JADA ROO CAN DO

Super Capes

2012-02-16T18:07:00.011-05:00

Hi all! I wanted to share our super capes with you all. I saw these on Pinterest but my friend Jessie over at Play Create Explore made some adorable ones as well. I made mine a bit different especially around the neck. You see, my kids like to pull on the back of each others shirts and sometimes choke each other. So I cut the neck and used Velcro to hold them closed. Much safer for my kids

I went to a secondhand shop and tried to find as many t-shirts that have a logo that seemed Super Powerish lol Amazingly I found 6 pretty cool ones. Some are doubles but that's o.k.

The kids adore the capes and it only took a few minutes to cut them out of large men's t-shirts. Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

No Mess Finger Painting

2012-02-07T06:19:00.010-05:00

again another great idea from Pinterest! Pinned From Here I'm not sure I could like without it now that I have become addicted to it lol. Anyway the pics are pretty self explanatory. Put some paint into a zip lock bag, take all air out of bag and seal shut, put paper on table and place bag on top and tape it all down to the table. Let your child explore the bags, mixing the colors, drawing shapes, letters, numbers etc.

So simple

drawing hearts with our fingers. Reminds me of some Montessori work, sand drawing.

so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Valentine Prints

2012-02-06T06:06:00.002-05:00

Good old Pinterest has the best ideas! idea pinned from here Our Celery expired before I got to use it which was a total bummer but I just cut the old parts off and was left with this cool design. So no wasted money after all.

Another Pinterest idea. Just a toilet paper tube bent and taped in place to shape a heart

Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for the great blogs I link up to:)

Valentine Lunch

2012-02-04T07:16:00.002-05:00

Jada caught me looking at bento lunches on Pinterest and automatically wanted me to make her one. I'm no expert and have only messed around with making bento lunches so I did my best.

strawberry jam and cream cheese rollups sandwiches, grapes, yogurt with strawberries and sprinkles, and jelly beans, smarties and hot lips.

Valentine Muffins

2012-02-03T05:20:00.001-05:00

I made the kids some chocolate peanut butter chip oatmeal muffins in the shape of hearts
Easy icing: sprinkle some red candy sprinkles into each heart well and then add your batter. Once cooked and cooled off pop out each muffin. Turn upside down and you will have pre-iced muffins.

I ran out of sprinkles with the last batch and I made them a bit bigger. Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

February Play Dough and Sensory Bin

2012-02-01T07:24:00.001-05:00

We took a LONG break from play dough and boy have we all missed it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Valentines themed cookie cutters. I actually put in cherry jello into our favorite play dough recipe found on my right sidebar:) smells delicious! no worries no one has tried to eat it as of yet.

Valentines Sensory bin has red and pink fake petals, a few green petals for contrast and two heart containers, and some heart gems hidden among all those petals, oh and some white pompoms.

Thanks for stopping by I love comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Valentine bird love

2012-01-31T07:11:00.002-05:00

Valentines bird feeders

First I cut out the hearts from cardboard and hole punched a hole on the top. Then threaded it with a pretty red and white twine

Next Jada used a bread knife to spread on some peanut butter.

Then spooned on some bird seed. We waited for the peanut butter to dry

Once dry we hung them in the trees for our bird friends

We just hope our food driven beagle will stay away from them long enough for the birds to eat some seeds.

Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

February Trays

2012-01-30T07:49:00.002-05:00

You can view last years Valentine trays HERE

Some oldies but goodies along with some newbies
Math: Counting
Lacing

Button heart snake

Matching knitted hearts

Tweezing heart gemsSkewer pushing

Water bead spooning

Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for more great blogs that I link up to:)

Light Table and Water Beads

2012-01-26T19:02:00.009-05:00

So I saw on pinterest that someone used the water beads on the light table so I had to try it too.

It was a lot of fun but what I did not know was that water beads leak water and not so safe for the light table. This activity must be very closely supervised

The children were so amazed with this activity staying to explore for long periods.

Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Just Like Dad

2012-01-23T09:31:00.007-05:00

Jada loves to "shave" with daddy. She has a bad rash on her face today due to a nasty cold so I preped her doll so she can still shave with daddy. The popcicle stick is her "razor". So stinkin cute. I will get some picturesof her in action next time:)

Water Bead Play ~Texture/sensory

2012-01-22T15:29:00.016-05:00

So we finally are joining the ever growing fans of water bead play. I have to say these are so much fun and are so versatile

We weren't expecting them to be so bouncy!

This is where I got tired of trying to catch them as they bounced all around the kitchen hoping the dog wouldn't eat them. The towel helped a lot with this

Then we got creative and added some valentine silicone cupcake molds

Jada would stop every once in a while just to run her hands through the beads. I tried it and it was a very nice calming feeling

Thanks for looking and I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Cool Texture Brushes

2012-01-21T14:06:00.009-05:00

I know I could have made these myself but for $11 why not just buy them

Jada's favorite thing in the world is mess and art activities so she was very pleased when she saw the new brushes.

Got a little something there on your face Jada:)

Thanks for stopping by and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Homemade Granola Bars

2012-01-20T07:39:00.002-05:00

Yummmm! Homemade is so much better than the store bought bars and you know what is in them ;) this bar broke when I was trying to pry the wax paper off (read below)

I got this recipe from Another lunch blog. Recipe found Here.They are pretty simple to make and are so yummy. However, it takes way more honey than in the recipe. And I think next time I will use a silicone 8x8 pan instead of using the wax paper as suggested. The granola set with the wax paper causing it to become like cement and I had to scrape it off:( I used our Christmas Rice Krispies. other than those two things these were so good, fast and the kiddos really enjoyed them. Oh and very filling:) We will be making these again! Wrapped in wax paper and stored in a air tight container. Thanks for stopping by I love reading your comments. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

January Trays

2012-01-19T10:04:00.011-05:00

Sorry but better late than never:) Above is over new tray storage. It can hold 10 trays which is very convenient as before they were piles on top of each other on my desk. This way the children can pick out a tray and take it the tables.

We got new duck bath clings a few weeks ago and Jada loves to take them out of the tub and stick them to the walls, sink toilet etc. etc so I thought this was a appropriate activity for her

Clove pushing into a Clementine. We did this last year with oranges but clementines are easier to handle for little hands

Peg pushing into Styrofoam. It is actually harder than it looks especially for the younger ones

Tweezing red pompoms into a snowman ice cube tray

I sware one of these days I will get a picture of Jada with her hair done. Believe me I did her hair but she pulled all the elastics out! anyway tonging large Styrofoam ball "snowballs" into a snowman bucket. We did a variation of this last year.

Thanks for stopping by your comments are always welcome. Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Baby G's Big Boy Bed ~Made from a wood pallets

2012-01-10T18:50:00.012-05:00

Wood Pallets are so easy to come by in our hood. We live near a large industrial park and they beg people to take them. We burn some in our wood stove but I also wanted to make a headboard for baby boy's big bed. Hubby sanded and sanded to make sure any yucky stuff was gone. Then I stained it to seal in any yuck stuff we may have missed. You can see tons of examples on Pinterest or google images.

Baby G's room is almost finished! Won't be long now as I'm now 30 weeks pregnant!!!!

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

January Sensory Bin~ Monkey Business

2011-12-30T08:33:00.002-05:00

Monkey see Monkey do? for sure when it comes to these toddlers Ha-ha

This months sensory bin is all about monkeys and inspired by 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree book. See below for details. Inside the bin: Corn kernels, monkeys, alphabet pasta, bananas and vintage palm trees. Oh and some plastic tweezers for picking out letters and a plastic formula scoop.

Now as for the book:

This is a very engaging book for toddlers and preschoolers due to the repetitive verses and sing song sentences. We love all of the 5 little monkey book series. I think we own just about all of them:)
Thanks for looking and Please See My Sidebar For All the Great Blogs I Link Up To:)

Baby boy updated pictures

2011-12-22T09:18:00.004-05:00

27.5 weeks. Come on March!!! getting excited and finishing up his room. We have decided to name him....well it's a surprise but it starts with a G and is a short name. Any guesses?

Snowflake puzzle Pieces Onaments

2011-12-20T10:24:00.002-05:00

My glue gun has been getting a work out these days. We made puzzle piece snowflake ornaments by hot gluing puzzle pieces into the shape of a snowflake and...

sponge painting them with white paint.
Jada loved to dab so much that she went on to make 4 more!

We found this idea on Pinterest . as soon as I saw it I knew it would fit right in with all our other puzzle piece activities.
Tis the season!

Again still waiting for my camera to get fixed please excuse the crappy pics

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

big boy space

2011-12-19T14:14:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. I'm doing a bit of planning for baby boys room. I plan to design his room so he can grow with it. Thank god for Pinterest as I found a ton of ideas. also Etsy was a huge help as well, but let's face it I'm not made of money especially since my maternity leave is coming up. so I have to do this carefully and on the cheap! First I wanted to search things to make from wood pallets as we have access to tons if them. You will see a few pics below of some really cool ideas.

I am so in love with the above picture. Everything about it screams my name as it is so my style. The bedding, the headboard, the vinyl decal. Oh boy so in love !I love the idea of this decal on a pallet headboard in red. I guess I should mention that baby boy's room will go from a owl outdoor theme to a rustic roughing it camping theme

I would like to incorporate some canoe paddles too

And beware of bears while camping is a good idea too. I had to ask my dad if he could find this sign in Alberta because they have bear problems and we don't here in N.S. so we can't buy them at our local store. Of course I could buy one off Etsy or Ebay but they want way too much for them. So fingers crossed my dad can find one.
More paddles. I just love the colors!
I love this little saying
And how clever is this? A wagon full of books!
Another headboard
So in this pic I love the bedding, side table and that beautiful aqua wall shelf
And yes more paddles. I have to admit my hubby finished the headboard today and he gave me a lot of grief over the toxic chemicles wood pallets have sprayed all over them. I mean yes he has a good point we don't want to make our boy sick! so the good hubby that he is he sanded and sanded until he hit bare wood. Now in theory you would think it would look really rustic, right? wrong! it just looked like pine with nail holes in it. So I found a can of stain forgotten in the back of the closet and used a rag to apply it. It looks really cool and it's safe for the boy to sleep in as #1 hubby sanded all the treated parts away and #2 the stain would seal in any bit that were missed.

Anywhoooooo pics to come after I find all the coordinating bits. I have a comforter ordered and it's nothing like the ones posted but it will work with his pale green walls.

Brownie Trees

2011-12-16T08:11:00.005-05:00

So easy! again idea came from Pinterest. just bake a brownie mix, cut into triangles, frost and decorate oh and stick a candycane through the bottom. Delicious!

26 Week belly pic

2011-12-13T09:57:00.003-05:00

Sadly I don't look as cute this pregnancy but trying to make the best of it. Jada dressed herself today ;)

Some December Trays

2011-12-13T06:16:00.002-05:00

Tweezing pompoms into the tree cube tray

Pouring fake berries

Pouring presents. The kids decided to change some of these trays by exchanging some of the items with others. It was pretty cool to watch how they manipulated each tray and came up with new ways to explore each. My camera is still in getting fixed so I didn't get a lot of pics of our trays but you can see last years trays here

Reindeer advent Calendar

2011-12-12T10:00:00.013-05:00

Remember a few weeks ago I made the snowman Advent calendar that I borrowed the idea from here. Well I had the idea to made reindeer ones so I was anxious to get my order of vending machine capsules. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong size so they are super small 1 inch
Miss Jada helped me glue on the parts very carefully as we had to use the glue gun.

we were stumped as to what to use for a nose but Jada found our fake berries that we were using for a pouring activity.

I have to say that using hot glue was so much easier than using the paint. With the paint the capsules kept tipping over when drying and the faces would smudge!

anyway we are super happy with how they turned out. We are just using these ones to decorate our up cycled window frame

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Reindeer Cookies

2011-12-08T07:21:00.002-05:00

I got this idea from Pinterest. If you follow the link you will end up HERE for a full tutorial

Miss Jada was less than patient with this project. She helped with two then took off!

Jada's cookie

My cookies. I opted not to add the antlers because I am freezing the cookies for our Christmas party. I will use some icing to stick them on at the party.

Warning: If you like to eat raw cookie dough this one tastes terrible. However, once cooked you can't stop eating them!

where are my December trays?

2011-12-07T08:42:00.002-05:00

Good question. I'm working on it but they will be pretty much the same from last year. You can see last December's trays here. We are busy baking for our Christmas party on the 16th and making crafts, exploring our sensory bin and dancing to Christmas music. I will post tomorrow about our baking activities

My upcycled window frames

2011-12-03T13:51:00.007-05:00

These came as a set for $30 I could have gotten some for free if I waited long enough but I really wanted to do some redecorating this weekend. The above one is in the daycare and the one pictured below is in our entrance way on the second floor.

I chose to keep them in their natural state to give it the rustic look. Anyway I am very happy with how they turned out

12 Days of Christmas advent calendar

2011-12-01T10:03:00.001-05:00

Our 12 days of Christmas Advent calendar for this year. Jada also has a book advent and a chocolate advent so I thought 12 days for this one was more than enough.

I followed the tutorial for this from Whimsy Love (link at bottom of post) I sent my poor hubby all over town looking for the coin prize vending machines. We finally found one at Walmart. I did order more from Ebay and Etsy so I can make some for my niece. These kind of remind me of fishing bobbies lol

Inside each one is a sticker, small chocolate or piece of paper that has an activity on it such as, go for a walk to see some Christmas lights, paint a winter picture, read some Christmas books etc

I tried to make my snowmen a bit different so I used crinkle cut scissors to cut the felt nose and gave them some rosie cheeks. And I used fabric paint for the eyes and mouth for a 3D effect

I totally borrowed this idea from Whimsy Love. I first saw it pinned on Pinterest and followed the link to her blog where I fell in love with her super cute and genius idea of a vending machine capsule snowman advent calendar. This is her adorable advent garland:
Thanks so much Whimsy Love for the best Advent idea ever! My little girl is so excited for December 12th:)

December Sensory Bin~Great North

2011-12-01T06:38:00.000-05:00

The great North sensory bin. I actually decided to do this theme a while ago but I recently googled sensory bins and low and be hold I found one! It looks almost the exact same as mine! crazy right! Click HERE to see the one I found while googling

Inside the bin:
Salt (A first for us), sparkles, plastic trees, plastic Arctic animals, igloo and people. Will be back soon to post our playdough. We took a long break from playdough so it should be lotys of fun making new stuff.
Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

More Christmas Crafting

2011-11-29T08:29:00.002-05:00

I know we do this activity every year but it's so much fun and it smells so yummy in here!

Apple sauce Cinnamon ornaments are a favorite around here. You can dress them up or keep the simple. We even put one in our car as a air freshener.

My big girl is 3. Wow how did that happen?

Cutting around the cookie cutter

I just can't believe how much has changed in her abilities in one year!

These will dry in no time thanks to this:
We converted from our pelette stove to wood last year and boy are we happy with the heat it produces.

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Getting ready for baby boy

2011-11-28T14:33:00.005-05:00

I am now 24 weeks pregnant! I can't believe after 2 losses it's really happening. We are finally going to have the second baby we dreamed of. I have a few finishing touches on baby boy's room to do and a few more items to buy such as the above diaper bag I finally decided on. I had my favorites list a mile long with different links to diaper bags and really I just wanted something big enough for two kids and not look like a diaper bag. So etsy won yet again. Can't wait to get it:) Another victory in this house is we now have a usable attic. Before we had this tiny opening in our closet that a person could not get into, so hubby took me seriously when I showed him all the Christmas stuff that needed to find a new home, because our last guest room is now for baby boy. Hubby bought a attic kit and it opens with pull down stairs. I tell you these days it's the little victories that make my day! on a bad note my less than year old camera is in for repair yet again grrr. Guess I will concentrate on my new attic to keep me happy:)
Also I am finished Christmas shopping but need to put up my Christmas tree. I will post pictures of our paper free Christmas to keep me accountable and follow through. I think I'm on the right track just a few more tags to make:)

Puzzle Piece Wreath

2011-11-23T09:17:00.009-05:00

If you follow my blog you already know I do a lot of activities that involve puzzle pieces. Well today feels like a great day to do some Christmas crafting with Jada as it's snowing hard!

I made the round shape with hot glue and puzzle pieces. We were lucky this puzzle had lots of green pieces so no need to paint first.

Jada made tons of these. I think she is a craft hog like her mama lol

They turned out so pretty:) I had the vision of adding a nice red bow but Jada vetoed that idea

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Homemade Gift~Picture Coasters

2011-11-21T06:03:00.002-05:00

Each year I take a picture of Jada with a Santa hat on in the same chair. I actually do it for all the daycare children and put the picture in their portfolios so each year we can see how much they have changed. Anyway this year we got doubles printed and made coasters for the children's mom and dad. So simple and it was very quick to do.

So I turned this picture into....

this:
First I gathered all of this stuff. Mod podge, 4x4 tile from the hardware store, ruler, paint brush, pen and scissors.

I cut my picture slightly smaller than the tile. I then spread a layer of mod podge on the tile and stuck the picture to the tile.

Then I waited a few hours for it to dry.

Then I painted a layer of mod podge over the picture and let fully dry. I then repeated this step 3 times.

When dry it looks like this:

Then the last step was to hot glue some felt to the corners on the back of the tile. This is so the tile does not scratch your coffee table when you use it. I tested it and it works great!

So there you have a cute, quick and cheap gift to give for Christmas. In our case we are keeping it. I plan t make this each year so after a few years we have a nice collection of Christmas coasters and pictures of our children's progress.

In all I spent: 33cents for one tile, I think 40 cents for the picture, and the rest of the materials I already had on hand. So 73 cents was spent on this one coaster:)

The $7 recycled Christmas Gift

2011-11-19T19:13:00.002-05:00

I got this cradle from a yard sale for $7. It's solid pine! There is nothing wrong with it at all:)
I bought a doll quilt and pillow from Etsy even though I was hesitant to purchase from here but wow did she come through. She mailed it the day I bought it and it came in 5 days to Canada from the U.S.! Trust be that is a record! I buy lots of stuff from the U.S. and it always takes at least 3 weeks.

The quality of the fabrics is super and the workmanship is perfect! And may I just say the price was more than fair!

Anyway this is for Jada for Christmas. The doll she got last year I just stuck it in there for the sake of the picture:)

She is going to flip out when she sees this! Thanks for looking:)

Quiet Book/ Busy Book Complete

2011-11-18T05:56:00.021-05:00

Finally! Took me a good part of a year but it's done. It was very fun to make but time consuming unless you have a full 2 days to work on it. I blogged about starting the quiet book Here
The inspiration for this book came from The Martha Stewart Kids Holiday Magazine that I bought off Ebay. This is what the cover looks like in case you would like to check it out. Anyway it has patterns for quiet book pages and a step by step guide on how to make one.

So yeah the cover looks a bit wonky but it's because the book is full and it got distorted looking by the pages being bent and shifting to accommodate all the stuff stored in the pockets.

I hand embroidered the tittle of the book but the picture makes it look like I used a pen :p

The first page is inspired by the book It looked like spilt milk. There are more pieces in the little pocket

These two pages are straight from the Martha Stewart Magazine:)

And the last page is bears in the Forrest:) If I would have had more patience I would have made more but really the book is pretty thick as it is lol.

I was going to give this to Jada for Christmas but I think I will wait a while. she is just not starting to understand the concept of patience and being gentle with delicate things. Let's face it, the button holes in felt just don't take abuse. My poor button turkey got lots of abuse and it shows ha-ha

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Frosty the Snowman Kit

2011-11-17T08:13:00.011-05:00

Last year I bought a small snowman kit from our local grocery store. I thought the use of recycled film canisters was a great idea! they just have cloth glued to the tops to look like buttons.

I decided this year to add gloves, another hat, ear muffs, another scarf and two corn cob pipes that I bought off eBay.

It all fits nicely inside the hat but once little people start taking things out of the closet5 the hat gets upset and everything spills out. I Saw a gorgeous bag on Pinterest but I just don't have the time to emboss to I dug out the paints and painted on a quick snowman face onto a cloth gift bag I made last year.

Face

Face drying on the patio

And everything stuffed inside:) can't wait for some snow to try it all out:)

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Jada's Big Girl Room

2011-11-09T20:41:00.013-05:00

I love seeing little kids rooms so I can get some ideas from others. I tried google searches but didn't find very much out there so I thought I would post my own design. So Jada's room is finally clean enough to take some pictures lol. Can't wait til she takes pride in keeping her room tidy!

Her room is a eclectic mix of all sorts of different textiles and wood finishes. I refuse to buy a bedroom set that's all matchy-match just so she can ruin and then out grow it.

Jada's first year in pictures. We are doing the same for baby boy in his room

Jada's room is very small compared to baby boy's but it's cozy and has everything she needs:)

Spicing Up Outdoor Play~Shoe Shop

2011-11-08T15:40:00.010-05:00

So I have been meaning to set up a shoe shop for many months now but was discouraged by the low light we get in the daycare it makes my pictures horrible. So today was a beautiful sunny outside day so I decided today was the day to try out an outdoor shoe shop.

All Shoes are 50% off reads the sign at the cash register:)

Checking out all the different shoes that are for sale. Jada recognized some of her shoes right away as well as shoes I had packed away for her to use next year

She spied the Dora rubber boots right off the bat. She liked them so much she traded in her blue flower boots for the pink Dora ones:)

"See mom they fit" I have a feeling she would have crammed her foot in there regardless if they fit just because they had Dora on them:)

Jada checking out the boxes and discovering they are empty lol

Trying on my hubby's big winter boots. He decided quickly that they were too big!

Funny how he paid for the boots even though they didn't fit ha-ha!!!!!

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Baby Boys Room In Progress

2011-11-05T18:42:00.009-04:00

So little by little we are getting babies room ready. My little helper has been very eager to help. These pictures were taken at night so they are pretty dark, sorry.

And with the crib pulled back into place. I still need a crib skirt but I'm finding it hard to find one sold without the bumpers and comforter.

The stink station. I am only showing some pictures of the room as all of our Christmas stuff is on the spare bed and huge boxes stacked in the middle of the room.

My little helper got carried away with the circles to they need to be adjusted. This is babies one year of photo's wall. Jada has the same thing and she loves to look at all the pictures and see how she has changed so much.

So stay tuned for more developments. If you have your babies room pictures online please send me the link as I love looking at nursery pictures:)

Cloth diapering

2011-11-02T08:43:00.027-04:00

So with Jada I tried cloth diapers but I only gave it a half a$#ed attempt so this time around I'm going all out. After the first few weeks we will be cloth diapering 100% of the time eeeekkkkkk!!! So I decided to stalk up on some fun and funky fabrics that are way too adorable not to use.

First I went on Etsy and bought some doubler's:

These sit fleece side up against baby's bum. This is mostly for night time for extra absorption.

Another fun print for a doubler:

This is a insert. This is what soaks up the brunt of the wetness

The backs of these two are hemp that is supposed to be "the best for absorption" I guess we will see

Such fun prints. I hope this will keep me motivated to keep cloth diapering

And I bought a few fun printed all one size cloth diapers:

Baby boy is going to be very stylish! I even stalked up on Rockin green to rid the diapers of the stinkies that are bound to happen due to the ammonia in our urine. I have put Jada in a few of these diapers at night and they work wonderful. However, I have one bamboo insert and it stunk horribly after one use. Any advice on the use of bamboo?

And some diaper pail liners and a wet bag for travel

So it seems the more children I have the more crunchy granola I get lol I am actually thinking I might breast feed baby boy, something that did NOT interest me with Jada. So if anyone has any advice on either cloth diapering or breast feeding please comment as I would so appreciated it:)

The Glass Slipper~Sensory Bin for November

2011-11-01T07:12:00.002-04:00

The glass slipper Sensory Bin came to me while I was sitting at a wedding reception. At each table setting there was a glass slipper with candy inside. No one was taking them home so I took a few from my friends and family that were seated with me.

The princess and prince. Jada has a tutu that has seen better days so I took a few pieces off to dress our peg doll:)

Inside there is fish gravel, gem stones, tweezers, glass slippers, cut up pipe cleaners, white beads, and I'm sure more that I am forgetting at the moment.

The pictures really doesn't do it justice. This bin is so sparkly and inviting.

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

A Homemade Christmas For Jada

2011-10-30T18:19:00.010-04:00

How cute is this chest? I found it at Home Sense after an exhausting search for just the right storage system for Jada's doll clothes. Only $14.99

I bought some doll clothes off Etsy and have inlisted my mom to knit her some for Christmas as well. I added some baby bottles and doll cloth diapers and I pray she loves it. I have some more homemade gifts to post soon so please stay tuned

Thanks for looking:)

A Homemade Christmas Gift For My Husband

2011-10-28T09:07:00.013-04:00

Each year I try to do a little homemade gifts but find it hard to come up with something for my hubby. We have a wood stove so we use lots of matches so why not dress it up a bit?

So I saw this idea on Pinterest but of course the one on Pinterest had the wood matches all nice stacked inside the jar as the jar was smaller. Oh well my husband will love it

So you will need a glass mason jar, wood matches, scissors, sand paper, marker and glue (optional)

Trace the insert for the ring cover on the back side of the sand paper. Then cut it out and stick the sandpaper circle right side up on the ring cover insert.

So it looks like this . This is so you can strike the match on the sand paper

Then add your matches and you are done!

You can dress your bottle up with ribbon or anything that makes it look pretty. If your child is helping you can ask him/her to add stickers:)

thanks for looking:)

Ghost feet

2011-10-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

Yes I know we do this every year but I wanted to blog about it for my own records. This is so I can look back through the years at how my children's feet have grown year to year:) For what ever reason the dollar store didn't have black construction paper so this year we used blue :s

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

And The Gender Is.........

2011-10-23T07:16:00.014-04:00

A Boy!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh as soon as the tech went to see the gender I saw and there was no denying it's a boy. Strange that I had a dream last week that my sister couldn't come to my appt so I called to tell her she was right that it's a boy! With Jada I had a similar dream before we found out she was a girl just like my dream said she would be. Crazy huh?!
Anyway pics of my sweet baby boy bug:

A big yawn
So sleepy

I suck my thumb

Just looking adorable at 19 weeks:)

Puzzle Pumpkins

2011-10-21T06:23:00.003-04:00

Remember when I made the valentine puzzle hearts? Well I thought we would try making some pumpkins. I bought a huge bag of 2000 pieces from our local thrift store for .99 should last us a while:)

First I hot glued the puzzle pieces into a round shape.

The children painted them with tole paints. It is a must to use art smocks as the paint is not washable.

Then we had to let them dry all morning.

By afternoon they were ready to decorate with construction paper. Pretty cool activity for a rainy day like we had here in N.S last week:)

The books for todays activity:

This book is for the wee 12 and 16 month olds but the older children still love the sparkly pictures and lift the flap pages.

A great counting book for any child under the age of 5. We read this one probably 5 times in one sitting:)Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Gender Guesses?

2011-10-21T05:23:00.002-04:00

One more sleep and we find out if baby bug is a boy or girl. I will be over the moon either way but thought it would be fun to get your opinion:) Please excuse my bag pony tail hair, we were on a family adventure in the trails across the street from our house.

Halloween Treats

2011-10-20T06:47:00.003-04:00

Fruit salad pumpkins (oranges)

I know I said I wouldn't be back until Sat but oh my gosh when I saw these I knew I had to try it out and blog about it.

Thanks for looking:)

Wordless Wednesday~ Well almost

2011-10-19T08:29:00.008-04:00

A yearly tradition to see how much Jada grows each year

Every year I do up some calendars of pictures of Jada and her cousin Eden for the grandparents and aunts. We went to a farm next door to my mom's because we wanted to buy some pumpkins, they welcomed us into the barns to take some great photos. My oldest sister was the photographer.

Sitting on the back of a tractor trailer with all the hayStanding on a huge hay bale

In other news we find out the gender of baby bug #2 this Saturday! EEEEk I'm so excited! This will be the first time seeing bug as they didn't show me the screen at my 7 week ultrasound. So I will be back to update Sat or Sun. I haven't been around to post lately as we have been busy organizing and enjoying the moments without a camera in the kids faces all the time. I will do up some posts next week I promise.
Again thanks to you all for the prayers for baby bug. We had a rough start but so far so good. I'm nervous about Saturday but fingers crossed bug shows us what we need to see:)

And The Winner Is.......

2011-10-10T17:56:00.002-04:00

The winner of the chalkboard tablecloth is: Patty Walsh. I will contact you via email and Congratulations!!!!!!

Gooble, Gooble!

2011-10-05T07:30:00.002-04:00

Thanksgiving here in Canada is on Monday, so we made these adorable Turkeys. I can't remember where I saw something similar to these but I think it was on Pinterest ?

And here are just some of our books for this month. We are talking about Thanksgiving and Halloween of course!

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Blog Make Over?

2011-10-04T05:53:00.002-04:00

I need a make over! I really don't like the blogger backgrounds and so far this layout with the blog in the middle and 2 coloums on the side works best. I like that I can show off where I link up to and it sends my favorite blogs traffic. Please let me know your ideas
thanks so much

October Activity Trays 2011

2011-10-02T07:27:00.004-04:00

This months trays are very different from last year, as I wanted to combine fall, Thanksgiving and Halloween. You can see last years trays HERE last year I didn't do just one post of all my trays so I am sorry that it is all mixed in with other Halloween activities.

Tweezing pompoms into apple shaped icecube tray

So I borrowed the clothes pin counting activity from Musing of me
Michelle also has wonderful printables that she shares with all of us

Pony beads and a leaf tub cling

Counting felted achorns

Alphabet magnet pages found HERE

I will update as we do more trays. I just didn't want to make up a bunch all at once because I don't have room to store them all. Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

October Sensory Bin

2011-10-01T13:20:00.007-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm trying to stay on top of my programming and blogging:) Trying is the key word Ha!
Inside this months bin is: Orange dried beans, black beans, rubber snakes, frogs, spiders, and plastic candy corn and Halloween bags. You can see last years Halloween sensory Bin HERE
I haven't made any play dough yet as I want to make a big batch with the kids:)
Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Just Because

2011-09-29T18:19:00.005-04:00

This is just some of our cloth diaper stash. Getting ready for baby #2 has been fun, collecting more diapers and washing everything up. Mother nature and my bank account will thank me:)

Beet Juice Painting

2011-09-29T18:08:00.011-04:00

Yup Beet Juice Painting. I wanted to do this for years and years but just never got aroung to buying beets. I have no idea what we are going to do with the beets but we won't let them go to waste.

Just pour some of the juice from the jar of beets and let you child go wild.

Jada thought "the paint" smelled funny

It's probably a good idea to use thick paper as Jada painted a nice hole in one of her paintings.

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Giveaway: Chalkboard Tablecloth

2011-09-23T08:10:00.007-04:00

My sister is destashing and gave me this 19 inches x 32 inches chalk tablecloth. So as I already have one I am giving this one away to one of you! I have had a lot of interest in the one my sister made me so I thought this would be a great giveaway. You can see mine on my sidebar to the right. This tablecloth does not have the snaps as we all have different sized kids tables and some of do not have any. You can lay this on the floor or kitchen table or even hang it to use. This giveaway is open to US and Canada only. All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment on this post letting me know you are a new follower or are already a follower of my blog. Also your email so I can contact you if you win. I will draw the lucky winner on October 10Th. Good Luck To you all!!!!

Apple Harvest And Apple Pie Making

2011-09-20T09:11:00.030-04:00

This year I have decided to make apple pie with the children. Mind you I have two babies in my care right now so this is going to be simple apple pie:)

Also keep in mind I have never made a apple pie before in my life!

First we took Jada apple picking at our favorite local apple orchard. We went 2 weeks earlier this year so we didn't get our favorite apples but we still had fun and came home with a large bag full.

See I do my child's hair once in a while ha-ha!

I had to crop this picture to hide my baby bump. I am in that awkward stage of just looking very fat!

Jada sampling an apple

In the corn maze

Reading the children's map of the corn maze

Now onto the apple pie baking................................................................

First we cut and washed our apples

Then stirred the flour, apples, sugar and cinnamon together

Remember I said this had to be simple? well I bought 2 pie crusts from the grocery store. So everything in the bowl went into the shell. We topped it off with some butter then put the top crust on and slit some holes in it for vents.

We baked it for 40 minutes at 350F

It's not the best looking pie but it is so tasty and as promised it was simple:)

YUMMMY!!!!

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

September Trays

2011-09-13T16:16:00.011-04:00

Better late than never! I'm in slow mode these days as you can tell by my lack of blogging.

I found this cool container that looks like a apple or a pumpkin. I was going to paint it but then I would be limited to what I use it for.
Tweezing Apple and pine cones

Stamping maple leaves

Tweezing Leaves

Apple alphabet sheet. Place a glass marble on each white circle. You can find these printable sheets at Making Learning Fun

And some action shots. Jada found her Halloween t-shirts in August but I made her wait until September to wear them:)

Friends hard at work

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Happy Birthday Jada (Tuesday Sept 6)

2011-09-09T09:12:00.005-04:00

Wow it's been a while since I wrote a blog post! first I was sick, then my camera batteries died and I finally got new ones last weekend and I had family visiting and I was on vacation. So now that I'm feeling better I can join society again:) Jada had many, many birthday parties over the past few weeks and no real huge party this year. I feel kinda bad but just wasn't feeling up to all the planning and preparing.

Jada is growing her bangs out so please avert your eyes from her forehead ha-ha

My mom and dad gave Jada this really cool Melissa and Doug locking puzzle. Each house has a different way or locking the door. Love this toy and so glad Jada does too!
It's been super busy here with new babies starting daycare so I haven't had time to take pictures but I hope to get into our groove again soon:)

Harvest Time Down On The Farm Sensory Bin ~September

2011-08-29T18:19:00.002-04:00

Inside:
Plastic animals, tractor, apples, wood pellets to represent a hay floor, farm animals, baskets for apples, leaves, wood scoop and little farmer people. As a side note wood pellets make for great cat litter. Sadly our car passed away but when he was still with us we switched from that sand/clay litter because of the dust and tracking problems to the 100% natural wood pellets and all of our problems were solved! just wanted to put that out there as I personally have converted a few cat owners to wood pellets. And it is really cheap! Anywhoooooo back on topic (*ha-ha)

Farm life means a lot to me as I grew up between two farms. Picture my house and a farm on each side. My mom still lives there and we visit the cows and sheep each time we visit her. Farming in today's market is becoming increasingly difficult so we try to buy local products as much as we possibly can. This includes trips to my moms for apple picking, pumpkin picking, strawberry picking and more. This time of year is wonderful for children in farm country, with so many festivals and events. By attending these events we are thanking our local farmers for feeding our country:-)
Do you visit farms in your area? It is an incredible experience for young children that they will thank you for:)

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Baby is Thriving

2011-08-21T17:06:00.005-04:00

Baby #2 is thriving. I first heard the heartbeat at 9 weeks even and have been checking on the little bean everyday sometimes twice. I am still very, very sick and I have family in town. I hope to be back to blogging regularly in September. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! so far so good:) Listen at the end to what Jada has to say in the background. Keep in mind she was talking to the dog lol Please leave a comment and let me know what you think she said

Washing Clothes the Old Fashioned way And Water Fun

2011-08-15T07:19:00.003-04:00

I totally borrowed this idea from Chasing Cheerios. When I saw her post I had visions of little Jada enjoying some scrub/ washing work. I just so happen to have a old fashioned scrub board in my laundry room for decoration.

Well it turned out she was only interested for 5 min! I left the bin out and she came back to it a few times so I guess it wasn't a waste of time putting it together lol

I also had her swimming pool out and she enjoyed dumping buckets of water on her head over and over again.

Hours of fun:)

And a pic of our fur baby, Cooper who is now 10 months old

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Queen Anne's Lace Painting

2011-08-14T07:50:00.011-04:00

So I actually felt a bit human this morning so I jumped on the energy train to put a simple painting activity together for Jada. I picked some Queen Anne's Lace and set out some paint.

Please excuse the dark picks. It was still dark on the back side of the house this morning.

Jada had a great time mixing colors and finding different ways to make prints

And her finished art:)

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Bento Snack

2011-08-11T18:14:00.001-04:00

Jada is a chronic snacker. It's hard to get her to sit down for a meal, so I'm trying out the famous Bento lunches to see if it interests her.

I don't have fancy Bento cutters so I had to make do with cookie cutters. Top: Carrots, cucumber stars and hearts, rice crackers, cheese bears, duck fruit leather and a cheese fish shaped sandwich.
Well she ate all of it! she first ate all but the fish sandwich but put in in the fridge. She came back 30 min later and ate the sandwich! sucess!! I hope it continues:)

On another note I am still feeling yucky so posts will be few and far between for a bit. You aren't missing anything trust me. I just don't feel up to putting activities let alone posts together. I do have days that I feel half human but I'm taking it easy. Have a great weekend!

TriCk Or TReat BaG

2011-08-10T05:58:00.001-04:00

I was Inspired by these over at How Does She?

I wanted to make Jada a trick or treat bag but was too lazy to make the bag part. So I went through my stash of fabric grocery bags and found this one. It was the only one that didn't have logos plastered ALL over it. So with the one logo I thought hey that would be easy to cover.
First I cut out a piece of black felt big enough to cover the logo on the bag.

Then I sewed it on and added felt eyes and a nose. Then I embellished it with my embroidery floss to create the cats whiskers.

Update: SICK, SICK, SICK!

2011-08-04T17:03:00.004-04:00

So I have had a few very sweet posters email me to ask where I am lol. Well the easy answer is I'm sick, very sick. No idea what morning sickness is but I have all day sickness. Not fun! good thing I'm on vacation. Also my child has been watching a ton of t.v and we have been napping. Not my best parenting that's for sure:( I just don't have the energy to put a activity together let alone blog about it. I am going to try very hard next week to get some things together! I actually served Chef Boyardee on a plate and when Jada asked me if I made it I lied and said yes.
So just a tiny update: we had a complication last week and I was in the hospital all day on Monday and had to follow up on Wednesday with a ultrasound. Baby had a heartbeat but as anyone who has suffered a loss knows, there is no guarantee that that baby will continue to thrive. Exact words from my doctor "continue to thrive" I know my Dr is trying to prepare me for the what ifs but some encouragement would have been nice too. Anyway she did say that me being so sick is a good sign. With my first M/C I was only sick for a few days then I felt great. Guess I should have known something was wrong? I don't think I have fully come to terms with that one. And will continue to haunt me.. I don't think I will be able to relax with this pregnancy until second trimester.
Anyway trying to stay positive and praying the 12 week mark gets here soon! I am now 7 weeks 4 days:) I feel like I have been pregnant FOREVER because #1 I knew at 3.5 weeks that I was pregnant and #2 because I am so sick. On a positive note I am having some crazy pregnancy dreams that is keeping things interesting :)

Trays for August

2011-07-25T17:06:00.001-04:00

A closer look at sea shells and sea glass. I got most of these shells and glass in Cuba

Eye dropper water transfer onto bath clings

Spooning shells and sea glass

Pouring "sand" it's really salt

Pouring activites are Jada's favorite

Cleaning the conch shell is a perfect activity due to the layer of dust on it lol This Conch came from the Bahamas back in the 1940's/50's when my great Uncle was there with the Navy

I'm going to be honest here I just wasn't into putting these together as I'm not feeling that great. Daycare is only open for 2 weeks in August so I decided to just continue our Beach theme.
Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

5 Little Ducks SEnsory Bin~ August

2011-07-24T07:12:00.001-04:00

A simple sensory bin as I am really busy and the daycare is only open for 2 weeks in August. We are getting ready for company and I'm so excited because my little brother is coming to visit! He hasn't been to the East coast in 20 plus years! Anyway I won't be around as much in August to blog but will stop in and visit everyone blogs:)

Inside is 3 different types of noodles dyed blue, rubber ducks, a wood scoop and lily pads I made and we are recycling from THIS pond life bin I made back in April. So happy that our pond life bin has had so many link backs:)
And our book the 5 little ducks:

Please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up with:)

I Have A Favour To Ask......Prayers Needed

2011-07-19T13:05:00.010-04:00

So as some of you know from reading my blog I had two miscarriages in the past 10 months. Then loooooong cycles followed suit making it near impossible to time when I was ovulating. so anyway I took charge of my fertility and took my temperature each morning and plotted and graphed, recorded signs, symptoms, mood etc until finally on cycle day 55 I got a positive OPK (ovulation predictor kit)and my temperature reflected my suspicions. So we took a leap of faith and only one week later we got a positive pregnancy test! We are super happy BUT so scared that this bean won't make it. I'm looking for every symptom and yes, I do have a few but nothing compared to when I was pregnant with Jada. and I'm only 5.5 weeks along so this is very early in the game. I'm driving myself crazy and waiting for the call for my ultrasound is putting me in further craziness! I decided to be proactive and bought a 3mhz Doppler ( my DR only has a 2 MHZ) off Ebay but it will take some time to get here and it takes a longer time to actually pick up the fetus heartbeat.
Phew I think that's about all there is to say for now. I am letting you all know now because I could use some extra prayers and good thoughts for our bean. If you could spare a good thought or two it would be greatly appreciated!
P.S If you know me in real life please do not become offended that we did not tell you, as we are keeping this news off of facebook and the like until we hear a heartbeat and get the thumbs up from my DR
Now Before I Chicken out I need to hit publish

thanks for reading

DIY Dryer Sheets

2011-07-15T10:54:00.012-04:00

So after using my homemade laundry detergent for a few months I noticed that the fresh smell in my towels and clothes just wasn't lasting. I set out to find a way to make my own dryer sheets that I hoped would help with keeping that fresh smell to my laundry.
I googled and googled and googled until I got fed up and decided to use some of the ideas I found but make my own recipe.

First I cut some Flannel I had left over from making Jada's Rag Quilt. I made it 4 layers thick and sewed all around the edges. I just cut mine with pinking scissors so I didn't have to bind my ends. Then I mixed about 4 tbsp of my favorite fabric softener with 4 tbsp of water in a plastic container.

I mixed it well then put my flannel in to soak up the fabric softener mixture. I did not ring it out at all, I just took the container outside with me to hang up the flannel on the clothesline.

I let it naturally drip and dry for a few hours outside. I was lucky it was a windy and sunny day.

So there you have it, homemade dryer sheets that cost Penny's to make. Add one homemade dryer sheet to your dryer for up to 10 loads! Now that's savings! Better yet it solved my freshness issue with the homemade laundry detergent however did not solve the chemical issue:( I will still work on this. I found some lavender ones on Etsy but I'm not a lavender fan.

You can view my other homemade detergent tutorials HERE

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Laundry basket Pirate boat

2011-07-14T20:05:00.008-04:00

Jada loves fishing, so I had to try laundry basket boat fishing when I saw it on House Of Baby Piranha.

Jada was even trying to cast by flipping the string over her head. The only problem with that was her magnet would stick to the metal pole that holds the flag lol

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

The DR Is In

2011-07-11T06:26:00.010-04:00

Sinse last weeks Snow Cone Shop was so well recieved by the children I put this Dr's play area together for this week.

The sign above says: The dr is in from 9 to 4 p.m. Walk ins welcome. Please have your health card ready.
I bought a Dr's kit from Zellers (soon to be named Target) it is a Parents brand. This kit is great as it comes with just about everything you need to have a Dr's office.

A closer look at all the tools

The eager patients waiting for the good doctor

The dr's uniform I bought at a yars sale 2 years ago. It is adorable!

The dr working at getting his Dr's kit ready for the first patient. This was another great Dramatic play area in which all the children enjoyed dressing up and taking turns being the Dr. They had some great pretend illnesses too such as "Dr I have purple spots" or " My belly has a puppy in it please take it out!" lol

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Living Off the Grid~Cottage Life

2011-07-10T16:23:00.018-04:00

We just got home from the Cottage:) we had a great time! This is the kind of traffic jam you see in the country

We stopped at a farm near our cottage to visit the lambs. This guy was abandoned and was sucking on Jada's fingers because he wanted a bottle awwwww

So it's a work in progress. The outside is 85% complete and the inside only 2 % complete. You can see from the pics we are still very unorganized as this was our very first weekend at the cottage.
I will paint the front door when everything gets in order. What color do you think I should paint it? I was thinking black as it doesn't show dirt and we are in a very dirty environment. However, I'm open to suggestions.

This was Saturday morning at breakfast and we didn't have a kitchen area set up yet.

This is where Jada's room will be someday. I brought up a small toy shelf to keep her busy with only a few toys. Honestly she only cared about helping sweep the floor and riding her tricycle

She passed out in my arms so I layed her on the closest thing which was a chair that folds out into a bed

This was at night on Saturday after we finally settled on a kitchen area. We didn't have room in the car for the kitchen table set so we used our briefcase picnic table

Sunday morning as the sun was coming up. The black shelf on the end of the counter is for canned goods and paper plates and such.

The river across the street

My homemade clothesline. It looks pitiful but it did the trick for the weekend

So that's the latest update. I will post updates as they happen. The progress is a bit slow as it's mostly just my husband doing the work. You can view my other posts about the cottage HERE

Beach ~Canada Day Long Weekend

2011-07-07T11:43:00.015-04:00

It's been a crazy busy week so I'm just getting around to posting pics from last weekend. We started our long weekend by spending Friday and Saturday at the beach. Two different ones!

Gotta love nova Scotia sand! Don't get too jealous the water is freezing! Jada was trying to keep hold of all her shells in this pic

Jada, Daddy and Cooper

Jada giving me her Poopy lip because she wanted me to pick her up lol
We then when Strawberry picking on Saturday and made Jam on Saturday night. Jada only wanted to pick the green ones??

Fishing at a different beach. Not really the kind of place you would want to swim but we saw lots of boats

This is Jada's fish that she caught on her Dora fishing pole

Daddy wanted some time to fish without having a toddler threatening to jump off the Pier(thank god for the horse harness you can see her wearing in the pics) so I took her down to throw some rocks

We had a picnic by the sea. Nice and peaceful

Good til the last drop

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Trays for July

2011-07-04T06:27:00.003-04:00

Besides Doing beach themed activities we will also be concentrating of self care. I mentioned before that I have 2 babies starting back to back so I need the older children to help me out. By helping me out i mean, take care of their self care to a degree such as teeth brushing, washing hands and face and cleaning up their own spills and crumbs.

I thought we would start with teeth brushing and when I found this crazy teeth chattering thing at the dollar store I immediately thought of allowing the children to use it to practice teeth brushing minus the toothpaste.

Next is face washing. So far the children are pretty good at this one but some need a bit more practice and patience with getting the whole job done.

This hair combing activity is more for Jada to practice as she hates when I comb her hair. So if she can do it herself it would save me a lot of grief lol

Cleaning up spills. I got the idea for this activity from HERE

And lastly pouring water between two jars and soaking up any spills with a sponge. I bought the e-book Montessori At Home and it has so many great ideas, links, pictures and info. I can't wait to be able sit down and read it cover to cover but so far I got the sponge soaking up spills idea from there.

I have a bunch of beach themed trays too but I'm feeling lazy and my blogger picture upload isn't working the best. I will try to upload them with next months trays.

I am also revamping our classroom so we can have a place to keep trays out all the time. Right now I just bring them out in the mornings during drop off. I would like to have a space that the children can go get them when they want. So far I haven't found anything that works because I will have small babies that would get into the chocking hazard trays. So that's no good. I MAY have found a solution but I won't be able to get it all together until possibly September. So please stay tuned or please comment with some ideas:)

Thanks for looking and please see my sidebar for all the great blogs I link up to:)

Beach Sensory Bin

2011-07-01T07:20:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the beach!

Inside:
Recycled blue rice from our Pond life bin, bath toys (fish, crab and turtle), a scoop, shells from Cuba, peg people (who are sun bathing), umbrella and wood peletts. I didn't want sand in the house so the peletts were a good subsitute.

~Please have a look at all the awesome Blogs that I link up to on my sidebar:)~

Canada Day Flag Cake

2011-06-30T08:46:00.005-04:00

I got the idea for this cake from the Kraft Canada Site. they have full directions HERE. I didn't use their recipe I just made a chocolate cake, spread cool whip and added some strawberries to make the cake look like a flag. I'm sure you have seen this desert a million times as it's a Canadian favorite.

Just wanted to add this pic as it was so easy. I cut slices of watermelon and used my bento cookie cutters to make them into shapes. Perfect for the kids at our Canada Day Party!

Snow Cone Shop

2011-06-29T08:55:00.018-04:00

When I was out shopping last week I found a snow cone maker and thought Wow that brings back memories. I haven't seen snow cones since I was a kid! I also thought Great replacement for ice cream. Less calories and fat. Anyway we have been making snow cones all week and today it rained:( no need to stay cool but decided to make a snow cone shop for dramatic play.
The set up:

I put some colored fake flower petals in the squirt bottles to look like syrup. worked like a charm:) One thing I love about kids is that they never complain about things not looking real enough

Pouring some syrup on

Jada's turn at the cash register

This Snow Cone shop was a huge success and will stay open for a few more days until we come up with our next shop or office

Please see my sidebar for the great blogs I link up to:)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T06:51:00.002-04:00

Balloon Sprinkler/ Pinata

2011-06-28T18:53:00.012-04:00

Yesterday was hot here on the East Cost! like really hot! I decided to get a bit creative to keep the children busy and cooled off. I filled balloons with water and hung them off the clothesline.

Then I gave each child a chance to smack the balloons with the broom handle. No one could break the balloons so I poked them with a pin

After I poked them they sprayed just like a sprinkler

Jada and her friends had fun running through the water streams and it kept them cool :)

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Homemade Games

2011-06-27T16:55:00.012-04:00

My husband bought these crazy claw things on a stick at the dollar store. We have been having fun making up games with them. In the picture below the children were chasing each other until they could catch the other person's clothing. As you can imagine Jada got angry with this game very quickly

Then we had picking up balls races.

It was pretty hard but each child mastered picking up the balls

Then I made up a game that each person got a bucket of items. They could only pick up the items one at a time. I even had small pieces of chalk in there and the older children had fun trying to pick those up. It also slowed them down so the younger kids could catch up. Whoever got all the items out of their bucket first won

Daddy helping Jada master the art of picking up the items from the bucket

It didn't take long for Jada to get the hang of it

And Just because my boy is so handsome

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Pack My Lunch Series Day 5

2011-06-23T19:28:00.003-04:00

Sooo I forgot to go to the grocery store. Well......I may have been too lazy to go lol. So I was left scrambling to find a quick lunch to throw together. So clockwise: yogurt, yucky oatmeal that I don't like very much but as I'm the only one in the house that eats oatmeal I feel compelled to finish the box. Blueberries, soup, hard boiled eggs, fruit to go, peach, rice cakes, pita bread, crackers, hummus, dill cream cheese and a apple. I really need to go grocery shopping. I have a ton of food but nothing that is appealing to me at the moment lol

Fence Painting

2011-06-23T18:27:00.005-04:00

Little Jada Roo was off fishing with her Daddy but I snapped some pics of her friends enjoying a little free style fence painting.

These two children took their paintings very seriously with long stories to go with their paintings

It was a beautiful day here on the East Cost. Too bad it's going to rain for the next four days:(

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Pack My Lunch Series Day 4

2011-06-22T19:50:00.005-04:00

Clockwise: Blueberries and honeydew melon, strawberries, pita wedges, soup, hummus, oatmeal (It's the one I don't like very mush so it may not get eaten. Note to self go to the grocery store and get that yummy oatmeal!), 2 rice cakes, 8 crackers, yogurt, dill cream cheese and a apple.

So it's only day 4 as of tomorrow and already I feel the lazy lunch packing coming on. Maybe it's just that I'm exhausted! I worked a 10 hour shift, packed Jada in the car and we went to the gym. Well Jada went to the gym daycare as hubby is off building the cottage. By the way it's almost finished! I will do a post on Friday with updated pics. O.k. back on topic HA! so we went to the gym then headed for Subway for supper, came home emptied the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, made my lunch, showered myself and Jada, prepared the children's lunch for tomorrow, put Jada to bed and now I am finally sitting down. Oh and I still have 2 loads of laundry to fold and put away. That may have to wait until tomorrow!
So today's lunch I forgot to eat the strawberries and totally forgot about the grapes because they were in the freezer (I should make myself lunch notes for reminders of yummy grapes in the freezer)oh and I didn't feel like eating the soup but everything else I ate lol. So now I'm off to surf the net then lay out my clothes for tomorrow and hit the hay. Night all Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wordless Wednesday- Kind of

2011-06-22T06:03:00.002-04:00

Jelly Fish. I got this idea while searching google and had to try it. All you do is cut up hot dogs stick dry spaghetti into one end then boil until cooked. Jada gobbled this up in no time flat! I think we can add this to her favorites list.

Pack My Lunch Series Day 3

2011-06-21T19:28:00.004-04:00

Not pictured is today's salad and chicken that I didn't get to eat. So I will have it with what is pictured above for tomorrows packed lunch. Above clockwise: apple, frozen grapes, ww soup, strawberries, oatmeal, pita, crackers, hummus and cream cheese with dill-yum!

Star Sponges Tutorial and Sensory Play

2011-06-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

Aren't they fun!?

I have been wanting to make a new set of these for a while now but I couldn't find any sponges at the dollar store. I finally found them at Canadian Tire. I know this has been done on a million blogs now but I do it a bit differently so I though I would share.

You will need sponges in different colors, scissors and zip ties

Cut each sponge into 3 strips. You could cut them into more strips but I find 3 is the perfect thickness . Also if you have a different kind of sponge it may be easily to cut into more strips. A perfect example is HERE at Play Create Explore.
(Sorry for the dark pics I cut up the sponges the night before at dusk)

Next pick out your color combinations. Also now is the time to decide if you want really full looking sponges or not. I did combinations of 3, 4 and 5 strip sponges at a time.

next wrap the zip tie around the middle of your sponges and pull as tight as you can get it. Then just cut off the left over zip tie strip. I have seen people use dental floss, string and yarn. I have always used zip ties but I'm sure the other methods would hold up just as well.

And voila! Aren't they pretty! A little tip I learned along the way is that these make great bath time toys and Jada loves to use it to wash her body too. Also they hold up really, really well in the washer and dryer. I made a batch 4 years ago and just today I made a new batch. Now that's getting your moneys worth! I imagine they would also make great toys for the pool too:)

Pack My Lunch Series Day 2

2011-06-20T18:19:00.005-04:00

Almost the same as todays lunch but I changed up the kind of salad and added different fruit. Clockwise: honeydew melon, strawberries, apple, ww soup, hummus, pita, rice cakes (actually didn't eat todays), oatmeal, salad, chicken cut up, yogurt and salad dressing.
Today was a sucess! I stayed on track:) I had ww lasanga for supper went to the gym and ate a toasted pita with salsa as a snack.
I would love if anyone would like to share their pictures of a packed lunch:)

Camping Sensory Bin

2011-06-20T08:01:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite things to do is in summer months is camp. Jada has been camping since she was 9 months old so I knew Jada would get a kick out of a camping sensory bin

I used:
trees, green rice, blue noodles for water (because you can't live on the East Cost and not camp by water. Plus you have to fish for your super), small logs, pine cones to collect, peg people, small dollhouse table, boat, rocks and felt for the fire, big rocks for peg people to climb, because you know you have to climb rocks while camping. Oh and a plastic tee pee. I was going to make my own out of a party hat but I saw this one at the dollar store and I was sold.

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Packing My Lunch

2011-06-19T18:51:00.008-04:00

Clockwise: salad dressing, spinach salad (I will add chicken to this at lunch time), peach, oatmeal, grapes, blue berries, 2 rice cakes, apples yogurt, hummus and pita. For supper i am making chicken Stirfry in the crockpot.

I am starting a new series of taking pictures of my food for the day,well until dinner time anyway. I am having a heck of a time staying on track with my healthy eating. I hope if I pack my lunch each day and show you guys pictures of what I pack it will keep me accountable. Working from home you would think I would have all the time in the world to make my lunch and snacks as I go. Well with 6 kids running around I only have time to get their lunch ready!
So in this new pack my lunch series you will see my breakfast, snacks and lunch. Please comment to keep me motivated :) Also I would love if anyone wants to join me in blogging about your lunch so we can share ideas:)

When Life Gives You Lemons~ Activity Tray and Sweet Treat

2011-06-17T18:06:00.011-04:00

When life gives you lemons make lemonade!

Today was pretty warm and lemons were on sale so what a better day to make a refreshing drink

I set up our activity tray outside which was something new for us as most of our "cooking" activities are inside.

We cut 2 lemons in half and each child got to have a turn squeezing out the juice

This looks easy enough but it was a bit difficult for the younger children.

Then we added 1 cup of splenda and lots of water and ice.
Stir well and enjoy!

I don't really like lemonade but this recipe changed my mind. It was so sweet I had 2 glasses!

My crazy girl after she finished her first glass. Jada doesn't like juice so I was shocked when she drank the first glass full.

All the kids saying "Cheers!"

Oh and how cool is that picnic table? It folds up into a brief case. I bought it last night at a thrift store for $19 Score!

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Outdoor Water Play~ Sensory

2011-06-16T18:12:00.009-04:00

It rained here most of the week. I know big surprise right! It always rains here it seems. Anyway, our backyard is a muddy mess and our baby pools were over flowing with rain water. We packed up our rubber ducks and headed outside for some sensory play in the water. In the pic above she was picking buttercups to add to the water.

Jada adding more "friends" to the pool

I actually dumped out a lot of the rain water as it was right to the brim

I think the buttercups look so pretty against the blue pool

We then started looking for more flowers to add to the water

I love all the bright colors. Jada and her friends had a great time playing in the pool and better yet it distracted them from fighting our the one puddle in the yard that they love to jump in lol

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Just An FYI. Blog people please read:)

2011-06-14T12:49:00.006-04:00

A shout out to all of you Blog people. Did you notice that you leave me comments but I don't return to your blogs and leave you comments? No, I'm not trying to be rude. I am having problems leaving comments on your blogs. It seems my google account only wants to work 5% of the time:( So sorry but I will keep trying! It was working for a while if I posted anonymously but now it won't work at all......
So far today here is what I have been trying to comment....
Mama Pea Pod I love your sensory activity today! Miss Jada loves to get messy still and she's almost 3!
Michelle's Charm World I want to go to Ikea so bad but we don't have one here! I really want some storage carts but they won't ship them here:( Can't wait to hear what you found:)
Mumma made it you inspire me with each one of your posts!
I gave up for today but I will try to get back to the rest of you tomorrow. Anyway just wanted you to know I'm not purposely being rude by not commenting back. This problem has been going on for about 2 weeks! very frustrating

Living off the grid: Cottage Update

2011-06-12T16:57:00.002-04:00

4 walls are up! We are getting closer to having a roof! This is a picture of the front window and door openings. You have to use your imagination but I hope my next post will have the windows and maybe even a roof

Hubby working hard even when the sun starts to set

I got to the cottage later than expected Friday night. It's about an hours drive from our house in the city so by the time I got there the sun was setting.

Cooper's first time at the cottage. He was in doggy glory running through the tall grass

View from the back window

Without our beloved generator this project wouldn't have happened

The view from the soon to be front window. Looking across at the river. I know it's hard to see but when you are there you can see it better.

Cooper still having a blast! he is now 8 months old

Working hard framing in the door and picture window

Another front window picture

Hubby and Jada. Notice how the plywood looks old and used? well my hard working husband salvaged it and paid 0$ for it. All he had to do was work hard at knocking down walls, pull out the nails, hull it down to the land, cover for the winter and wait for spring to start the build. Oh and work his crazy long hours at work on top of all this. He is now waiting for his next job placement sop he has lots of free time to build:)

Cottage???

2011-06-09T13:28:00.024-04:00

I had to come back and edit this post because I thought I posted the above pic but I can't find the post. We bought this land back in Novemember 2010 (when this pic was taken) with plans to build our house on it someday.

Do you see the two dots off in the distance? That's my husband and Jada crouching down measuring out our new project. We have finally started the long process of building a cottage off the grid. It's a huge challenge and we have run into a lot of obstacles and red tape making for a frustrating few months. Anyway the above picture is before the big machines moved in.

This is looking back at the road and looking at the beginnings of our super long driveway.

Still working on the driveway. Remember I did say it was super long! anyway we wanted to be as far back on our property as possible.

A nice sunny day here in Nova Scotia. You can see that the drainage ditch has been started. This pic is standing where the cottage is going looking back at the road. Oh and I'm not looking forward to mowing all this 2.9 acres!

The driveway finished but still needed to be flattened and settle. I can't wait to wake up here in the morning looking out my window at the river (not shown in any of these pics. I will get a pic of the river this weekend)

Standing at the end of the driveway looking at the stakes that show where the cottage is going 24 x 24

Putting in the gravel for the cottage to sit on. see that garden hose? apparently they used it as a water level. Pretty cool eh?

The hardest part of all of this was getting everything level. Took about 2 days!

Just about finished the floor
This is all being built with the help of a gas powered generator. We hope to have solar panels someday to run the cottage lights off of

Hubby putting the finishing touches on the floor before the building inspector comes to sign off on this part of the permit (red tape). Did I mention my hubby is building this himself with some help from my dad? Hubby is at the soon to be cottage today dealing with more red tape and starting to frame up the walls and installing the windows? I think that's what he's doing lol

This has been especially challenging due to the type of permit we got. Apparently the county doesn't like the fact that we are trying to go off the grid. They really hate the fact that we will have a enviro toilet and are trying to put a stop to this! can you believe that? What has happened to our world that you have to get a permit and have a perk test (fancy word for testing the soil $$$$) to put in a enviro toilet? good god! We feel at this point the county is trying to help their friends make money off us. Oh I should probably tell you this is in a very tight knit community. I actually grew up there and my mom lives about 5 min from the cottage by car.

so if you read this far.........

Be on the look out for more posts about trying to live off the grid. I have some exciting sketches done up for the inside and outside. So please bare with me while I anxiously wait for walls and a roof oh and the final inspection! fingers crossed

P.s. In case you are wondering the pic as my header is not at the cottage. It's the lake across the street from our city house:)

Smoothies

2011-06-08T06:51:00.007-04:00

So simple and so yummy! just put berries of any kind or combination into the blender with as many ice cubes as you want. After about 1 minute you get a fresh tasting yummy drink that will take care of your daily fruit requirement
You can add yogurt if you want but I like my smoothies to be all about the berries:)

Sidewalk Egg Fry

2011-06-08T06:17:00.013-04:00

Did you ever hear the expression: It's so hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Well we decided to test out that expression
After a few minutes the girls broke the yolk in hope that it would help cook the eggs

Next they decided to thin the eggs with a bit of water

Then they just gave up and we fried one inside on the stove. I'm sure cooking an egg on a sidewalk is doable however, in Nova Scotia maybe not so much.

we aren't giving up on this experiment. We are going to wait for a super hot day and try it again:) Maybe on tinfoil next time

And the book:
I'm sure you all know this popular Dr.Seuss book. The funny pictures, sing-song, rhyming and silly cat. Jada gets a kick out of the pictures:)

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Diaper Dust ~Science Experiment Pampers VS Huggies

2011-06-06T14:15:00.013-04:00

So here in Canada there is always a discussion among parents over which brand of diapers is better. so we put it to the test. all diapers consist of two major ingredients: powder and cotton.

To test the diapers we ripped open a diaper and took out the cotton mixed with the powder and put it in a plastic bin.

We then shook the cotton gently to release the powder and discarded the cotton

You will be left with powder in your bin. I then gave each child a pitcher full of water to dump on the powder.

This was after one pitcher full. We went on to add two more pitchers full of water to the powder.

You end up with a soft jelly mush. So fun to squish between your fingers! we actually just did this experiment for fun as I have done this at my old job. However, we discovered a lot about the two brands of diapers along the way....

So who won Pampers or Huggies? Well Huggies had more powder so Huggies is the winner for absorbency. Obviously the more powder added to the cotton in diapers will absorb more pee. So in our scientific opinion Huggies is the best diaper for absorbing more. As a mom to a heavy wetter I can assure you Huggies is the way to go! Jada has had some major night time wetting that I ask myself how on earth it didn't bust open but it hasn't not once.

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Hand Print Flags

2011-06-03T05:06:00.004-04:00

So we made some hand print flags yesterday. I saw this on a Facebook craft page. Super easy to make. You just need white paper, red paint for hand print, glue and red strip of paper.

Jada was a bit worried about the glue on her hands. Not sure why as she never had a problem with glue on her hands before.

She decided to use one finder for pushing the strips onto the glue

Freshly finished and waiting to dry

The whole class did a flag. For our Canada day party we will attach some twings for flag poles:)

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Sunny Day Play

2011-06-02T18:28:00.014-04:00

Nova Scotia is being blessed with the SUN! It's only temporary as it's going to rain tomorrow:( Today we got our gazebo up and started to wash all the yard furniture and toys

We also brought out our chalk tablecloth. We found the chalk wet in the outside toy box but it made some very interesting textured drawings (hard to tell from photo)

I blogged about the tablecloth HERE . Again a huge thank you to my sister, Katrina.

Jada was trying not to look at me but was starting to giggle under her breath, hence the silly look on her face lol

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