Raising Memories

Reminder

2010-02-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

This is just a friendly reminder that this blog has moved! If you're getting this update in your Feed Reader, then you need to update it!

Head on over to www.heatherlynne.ca to see the new blog, bookmark it, or add the new feed to your reader!

I Have an Announcement!

2010-02-06T07:29:00.001-05:00

I promised news today & here it is. I've been thinking about changing my blog for a while and I've finally done it. Some of you know that I also have a photography blog. I used to have a family blog but it sort of died out. While it's been fun having each of these blogs, I felt it was time to combine and have one.

However, if you are only really interested in the ideas I post about at Raising Memories, don't worry- you can still subscribe to the RSS feed for just Raising Memories posts. (You don't have to get updates about my life, my thoughts, and my photography if you don't want to!).

So, head over to my new blog and check it out. Click on "Subscribe" and choose which feed you're interested in (Photography, Raising Memories, or the whole blog), and we can all resume our regular blogging :)

www.heatherlynne.ca

Tomorrow

2010-02-05T09:18:00.004-05:00

Well, tomorrow's a special day & I'll have something new to tell you about.

First though, let me just say that a number of people (including my own mother) have contacted me, to see if my announcement is that I am pregnant!

No! That is not the announcement.

But continue guessing, it's kind of amusing! ;)

Potato Play

2010-02-05T07:31:00.000-05:00

Why I'm thinking we have potato stamping in our future:

Psssst...

2010-02-04T15:32:00.003-05:00

Psssst.... Saturday is a special day!
I'll be announcing something new that day, so stay tuned!

And because all posts are better with pictures, here's one of me and the girls in November, at the Aviary:

You can't tell in the picture, but I was basically terrified! I had a few small birds land on my head & it freaked me right out! Talia was nervous as well, so I was trying really hard (and probably failing miserably) to act like I was having fun! By the time we could see the exit, I was nearly running to get out of there. (They have some HUGE birds in that place!)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-02-04T07:21:00.000-05:00

I had a roll of pillsbury cookie dough in the fridge and it was time to use it, so I got it out & got Talia involved in rolling the cookies and pressing them with a fork.

It's amazing how something so simple to me can be so fun and exciting for her!

Painting Pinecones

2010-02-03T07:12:00.000-05:00

Again, Talia loves anything messy and she loves painting. I grabbed a few of the cinnamon-scented pinecones leftover from Chrstimas so she could make some snowy pinecones. I think it would be a great idea to go on a nature walk & find your own pinecones (like Emily at Learning Vicariously did), but we haven't done that, so this was the next best thing.

Talia noticed that when we turned her finished snowy pinecone on its end, it looked like a tree. I suggested that we might paint some green next time, and make pinecone trees. I have lots of leftover pinecones, so that'll be our next painting project :)

Sticker Tracing

2010-02-02T07:24:00.000-05:00

This is fun, and it gets them looking at & thinking about (& therefore remembering) the shapes of numbers, shapes, & letters.

You can find links to number and shape tracing pages that you can print at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Monday Moments #4

2010-02-01T07:05:00.002-05:00

A Christmas figurine that I painted at my sister in law's house before she was my sister in law got broken this year. Talia decided to fix it with a glue stick...

"Look Momma, I fixed him!
With STICK GLUE!"

"I am called a fixer
Little girls can fix things, too.
I learned how!"

(then she hugs it, and the head pops off)

"Honestly, guy!"

Shape Sorting

2010-01-31T07:03:00.000-05:00

We have a shape sorting cube from Playskool called the "Form Fitter".

In the past we've just used it for fitting the shapes through the holes, but I recently found a few of the shapes that were missing, and with all of the blogs I've been looking at lately, I think I'm starting to see things a little differently, because I thought of another "educational" way to approach the toy (it's not that original I guess, but for me it was ;)

So, I suggested different ways that Talia could sort the shapes (by colour, by whether they had corners or were round, by how many sides or corners they had, etc.) It went well & Talia was eager to keep doing it!

Valentine Toast

2010-01-30T07:18:00.004-05:00

Frugal Family Fun posted about this Not So Sweet Valentine Treat, and I copied it except for the icing since we didn't have any on hand.

For this picture I just cut the toast with a knife:

but a few days later I saw this at the dollar store:

Candy Cane Cake

2010-01-29T07:13:00.003-05:00

We made Chocolate Candy Cane Cake!

Talia was really excited about mixing the cake:

She got to poke holes in the cake with a toothpick before I poured candy cane syrup over it:

Then we dusted it with icing sugar & it was ready to go! You could use the whole recipe for candy cane syrup that we posted about yesterday. It won't make it too minty! (In our opinion! ;)

Candy Cane Syrup

2010-01-28T07:04:00.001-05:00

Storybook Woods posted a great Candy Cane Syrup Recipe that I have seen linked to in a few places on the web. It could be used to make Christmas gifts, or Valentine gifts with leftover candycanes from Christmas. We tried it & it's great!

This is all you need:

My little helper:

We learned that if you want to achieve the beautiful pink/red colour that you'll see on Storybook Woods, then you need to use red & white candy canes! lol Ours had green as well, and we got this lovely shade of brownish black ;) Luckily, we had big plans for adding our syrup to hot chocolate and chocolate cake, so it didn't matter!

Note: If you just don't want to make syrup, we learned one year, that if you stir a piece of candy cane into your hot chocolate, you get some delicious minty hot chocolate as well!

Planning Forms

2010-01-27T07:25:00.002-05:00

I found some great planning forms this week and wanted to share them with you. I have learned that it is easiest to be sucessful at doing activities with Talia each day if I plan ahead, and know what I'm going to do each day, and know that I have the materials needed (a lot like cooking dinner, for me).

So, here are a few good, printable forms I've found:

Tot School Planning Form from Homeschool Creations.

Tot School Forms from 1+1+1=1

My goal right now is just to do one planned activity each weekday with Talia, so I've been using this notepad I found at Michaels for about a dollar:

Poll For You

2010-01-26T17:41:00.004-05:00

Okay, so if you're reading this, I need your help with something!

I'm trying to determine the usefulness of some of the "widgets" (translation: things in the right column of the blog) that I'm using.

Just make a choice on the poll & you will be helping me out a lot!

If you're reading this on a reader, I don't know if you'll see the poll. If not, just click here to go to the blog & vote in the poll.

Thank you so much!

Number Wheel

2010-01-26T07:05:00.001-05:00

Chasing Cheerios recently shared this Number Wheel from www.homesschoolshare.com

I printed and laminated it & then went to the dollarstore in search of wooden clothespins that I could write on. Instead I found these adorable plastic ones. And you know? I think maybe a little craftiness is rubbing off on me from all of the blogs I've been reading lately, because I thought of the idea all on my own (haha :) to gluegun these foam hearts onto the clothespins since I couldn't write the number on like you could with wooden ones.

I was pretty happy with how they turned out & I'm excited to see what Talia thinks of them. I'm thinking that when she gets tired of using them to count with, I could teach her about odd & even numbers by the white & pink hearts.

Monday Moments #3

2010-01-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

Talia, explaining to me the contents of a drawing:

"This is me, having my birthday,
and this is the thirty first number (Her birthday is January 31st),
and this is some boring stuff for you to do...
But not terribly boring.. you wouldn't mind if it's a little bit boring, right?"

Me: "When will I be doing the boring stuff?"
Talia: "When you're at Claire's house"

(Claire is someone that I Visit Teach), and Talia comes along. ;)

Printable Schedule

2010-01-24T07:17:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I made a visual schedule for Talia to post on the wall in the hallway upstairs. It shows her all of the steps she needs to take in the morning.
(I mentioned it in the last Monday Moments ;)

I also made one for each of the bathrooms (go potty, wipe, flush, wash hands).

I found a great website with pictures to use but of course I cannot find it now! If anyone recognizes the pictures, please let me know! Or if you know of other websites with similar pictures, please share them in the comments.

Painting with String

2010-01-23T07:12:00.000-05:00

Another fun way to play with paint:

We were on a white paint kick, but I've seen this done with lots of different colours which makes a fun rainbow effect. :)

Talia started out by making an "H" and then she turned it into a ladder :)

Feature Friday #1 ~ Katherine Marie

2010-01-22T10:19:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I couldn't resist tying the feature to a day of the week. But honestly, I do not expect to feature a new blog or website every Friday. But when I do, I will do it on Friday- fair enough? :)

I have been checking out Mommy Blogs and websites of all types since I started this blog and it's so fun to discover the ones I know I'm gonna love, and are Feed Reader-worthy. ;)

I subscribe to the The Crafty Crow and they recently linked to a blog that I was really excited to find!

Katherine Marie is a mom and a photographer, and her "theme of the week"s are fabulous! You have got to check them out!

Here's a glimpse at her Snow Theme of the Week (you'll have to check out her blog to see the rest of the fun!

Be sure to check through her other posts as well- they are full of fun, cute ideas.

Painting with Pom Poms

2010-01-21T11:10:00.002-05:00

We experimented today with different ways to paint.

Talia loves painting, and doing messy things, so anything with paint is usually a hit ;)

Here's painting with pom poms:

We used blue paper and white paint & made a snowstorm :)

Then we used green paper & we'll cut it out in the shape of an evergreen tree & it will be a snowy tree :)

Melted Crayon Wax Suncatcher

2010-01-18T17:07:00.005-05:00

We went over to a friend's house for a playdate on Friday, and did a fun valentine's day project! My friend found the idea on Martha Stewart's Craft of the Day here. Follow the link for instructions on how to do this craft.

Monday Moments #2

2010-01-18T06:05:00.001-05:00

If you missed last Monday's post, you just need to look at the post below this one to get an explanation about what "Monday Moments" is (apparently I wasn't a very good blogger last week!)

I'm going back in time for this week's quotes:

I made some picture schedules for Talia (one in each bathroom that has pictures showing the steps she needs to take- go potty, wipe, flush, wash hands) and one for the upstairs hallway that shows steps to take in the morning (wake up, potty, make bed, get dressed, underwear in laundry basket, hair, breakfast, brush teeth).

So, I showed them to her after her nap & she's very enthusiastic about it. We discussed the pictures in detail :) Then Ken went to the bathroom & Talia stood outside the door, saying "First you go potty, then you make your bed, then wipe your bum, then flush, then put your stuff in the basket!" lol I could hear Ken chuckling :) hehe

------------------------

The other night when Ken was saying goodnight to Talia, she said: "Well, if you would keep my door open I would appreciate it."

------------------------

A quote from my friend Jenn, who was one of Talia's nursery leaders at church: "Talia was hilarious in nursery today... during music time she was introducing all the kids to the music teacher but didn't know Leeah's name so she just made up a giberish one. So her."

Monday Moments #1

2010-01-11T04:06:00.002-05:00

With two little girls like mine around, there are plenty of precious moments in our daily lives. Whether silly or sweet, they are all treasued moments. I'm sure that you can relate!

I love to write down the funny/cute things that my girls say & do (we'll have fun looking back at them someday!), and I thought it would be fun to share some of these treasured moments here, on the blog.

So, now for the first installment of "Monday Moments"...

Talia, discussing a time Ken put something on a cut that made it sting:"Nasty little Daddy! Nasty guy! But he's still useful."

Talia: (sings a song we haven't heard before & suggests we should sing it before bed sometimes)
Us: Where did you learn that song, Talia?
Talia: From Miss Piggy
Us: (wondering when she saw a muppet show.. maybe at Ken's parents' house?) When did you see Miss Piggy?
Talia: At church
Us: (wondering why anyone would show the muppet show at church) when?
Talia: Other days at the church
Us: Like not on a Sunday?
Talia: Uhh.. like lots of days!
Me: Like, in a movie?
Talia: No, in real life!
Ken: Like Miss Piggy, a puppet?
Talia: No, Miss Piggy FOR REAL!
Ken: Talia, Miss Piggy is a puppet, she's not real.
Talia: No, she's real!
Ken: Talia, pigs don't talk.
Talia: Yes, she does, she's REAL!
Ken: Talia, that's not true. You need to tell the truth.

(this goes on for a while, we are pretty confused, and then somehow Ken figures this out:

Miss Piggy = Sister Peggy

(Sister Peggy is the lady at church who comes into Nursery to teach the kids music).

LOL!!!

We were laughing for a while, remembering parts of that conversation, ie:

Talia, pigs don't talk.
Talia, Miss Piggy is a puppet.
No, she's REAL!!

Indoor Ice Skating!

2010-01-08T14:23:00.004-05:00

Thank you Frugal Family Fun for Indoor Ice Skating!! We had so much fun together this morning! I even loved it! (Ok, so I'm getting a lot of joy out of our activities these days).

All you need is wax paper, tape, feet, and carpet!

Family Tree Poster & Other "Maps"

2010-01-07T11:11:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about doing a family tree type of activity with Talia for a while...
So today, I rolled out the art paper, and we got to work making our family tree (well, we just did Ken's side of the family this time, we'll do mine next time, now that she knows what a family tree is).
Here's Aunt Rushy & Uncle Aaron who fell in love & now they're having a baby girl! (Note Talia's illustration of their baby ;)
And Gummy & Poppy, where it all began ;)
Talia was quick to understand what we were doing, and I think this is a good way to help her visualize how the family works.

I drew another type of "map" earlier today. This one was of a day. Talia cannot seem to grasp the idea that when she wakes up from her nap it's not a new day. So, I drew a detailed "day" for her today, showing her the things we do each day & discussing them as I drew them, along with a sun showing when it is light & a moon and stars for when it's dark. Then I pointed to each thing and I explained that the nap is in the middle of the day and it's not a new day when she wakes up. "See??"

Talia: "That doesn't make sense."

*sigh* Okay, so the map didn't work for that one ;) Does anyone have any other ideas or success stories for helping your child understand that a nap is in the middle of the day? Or do most kids just get that? :)

Shaving Cream Fun!

2010-01-06T11:39:00.004-05:00

Today we tried playing with shaving cream! I even enjoyed it- come on, it feels cool! ;)

Here's what we did:

We did this in our little plastic tub, to keep the mess contained.

This is a good opportunity to talk about mixing colours, too.

Things we'll change next time:

I think we'll do it without the tinfoil, but maybe make a design on a piece of tinfoil at the end (apparently, it dries on it nicely... we're still waiting for ours to dry :) The reason I wouldn't use the foil again is that the cream totally sticks to it, so the foil was lifting up all the time, with her hands when she lifted them up.

Another change I would make is not to leave the food colouring on top of the cream when she got to dig in (now her hands are dyed ;)

Zig Zag Girl

2010-01-05T10:45:00.001-05:00

If you're familiar with Starfall and their online ABC games, then you are familiar with the little zig zag boy & girl. Click here to go through the little "Z" section and you'll see a little song at the end with them in it.

Talia thinks these two zig zag people are great, and we shared the game with my mom one day when she was over. Well, my mom got the fabulous idea to make a zig zag girl for Talia for Christmas!

Here they are right after Talia opened it. Of course, one of the first questions out of her mouth was, "Where's the zig zag boy?" lol She loves the zig zag girl- thanks Grandma! :)

New Year Interview

2010-01-04T19:53:00.006-05:00

I heard about doing a New Year Interview with your child and thought it was a great idea! I got most of my questions from Giggles Galore. I intend to do the interview every year with both girls (when Katrina's old enough). I think it will be fun to see how their answers to the same questions change :) We did this as a Family Home Evening activity- sat Talia in a chair and videotaped her (it was very official & she loved it!)

What is your name? Talia
When were you born? In January
How old are you? (holds 3 fingers up)
Who is your mommy? (points to me)
What does your mommy do? She likes to do messy activities
What do you love about Mommy? I like to kiss her & hug her all the time
Who is your daddy? (points to Ken)
What does your daddy do? He likes to tickle me.
What do you love about Daddy? I like to kiss him & hug him all the time
What is your favourite color? pink
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a primary teacher (cute that she would say this- yesterday was her first day in Primary at church- I guess it went well! :)
What is your favourite food? Spaghetti
What food do you not like? Pickles
What is your favourite animal? A Frog! (We went to see The Princess & the Frog on Saturday)
Where do you want to live when you grow up? In the same house I’m living in today!
What do mommy and daddy do after you go to bed? They do some work
What does daddy say? He says… if you come out of bed, he says, “Go back into bed, Talia!”
What does mommy say? If you come out, she says, “Go back into bed, Talia!”
What is your favourite song? Twinkle Little Star
What is your favourite movie? Princess & the Frog
What is your favourite kind of ice cream? Chocolate
Where is your favourite place to eat? Restaurant
Who is your favourite person? Amelia… & Joshua
Who is your best friend? Amelia
What is your favourite book? Blue's Clues
Who is your sister? Katrina
Where did Katrina come from? From Your Tummy
What do you love about Katrina? I like to kiss her & hug her all the time
What is your favorite thing to do? Paint
What does Katrina like to do? She likes to eat paint.
What else does Katrina like to do? She likes to get in little tubs.
What does your dad like to say? He likes to say, “Come on, let me tickle ya!”

After the interview, she wanted to give us each a hug, and then started interviewing us! (She had me on the spot right away, asking me what I like most about Daddy, and what else?... and what else?... and what else?)! :)

Pattern Bracelets

2010-01-04T15:54:00.007-05:00

I bought some Pony Beads for Talia and brought them out today. She was so excited to see so many! :) She picked out a pipe cleaner and went to it. Then she announced to me that she was making Valentine bracelets (I had recently been going over upcoming holidays) and that the one she was making was for me :)

Then I taught her about patterns by starting one. I had been meaning to teach her patterns this way since this post in October, on beading! She figured it out, finished the pattern & announced that it was Daddy's Valentine Bracelet because it was out of "his favourite colours" (light blue, green, and purple evidently ;)

I look forward to more pattern practise (I mean play) in the future- it's so cool to see her learn- next I'll suggest that she create her own pattern (she was done with beads by the time I suggested it this time).

Oh, & she didn't even notice the heart-shaped beads- we can make even more "Valentiney" Valentine Bracelets next time! ;)

2009 "Year" in Review

2009-12-29T09:23:00.004-05:00

I've seen some fun posts on different blogs of their favourite posts or activities from the year. Since I just started this blog a few months ago, I don't have a year to draw from, but since the blog started, here are some of our favourite activities of 2009:

- Water Tub
- Typing & Starfall Games
- Library studies
- Go Fish Feelings Card Game Print Out
- Saltdough Ornaments- Stuffed Snowman
- Advent Calendar
- Playing in the Snow
- Homemade Bubble Wrapping Paper

A Sewing Machine!

2009-12-28T08:27:00.002-05:00

Remember a few entries back when I talked about changing my mind about sewing?

Well, I mentioned these thoughts to my mother and mother-in-law a couple of times, and guess what they got me for Christmas??

A sewing machine!

So, today I managed to test it out & make a very rough "purse" for Talia and a hat for her doll, while trying it out (out of an old shirt of Ken's that we were going to throw out. (I will be happy to throw them out later, when I sew something that looks decent ;)

But look forward to more sewing-related posts in the new year! :)

Decorating Cookies for Santa

2009-12-24T14:14:00.002-05:00

For Christmas this year, a friend of ours gave us a bunch of mini gingerbread men with frosting and sprinkles to decorate them with. What a great gift idea!

I thought we had put off the decorating for too long- Christmas is tomorrow!
But it was actually the perfect opportunity for Talia to "make" cookies for Santa.

She & Ken had fun working on them together.

She sampled some, too :)

And I'm sure Santa will enjoy this treat this evening :)

A Personalized Video Message from Santa!

2009-12-22T18:56:00.006-05:00

My Sister In Law, Tami, just shared a really cool website with me that lets Santa send a personalized video message to your son or daughter!

We just got our message for Talia from Santa, & it was great! He knew special things about her, he showed us the page in his book that had Talia's picture in it, and that she was "nice". :)

She was smiling the whole time & responding to his questions :)

Gingerbread House

2009-12-22T08:41:00.003-05:00

I had been keeping my eye open for a good gingerbread house kit this year (I'm just not ambitious enough to bake the whole thing myself right now ;) when I saw that our grocery/superstore was offering gingerbread house making classes. So, I signed Talia & I up for it, and we had a great afternoon out. It was so much fun! :)

Stockings

2009-12-18T13:57:00.006-05:00

This year I needed to add another stocking to our collection :) I made our elf stockings when we first stayed at our own house for Christmas morning, when Talia was tiny. Since Katrina was born in December, I didn't get hers made for her first Christmas last year, but this is the first year that she'll have any idea what's going on, so I'm ok with that ;)

So, exactly one week before Christmas, our family stockings are complete!

Ok, so I need to get my hands on some stuffing to stuff Katrina's stocking's toe, but we're really close! ;)

I had to re-attach each of the jingle bells this year, because last year Talia had some fun pulling them all off! Here's a close-up of my hard work:

These stockings were sewn by hand, using felt for the lining, and fleece for the outside. I found a pattern when I made them a couple of years ago, on the Family Fun Magazine webpage. Here's the link to the pattern (Thanks Sarah!). If anyone decides to try something like this, I suggest finding fishing line for the jingle bells because they're just sharp enough to pull right threw embroidery floss (but fishing line is not foolproof.. or toddler proof either. I didn't have fishing line this time around, and Katrina already got one bell free.

Paper Bag Reindeer Puppet

2009-12-16T14:50:00.004-05:00

Today we made paper bag reindeer puppets! This idea came from Mommy's Little Helper.

Talia had fun playing with the puppet afterward, as well as doing the craft. :)

How To Do It:

- trace hands on construction paper
- cut hand shapes out
- glue hand shapes onto back of paper lunch bag
- glue eyes & nose onto bag
- draw mouth onto bag
- play with the puppet! :)

Stuffed Snowman

2009-12-14T16:56:00.002-05:00

You can find detailed instructions for this activity over at Filth Wizardry (that's where I got the idea from).

It's such a fun & cute thing to make!

It was fun to think about what we would use for each part together.
We used:
-an old baby sock for the hat (with a pom pom)
-tooth picks & pieces of the sock for the arms & mittens
-beads for buttons
-googly eyes for eyes
-pom pom for a nose
-marker to make ears, earrings, and mouth
-ribbon for the scarf/bow

Here's Talia, stuffing her old tights with toilet paper (she loved it!)

Pom Pom Play

2009-12-14T16:43:00.006-05:00

After an art project involving pom poms, my girls let loose and tossed pom poms all over the place. They had a fabulous time!

I gave Talia some chopsticks to pick pom poms up and sort them into a divided dish.

And I gave Katrina a baggie to put pom poms in (she was disrupting Talia's work ;) She seemed to be having a grand time picking them up & putting them in, then taking them out & starting over :)

Playing in the Snow

2009-12-10T15:26:00.001-05:00

A few days ago we got a small dusting of snow. I didn't even think it was worth going out to play in, but Talia was so enthusiastic, she had half of her winter clothing on before I could suggest waiting for more snow. So, I let her out to play & that girl spent a lot of time out in the backyard having a great time with what snow was out there!

Since then she hasn't missed a morning of play in the snow. :) I'm happy that she's so happy, and I'm happy that she's getting exercise!

Stained Glass Paper Trees

2009-12-10T15:21:00.004-05:00

Today we made Stained Glass Paper Trees. I was reminded of this fun activity idea when I visited Alpha Mom's Blog.

What To Do:

- cut a tree out of construction paper
- cut holes in it (like you would a paper snowflake, or just fold here & there & cut a piece out)
- glue pieces of tissue paper on the back like this:

- hold up to the window & watch the light shine through! :)

Jinglebell Braclets

2009-12-10T15:18:00.002-05:00

When I saw the jinglebell bracelets post at Chasing Cheerios, I knew that it would be an activity that Talia would love.

She loves making bracelets, she loves jinglebells. I didn't have to give her any instruction- just told her what we were making, gave her the materials, & she went to it :)

Play Nativity

2009-12-05T11:38:00.003-05:00

I bought the Fischer Price Nativity Set this year, so that the girls could play with it and so that we could teach Talia, especially, more about the true Christmas story.

I wrapped up each of the pieces individually, and we talked about the story of Jesus' birth, piece by piece. Talia thanked us for individual pieces, and when we were done, I showed her how pushing the angel down makes the star light up & Silent Night plays. She said, reverently, "Jesus is born!" and placed Jesus, Mary, & Joseph in the stable while the music played. It was pretty cute! :)

Christmas Cookie Exchange

2009-12-05T11:28:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine organized a Christmas Cookie Exchange this year.
I made some more of the chocolate truffles that I posted about earlier (you can find the recipe at that post).

And this year, I found some Martha Stewart cookie boxes, way on sale, so I picked them up & have had fun putting the cookies together in the pretty boxes for gifts.

I'm also making some Christmas boxes this year for some other gifts, but I don't want to post them here yet, or it will give some things away! :)

Christmas Pillow Case

2009-12-05T11:20:00.005-05:00

Remember my post about sewing?

Well, I sewed something!

I was out at the fabric store, getting the supplies needed to make a stocking for Katrina (I made our family's stockings- look at me go ;), and all of their Christmas fabric was 50% off.

I remembered that my Mother in Law had made Christmas pillowcases and I thought it was a fun idea, so I picked out some cute Christmas/wintery fabric and bought enough to make a Christmas pillowcase for Talia.

Here it is! :)

It was fun to put it on her pillow when she wasn't looking, so she'd find it when it was naptime :)

Salt Dough Ornaments

2009-12-05T11:11:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, we made salt dough ornaments & it was a lot of fun!
This morning, we started decorating them.
Here are a couple, on display:

I followed the recipe that Filth Wizardry posted for Salt Dough Ornaments, and we had a great time making a few of our own!
Talia loved the stirring & the kneading :)

We rolled the dough and cut it with cookie cutters. We made holes in them with a straw (for hanging, and for weaving- as seen in the first photo). Then we waited (too long- these things take a couple of hours! :) for them to bake.

Paper Chain for the Christmas Tree

2009-12-02T10:19:00.008-05:00

Yesterday we started our advent calendar. Talia made her first Christmas card, and I think it'll be a daily thing, to put a cheerio into the cup each day after Talia gets her treat out, so that Katrina can pick something out, too. :) She wanted to be involved too!

Today we made a paper chain for the Christmas tree.

How To Do It:

- I cut construction paper into half inch strips with a scrapbooking paper cutter
- we glued the ends together to make the chain

One green paper & one red paper will get you a chain this long:

2 green papers and 2 red papers will get you a chain this long:

Talia really enjoyed helping me to put the chain on the tree!

This was a great, simple Christmas activity that I'm sure we'll do again in future years.

Christmas Tree Bows

2009-11-30T15:51:00.001-05:00

In honour of Katrina's 1st Birthday, I decided to make pink bows for our Christmas tree. We're going to make this a tradition since her birthday is in early December. This way, I can get Christmas decorations up early without feeling like it's "taking over" her birthday. We'll have a pink tree for a week or so, until her birthday, and then we'll start decorating it for Christmas :)

I looked up how to tie a simple bow, on the Martha Stewart website, here. (It's funny- I can tie a nice bow in a sash, but when the ribbon wasn't already attached to something, I had to google the right method, to get it right!). Then I threaded a twist tie through the back of each bow, to secure it onto the tree.

I was really happy with the result! I think I may have to buy some nice Christmas ribbon for the tree during Christmas time, because I really like the way bows look on the tree!

Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to how much ribbon I bought- just that I got two spools... not sure how much was on each one! (And I didn't get the back corner of the tree completed, but you can't tell anyway ;)

I would definitely recommend using ribbon with some good wire on the edges, to keep the shape of the bow!

Christmas Trees

2009-11-27T20:12:00.008-05:00

Talia made a couple of Christmas trees today:
I cut out a Christmas Tree shape from a cereal box-type of cardboard, and Talia
- painted it green
- painted the stump pink/red
- realized mixing red with green made brown, and experimented - decorated the tree with stickers and sequins
- made it "rain" sequins
- spent FOREVER cleaning up the sequins
I also made a little green paper cone out of construction paper for her (I got the idea from Ikat, through The Crafty Crow, where you can find a bunch of cute advent ideas here) and let her decorate it
- she loved using pom poms because she saw them days ago & has been waiting for her chance to use them! Here's what Katrina got to do while Talia was painting (I tried letting her at the finger paint at first, but it went in her mouth so fast, I quickly changed the plan & let her at some babyfood instead! :)
I have a feeling that cardboard tree will continue to get more and more decorated as the days go on. I'm also planning to make a larger version of it with her as we get closer to Christmas.

Me, Sew??

2009-11-27T16:18:00.007-05:00

I cannot tell you how much Ikat's blog makes me wish I sewed!

My friend, Cheryl, recently made a Black Apple Doll (you can find the pattern here, on the Martha Stewart Website) for her daughter, and I am dying to make one!

I didn't think I would ever be interested in sewing, and maybe I won't be interested in sewing clothing, but I am definitely starting to feel interested in sewing other things!!

Because a post is more interesting with a photo, here's a picture of one thing I have sewn, for Talia when she was closer to Katrina's age:

It's a "touchy feely blanket" that I made out of fun-feeling fabrics. Katrina loves it now, but unfortunately the fringe tends to unravel, so I don't feel like it's the safest toy! If I ever make another, I'll be more careful about what I use.

Almost every item I have ever sewn has been with the help or guidance of my mom who is a talented seamstress :)

Paper Puppet Christmas Pageant

2009-11-19T16:17:00.001-05:00

My parents were recently getting rid of a ton of "The Friend" magazines that they had collected over the years. I gladly accepted a box full of them, to use for pictures to cut out for different projects with Talia.

They came in handy this week for another use, as well! I started searching the internet for some fun, religious, Christmas activities to do with Talia. It was hard to find good ones! (If you have any, or any links to a good resource, please point me to them in the comments!!)
So, I searched through the box of magazines and pulled out all of the December issues. I found today's activity in the December 1995 issue! While you can find that issue online, the illustrations aren't available that far back. However, you can find illustrations and activities to print out in the more recent issues if you go to this website (they're organized by date).

Here's what we did:

- I glued the pages onto cardstock
- I cut the pictures out
- I laminated them
- I cut them out
- I used a gluegun to glue the sticks on
- We discussed the story of Jesus' birth
- Talia played!

I'm glad I decided to laminate them, because I'm hoping they'll last long enough to actually pack them away with the Christmas stuff and use them again next year!

Here's Talia, finding new & exciting uses for the popsicle sticks while waiting for me to finish my part in the craft... note: the dye used for popsicle sticks WILL come off when moistened... ahem.

Here are some scriptures that can be used for Family Home Evening, if you want to do a Puppet Christmas Pageant:

- Christmas in America

Helaman 14:1-5, 3 Nephi 1:4-21

- The Birth of Jesus Christ

Luke 2:1-7

- Glad Tidings of Great Joy
Luke 2:8-20

- Wise Men from the East

Matthew 2:1-12

Wrapping CDs

2009-11-19T16:16:00.004-05:00

As mentioned in one of the wrapping paper posts, we are wrapping Christmas CDs this year, to open one each day as Christmas gets closer.

It's a great advent-ish thing to do, and lets your kids open something before Christmas.

I hope to be able to do this with Christmas books one year when we have enough of them! (We wrapped a few this time).

Bubble Wrapping Paper

2009-11-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

The second way that we made wrapping paper was a lot of fun! It's a neat effect, and it's pretty easy to do with what you have on hand at home. (And what preschooler doesn't love blowing bubbles with a straw???!)

What You'll Need:

- shallow dish
- cup of water
- food colouring
- tsp. of dishsoap
- straw
- white paper

What To Do:

pour water, colouring, and soap into dish. Stir.

Blow bubbles with straw until they come above top of dish.

Touch paper to bubbles, repeat until paper is covered.

Let bubbles pop & let paper dry.

Voila!

Homemade Wrapping Paper

2009-11-17T15:37:00.006-05:00

In my blog-searching, I came across the idea to wrap up all of your Christmas books and put them under your tree. Then your kids get to choose one book to unwrap each day leading up to Christmas, and you read a book each day.

I think this is a great idea, because it lets your kids unwrap things before Christmas! It also adds a little more excitement to reading the books. Unfortunately, we don't have very many Christmas books! However, we do have quite a few Christmas CDs, so I'm going to try this with music this year.

So, this morning I rolled out our big paper (a roll we got at Ikea for $10- it has come in SO handy, SO many times!) and we decorated it with red and green crayons, Christmas stickers, etc. We're going to use it to wrap the CDs later.

Making Chocolate Truffles

2009-11-17T15:26:00.004-05:00

While Talia worked on her computer games, I got a truffle recipe started. We worked on another activity (post coming soon on this) and played with Katrina while waiting for the mixture to stiffin in the fridge, and then we worked on rolling the truffles into balls and coating them in cocoa, cinnamon, and icing sugar :)

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it yourself:

1/2 cup 35% whipping cream

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

10 oz semi-sweet choc. chips

1 cup cocoa for coating (can also use icing sugar, cinnamon, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, etc.)

1. Combine cream, sugar & salt in saucepan over low heat. When bubbles form around edges of pan, turn off heat. Don't boil. Let steep for 5 min.

2. Stir in choc. chips until melted & smooth. Transfer chocolate mixture to container, cover and refrigerate until firm (about 2 hours).

3. Sift cocoa onto a plate. Using cool hands (this is important- we had to keep washing our hands in cool water to keep from making the balls all mucky!), shape chocolate into small balls, roll in cocoa to coat. Transfer to parchment paper-lined baking tray and refrigerate until firm.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Starfall Computer Games

2009-11-17T15:22:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine posted on her family blog about a website called Starfall that has educational computer games on it for young kids. I checked it out this morning & shared it with Talia.

She thought it was great, & so did I! She tried out a bunch of the ABCs activities this morning and had a great time! (Maybe a little too much time... by the end of it, she told me her feet were falling asleep, "because they feel all twinkly" ;) lol

So, we'll definitely be revisiting Starfall, but next time, with the timer set, so we don't get too engrossed in all of the alphabet and early reading fun! :)

Calendar (separating the weeks)

2009-11-16T17:46:00.005-05:00

One of my first posts on this blog was about making our October Calendar.

I determined after that experience that we needed to separate the weeks to demonstrate which order the squares/days go in.

Here is our December calendar:

We made it on construction paper like last time, but this time I cut out the weeks & we glued them onto a 12x12 piece of cardstock, leaving a bit of space between each week.

It was a lot easier to explain the days of the week to Talia this way. She can recognize the first letter of each of the days of the week, and can usually tell me what day of the week any particular day/square is when I point to it. Progress! :)

(You may notice we have yet to mark things with stickers on this calendar- we'll get there ;)

Homemade Advent Calendar

2009-11-16T16:29:00.005-05:00

Today we made ourselves an advent calendar!!

I got the idea from Filth Wizardry, and posted about it in my Christmas Ideas post a few days ago.

Preparation:

-On Saturday, Talia & I went to a local restaurant supply store and picked up some plastic shot glasses.
-Over the last couple of days, we've been making paper snowflakes.

Process:

1. I cut a piece of tinfoil for Talia to wrap around a piece of cardboard.
2. Together, we taped it onto the back
3. I cut a piece of blue construction paper, Talia covered one side with glue, I stuck it to our shiny board.
4. We decorated with some of our previously made paper snowflakes (we took turns gluing- she was getting tired of it, but wanted to direct my placement ;).
5. I glue gunned the cups to the paper
6. We took some computer time and we decided who she wanted to make Christmas cards for this year. I told her how to spell their names, she typed them out. We printed the page, I cut the names out. She folded the names & put them in the cups.

7. We got a chocolate advent calendar and had fun opening all of the doors in one shot, to get the chocolates out and put them in our own calendar :)

8. While she napped, I stamped the tissue paper with numbers and glued it onto the tops of the cups, so that she could break the tissue paper with her finger and get out the candy and the name each day of December.

(The plan is to make one Christmas card each day, so that she doesn't get sick of making a bunch in a row.)

Alternatives:

I also thought of putting a paper in each cup listing the activity for the day, but I can guess that we'll end up switching things around, so for us, that wasn't the best choice :)

I have seen this idea used as a way to put left over Hallowe'en candy to use as well. You can use it for the month of November if you're doing that, or make a giant one that goes from Hallowe'en to Christmas!

Paper Snowflakes

2009-11-15T16:25:00.000-05:00

We've been making these paper snowflakes over the last couple of days.

It has been fun to do with Talia- she can make them herself, with a little help.

And when she gets tired of cutting, she likes me to cut them, and then she unfolds them to reveal the finished product.

It's like magic when you open one up to see how it turned out! :)

"Topic of the Week" Showing Up in Our Daily Lives

2009-11-13T16:20:00.001-05:00

The other day, Talia was playing outside and found a ladybug. She was happy to find it and had no qualms with picking it up and letting it crawl on her. I can see the benefits of our "Topic of the Week" library study already! Usually she freaks out when she sees a bug.

I don't think she'll be quite as friendly with bees anytime soon though... lately she has been re-telling the story of the time a bee stung her, to anyone she can get to listen to her, over the phone!

Water Tub Variations

2009-11-11T16:11:00.000-05:00

After trying the sink/float experiment, I decided to involve Katrina (my 11 month old) in the process next time.

It wasn't long before the next time & Katrina LOVED it! She stayed interested just as long as Talia did, and even ended up climbing right in at the end! :)

This time since we weren't doing the sink/float experiment, I filled the tub with kitchen items and toys that are fun to use with water (a straw, a rubber duck, measuring cups, etc.)

Another day, Talia used the water tub again, but this time we filled it with soapy, bubbly water.

She loves playing with this tub! Now, if only I could figure out how to keep her from flooding the floor or attempting a spontaneous mini-bath....

Christmas Preparation

2009-11-09T09:43:00.008-05:00

This year I really want to do a lot of Christmas activities with Talia leading up to Christmas. I love Christmas for so many reasons, and I want her to experience the joy of the season. From gift giving and service to decorating & creating the Christmas atmosphere in our home to the true meaning and story of Christmas.

So, I'm starting now to gather ideas for activities to do with her come December.

Ideas I've found surfing just three blogs that I hope to try this year are as follows:

From Chasing Cheerios:

- Jinglebell Bracelets
- Clove oranges

From Filth Wizardry:

- Salt dough ornaments
- newspaper/streamer wreaths
- homemade advent calendar
- tights snowman
- cardboard Christmas trees

Stained glass paper trees from Alphamom

Popsicle stick tree ornaments from A Homeschool Journey

Candy Cane Syrup from Storybook Woods

Pipecleaner/bead Ornaments from Make and Takes

Santa Claus Card from Tutus and Turtles

Sparkly Pinecone Ornaments from Mom in Madison

Reindeer Paperbag from Mommy's Little Helper

I'll be adding more ideas as I come across them!

Now, please, if you're reading this, and you have any ideas (or great blog resources!), please share them in the comments section!

Go Fish Feelings Game

2009-11-05T13:52:00.007-05:00

Chasing Cheerios posted recently about an animal groups file folder game from File Folder Fun.

I had never tried "File Folder Games" although the name seemed familiar, so I checked out the website. I found some cool games there that I know Talia will love. We started right away by printing off the "Go Fish Feelings" game.

Talia loved watching the pages come out of the printer :) I cut the cards out (she put her hand on mine to "help me" cut them out, and then I laminated them.

Then we played & played! She "got" the rules of the game and caught on quickly, learning the names of the individual fish.

When we were finished, she even started making up her own card game with the cards! (If you don't get a match, you put the poppy on them- we got a poppy in the mail for Remembrance Day).

This was a definite success & I'm sure we'll enjoy the game many more times! I'm looking forward to exploring the File Folder website to see what else we might be able to use!

Sink/Float Tub

2009-11-03T08:35:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to do this with Talia for a long time, ever since I saw Emily post about sinking and floating on Learning Vicariously. Today we finally got the tub out and tried it.

I just filled the tub with water & we hunted around for toys & other items to put in, to see if they would sink or float. After we were done experimenting, Talia continued playing with things in the water for a good while. Then I dumped out the heavy tub while she mopped the floor with a towel (which she seemed to enjoy ;).

Things I Would Change:

Next time, I think I'll get out the tub with water & let Katrina get in on the fun, too.

Library Topic of the Week

2009-11-02T14:53:00.005-05:00

We've been choosing topics to research at the library each week for a few weeks now and I think it will be a lasting thing!

Each week as we approach our library day, I announce that we need to pick something that we want to learn about from the library, and Talia chooses a topic. She will often make comments during the week like, "Oh, we should get a book about that!", or she'll ask questions about something and I'll suggest getting a book about it. It's been great!

Topics we've done so far:

- Insects
- Zoo Animals
- Birds
- Fruit
- Crocodiles & Alligators

This week is fruit, but she also wanted to know the difference between Crocodiles & Alligators, so we got a couple of books on that topic as well.

I'm sure we'll revisit each topic in a number of ways in the future as there is so much more to learn than we can cover in a few books. I'm still getting the hang of trying to incorporate more learning activities into our days, and I'm sure you could choose a topic of the week and have lots of learning activities and field trips and other experiences planned to help your preschooler to learn more. I've already discussed the Aviary with Talia and hope that we'll be able to visit sometime- she's been talking about how she'd like to go see the birds in real life :)

We've also used the library for craft ideas (we got out a book of ideas for crafts using pipe cleaners).

The library has been a wonderful resource for us!

Typing

2009-11-02T12:35:00.003-05:00

Talia loves typing at the computer! We often pull up Notepad, set the font large, and let her go for it. Sometimes she types whatever she wants (she loves to use caps lock) and sometimes she asks me how to spell different people's names, and she types them. It's great for her letter recognition, and she often surprises me with the letters she remembers and can find on the keyboard!

Leaf Rubbing

2009-10-26T12:29:00.000-04:00

As soon as the leaves started to fall, I had been planning this one. We finally got a few rainless days, and gathered some nice leaves to use for leaf rubbing.

You just need a paper, a leaf, and some crayons.

Place the leaves under the paper, hold the paper in place, and rub over the leaf with a crayon, to get the leaf pattern on the page.

Spaghetti Squash

2009-10-20T19:57:00.003-04:00

The other day I spotted some Spaghetti Squash at the grocery store and thought it would be a great opportunity to get my preschooler involved with cooking dinner. It's pretty cool- when it comes out of the oven (and after you scoop the 'guts' out) it looks like this:

Then you take a fork to it and gently scrape against it like this:

And then you have spaghetti-ish squash! It's pretty cool! You can even eat it with spaghetti sauce, like regular spaghetti :)

Unfortunately the day that I tried this, Talia was sick & less interested in participating than I thought she would be. I'll have to try it again another day when she's more in the mood!

Foam Pumpkin Art

2009-10-20T12:17:00.000-04:00

My husband (Ken) is great at finding fun things to use at dollar stores. He bought these foam sheets & Hallowe'en shapes there and he & Talia had fun creating Hallowe'en "cards" together. It was Talia's idea to use the little white punch outs for the Pumpkins' eyes :)

Apple Pumpkin Stamps

2009-10-19T18:24:00.005-04:00

I have seen this activity before but I can't remember where.

You just cut an apple in half, dip it in paint (or paint it with a paintbrush) and then use it as a stamp. We used them to make pumpkins.

We did the stamping in the evening, and since they used a lot of paint,we let them dry overnight before adding googly eyes & paper jack-o-lantern faces. (I cut out the pieces & Talia arranged them).

Magic Paint Pictures

2009-10-16T11:25:00.000-04:00

I found this idea on Learning Vicariously. It's great for Hallowe'en, but could be used for anything! I like the idea of having Talia draw some pictures or designs herself & then painting to see what she did. I think we will do that another day, but this time she was ready to stop by the time we finished the page of Hallowe'en pictures I had drawn ahead of time for her.

How To Do This:

- draw pictures on a white paper with white crayon
- use watercolour paints to paint over & reveal the pictures!

Tissue Ghosts

2009-10-15T12:55:00.005-04:00

This morning, Talia & I made ghosts out of tissues.

To make one of these you need:
2 tissues
1 marker
1 ribbon or pipe cleaner or string

You just crumple up one tissue, wrap the other around it (creating the head), and tie the ribbon (or string or pipe cleaner) around the neck, to hold it in place. Then add the face with a marker.

We made about 70 of them this morning (a whole box of tissues worth). We are using them for invitations to a Hallowe'en event, so we needed a lot of them :)

Observations:

Talia was able to do everything except tie the knot in the ribbon (pipe cleaner probably would've worked better for her).
She would do one 'job' for a while & then suggest that we switch jobs.
She went from crumpling the head, to cutting the ribbon, to putting the finished ghosts in the bag, to wrapping the ribbon (I got the knot ready, then she pulled the ends to make it tight).

Bee Study

2009-10-06T11:55:00.002-04:00

Talia's insect of choice yesterday was the Bee. We read two books about bees, and then made a paper Bee similar to the ladybug she made the other day.

This time I let her make more choices and do more of the work on her own.

Observations:

She liked being "the cutting person" :)
She wanted me to help her with gluing a few of the things, but seemed to enjoy doing it herself as well.

Note the long tongue for drinking nectar (it is not a stinger-and did you know only females have stingers?) It was good to let Talia do the cutting because not only did she enjoy cutting, but we were able to discuss how many legs we needed, how big the tongue should be, how many wings a bee has, etc.

Handprint Turkey

2009-10-05T00:34:00.002-04:00

We have our Canadian Thanksgiving coming up this weekend, so today we talked about turkeys, sang a turkey song, and made a handprint turkey.

Talia LOVED making the turkey (she loves working with paint & getting messy, so she was practically bouncing at the idea of paint :)

She chose the paint colours she wanted to use, I smeared the paint onto her hand generously, with a paper towel. She stamped a couple of turkeys, and then did a freestyle painting while we waited for the turkeys to dry a bit.

After washing her hands, I showed her where the turkey needed legs, eyes, etc. and she added them on. She loved the googly eyes, and added some large ones onto the paper insects that she had made so far throughout the week.

Note: Please excuse my photos if they are dark or weird- my laptop is in the shop, so I don't have my regular photo imaging software. I look forward to its return!

Ladybug Study

2009-10-04T01:15:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I took Talia to the library in search of bug books (her topic of choice). We came home with an armful of books plus the Paper Bag Princess movie.

I'm going to see if we can get to the library as often as once a week, and choose different topics to find books for, each time. This way we can have a "topic of the week" to focus on.

Today she chose the Ladybug book and we read it together. I was impressed with how much she learned from it when we reviewed it. The plan is to teach Daddy all about ladybugs later (the babies are called Larva, the children are called Pupa, their feelers smell, in the winter they sleep, etc.)

I've already noticed this blog being helpful to my own motivation to do more with Talia. After we read the book, I thought to myself, "well that was a good, educational thing to do with her... too bad I don't have a picture to share it on the blog." And then I thought of something that I could post a picture of, and the idea of an activity to do with her, related to our Ladybug study, came to mind.

So, I prepared some pieces of lady bug out of construction paper, and she put it together. It allowed us to review again about the the different parts of the ladybug's body.

This next photo demonstrates her idea to bend the legs so that the ladybug could crawl :)

Things I Would Change:

I would probably let Talia cut out the dots, legs, etc. next time so that she could do more of it herself. I think she enjoyed doing it a lot, but I want always to reinforce her own creativity and abilities. It would probably be more of a "thinking" activity for her, if I had discussed with her about "what else does the Ladybug need?" for example, and helped her figure out how to make it.

Flyer Shopping

2009-10-03T07:12:00.002-04:00

Another idea from Emily at Learning Vicariously, I got out the grocery flyers and a marker and had Talia circle the foods she liked and cross out the ones that she didn't.

Observations:

I was interested (& pleased) to find that after discussing her dislike for pickles, she didn't want to cross them out- she asked me if I liked pickles & when I said yes, she wanted to circle them for me, so that I could have them :)

This generosity continued as we came across shampoo that she recognized as the kind that Daddy uses, bodywash she has seen in the shower, etc.

I also observed that she was more interested in colouring them in than circling them- although she did circle them before completely blacking them out with marker :)

Beading

2009-10-02T11:04:00.001-04:00

This post is an example of why I wanted to start this blog- sharing ideas is so helpful!

I have an online friend who I met through our love for photography. She is a great mom and is one of the inspirations for starting this blog. You can find her on her blog, Learning Vicariously. Her most recent post was on making patterns with beads. As soon as I read it I knew that my daughter would love working with beads on pipe cleaners just as much as Eloise.

So, last night I went out and bought some beads from the dollar store, some pipe cleaners, and a little plastic organizer. Today when Talia had a friend over, we made little bead bracelets together- Talia was very focussed on them! She kept remarking about how she had never done this before & she was so glad I went shopping to buy the beads because she really loved to do this! :)

Observations:

This was a good opportunity to practise sorting as well. After filling a pipe cleaner, she emptied it of beads to start over, and pleaced each bead in its spot in the organizer.

Things I Would Change:

Next time, when it's just the two of us, I think we'll spend some more time talking about patterns, now that she is used to stringing the beads.

Baking A Pumpkin Roll

2009-10-01T16:52:00.001-04:00

A couple of evenings ago, we went to our friends' house for dinner and I wanted to bring a pumpkin roll along for dessert. I could see that I wasn't going to get it done on my own because Talia was very energetic and definitely needed something to do.

So, I pulled out her apron, she pulled out the stool, and we got to working together. She loves cracking the eggs herself, so I let her do it. This generally results in some shell in the mix though, so it's good to do the eggs at the beginning to make shell removal a little easier!

I've learned that it's best to forget about making things perfect and just enjoy smiling and laughing about things that go wrong, and use it as an opportunity to teach about problem solving.

This is a great opportunity for me to learn some things too!
Like patience, and letting go of perfection ;)

After helping me with mixing everything, Talia was ready to play while I baked the roll and took care of frosting and rolling it later. It worked out well for both of us. :)

In The Beginning...

2009-10-01T16:20:00.002-04:00

Over the past year or two, I have found myself longing to simplify my life. I've worked on "purging" my home of the unnecessary clutter that so easily seems to occupy it (& I continue in my quest to purge, organize, and simplify our home- I don't think the process will ever end). I've thought long and hard about what is most important to me, which things are priorities, and which things need to be eliminated from my life. There are far too many good things for me to fit into each day, week, year, or lifetime! So, I have felt the need to focus on the most important things and eliminate the rest. It's a process and I'm still working on it.

One of the things that is most important to me, of course, is being a mother! I frequently think to myself that I ought to be doing more things with my preschooler to teach her and exercise her creativity. This is becoming a strong focus for me right now, and in my efforts to remain committed to planning new and exciting activities for us, I've decided to create this blog. I may also share some things I'm doing with my other daughter who is currently 9 months old.

Its purpose will be to share what we're doing, to get ideas out there for others who are in the same position as I am, but also just to keep me going- if I need content for the blog, then it will be one more motivating force in keeping me committed to doing this!

I hope you will share your thoughts, ideas, and resources with me as I will mine with you. And leave comments so that I know you're reading! :)

Note: Photo credit for the photo used in the header and the photo of myself in the "meet the blogger" section, goes to Amanda at Living Proof Photography

Calendar

2009-09-29T15:21:00.000-04:00

Today's project with my preschooler was to make a calendar.We made a calendar of the days left in September & the rest of October. The point was to show her the days of the week, and to let her have her own calendar that she could count down to special events with.

She chose the sticker colour for playgroup & ballet class and put them on the calendar, then we chose special stickers for friends visiting, Grandma coming, etc.

She chose to hang it on the dishwasher, and is excited to show it off to everyone!

Observations:

She didn't seem to "get" the order of the boxes.

Writing the numbers on each day was an opportunity to discuss counting.

Things I Would Change:

I'm thinking of cutting the weeks out & pasting them onto a separate paper, to help her to understand the order of the days.

Could have let her write the numbers on the days & spent more time discussing the numbers & counting.

Modeling Clay

2009-09-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

Using modelling clay that my husband found at a dollar store, we've been outside numerous times, having fun learning how to make pinch pots and worms/snakes and all kinds of things.

Talia has a great time getting messy and playing with the clay, then leaving it to dry. But heaven forbid a bee or similar-looking insect pay a visit to the backyard while she's busy with her artwork! (She fer-reaks out, and wants to come inside immediately!) lol :)