Mimi the Sardine Apron

Amy from Let's Explore sent O this Mimi the Sardine apron as a "Big Sister" gift, and we love it! While I love the design, the BEST thing about this apron is that it has a fine acrylic coating (not plastic/PVC or oil cloth), which makes it SO easy to clean! O uses this apron when she paints, cooks, and when she eats. It is a wonderful bib (O tends to get VERY messy when she eats!) since it covers her shirt and pants. I love that I can just wipe it off rather than having to wash it every time she uses it. I was relieved to see that paint (washable tempera paint) wipes off just as easily as food. The straps are adjustable which means that O will be able to use it for years. It also has a pocket for her to hold her paintbrushes or other art supplies while she's hard at work :)

As you can see in the picture, she also likes to wear it just for fun! She's wearing the apron over her beautiful silk dragonfly wings :)

Phonics Bag Sorting

O had a great time sorting her phonics bag miniatures according to their initial sounds. We emptied the objects from 3 phonics bags into a pile and picked up one object at a time. She labeled each object and decided under which letter to place each object. What a great, fun way to practice phonics!

Our Thankful Tree

We've turned our Ghost Tree into a Thankful Tree. I have a basket full of silk fall leaves, a marker, and tape sitting next to the tree. Each morning we write something we are thankful for on a leaf and tape the leaf to the tree. O always insists on writing on her leaf by herself :) I plan to write the year on the leaves and save them in a small wooden box. Next year we can look through this year's leaves to see what we were thankful for this year. So far O has been thankful for lollipops, the Thankful Tree, the turkey (sitting next to the Thankful tree), chicken & dumplings, her baby sister, and ghosts.

ShapeScapeS...Oh My!!!

Amy from Let's Explore sent us a set of ShapeScapeS to try. My first impression was that the set was much bigger than I expected. I usually overestimate the size of things that I buy online, so I was surprised to see that the set was much bigger than I expected.

ShapeScapeS is a "Sculpture in a Box" activity that is really amazing! The set contains over 90 whimsical, high quality plastic shapes. ShapeScapeS was created by Los Angeles sculptor Peter Mayer with intention of providing children with the opportunity to expand their spatial skills and color awareness. ShapeScapes can be transformed into sculptures, wall hangings, or mobiles. The possiblities for open ended, creative play are endless!


I think ShapeScapeS will be a great way for our family to jumpstart a "Family Art Night!" O had a little trouble putting the pieces together. She handed me the pieces and showed me where she wanted them, and I pushed them into place. After a little practice, she was able to be more independent with building her creations by herself. The age range for this toy says ages 6 and up...O is 3, so it's not surprising that it was a little difficult for her at first. It is, however, a great fine motor exercise, and her hand and finger muscles were getting lots of work :)


I love that O will have an easy, non-messy way to create 3d art (I don't typically mind messes, but it is nice to be able to create art with no mess!). I also love that ShapeScapeS is a toy that O will not grow out of...I can easily see her enjoying this toy for many, many more years, and since we are known for saving everything, she may be playing with this ShapeScapeS set with her own children one day :)


Extension activities that I've planned for ShapeScapeS include laying the pieces on paper to create 2d art. It would be fun to trace the shapes and then color or paint them to create abstract art. I also plan to trace to shapes onto felt and cut the shapes out to create a 2d ShapeScapeS felt board activity. I may also take pictures of a few designs for O to recreate. I can easily imagine setting up a Montessori tray using the ShapeScapeS set :)

Let's Explore is having a sale on all of their building toys, so check them out! Everything in the building section is 15% off until November 15. O will be getting a Made By Me Truck in her Christmas Stocking this year, and we love our Twig blocks! I am also very intrigued by the Dado Cubes , and I may add them to O's Christmas wish list (that her grandparents request each year).

Advent Calendar

I made this advent calendar shortly before Ema's was born, and I can't wait to use it! I used Martha Stewart wedding favor boxes and put Christmas scrapbook paper in each box. I cut the paper to fit the boxes and since it fit perfectly, I didn't have to use glue or tape. I put stickers with the numbers on the outside of each box. The idea for this advent calendar came from my bff, Emily. Thanks, EB! I hope this advent calendar will hold up better than last year's, and I can't wait to start this year's advent activities! I am planning to do many of the same activities that we did last year with a few new additions.

Edit to add: I forgot to say that I put magnets on the back so we can keep the advent calendar on the side of the refrigerator (it's on the refrigerator in the picture). I used sticky back magnet tape, and it didn't work very well (it wasn't strong enough), so I'm going to upgrade to stronger magnets that I bought from Hobby Lobby. The tins came from the wedding section at Walmart.

A Fun Felt Turkey Activity

This is a repost from last year...if only I could find the turkey this year.

IMG_1997 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

The idea for this activity came from Itty Bitty Love's jack o'lantern activity. I didn't get around to making that one, so I decided to make a turkey. I couldn't really get a good picture of a turkey in my mind until I saw Laura's turkey, so that turkey was the inspiration. I also got ideas for the feathers and hats from Starfall. To make this activity, I just cut the shapes out from felt, took pictures of the different turkey arrangements, printed the pictures (wallet sized), laminated the pictures, and we were ready to go! I spread all of the pieces out on a bigger felt board, so O could see them easily. To make the small felt board, I just glued a piece of felt to a piece of a cardboard box. I think we are going to have LOTS of fun with this one!

Charm Necklace

Remember this??? This is my charm necklace from about 25 years ago. I was very proud of this necklace and thought I was so cool when I wore it :) Luckily, my mom saves everything, so now O loves the necklace, too (and I'm sure Ema will love it in about 3 years!). She especially loves the pretend lipstick, and she insists that the record is a frisbee. I guess I need to show her a record since it obviously a foreign concept for her!

Fall Handprint Art

O and I had fun making a handprint tree a few days ago. The idea for this activity came from Montessori Moments. I traced O's arm and hand on construction paper (she chose the colors) and then cut them out. She glued the arm and hand "tree" to a piece of paper and glued leaves on the tree. She really enjoyed collecting the leaves, and she especially enjoyed spreading the glue all over her paper!

Product Reviews

I have several product reviews coming up that I thought I'd tell you about...shoes from Wee Squeak Shoes, nursery decor from CSN baby, handmade gifts from Ranee Day Crafts & Kolon Beanie, Spanish curriculum from Boca Beth, and toys & other things from Let's Explore. Make sure to check back frequently for these reviews!

Cookie Cutter Cheese

Guh-guh (my mom) loves to make eating fun, so she has been using cookie cutters to cut cheese to put in O's soup and on crackers. O has enjoyed eating leaf shaped cheese and turkey shaped cheese this week! What fun!

Animal Groups File Folder Game

I've finally made a few file folder games for O (I printed the pages and started working on them months and months ago!), and she really enjoyed them! In this game, she sorted animals into the categories of reptiles/birds and mammals. I found the game at File Folder Fun.

Mixing Colors with Shaving Cream

O LOVES to play with shaving cream! We decided to mix yellow and red to make orange in honor of Autumn. We placed cardstock on top of the shaving cream and food coloring to make marblized art. However, O was not very interested in making artwork. She just loved playing with the shaving cream. She mixed it around with spoons, spatulas, and forks. She put it in her plastic ice cream cones and "sold" me an ice cream cone :) She also hid tiny plastic animals in the shaving cream. This kept her happily occupied while I cleaned the kitchen :)

2.99 Shipping at Let's Explore

Let's Explore has 2.99 flat rate shipping until November 8! I love a good deal on shipping!!! (Thanks to My Boaz's Ruth for pointing this out in the comments section of the Spinny Speller post!)

Spinny Speller

We LOVE the Spinny Speller!!! Amy from Let's Explore sent O a Spinny Speller as a "big sister" gift, and we "play" with it everyday. We leave it on our kitchen table and have fun making real and nonsense words during our meals. O has become VERY interested in sounded out words since we've had the spinny speller, and I've heard her on many occasions trying to sound out words that she sees around our house.

The Spinny Speller is 5 inches long and is made of hardwood. It has 3 four sided blocks that can be used to make 3 dozen "real" words and countless "nonsense" words :)

Time Flies!

Ema is 2 months old today! I can't believe it! I'm rereading Dr. Sears The Vaccine Book in anticipation of her 2 month appt which is in the morning. I can't wait to see how much she weighs (she's big!) and what her percentiles are. I'm off to write my long list of questions and concerns...