Playscenes at the Let's Explore Shop

O LOVES this playscene! We've left it out on our coffee table, and she spends a lot of time playing and pretending with it. I love to listen to her talk in different voices for the different people in the scene. This is a great toy for open ended, imaginative, pretend play. I also love the fact that the it folds up nicely and takes up very little space :) It will be a great toy to take on road trips and for times when we have to wait (at the dr, etc.). The playscene measures 9 x 12" when it it closed, and it comes with more than 50 reusable stickers (The stickers are similar to the colorforms that I had when I was a child).

Amy has several great playscenes at the Let's Explore Shop. I LOVE the Garden Fairies playscene, and I bought it months ago to give O for Christmas. I also bought the Fairytale Theater Playscene months ago...I think I'm going to save it for her Easter basket :)

Creative Play with Marbles

Guh-guh recently bought a bag of marbles at a thrift store (665 marbles for 4 dollars!) and they have been quite a hit! Guh-guh had everyone in the family guess how many marbles there were before she counted them...we were all way off :) The girls (O and my niece) have had so much fun sorting the marbles, having marble parties, playing with shells along with the marbles, having a marble shop and selling marbles, and making signs telling the cats not to eat the marbles (I didn't tell them that cats can't read!). What fun!

Catching Critters

O was very excited to catch a large grasshopper when we were at G & G's house last week. Luckily, my mom saved my sister's critter box, and it was the perfect temporary home while O observed the grasshopper. She also planned to catch a few rolie polies for the critter box, but she couldn't find any. She was satisfied with filling the box with leaves :)

Handprint & Footprint Artwork

O and I painted canvases to make art using her and Ema's handprints and footprints. 1st we painted the canvases.

O pressed her hands onto her canvas to make handprints. Then we pressed Ema's feet onto her canvas to make footprints. I thought that Ema would be a little upset about this especially since we were interrupting her nap, but she didn't seem to mind at all :) Maybe she's already getting used to having painted feet!



Here are our finished canvases. Ema's footprints and handprints are very hard to see, so we may make another one using a darker background color. I'm sure we can find a grandparent to give this canvas a good home :)

Let's Explore Shop Reviews...Coming Soon!

Amy from the Let's Explore Shop sent O a box of wonderful "big sister" gifts! She'd emailed me to ask O to pick out a gift, so O and I went "shopping" on her site and chose several items. We asked Amy to surprise us, and she did! Imagine our surprise when we opened the box to discover that she'd sent EVERYTHING from O's list plus an extra goody! My mom and I were as excited as O was! Thank you, Amy, for your kindness and generosity. I'm looking forward to writing reviews of each item in the next few weeks. Stay tuned...

Three Peas in a Pod

Ema gave O this very special "big sister" gift when O came to see her in the hospital the day after she was born. I debated over whether to have Ema give O a gift, but when I saw this pea pod gift set I knew it would be perfect. I love the fact that it is handmade and so original. It is beautifully made and perfect for imaginative pretend play. O loves it, and I'm sure it will be an heirloom toy that she'll one day pass on to her own children.

Handmade Thank You Cards...Baby Footprints

It was a team effort to make Ema's thank you cards! We painted her foot and pressed it onto cardstock that I'd cut to a specific size. I nursed Ema, O painted her foot, my mom pressed her foot on the cardstock, and Elliott took pictures :)

The footprints definitely aren't perfect, but they'll do :) I'll write the note on the opposite side from the footprint, seal it closed with a sticker, and write the address on the outside (eliminating the need for an envelope).

Showing Growth

Each year I take pictures of O in my wedding dress to show her growth (the idea for this came from Family Fun magazine). She was VERY excited to wear my wedding dress since she loves to pretend to get married. She was also very excited to hold "baby sister" for the photo shoot :) Here are pics from our last 2 wedding dress photo shoots.

Magnetic Dress-Up Dolls

O LOVES her new magnetic wooden dress-up dolls! These were a birthday gift, and they are definitely one of her most played with gifts :) She plays with these dolls everyday, and I am planning on eventually making an O doll that is the same size. So many plans, so little time... The dolls are made by Melissa and Doug. They are very sturdy and will last a long time...if we don't lose the pieces :)

Using an Abacus

I recently bought this abacus from IKEA, and O has really enjoyed counting with it. I was surprised by how her interest in counting and numbers has really spiked since adding the abacus to our shelf. I'm looking forward to working with the abacus often in "school" this year!

My Music Girl

My music girl is so happy to have her cd player easily accessible to her. She's gotten quite good at choosing her own cds and putting them in the cd player by herself. We listen to a lot of music!

Zoo Pals Masks

O and I had fun making animal masks using zoo pals paper plates this week! I never buy paper plates, but I couldn't resist buying these plates to make masks after seeing this activity on this blog a few months ago. I used scissors to make eye holes in the masks, and O glued a jumbo craft stick on the back of each mask. She enjoyed using her glue stick, but I also added a little school glue to make it a little sturdier.

Belly Cast Baby!

We had a photo shoot yesterday with Ema in her belly cast, and we were all surprised by how content she was as soon as we put her in the cast :) We also took pics of both girls in their Big Sister/Baby Sister shirts, and we had O's annual wedding dress photo shoot. Fun!

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

Our Sunflowers have died, so it's time to get the seeds. O and I have been working on gathering the seeds from the sunflowers. This is a great fine motor activity, and it's also a great activity for increasing concentration. Unfortunately, O lost interest rather quickly :) She decided she'd rather go for a swim than pick out seeds from the sunflowers!

You Can Fix Diaper Elastic!

I was so relieved when I found out that diaper elastic can be fixed! I bought BumGenius Seconds for O when she was about 6 months old. They were seconds, but they still weren't cheap. However, I justified the cost since I knew I could use them with any future children. I was pretty upset when the elastic gave out after less than a year. Luckily, I found this tutorial, and Guh-guh got right to work! She said it was very fast and easy :) Hooray, now all of the bumgenius are as good as new :)

It looks like the pics on the tutorial aren't work. If anyone is interested, I'll get my mom to reinact fixing a diaper and write a tutorial for it. Just let me know :)