice and lace up the front. The trim needs some ironing and and I still need to cut all the loose threads, but overall I am happy with the finished product, and Lily enjoyed wearing it this weekend at my parent’s house for a little pre-Halloween fun!

Almost finished!

As for the hair, I bought a few headband wigs from the Dollar Tree and experimented with hairdos. I first glue three together to give the braid a nice full look, but it was way too thick to fit on Lily’s head. Oops. I did a single braid in another one, and even though it is thin, she kept it on her head for a little bit. I bought fake flowers (also from the Dollar Tree) and to weave into the braid. I am 99.9% sure she will not wear this the whole night, but hopefully I can get a picture or two in!

I caved and bought her actual Rapunzel shoes from Payless. I wasn’t going to, but I channeled my Nan and she said “JUST ET THEM FOR HER” so I did. They probably cost about as much as the costume did to make, but I had a 25% off coupon from my birthday, and she’ll be able to wear them to church with a few of her dresses. Note to self—buy more purple dresses.

I will post more pictures of the complete look this weekend after she goes trick or treating! I am a bit nervous about Friday night. She hasn't been to keen on seeing Halloween decorations in the stores or on people's houses during our walk. But today, during our walk, every time she saw a decoration she did not like, she said "it's okay, Mommy, it's just pretend" and rubbed my hand. 

Week Eight Recap!

Monday:

It was very chilly this morning so we planned to walk and go outside after our naps and lunch. After breakfast, we took our time getting dressed. Both kids help each other when it comes to taking off PJs and pulling on pants. It’s pretty stinkin’ cute! We set up our train set and played with that for a little bit. I have been setting up part of it, and letting them finish the track. They sometimes get frustrated but they’ll ask (whine) for help or just leave the track unconnected. Since we couldn’t go outside, we did some exercising and dancing to some of our favorite songs. We listened to a new one called Freeze and learned how to play the freeze dance game.  After we shook some energy out, we painted our H horses with water colors. I am always impressed when they notice what letter we’re doing, but also what my drawing is! After nap and lunch, we took a nice long walk and played outside for a little bit.

Tuesday:

Since it wasn’t as cold out today, we were able to sneak a walk in after we had some time for free play and cleaning up. We went down a few different streets to check out some Halloween decorations and down our usual route to say hello to the ones we’ve seen for a while now. I think of it as a dry run for Halloween night because something tells me Lily might not like this holiday too much this year! After our walk, we played outside in our cars for a little bit before coming inside for a snack. We read our book, Haunted House and talked about everything we saw in the book, noting over and over again that Halloween is scary, but it is just pretend. We had a surprise visit from Aunt Bobo so we played with her for a little bit before nap. After nap and lunch, we had another surprise visit from Aunt Lyss so we had more people to entertain!

Wednesday:

Today was quite dark and gloomy. Lily was the only smart one and slept in as late as she could. We had a fun visit from Tay Tay during the morning so the kiddos showed off all of their tricks! After Taylor hit the road, we had a snack and painted some paper plates orange to use later for pumpkins. We used a big foam brush this time. I like seeing how they use new painting tools. After lunch and nap, we played up in Lily’s room so I could finish up some things in my own room.

Thursday:

Today started off dark, wet, and gloomy again. I knew I had to keep them busy and moving or else meltdowns would be occurring more frequently than usual from any one of us! We did our usual morning routine and added in some exercise and dancing time. When I became the only one still dancing, I snuck out of the room to set up a Shape Hop game. I took two large pieces of paper and drew a few different shapes on each. Then I taped them to the floor and called them into the room. They had to use their listening ears to find out which shape they needed to be on, and what they needed to do on each shape. We hopped on stars, sat on circles, and even stood on one foot on triangles. Then they both decided to lay down on either paper and pretend to sleep. And that was at only 9:15!

We switched gears and did some cleaning and straightening up around the house. They like to dust (with washcloths) and vacuum (with their carts). When that got to be old news, we climbed into our high chairs and started a slew of projects while listening to the Halloween Party station on Pandora. They absolutely LOVED the Purple People Eater song. (I gotta remember that)!

First we glued faces on the orange paper plates we painted yesterday. I decided to not control where they wanted to put the eyes, nose, and mouth on the face and let them place the shapes as they saw fit. Both actually stuck with the normal face layout! 

After our faces were complete, we glued a rectangle, triangle, a circle, and squares together to create our haunted houses. I also did not interfere with this project. I told them we were making houses and we’d be adding stickers and it was so interesting to see how they placed their shapes. Lily actually made a house with a door and windows on the triangle. Tristan’s was a little more freestyle, but that’s the beauty of letting them do projects themselves.

While our glue was drying on our houses, we got down and dirty with some paint. 

I taped foam pumpkins to a sheet of orange paper and had them finger paint the entire sheet for a reverse sort of look! At first both kids only used their fingers until I gave the OK to use as many fingers and hands as they wanted. Lily dove right in, using two hands and smushing the paint around, while Tristan needed some time to warm up to that and used his pointer finger for a while. After both sheets were covered, we put those aside to dry and began putting stickers on our haunted houses. I let them choose what stickers they wanted. Lily allowed one skeleton face on her project, but when I handed her another, she said “no, he too scary!”

We spent the afternoon playing with toys we haven’t seen in a while and I took out the playdough for a little bit. Hopefully it is nicer out tomorrow because we’re all going a little stir crazy!

Friday:

Finally a nice sunny day! It’s definitely fall but it was nice enough to spend some time playing outside in the morning, and hopefully we will be able to take a nice long walk in the afternoon! After breakfast and some free playing today, we made ghosts out of our footprints and our scary ghost faces! They came out super cute and Lily and Tristan both cracked up when they saw them. We danced to the Ghostbuster’s Theme song, the Purple People Eater, and the Monster Mash today for some exercise. This week felt incredibly long and I think the gray, cold, rainy days played a huge part in that.

Hopefully we have a nice sunny weekend ahead to get outside and get moving! I am just about done Lily’s Halloween costume so I’ll be blogging about that soon. We are planning on celebrating Halloween Sunday with my parents so I need to really get cracking on the final details!

Enjoy the weekend!