Valentine's Day Crafts and Sensory Play!!

Here are some of the activities we have been up to around here:

Valentine's Day discovery/sensory bin. I put flower petals, foam hearts, little heart containers and bigger foam hearts in her bin. She loved it! All of these items were from the dollar store.

Adalyn made Valentines! I cut out hearts from construction paper and let her use her markers, crayons and stickers to make the most adorable Valentines!! I love how they turned out!

I used a silicone muffin tin to put her stamps, markers, and stickers in. She loved it. Every time she drew with the marker she said "ooooh" and was amazed.

We have coloured in her Valentine's Day colouring book (I told you the hat still fits!)

We made contact paper hearts

  And we have had water play!!

I froze big hearts with pink food colouring and little hearts with red food colouring. I also added the heart containers from the first activity we did! She loved this as well. Probably the most! 

I would still like to have some rice play! I am going to try to colour rice and see how it turns out! We will see! I am loving all of these holidays! I love finding and trying different activities Addy would like to do!

Ashley

A visit from Cupid...

Cupid came to our house last week to drop off a gift for Adalyn! He dropped off a bunch of Valentine's stuff she can use for the month before Valentine's Day!!

 

It is getting easier and easier getting her things because she is not much of a baby anymore! I put a balloon, place mat, sippy cup, bowls, plate, Valentines ducks, a book, stickers, and a bunch of other little stuff she can play with!

 The balloon was the first thing she grabbed! she put it right in the air and said "balloon" and started twirling in circles! It was super cute to watch!

She also loved the cup!There were more age appropriate ones but she has been obsessed with my big cup like that. She always wants to drink out of it..so I thought why not!! It isn't leak proof though...

After she went through everything, she wanted to test it out! (of course) She she had a little snack!

I am excited to show you some of the stuff we have been up to around here for the upcoming holiday! We have been having lots of fun!!

Ashley

14 Months Favourites!

Adalyn is now 14 months old! I can't believe it has been two months since her birthday post! Time sure does fly by!! Here are a few pictures of my girl:

Here are some stats:

* She weighs approx 24 lbs (I am guessing, I haven't weighed her in a while)
* She has 8 teeth and three molars coming in (the first ones)
* She wears 12-18 month clothes. All pants are now 18 months
* She is still wearing size 4 shoes
* She has four bottles (homo milk) a day. Three are four ounces and her bedtime bottle is five.
* She is saying so much more and understanding so much more! She now points to her eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, tongue, hair, head, hand, belly and foot when you ask her where it is! Her new favourite word is "happy" she can say it perfectly! She says "belly" a lot and lifts every one's shirts up! She shakes her head no when you ask her anything, even if it is something she wants. She likes the song "If you're happy and you know it..." She likes us to play puppets with her in the tub and use silly voices!
* She still loves to dance. She is not doing as much squatting anymore. She is now screaming with her hands in the air and running around the house when she likes a song on the radio!
* She is still climbing everything! The newest thing is climbing on the kitchen chairs, standing on them then getting onto the table! She grabbed my video camera off the table and dropped it on the floor!
* She only really eats in the highchair for dinner now, she eats at her little table the rest of the time.
* She loves dolls, blocks, books and play jewelry right now.
* She is a really good eater! She pretty much eats everything you give her! (and eats all day long!)
* She is still a really good sleeper! Usually sleeps 7:30pm to 7:00 am with 1-2 naps in the day!

Here are a few of her favourite things at the moment:

1: Yogurt covered raisins! I picked these up by accident, thinking they were the regular boxes and she loves them! We don't give them to her all the time but the odd time for dessert or a special treat!

2: This $5 baby I picked up at Walmart. She likes it much better than her baby we got her for Christmas. I picked this one up for her to take to daycare!

3: This felt mail set I got off Etsy! She lovvvvvvves to take the stamps off and on! She sits there for a while with this activity! I try to keep her in one area when she has it though, she tends to walk off with things and we never see them again! haha I really want to keep all the pieces together!

4: This set of wood blocks. This was supposed to be an Easter gift! I picked them up around Christmas for super cheap and was saving them...but she found them and opened them! Isn't she cute?! lol She loves them and plays with them for a long time too..but they also end up all over the place! lol

She is getting so big and I just love to sit and watch her. She is quite independent..she will go off on her own and play a lot of the time. If she is quiet she is usually in her playroom reading all by herself! I love this stage even more than the last and am looking forward to the next one! Each stage seems to get better and better!!

Ashley

The Cutest Cousins!

Adalyn and Zachary are second cousins! Chrissy(Zachary's mom and my husband's cousin) and I became friends when we were pregnant and have become really good friends since. We try to get the babies together as much as possible! It has been a bit more difficult since I have been back to work..and will become even trickier when Chrissy goes back to work at the end of the month but I am sure we will work something out! We both had a free day over the holidays and planned a quiet craft day at home. We went to Chrissy's house!

I brought my cotton ball sensory tub! I went to the dollar store to get some spoons, bowls and measuring cups! The spoons were a big hit!

We also made the cutest snowmen!

I used the contact paper I have fallen in love with and cut an outline of a snowman out of construction paper. I stuck the construction paper on the contact paper and let the kids stick pieces of white paper on it! (I taped it to the floor)

I stuck another piece of paper on the back of it and we added the nose, eyes, mouth, buttons and arms on with tape. Note: It is a much better idea to stick the eyes, nose, mouth and buttons down first! This was the first time I have done this activity..I would stick everything down first next time!

They turned out super cute!

I love how they look on the window too! This has been my favourite activity so far!

 I brought another activity to do but we didn't get around to it! Hopefully one day Adalyn and I can do it here!

We also finally got a picture of them in their matching holiday sweaters! Can you say cute or what?!!

I will have to start my list of Valentine's Day crafts for next month's get together! I hope we can make it happen! February is a pretty busy month! We will have to see!!

Ashley

Some winter fun!

We have been having fun over here with some winter activities! I'm not going to lie though, I am excited to start some Valentine's Day activities!! :) I won't go Valentine's Day crazy yet..I will stick to the winter theme!!

The first activity we did involved Adalyn and her first time with finger paints! Oh boy! That sure was fun! Mike randomly came home for lunch when we started and I am so glad he did! I really needed his help! I didn't plan everything out properly before hand (getting the sink ready for a bath, towels out etc.) It sure was funny to watch!

I got a canvas at the dollar store and used masking tape to tape out snowflakes on it. (Similar to the snowflake art we made HERE)

Then I let her go to town. I gave her a paint brush too but she really wanted to use her hands! As soon as I gave her the paint brush she put it right in her mouth! Only once...I was right there the rest of the time to tell her "no" lol

 My favourite part is always taking the tape off after it dries!!! Here is her finished project:

 Love it! We hung it in the playroom  right by the change table!

I also made some coffee filter snowflakes and hung some foam ones up too. Adalyn is so cute! Every time I opened a snowflake, Adalyn said "ooooh" and started clapping!! 

We had a snowflake bath...

...and played with snowballs! The first thing we played with was the foam peanut type things that come in boxes as packing!? I added blue pom poms and foam snowflakes and we pretended it was snow.

Adalyn started out liking this..she was picking the pom poms out one at a time and the peanuts as well!

Then she became obsessed with eating them!lI finally had to put it away because that is all she wanted to do!

Then I thought about using cotton balls!

This worked much better! She put it in her mouth once and that was it. They don't taste very good! Lol

I still have a few more things I would like to do! Hopefully we get to them! It is going to be hard now that I am back to work!!!

Ashley

Resolutions

 I know I am little late posting my resolutions but I still wanted to write them down! I have enjoyed the holidays with friends and family and just started back to work today! Getting to spend two weeks off with my baby was the best present of all! I really do have the best job in that aspect! Anyway, let's getting talking about some resolutions!

Every year I feel my resolutions are pretty similar from the year previous! I do have a new one this year though!! Here they are:

1- I want to exercise more/get in shape/lose some weight. I still haven't quite lost all that baby weight! I am 9lbs away which is definitely do-able but I would like to lose even more. It is just more difficult now that I have a baby! I am not making excuses but by the end of the day I am exhausted! I would like to start working out after the baby goes to sleep! I just need to start!

2- I would like to de-clutter/organize the house. Cupboards, drawers, the pantry...everything! (And keep it clutter free!) I would like to get rid of/sell/donate all the things we no longer need, because we have way too much stuff! I'm even thinking of spreading it out so it doesn't seem so intimidating! (clean out the end cupboard this week, the junk drawer the next week etc.)

3- Mike and I made a resolution together to go on one date a month! We desperately need to do this. When you have a baby you seem to get into a routine and only really focus on the baby..and not each other. I am excited to do this! We went to the movies on Friday night and it was great!

and my last resolution is for Adalyn.

4. I would like to spend more time with Adalyn. I would like to put down the phone/ipad when she is around and really focus on her. Maybe even have no technology at all on Sundays. It is our family day after all! Definitely no phone/ipad after dinner. I would just like to slow down and enjoy every single minute of our baby girl!!

Here she is now...not so much a baby girl anymore. She is getting so big! Her vocabulary is growing very quickly. She is such a smart little girl!!

Maybe I should do a resolution recap post in six months to see if I am sticking to them?! I honestly hope I can say I have stuck to all these resolutions! Wish me luck!

Ashley

Top 10 FAVOURITE projects/activities of 2013!

I can't believe another year has come and gone. It is scary how fast everything goes! You really have to sit back and take a look at everything around you! This year has been special for me because Adalyn started sitting up, crawling, walking and talking. It has been amazing watching her grow into her own little person. I love her more then anything else on this planet! This year hasn't been all positive though. There was some family challenges that we had to deal with. I am hoping 2014 will be a better year in that aspect!

It was really hard to pick only ten of my favourite projects/activities this year! It is funny how they are all related in some way to babies!! It is funny how things change!! Anyway, here they are...

10. I did love the hoop update, even though I have already changed them! Lol

9. Love how the winter snowflakes turned out!!

8. The felt Pumpkin I made for the playroom was a big hit

 7. Loved the painted gold onesie!

  6. Our first sensory activity: SAND!

 

  5. The foam Christmas tree I made for the bath

 4. The Valentine's Day Onesies my friend and I painted for the babes!

 3. The bow tie onesie we made for Zachary!

2. Adalyn's first birthday decor: pink and gold cupcake theme!!

And my most favourite project of 2013?

1. Her new white nursery!! I love how it turned out!! I love the cheap triangle wall most of all!!

I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us over here. I have a feeling it will be another really special year for us!

Ashley