Week Four Recap!

Monday:

Ash and RJ had off today, so they kept Tristan and I got to enjoy some Mommy and Lily time. We went over to the park and took a walk, played on the playground and kicked the soccer ball around. There was not one argument when I said it was time to go home, and she actually climbed into the stroller herself. As I put her in the car, she kissed my cheek and said “best friends, mommy.” Oh that girl! After nap, we met up with my mom and went to another park! We took a nature walk and found some cool leaves and acorns, and slid down another big tunnel (tube) slide. We missed our Tristan but we had a fun day! 

 Tuesday:

I was feeling a little under the weather today so we weren’t completely on schedule. It was also a little chilly out in the morning, so we hung out inside and played with some toys we don’t use as much. We read our book, If the Dinosaurs Came Back, and then we painted our Dinosaur D’s with water colors. It is interesting to see how far they each have come with the way they hold the paint brush and how they respond to cues like “can you paint his eye” or “what color do you want to use next?” Tristan’s been on an orange kick and also likes to paint the letter Y everywhere. Lily has been concentrating harder on actually staying in the lines of the pictures!

Wednesday:

We were a little more on track today. After breakfast, we got dressed and read our dinosaur book(s). Then we used water color to paint a picture of a duck. We went outside and drew a few things that started with D in chalk and then we climbed into the sandbox and dug for dinosaurs that were buried in it! We took our dinosaurs on a wagon ride and even let them share our snacks with us! After snack, we glued some feathers onto our ducks and danced around to some duck songs. Our focus skill this week is sorting with colors, so I dug out the squeeze lids and colored jars and let them play with those. I also took half of an egg carton, cut out some different colored circles, and glued them in the bottom of each egg holder. I set out the lids and asked them to try to match the colors. They did a pretty good job, but wanted to fill the jars up again instead.

Thursday:

It rained alllll day today and I now know that I am going to have to have tons of backup projects and tricks up my sleeve for the winter or we will all go nuts! We did our usual morning routine, but instead of climbing into the stroller, we played with the foam letter mats until the room was a complete mess and then they helped me clean it all up. It was good practice on identifying letters. They were getting a little antsy and I was losing patience faster than normal, so we climbed back into our chairs and painted things that were green. Then I put newspaper down on their trays and let them go to town on some little white pumpkins. Lily used every color I offered, and Tristan stuck to his new favorite color, orange. It got a little messy, but it took up a good chunk of time and they enjoyed themselves.

Friday:

It was absolutely gorgeous out today so we went for a walk and then played outside as long as possible. We drew a big letter D and doodled things that begin with D in sidewalk chalk. When snack was done, they painted paper plates that I folded in half and added some extra cut out pieces of construction paper to make little dinosaurs. It was a very laid back day, as Friday’s usually are!

A Little Me Time...

Every great once in a while there comes a day where the breakfast I have made not only one but both kiddies gets eaten without a complaint (or any mom-like threats). The outfit I planned out while showering as fast as I could before a child woke up from nap fits wonderfully and looks as good as I imagined. Both kids sleep almost the same amount of time during almost the same time with no interruptions and I can clean, craft, prep, blog, or simply brush my hair and put on makeup. Both kids eat (most) the lunch they asked for (or agreed to eat) and no fights occur during outdoor time or a wagon ride. I doubt any of these mini miracles have ever all happened on the same day or else I would have no doubt have exploded with joy. But it is those little things that go off without a hitch or tantrum that make my day so much easier, and help my patience level last so much longer. And if not, there is always a nice glass of wine at the end of the day. Or a new crafting project.

That being said, I haven’t been doing any crafts or projects for me lately. I’ve been planning stuff to do with the kids, and working on some Shutterfly projects I have vouchers for to try and get ahead of for some Christmas presents. I watched an episode of Project Runway the other day and it inspired me to get a little artsy craftsy. I stumbled across some canvases I haven’t used yet while cleaning and begain to brainstorm what I wanted to use them for. Anyone who knew me in high school/early college remembers my bedroom being collaged floor to ceiling with magazine clippings. It started out one night when I couldn’t sleep and became my insomnia project for the next month. For this specific project, I wanted to use different color clippings meshed together to form a picture. I sketched out my picture first, then got to cutting and gluing. I put a layer of Modge Podge on top to seal it all on and voila. The finished product turned out better than I had expected! And, almost more importantly, I was in my happy place! There is something about cutting magazines up and being covered in Modge Podge that I find relaxing. Here's a peak at it when it was 95% finished---the other 5% of work was adding some special details to make it a gift that hasn't been given yet! 

What is your favorite during-the-day-can't-escape-physically me time activity? Some days, I sneak a chapter of a book. I know, I am just a wild woman!

Happy Hump Day!

Week 3 Recap!

Monday:

Today we introduced the letter C. We painted Caterpillar C’s with water colors and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I got out the felt board story we have used in the past (you can check that out here) and let them tell the story back to me. I love when they find a certain part of the book that they love, and they put those pieces up on the board. Tristan loves to put up the moon and the tree with the egg on it, and then Lily will put up the sun and the caterpillar. They can recite small parts of the book without looking at it, and when they do have the book in front of them, they 'read' with the cadence that I do. They took turns bringing each other pieces to stick on, and only got frustrated/asked for help a few times. We also learned how to sign the letter C and the color yellow. On our walk later that night, Lily saw a yellow ball and started to sign and say "Yellow Mommy!" I am so proud of my little sponges!

Tuesday:

The day started off gloomy and rainy so we were forced to stay indoors. Yikes. These are the days where the extra planning works in my favor. We did some exercises and went on a bear hunt. Then we danced to a few of their favorite songs before starting project time.

We painted pictures of things that were yellow with water colors.  After a snack of one chocolate chip cookie (hey, that’s some triple C action right there), we talked about caterpillars and got ready to make our own. We took clothespins (two each) and smeared some Elmer’s glue on the top. They each picked out the color pom poms they wanted, and stuck four on each clothespin while I held them steady. While our caterpillars were drying, we practiced peeling some Very Hungry Caterpillar themed stickers and putting them on a foam leaf to feed our new friends.

After nap and lunch, the sun came out so we ventured outdoors for a wagon ride and some play time under the umbrella. Lily spotted a tiny yellow caterpillar so I scooped him up to show them. They were loving it until Lily let him “tickle” her hand briefly before throwing him to the ground and Tristan may have ran over him with his car. RIP Little Guy!

Wednesday:

It was chilly this morning but we still took our stroller walk and looked for leaves. When we came back and came inside, we had our C snack (chocolate chip cookie) and talked about what happens in the fall. We talked about the many leaves we saw on our walk, and all the different colors and sizes they are. I painted their arms brown from their elbows to the tips of their fingers to make a tree. Then they got to ‘dot’ their fingerprints all over in red, orange, and green paint.

After nap and lunch, we tried our fine motor skill of the week. I found small plastic containers somewhere (probably the dollar store) and had Jordan cut a slit in the top of each of them. I gave each kid a handful of buttons and sat back and watched. Lily asked me “Can I put this in here?” and all I said was “go for it!” Once again, this new activity kept their hands busy for quite some time! After each of them had filled their containers, we dumped them out and started to sort some before putting them back in. Lily wanted all the big ones, and Tristan found all the yellow ones.

Thursday:

Today on our walk, we looked for leaves to use for a special project we would be doing later. They each pointed out leaves they wanted to use and I scooped them up. When we got home, we added more leaves to our bucket and came inside for snack. After snack, I taped down a few leaves on their tray, taped a piece of white construction paper over them, and handed them each a big, peeled crayon. I showed them how to rub and roll the crayon so the leaves underneath would show up, but then I stepped back and let them go to town. Tristan even started looking for letters in the patterns he made!

After nap and lunch, we grabbed a soccer ball and a volley ball and headed to this little park up the street. It’s just a big field for them to play on and I don’t have to worry about chasing them up different pieces of playground equipment. We kicked the balls around, found some acorns, and then Lily stopped listening and ran off into the parking lot and that ended our fun there. We talked about why we had to leave, and she told Jordan when he came home that she cried at the park and she wanted to kick the volleyball. Sigh. We’re working on our listening skills so I can one day conquer the zoo or the aquarium with both of them solo.

Friday:

We took a good walk today in the crisp fall air. We came home and drew things that start with C with sidewalk chalk and then went upstairs and played in Lily’s room for something different.We might try the park again this afternoon for a little bit after lunch depending on everybody’s moods, but today, we're just going to take it easy! 

My first proud moment of the morning was when Tristan found a piece of paper on the floor that was bent in half and said "Seven Kelly!" My second proud moment of the day was during our walk when Lily turned to Tristan and said "What red things do you see?" I love seeing it all come together for them!!

Have a fun weekend everyone!

Week Two Recap

Monday:

We introduced the letter B today. Unlike the letter A, there are things all over this house that start with B! I filled a basket with as much stuff as it would hold, and we sorted through the blocks, balls, bears, babies, bottles, and blankets all before breakfast. Whew!

We took our usual walk and looked for things that started with B. We saw a bus, some birds, and things that were blue. We played in the sandbox for a little bit, and then doodled things that started with B with sidewalk chalk. After snack, we painted bumblebee B’s with water colors and then moved on to our fine motor activity, stringing pipe cleaners through colanders. It was a huge hit. You can read more on that here. They loved it!

Tuesday:

We read our book, “Feely Bugs” while we ate our snack. We then tried out our chunky stamps again. I still haven’t gotten around to getting an inkpad, so I lightly painted on some tempra paint (vs dabbing the whole stamp in paint like I did last time), and then showing them again how to use the stamp. This time, you can sort of make out the different shapes of the bugs!

Wednesday:

After our stroller walk, we dug for (plastic) bugs in the sandbox. We practiced counting them, and sorting them by color, size, and what type of bug they were. They had a lot of fun digging and hiding the bugs again. We picked out one of each and put it in a mason jar filled with water. They’re supposed to grow bigger but they were a dollar so we’ll see how big they get!

Our fine motor skill for the day was stringing dyed pasta onto pipe cleaners. Once again, this activity was a huge hit. At first, they both only strung one piece on, and pulled it all of the way through. Then they each started to add a few more. I started making a necklace without saying anything, and they wanted to make some too! Lily made a bracelet for herself and even threaded the pipe cleaner back into the piece of pasta to make it stay on her wrist!

Thursday:

Today we checked on our bugs, and they in fact did grow some! We let them dry while we went for a walk and once again dug and buried bugs in the sandbox. It was pretty humid which tends to make us a little cranky, so our outside time was cut short. We came in and had a little snack, then we decorated our Fall Wreaths with foam stickers. I had traced their hands on foam in fall inspired colors to resemble leaves then glued them together with a hot glue gun. I found foam stickers at Target in the dollar bins that were shaped as leaves, pumpkins, apples, acorns, and owls. We finished up with some play doh time, focusing on using the tiny cookie cutters and making shapes.

We went on a letter hunt around the house and then played with some letter magnets on the fridge. Tristan had a blast and kept asking to “find more?” He can recognize almost all of his letters!

Friday:

Today was a low key day. We went on our walk, dug for bugs in the sandbox, and then came inside and played upstairs in Lily’s room. She has become obsessed with playing in her room lately. I am not sure if it is because her toys are all out at her level or the novelty of her new big girl bed (more on that transition later), but whatever the reason, I love that she loves her room so much!

Our focus skill this week was drinking out of small cups. I tried a few days at snack time to introduce drinking a few sips of water out of paper bathroom cups and it got a little messy. Those cups are easy to squeeze and dump water everywhere. Ash brought over these tiny plastic red solo cups today so we gave them a whirl. They loved them! And they did a very good job holding them and there were almost no spills!

Next week is the Letter C and our color is Yellow. We’ll be doing a few fun projects involving The Very Hungry Caterpillar and talking about Fall! Have a good weekend everyone!

The time has come for colds, and overcoats…

…not really quite yet. It's actually really humid and gross out right now. But the time has come for Halloween and costume making! We visited a costume store a week or so ago and it might have scared Lily a little bit! They had a big display complete with a creepy pumpkin scarecrow on a swing that was talking. She has informed me many times that it scared her, but it was only pretend. 

I thought I could get one more year of deciding what costume to create for her before she started asking for specifics. I was thinking 50s Chick, with a poodle skirt, pony tail and curled bangs, a sweater, and some sweet saddle shoes I have been eyeing up for her but can’t quite bring myself to buy. But Jordan asked what she wanted to be, and she said “Ummmm PRINCESS!” So I guess I will be making some sort of princess attire. I am not sure if I should go the route of a Disney princess (she’s not really into one specific character yet) or if I should just go for the generic princess. Since everyone (and probably literally their mothers) are being Elsa and/or Anna, I am going to skip on those two. She also is fickle with what she has on her head, so I don't know if a long Rapunzel wig will be in the cards. 

I loved making Lily's lady bug costume and Tristan's owl costume last year and thought they came out pretty cute. Guess it’s onto the drawing board (and some Pinterest boards) to see what I can make on a budget! What are you making (or buying) for your little people for Halloween?

Boo at the Zoo 2013

Fine Tuning Some Fine Motor Skills...

I was going to wait until Friday to update on what we have been up to during the week, but today’s fine motor skill was just such a big hit, I could not resist! All it took was two colanders and some bright colored pipe cleaners (both found at the Dollar Tree) and Lily and Tristan had a blast!

I put a colander face down in front of each child and handed them each one pipe cleaner. I asked them what they thought we should do with them, and Lily’s first instinct was to thread the cleaner through one of the holes, and Tristan followed suit. After we divided the pipe cleaners, the two of them went to town threading the “crazy hair” onto the colanders. Tristan started putting both ends of the pipe cleaners through the holes while Lily would pull each pipe cleaner straight though. It was really interesting to see their techniques for inserting the pipe cleaner and how frustrated they each would get when it would bend at the last minute. They ended up playing with these for 20 minutes straight, which might be a record!! Well worth the $3 and the sneaky learning tactics! I can't wait to see their reaction to stringing noodles on these pipe cleaners later in the week!

September Plans Volume 2!

Box of Tricks!

This week, we will be working more with our fine motor skills and using new and different types of manipulatives. I bought two small colanders from the dollar store, along with some brightly colored piped cleaners. Before I show them the outcome I would like to see, I want to see if either of them decides to thread the pipe cleaners through the holes on their own. I also have been dying pasta (rigatoni) in all the primary colors so we can practice stringing beads. I am pretty sure with the amount of pasta we have, everyone we know will be getting a noodle necklace in the near future.

Since the letter of the week is B, we will be reading “Feely Bugs” by David A. Carter, and going on some bug hunts in the sandbox. We know a bunch of bug finger plays like the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Baby Bumblebee. We are going to try stamps again, but this time using ink pads so we can see our bug pictures a little better than the apples. We will also be tracing and decorating our bodies and naming simple body parts. The focus skill of the week will be drinking from (small) cups on our own, so we’ll see how that goes. 

Week Two: September 8-12

Book of the Week: Feely Bugs by David A. Carter

Letter of the Week: B

Color of the Week: Orange

Monday September 8

Art & Sensory: Painting the Letter B with water colors

Fine Motor: Stringing pipe cleaners through colanders

Language: Talking about the Letter B and what begins with B

Music & Movement: Going on a B hunt around the house

Focus Skill: Drinking from a (small) regular cup

Tuesday September 9

Art & Sensory: Stamping Bugs

Fine Motor: Stringing orange pasta onto a pipe cleaner

Language: Talking about things that are orange

Music & Movement: Playing cymbals fast, slow, quiet, and loud

Focus Skill: Drinking from a (small) regular cup

Wednesday September 10

Art & Sensory: Playing with plastic bugs in sand or rice

Fine Motor: Manipulating the bugs into cups and buckets

Language: Talking about different types of bugs

Music & Movement: Going on a nature walk to look for bugs

Focus Skill: Drinking from a (small) regular cup

Thursday September 11

Art & Sensory: Decorating our Leaf Wreaths

Fine Motor: Using cookie cutters in play doh

Language: Talking about things that are the color orange

Music & Movement: Cha Cha Slide

Focus Skill: Drinking from a (small) regular cup

Friday Septmeber 12

Art & Sensory: Tracing and decorating our bodies

Fine Motor: Stringing pasta onto yarn

Language: Talking about body parts

Music & Movement: Exercise Song

Focus Skill: Drinking from a (small) regular cup

Week One Recap!

Lily and Tristan’s first week “back to school” went off without a hitch! There wasn’t really a big change in the routines so no one freaked out. I just snuck in some more structured activities like project time, playing with instruments, exercise time, and of course, story time. We learned how to sign “A” and “red” in sign language, and learned some new finger plays and songs. The projects I chose to do were simple enough that both kids could do them with no trouble and with little help from me. They got to work with different textures than either of them are used to and that was fun to see the different techniques they chose to use. As far as our focus skill of putting our own shoes on---it’s a work in progress!

Here’s a little recap of the week. I am excited to continue to plan and come up with new weekly projects. I’ve been scouring Pinterest, other Mommy blogs, and even got some fun idea from the Oriental Trading catalog!

Tuesday:

It was very, very hot and humid, so our outside play was limited to about thirty minutes after breakfast. Before we went outside, we read our book of the week “Alligator Alphabet”. Once outside, we drew a big A on the pavement and doodled things that started with the letter A. After snack, we painted our Alligator A’s with green water colors. After our naps, we played instruments, danced and did our “exercises”, and then colored some pictures of things that start with the letter A. Not being able to go outside again made us all a little nuts. 

Wednesday:

The weather was slightly more bearable today so we were able to be back on our normal routine. We ate breakfast, got dressed, and had our vitamins. (Our new incentive for Lily to dress herself comes in the form of a gummy vitamin. If she can undress herself and redress herself as best she can without whining, she gets her vitamin). We took our stroller walk and looked for things that were red or started with the letter A, as well as our usual list of trucks, busses, dogs, Cookie Monster eyes (what Lily calls two adapters on the Verizon building we pass), and airplanes.

Since they were very well behaved on the walk, we stopped at the park across the street to play on the swings and then we explored the huge soccer field, looking for acorns. After we collected a few, we headed back to the house to play in the sandbox. A meltdown or two occur in between the sandbox and our project time, but that’s about par for the course. We glued red tissue paper squares onto our apples. It was fun to see the two different ages with two different techniques. Tristan threw all his tissue paper on top of the glue, while Lily carefully placed each piece one by one on her apple.

We got another day of pool time, popsicles, and a wagon ride in! That helped to break up the afternoon a little better.

Thursday:

It was slightly warmer this morning, but we still went on a walk and looked for things that were red. I actually had forgotten I said that we’d be looking for red things until Lily started pointing out red signs, flowers, and cars. Proud (space cadet) mom moment right there. We played in the sandbox, and drew some more pictures with sidewalk chalk of things that start with the Letter A. Then two very large daddy long legs appeared in our play area and we moved our playtime to inside. 

Today’s project was ‘painting’ the letter A with rice. I drew a few lines with Elmer’s glue and gave them each a pile of rice. Today, Lily chose to pick up big handfuls and sprinkle them on the glue trails, where Tristan picked up each piece of rice individually and placed it on the glue.

Lily and Tristan went swimming in the afternoon and ate some homemade popsicles while I paced back and forth waiting for those spiders to return. We had a Code Brown in the pool times two, which was just the icing on the cake of the afternoon I was having. Deep breaths and some laughter helped me to not completely lose it and hide in a dark corner.

Friday:

It’s another warm and muggy day today, so we opted for some outside play after breakfast and took a short wagon ride. When we came inside, I asked if they wanted snack or to do a project, and they picked the project! 

Originally I was going to cut an apple in half and show them how to use it as a stamp, but I forgot to grab an extra apple at the store and I found these chunky stamps my mom had given me. Conveniently, two were shaped as apples. I dipped each one in paint and showed them each how to stamp on their papers. They got a little crazy and ended up ‘painting’ with the stamps but I just let them do their thing. 

We played with dress up clothes, and had a little snack. Right now they're snoozing and I am brainstorming ideas for more fun and easy projects!

Happy Friday!