Valentine's Day Surprise Ball

O is getting a surprise ball for Valentine's Day! I saw this tutorial for a surprise ball too late to make one for O for Christmas, but I think it will be a great Valentine's Day gift. It was fun, fast, and easy to make!



First, I collected small objects for the surprise ball, including chocolate lady bugs, Valentine's balloons, a growing mermaid, tiny dessert erasers, chapstick, and stickers.

Then I started wrapping the objects with crepe paper streamers (the tutorial says to cut the crepe paper into strips first, but I didn't cut my crepe paper). I wrapped an object completely before adding another object and wrapping it and so on and so on...

After all of the objects were wrapped in the crepe paper, I squished it around a little to make it a more symmetrical ball (it was a little lopsided at first). I continued wrapping it several times to smooth out the crepe paper. Then I taped the end and wrapped the surprise ball with a ribbon. I think O is going to LOVE unwrapping her surprise ball on Valentine's Day!

Make sure to check out the tutorial at Alpha Mom. The pictures and directions are much better than mine :)

Heart Family

When I saw these heart people at The Crafty Crow, I thought they would be fun for O and I to make. To make the heart people, you need a construction paper heart for each person, 4 pieces of pipe cleaners for the arms and legs, and a hole puncher.

I set up a tray with all the necessary materials. I punched the holes in the hearts while O decorated the faces. She decorated 4 hearts, one for each member of our family. She was so funny when she was drawing the face on E's heart. She kept staring at E's face and looking back and forth from E's face to the heart as if she were copying it exactly onto the heart.

O was surprisingly uninterested in this project, so we didn't finish it until the next day. After she finished drawing the faces on all 4 hearts, we joined their pipe cleaner hands (she made sure that the children were in the middle with the mama and daddy on either side) and hung them from our mantel.

Updating My Link List

My link list is badly in need of updating. I'm planning on cutting a lot of the links and adding a few. If I have a link to your blog on my list and you'd like for me to keep it, please let me know by commenting on this post. THanks!

Heart ABCs

Since we're loving these heart activities lately, I decided to write the letters of O's name on them. She was SO excited and thoroughly enjoyed putting the letters in order to spell her name. I also wrote all of the lowercase letters of the alphabet on the hearts. I planned to play with her with the hearts and show her how to make simple words. She had other plans, and she put them in ABC order. I was surprised since that's not something that I would have ever taught her to do, and I had no idea that she could do it. I'm always surprised by the things that she learns completely on her own :)

Cutting Hearts

I told O last week that I'd show her how to cut hearts. She assured me that she couldn't cut a heart, so she was SUPER excited when she found out that she could!

To prepare this activity I folded 4 sheets of red or pink paper in half and drew a half heart on the fold. I gave O the tray of paper and a pair of scissors, and she got to work. She cut along the line and then excitedly opened the paper to see her heart. She was surprised to see that she really had cut a heart! Now she wants to make a book out of her hearts, and I think that is a great idea :)

Counting Hearts

Yet another activity with the heart stickers! I gave O a bowl of heart stickers along with a stack of numbers. She put the numbers in order (she was confused by the zero...I need to incorporate a zero into our other number activities). She then counted out the correct number of hearts to go under each number. I was surprised by how easy this activity was for her, and I would have had her go up to 10 if I'd had more hearts :)

Doctor's Office in a Box

O asked for 3 things for Christmas...a fire fighter's outfit, a baby doll, and a doctor's kit. I decided early on that I didn't want to get her a toy doctor's kit that she would grow out of quickly. I wanted her to have real medical supplies and tools. That way she could learn how to really use the materials, and she wouldn't grow out of it as quickly (her almost 6 year old cousin and 9 year old friend both really enjoyed playing with this kit). I gathered supplies for her doctor's kit for months. I bought bandages, hot/cold packs, finger splints, bandaids, knee braces etc from the Dollar Tree and Walmart. I found lots of items in our house... an old wrist brace, rubber gloves, medicine droppers, etc. I printed x-ray pictures and an eye chart from the internet and laminated them. I also printed O and E's 3d ultrasound pictures and laminated them (I gave her an ice-cream scoop to use as an ultrasound wand).

I ordered real, but inexpensive medical tools from Amazon...an otoscope, a blood pressure cuff, and a reflex hammer. I was very surprised by how inexpensive these things were. When O is a little older we can teach her how to really obtain someone's blood pressure, and we've all enjoyed looking in each other's ears with the otoscope :) Once I finished gathering the materials for her doctor's office, I realized that she needed a lab coat. I planned to buy a boy's dress up shirt from walmart or Target to turn into a lab coat, but I couldn't find one for under 10 dollars. I finally found the perfect shirt at the thrift store for 98 cents, and I was so excited. I cut the cuffs off both sleeves and the tail off the shirt. My mom turned them under and sewed them. Then I embroidered "Dr.____" on the pocket (I planned to share a picture, but I couldn't get a good picture without showing our last name). It was SO easy to turn the shirt into a lab coat, and it looks great.
This gift was a HUGE hit with O. She plays with it everyday, and I think she'll be playing with it for years and years!

Homemade Baby Toys

O and I recently made this rolling toy for E, and she really likes it! We put a marble, bell, pom poms, and pipe cleaners into an empty Coke bottle (2 liter), and we shake it and roll it around on the floor for E. O loves to make things for her baby sister.

Here is a rattle that O made for E for Christmas. It's a plastic test tube that she filled with beads and pom poms. I bought the test tubes after Halloween (they had nasty gooey candy in them.) She made several test tube rattles...one has bells in it and another has small balls in it. We're also planning on making a few discovery bottles for E to enjoy!

The Ultimate in Babywearing...

is to wear both of your babies at once! O was on my back in the Beco while E was relaxing in my pouch style sling. I love both the sling and Beco and use them all the time. I'm so glad that E is finally big enough for the Beco! I love the sling, but the Beco is much more comfortable when I'm wearing her for longer periods of time. She's still small enough that I can wear her for 2 or more hours in the sling comfortably. O also still fits in the sling, but only for short periods of time :)

Craft Hope for Haiti

If you haven't checked out the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop, you should! All proceeds will benefit Doctors without Borders in Haiti. I purchased one of these cuties (the aqua one) for my baby for Valentine's Day. I think she'll love it, and it feels good to support a good cause :)

Forehead Art

We discovered (by accident) that forehead art is very intriguing for "baby sister." O loves to put stickers on everyone, and E was fascinated when O put stickers on our foreheads a couple of months ago. Since then we often put on "forehead art" to entertain the baby. We might look a little crazy, but we have fun!

Paper Plate Faces

O and I made the paper plate faces for "baby sister." O made the one on the far right, and I love it. She said he's grumpy :) E enjoys looking at the faces. We play peek-a-boo with them and talk about the different feelings.

Valentine's Day Sensory Box

O and I had fun putting together her Valentine's Day Sensory box last week. I let her choose between oatmeal and rice, and she chose rice. This made it easy for me since I was able to borrow rice from the rice pit that is on our screened porch. I added in pink, red, and white pony beads, heart stickers, scoops, small cups, pom poms, and pipe cleaners (later I added a toilet paper roll). She wasn't interested in playing in the box for a day or 2, but then she started to enjoy it. She makes quite a mess with the rice, but that just gives her more opportunities to practice her sweeping skills.

Valentine's Day Spooning Activity

To complete this activity O spooned a marble into each heart on the silicone heart tray. She had a little difficulty balancing the marble on the spoon, but she enjoyed the challenge. We'll be doing more spooning activities in the future.

Valentine's Day Transferring Activities

Here is another simple Valentine's Day activity (anything pink or red is classified as a Valentine's Day Activity :).

This activity was more visually appealing than the one above, so I didn't even put the first one out. O picks up a pom pom with the tweezers and puts one pom pom in each opening. The tray came from IKEA. O really enjoyed this activity and has done it repeatedly.