Velcro Sandwich Activity

E LOVES O's play kitchen and all of the food in it, so I thought she'd enjoy having some wooden/velcro food activities on her Montessori shelf.

I put a wooden sandwich with fillings that attach via velcro in a basket on her shelf. She was very excited when I showed her this activity. She had fun pulling the sandwich apart, and she was not very interested in putting it back together again. We worked on labeling the bread, pickles, cheese, and tomato in the sandwich and the colors of everything. I plan to put different wooden food items on her shelf each week to keep it interesting for her.

Stacking Wooden Bears

I recently introduced these stacking wooden bears to E. She loves to tear them down, and she's learning to stack them. We discuss colors, body parts, animals (cat, bunny, dog), and clothing (shirt and pants) while we play. I bought this toy from a 2nd hand shop for O a couple of years ago for about 3 dollars. I encourage you to shop for toys and clothes at 2nd hand shops if you want a great deal!

Spelling Words with Necklaces

O recently got these necklaces from a pinata at a birthday party and has had a lot of fun making letters out of them. She was using 2 or 3 necklaces to make each letter, so we challenged her to make a 3 letter word which meant she had to make each letter from just one necklace. She enjoyed this task, and we helped her figure out how to do it :)

E's New Trick

She's started crossing her fingers during meals. She's quite proud! I love all of these little things that she does that are just so cute :)

Kids in the Kitchen...Apples and Onions

O, E, and I are reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and we are really enjoying it! (I enjoy reading the Little House on the Prairie books just as much if not more than O) Almanzo's favorite dish is Apples and Onions. Since O and I had never heard of such a combination, we decided to give it a try!

First, O peeled the onion. I chopped the onion and sauteed it in butter until it was translucent.

O washed the apples with Veggie Wash.

Then we cut the apples together.

I sauteed the apples and onions until the apples were soft and added salt to taste. I was surprised by how good this was! O was pretending to be Eliza Jane (Almanzo's oldest sister) and declared that apples and onions were Eliza Jane's favorite dish, too!


And here's a look at O's supper tray...apples and onions, sweet potato chunks, avocado, salmon, and rotisserie chicken. I love serving O's meals in trays like this one.

Prize Necklaces

O, my mom, and I made prize necklaces for the children who attended O's 4th birthday party in July.

To make prize necklaces, you need ribbons, cellophane, and small treats. I cut strips of cellophane that were about 7 inches wide. I put a pack of cookies in the center and rolled it and tied it at each end. We then put 2 prizes on each side of the cookies to make a total of 5 prizes in each necklace. Each prize is separated from the next by ribbons tied around the cellophane.

The other prizes included mini bubbles, mini playdough, bouncy balls, silly bandz, glitter glue, smarties, mini boxes of raisins, punch balloons, etc. We had fun making the prize necklaces, and they were a hit with O's friends!

Basket of Fabric Squares

One of baby E's Montessori activities is exploring a basket of fabric squares. The fabric squares are sample fabrics that E's grandmother collected when she was recovering several pieces of furniture. We rub the different fabrics with our fingers and on our faces and talk about the different textures. E enjoys this activity!


So soft!

Thank You!!!

Thanks to everyone who notified me of my accidental postings last night! I usually don't read the blog, so I depend on you to tell me if I make a mistake :) I was trying to quickly catch up on blogging for my private family blog and accidentally posted on the wrong blog. I'll blame it on extreme sleep deprivation...E's been sick for a week and a half...1st roseola and now a cold. I gave her a breathing treatment tonight, and hopefully it will help.

So, now you know the girls' names and have seen O's face...oh, well. Worse things could happen, I suppose :) Btw, did you see my amazing kayaking girl? Elliott put her on the kayak so she could see what it felt like to sit on it. She took off and seemed to instinctively know just what to do. E had her first ride on the kayak this weekend, too, but I don't think I posted those pics :)

So, thanks again, to all of you who commented and emailed to let me know about my accidental postings. I'll try to pay closer attention when blogging, but PLEASE let me know if you notice anything like this again. It really is important to us to maintain a little privacy out here in blogland.

Handprint Lilies Shadowbox

I made shadowboxes with flowers made from the girls' handprints along with a picture of them for their grandmothers for Mother's Day.
I followed the directions from Family Fun to make the Easter Lilies, and the shadow boxes came from IKEA. I'm really loving preserving special keepsakes along with photos in shadowboxes lately. I just wish I had a space to hang them :)

Beach Treasures

On our last morning at the beach, we woke the girls up before sunrise so we could watch the sunrise over the ocean. The sky was cloudy, so the sunrise wasn't that impressive. However, we had a great time walking on the beach and found lots of treasures.

We saw many starfish (it's been about 8 years since we've found starfish on the beach here). They were still alive, so we put them back in the water. O found several dead crabs, which she insisted on keeping. We also saw a pod of dolphins. It was a wonderful morning and definitely worth the missed hours of sleep!

Working Together

We have been seeing a lot more of this over the last month or so, and I love it! E is so excited to play with O, and she especially loves playing with O in her pretend kitchen. I love having 2 girls!

We Are So Thankful...

We had a near tragedy while we were at the beach...Elliott, his dad, and O were in the ocean. O was in an inflatable boat, and they were riding the waves in water that was waist deep on Elliott. A huge wave crashed on them. When Elliott wiped the water from his eyes, O was gone. The wave knocked her out of the boat, sucked her under, and pulled her away from him. Luckily, she had on a life jacket, and she popped up about 10 feet from him, and they quickly swam to each other. I don't even want to think about the outcome had she not been wearing a life jacket.

We spent 2 weeks at the beach and saw plenty of small kids swimming and playing in the water, and O is the only child I ever saw who was wearing a life jacket. Elliott and I are known for being overprotective, but in this instance it paid off. We are forever thankful that we insist on our sweet girl wearing a life jacket in the ocean.

I'm sharing this story to encourage you to put a life jacket on your child if they are swimming in the ocean. O was with 2 adults and was in an inflatable device, but she could have easily been lost had she not been wearing a life jacket. It's amazing how quickly a tragedy can occur especially in a place as unpredictable as the ocean.

Shadow Tag

We've recently returned home from 2 weeks of vacation at the beach. We had a wonderful time and made lots of great memories. One of our favorite things was playing shadow tag on the beach. When we play shadow tag, the person who is "it" has to step on the head of the shadow of the other person. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to play tag!

We also took several "shadow shots." This is one of my favorites!


Here is a family shadow shot. I love how O is making the sign for "I love you."

Excavating Objects from the Ice

Freezing small objects in bowls of water and then excavating them is one of our favorite summertime activities (this is the 3rd year that we've done this)!

O and her cousin had a great time using spoons, salt, water, etc. to remove the objects from the ice. O eventually took her block of ice to the carport and threw it down as hard as she could. She had to throw it a couple of times, but it eventually shattered and sent pieces of ice and objects flying. She was very excited! The girls gathered the pieces of ice and put them back in the freezer...they plan to make ice sculptures with them one day :)

Picking Peaches

While we were playing "Princess Teacher" (I was the teacher who was wearing a beautiful tiara), O, E, and I went on a field trip to pick peaches (in our backyard). We filled our colander with lots of yummy peaches. They aren't all ripe, but we wanted to get them before the birds do! Luckily, O loves peaches and eats 3 or 4 a day!

Ice-Cream Sandwich Cake

Here is a simple and delicious cake for a hot day! We always go to a nearby waterpark for O and my mom's birthday, and I wanted to make something easy and delicious. This ice-cream sandwich cake was the perfect solution!

To make the cake, I put a layer of ice-cream sandwiches in the bottom of a baking dish. 6 sandwiches fit in each dish. I crushed butterfingers and spread them over the ice-cream sandwiches. I then spread Cool Whip over the entire thing. This is not at all healthy, but it was fast, simple, and delicious, and since it's only once a year, I decided it would be ok to be a little unhealthy :)

Playing "Pretty Up"

O LOVES to play "pretty up" with my mom's jewelry. While my mom was putting the baby down for a nap, O and I took turns decorating each other with necklaces, earings, and hair combs. O is always so proud when she looks "fancy." I'm sure that playing with her grandmama and grandmother's jewelry will be one of her special childhood memories :)