Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Pumpkin Patch...

I'm a little behind on this post, but a couple weeks ago we had our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Washington.  We were invited to join our friends Joe and Taunya and their two girls Coura and Ella (and some of their family and friends).  They took us to a great Pumpkin Patch in Snohomish called The Farm.  Besides the Pumpkin Patch itself, there were all sorts of fun activities offered at The Farm including a giant kids' play area, a corn maze, a petting farm, wagon rides, live duck races, plus some super yummy food options. 
We had a great evening!
















 
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Bit by the craft bug...

After a couple months hiatus, I re-entered the Pinterest world and got sucked in worse than before!  So many good ideas, so little time!  The last couple weeks I've been trying to actually create some of these projects and not just keep them stored on my cyber space pin board.  Most are for Maya, one for me!  Here they are in no particular order...

1- Contact Paper Craft  
As seen on Pinterest by multiple pinners...I think this website, however, was the one I was inspired by and actually pinned...No Time for Flash Cards

I found everything at the dollar store including the contact paper, fake fall leaves, foam leaves and tissue paper.  It worked perfectly for my Fall inspired contact paper craft and only cost me a couple bucks- win! 

I tried it out the other day when I was watching my nephew, Isaac.  At 3 years old, he was much more able and interested in the project than Maya B, but they both made a one of a kind creation :)

(She preferred the foam leaves)

Once they were done, I covered the entire project with another sheet of contact paper to seal the art. I think this will be fun any time of year as you can easily customize the theme!

2- Felt board
I've had a 24X30 blank white canvas sitting in the closet since we moved.  I've had all sorts of different ideas (mainly from Pinterest, of course!) on what to do with it, but hadn't executed any of them until now!  After seeing how much Maya seems to enjoy the felt board at our Toddler Group and at any library story time, I decided it was the perfect project for my canvas.  I bought some black felt from Hobby Lobby (my new favorite craft store...CA is missing out!) and borrowed my sister-in-law's staple gun.  It was quick and easy!



Ta-da!!  Felt board!
So, of course, I needed some felt story characters to go along with my new creation.  I have a list of ideas, but these are a couple I've created so far...

3- Felt Owls
I came across this website and it was full of great ideas...Storytime Katie. 
I saw these little owls and fell in love...they're too cute and the rhyme is easy and perfect for Maya as she is starting to learn to count!  (Originally posted by Leah at Sunflower Storytime)

Five hoot owls sitting in a tree,
One flew away!  How many do you see?
One, two, three, four.

Four hoot owls sitting in a tree,
One flew away!  How many do you see?
One, two, three.

Three hoot owls...etc.



4- Felt Dinosaurs
In one of Maya's books, there is a song called 5 Enormous Dinosaurs.  

Five enormous dinosaurs,
Letting out a roar,
One ran away,
And then there were four.

Four enormous dinosaurs,
Knocking down a tree,
One ran away,
And then there were three. 

Three enormous dinosaurs,
Eating tiger stew,
One went away,
And then there were two. 

Two enormous dinosaurs,
Trying to run,
One went away,
And then there was one. 

One enormous dinosaur,
Afraid to be a hero,
He went away,
And then there was zero.



She loves when I sing it, so I decided it would be a good option to turn into a felt board story.  I googled "5 dinosaurs felt board" and found this website with a template for these cute dinos...Mel's Desk


I just printed the template, traced my dinos, cut the felt and added little google eyes.  Simple and cute.

So far, Maya is enjoying her felt board!  I'm excited to add a few more stories for us to use!


5- Fall Wreath
Another Pinterest creation, I found this idea at Little Lovelies By Allison

I'm quite proud of this one!  And it was super inexpensive.  I got most of the supplies at Joann Fabrics.  I had a 40% off one item coupon and got the wreath itself for only $2.99.  The burlap was by the yard and I asked for only 4" off the bulk and cost $.38.  And the "S" was only $1.49.  The leaves are the same ones from the dollar store I used above and I had some yarn at home from a past knitting project that I used to wrap the "S".  Armed with my glue gun and inspired by the link above, I created this...

Not too shabby :) 



Phew!  Ok, that's all for now.  Happy crafting and pinning everyone!




Friday, October 19, 2012

What's new...

Maya is quite a character these days.  She has more personality than I think I can handle.  As we've always seen, she's very independent and must do everything by herself.  She is repeating everything and communicates pretty well with some two to three word phrases.  
Here are a couple recent videos of our little monkey...

One of her favorite things to do these days is read!  We often hear her babbling to herself as she flips through a book.  

We recently took advantage of what is sure to be one of our last dry days around here.  We headed to our favorite park where there is the perfect "Maya-sized" structure.  She's getting quite good at the slide and is clearly very proud!

Friday, September 28, 2012

IT'S A....

 SURPRISE BABY!!

Sorry everyone, we've decided to not find out baby's sex this time and I couldn't be more excited for the surprise in the delivery room.  We just had our 20 week appointment and I wasn't even tempted!!  Waiting still seems to be harder for Brad, but he's holding strong and willing to wait it out with me!  

The appointment itself went great.  It was so great to see our little girl/boy (Monkey Junior as Brad refers to him/her) wiggling around!

  After much worry for not feeling movement as early I remembered with Maya, I finally started feeling some more consistent movement this past week...even Brad felt a kick for the first time Wednesday night!  Feeling that movement every day, plus seeing our little MJ wiggle around during the ultrasound has definitely put my mind at ease!  Thank you Lord! 

A couple more pics...
I love this one.  We saw a full yawn during the ultrasound...so cute!   

Here's the image that made us think...ummm, is that???....but no, just the umbilical cord!  Baby having a big stretch!
20 weeks down, 20 to go!  Hopefully this one decides to come on time (or even a little early) and not 5 days late like his/her big sis!!  Either way, I can't wait to meet our baby!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012

First day of "school"...

Maya had her first day of Toddler Group today!  It's a parent co-op program that's one day a week for 2 hours.  It's a great time for Maya to learn and explore through a variety of play based activities including sensory tables, puzzles and toys, art projects, singing, reading, circle time, group snack and outdoor play.
   We had a great first day!  Here are some pics (unfortunately the camera on my phone is terrible!)

At the ball pit...her favorite!  She kept coming back to it!

She also loved the colored rice sensory table...unfortunately, we weren't so good at actually keeping the rice in the table...

Snack time was my favorite part.  The kids all sat together on mini chairs at a mini table and had there snack of apple sauce and string cheese.  They were also given little paper cups to drink their water!  They encourage learning, so no sippy cups allowed!  It was so cute to see them all at snack...they looked like such big kids.  Maya actually did great with her cup...she's had some practice at home, but this time I didn't help her and she did awesome!

Getting her stamp at the end of class...

 The day ended with outdoor play...Maya loved this little house and wasn't interested in going anywhere else...

I was so inspired by our successful snack time, I decided to set up her travel chair at the table for lunch...such a big girl!




And I had to document the drinking from a cup success!

I'm a proud mama :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Fashion with Compassion...


If you haven't checked out Noonday yet, please do!!  Their jewelry (and other items!) are awesome and the story behind each piece is inspiring.  Every purchase helps the artisan- women around the globe trying to provide for their families and escape poverty.  It's "fashion with compassion" and my sister-in-law, Deanna has recently become one of their ambassadors!!
Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Happy Birthday...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Mama,
Happy Birthday to you!!

Love and miss you so much!  Hope you're having a fabulous celebration up there.  Can't wait to join you again one day!