Library- Costume Storytime

Look: Story time today was with costumes. So I dressed my little tiger and octopus up today for Library. They both loved wearing their costumes out. C roared at several people and G just liked his hood.
Learn: Halloween isn't just about candy when they are this little. I hope they continue to love the costumes more than all the other stuff.
Learn: I learned a lot making these costumes. First I learned duct tape doesn't stick to all fabrics. Next I learned that hot glue burns and blisters skin (ow!) Finally I learned that these costumes look much better in pictures than in person.
Love: I love that C proclaimed she was going to be a princess for Halloween while wearing her tiger costumes. Really lookingforward to Halloween now!

Lunch at Wegmans

Look: So I'm addicted to the new Wegman's they just built. It has ALL of C's special foods...previously I went to 5 stores to gather all her goods. We'd always run out of things or have to make extra trips. So this is just great. We are eating well, I can tell you that.
Anyhow they had the cutest little "kid" eating area. I've only seen that at Ikea, so I was excited. The kids sat at their little table watching a huge TV and really enjoyed lunch. Chris and I had a yummy lunch too!
Learn: So now not only do I have a great place to shop, but another great place to take the kids that is child friendly!
Love: Okay, I'll say it again, I love Wegmans!

Carving Pumpkins

Look: Carving pumpkins today. We made three. C picked the shape of the eyes and nose for their pumpkin. Triangle eyes and a pig nose were her pick. G liked taking the lids and running around with them acting like it was a weapon of some sort (boys!).
Learn: This was a good outside activity. Again I learned that my dog has an iron stomach, she ate seeds, pump and would have eaten the whole pumpkin had we left them out.
Love: When it got dark we lit them up and both my kids cheered!

Air Balloons

Look: I didn't plan this one, but today C turned on the ball popper. As usual they had jammed so much junk in there it was hardly blowing. So I unjammed it and it started me thinking about what would float. G loves to put his little head above the blower and let it blow his hair. It reminds me of the little air machine in the bowling lanes. Anyhow so we tested things and a balloon floats in the ball popper!
Learn: This got me thinking of what other toys or objects can do double duty...I see another blog or a book coming.
Love: They played like this for a half hour. So simple, so fun, so magical. G's eyes were wide when he saw the balloon floating!

Ellie's Party

Look: Today we went to Ellie's 2nd Birthday at the playground. The kids got Elmo party hats. After that I forgot to take pictures because I was busy chasing the two of them. Ellie loves Elmos...so her mom (supermom), Anne made cupcakes and had Elmo bubble bath for party favors...so cute. The kids loved running around with their friends.
Learn: Give Chelsea a hat with Elmo on it and she'll wear it all day. She wore it to the store and to Daddy's work for lunch. Everyone kept asking if it was her birthday...and I'd explain it was sweet Ellie's Birthday and C was addicted to the hat.
Love: This age is great because all the kids loved this party, the playground was a perfect location!

Cookie Video

Look: Today while at the library Chelsea announced it was time for cookies. I didn't understand until she sat at the table with the painted cookies on it. Gavin saddled right up to the table and this is the video I got.
Learn: My little 15 month old can already pretend. He does pretend a lot but many times I'm unsure if he is just acting silly. Today it was clear...what an imagination.
Love: The yum yum noises are the best. I could have sat in the library all day with him.

Looking for leaves

Look: Today Chelsea and Gavin gathered leaves in a big bucket. We walked all over the back and front yard looking for leaves. This was the planned part. The first picture shows the unplanned part. C decided to bring all the leaves into her little house and dump them. Then she and G threw them in the air while jumping around...so cute.
Learn: Gathering, filling and emptying are skills any toddlers enjoy. We need to do this with anything we can find outside much more often.
Love: I love where my two little chicklets took this activity. So darling to watch them jump and yell in the falling leaves. Looking forward to making piles with daddy soon!

Sweatsuit Day

Look: Okay, so sweatsuit day isn't a special event. But since we were feeling lousy, I thought comfort. What was special was that C didn't demand to wear a dress, she went along with it because everyone was "suited" up.
Love: I love the hugging pic, its my new fave!

Last picture is from balloons, couldn't get it to go away

Balloon Morning

Look: I have two sick children. Yuck. Last night I decided to blow up about 30 balloons and litter our family room with them.
Learn: This lifted everyone's spirits. Being stuck inside with sick kids is no fun, so doing something special was important.
Love: Their faces were awesome when they saw the balloons. They played without crying, whining or complaining for about an hour!!!

Monkey Bags

Look: Last night I learned a little bit about sewing on a machine. Theresa had some gals over and gave us lessons and let us do projects...SO FUN! I took two old shirts (one for c and one for G) and made little monkey bags. No I am not that creative, but Disney Family Fun magazine is (just got the new issue...so excited!) The kids liked their bags a lot and have been carrying around some of their favorite knick knacks.

Learn: I learned how to make a bag and hem a curtain on the machine. So many of the cute crafty projects in those magazines call for a sewing machine. Now I can consider doing those crafts too.

Love: I love how the bags turned out. These were the cutest tees from the summer and my kids outgrew them...but I still get to have them around because they are bags!

Walk and Talk

Look: Today we did a 4 mile walk on the Radnor Trail with some other moms. The weather was beautiful even though it was calling for rain. G fell asleep on the way and slept through most of it. C was shy at first but lit up when her friends came.

Learn: 4 miles is too far, next time we'll max out at 2. By the last quarter of the walk everyone was crying :( boo!

Love: This picture of C and her friend holding hands is soooo cute!

Play Ball

Look: We signed C up for a play ball class for 2 year olds. Basically it is a gym teacher's approach to play time with tots. We all loved it.

Learn: She learned to take turns. She practiced following directions and she had a ton of fun. I learned to think more like a gym teacher. Got a lot of ideas from Mr. Ed and plan to make these activities part of our play time more!

Love: I love that she was proud of herself and yelled out "I DID IT!" after each task! My little cutie!

Look: Today we made "foamerators". Cut off the bottom of a plastic bottle. Wrap a washcloth or piece of towel on the end and secure with a rubber band. Dip the towel end into a soapy solution and blow. It made tons of bubbles. Got the idea from my Disney Family Fun Magazine!

Learn: While we were playing outside with these, C kept asking to take a bath. I thought she was crazy until I realized she wanted to try out this new toy in the bath. So that night we used the foamerator in the tub!

Love: I love these pics in the tub. But my fave is G blowing the foamerator.

Water Colors

Look: At Alivia's 2nd Birthday play

group we got two packs of water colors. I decided to just try this with C first until she got the hang of it. Then I figure I can be mostly free to help G. She did great.

Learn: Like a lot of things art is one where you give up control to let the child create. By the end her lighter colors were all black. I remember when I was in school how vigorously I'd wash my brush to avoid this. But I'm trying hard to not pass along my weird quirks.

Love: Toddlers and art is a great combination. Can't wait to try this with G!

Everyone is having babies

Look: We hung out with 3 of my friends from teaching days today. Years ago we spent our time talking about work and now it was all about the babies!

Learn: I love seeing the different stages of babies all in one room. My two seemed to really enjoy playing with all Jack's toys!

Love: I love seeing my friends get such joy out of being moms!