Monday

My Mother's Day Gift from Norah

Well, we took a week off from Tot School. This cutie pie decided she was ready to be potty trained on Monday (4 days after losing her binkie, really?). I've heard many times that when they are ready, they are ready, but seriously never expected it to be this easy! She hasn't had any accidents! Amazing. The binkie was a much harder transition (probably because it was me who initiated it, not her) but she has finally caught up on sleep and is {almost} completely adjusted to life without the bink so we will resume Tot School this week! I know the Grandma's will be the only ones to watch this all the way through, but it is worth it, she is too cute.




Sunday

Happy Mother’s Day

In honor of Mother’s Day, I want to show some bloggy love to a few of the most important mothers in my life (although only a few because there are too many to list here!)

 

My Mom

Me and Mom

Other than being the woman who gave me life and brought me to this earth, she has been the most instrumental person in making me who I am today.  She taught me through her example of persistence, hard work and dedication.  She made me the strong woman I am today.  Even when I was a bratty teenager, she was my best friend.  She is an amazing Grandmother, my kids are so lucky!

 

My Mother in-law

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December 2010 – missing 8 people (I believe)

I couldn’t seem to find a picture of Diane and I together, but I think this picture is a perfect explanation of the influence she has had in her family.  She (and Reynold) raised 8 great children (do you know how many diapers her hands must have changed!?) .  What an accomplishment and an example to me.   She has always put her family’s needs before her own and is always willing to serve.  Oh how wise and caring she is!  I have a few things I still need to learn in the kitchen from her ; )

 

My Grandmother

Grandma and I

I spent a lot of time at my Grandparent’s house as a child.  Some of the best memories I have are of being with my Grandma and Grandpa.  My Grandma has such a sincere heart and truly cares about everyone.  She always made me feel so special.  I am so grateful for her and all she has done for us and the rest of our family.  She would do anything for her family.

 

My Sister

Morgan and I

Although we have always had very different personalities, it seems like the older we get, the closer we get.  I so admire my sister’s talents.  I love that I can call her whenever I need a creativity boost.  She is an awesome Mom and one of my best friends.  She is always trying to please everyone which is something I need to do more often!  I so wish she was my neighbor!

 

My Sisters in-law

No picture for this one (that needs to change!) but I have the coolest most awesome Sisters in-law in the world!  They are so fun and so easy to talk to.  I wish we could all have sleepovers every weekend.  Oh, that would be the best.

 

I am so blessed to be a mother.  Thanks to all the mother’s who work hard and keep this world truckin’ along!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Monday

Tiny Tot School

Ivan is 10.5 months old

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I love my handsome little man.

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I pulled out our shape sorter and he liked to hold them in his chubby little hands.

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I let him explore the gel bag for a little bit, until he tried to scratch a hole in it : )

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He got some lovin’ from his sister, nothing new there!

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“So cute chubby cheeks,” she says.

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Such a sweet sweet boy!

Week 3 – D is for Dino

Norah is 31 months old

This week we learned about the letter D.  We had a few yucky weather days and when those happen I have about a zero energy level, but we did manage to get some tot school done : )  We had a rather large transition this week when binkie was lost, then found with the end missing!  We had a good chat about how binkies are for babies and who uses binkies and then Norah said, “I’m only a baby at night Mom.”  Later that night she asked for it and when I told her it was broken she said, “Get glue, Mom.”  So funny.  Here’s what we did this week..

 

Tot Trays

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This cute little frog is good fine motor practice.  She had to squeeze him so his mouth opened and then feed the bugs to him.  Removing them was even more of a challenge!

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Placing food picks into a parmesan cheese container.

 

Favorite Letter Dd Book

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This whole “How Do Dinosaurs..” series is adorable and fun to read.  We both really enjoyed them.

 

Tot School Activities

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I made this letter Ee noodle pounding box last week but didn’t get a chance to get it out so she did it this week.

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Here is her letter Dd rice bin.

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She pasted her Dd collage.

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We used our jumbo pointer to learn our Dd vocabulary words, and we reviewed last week’s words too.

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She used her dot marker to dot the letter Dd.

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We use small round magnets on these sheets and this is always a favorite.

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She used qtips to paint her dinosaur.

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And of course enjoyed some free painting too.

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I made this color wheel with corresponding colored clothespins.  It is good for fine motor practice as well as color matching/recognition.

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She went on a dinosaur dig!  I looked everywhere for sand (they don’t even put sand in playgrounds anymore!) but couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I bought Moon Sand which turned out to be pretty cool stuff.  Once again, I used a 50% coupon at Michaels and made a couple of trips to get enough.  I buried our baby dinosaurs and she dug away.

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She used a paint brush to brush the sand off the dinos.  It is significantly messier than the rice bin but it was definitely a favorite.

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She stamped her letter Dd.

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And traced it.

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She used her letter D cookie cutter to make D’s with her playdough. 

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The girl is intense with her playdough.

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On one of the yucky days, I brought out our Window Markers and drew our letter and then let her explore them. 

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Am I the only one who remembers lick-and-stick stickers?  I found a recipe to make your own and used it on this little dino color wheel.  She LOVED this.

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This was kind of like a dino bingo, she would roll a number and then place a clear stone over the same number on the board.  She thought it was really cool that the numbers would “get big” after she placed them on the sheet.

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That’s concentration!

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I had a feeling she would ask for more lick-and-stick so I made some for our “Mommy D” and “baby d” sort.

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Hair gel in a ziplock bag, taped to her table.  I used this as review and would draw a letter in it, then she would tell me the letter and the letter sound. 

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She thought it felt nice on her face.

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She used a giant pushpin to poke dots in this sheet.

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Then she held it up to the window and looked through the little dots.

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She rolled a dice and fed that number of “leaves” to our “dino.”

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I found these cute little dinosaur eggs for a couple of dollars.  We counted how many eggs there were, then sang a little song about one hatching.  She anticipated the hatching egg every time!

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She used her dinos to make dino footprints!

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Mom’s Favorites of the Week

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I guess we know where Owen’s rank in the family is…

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I was getting ready to wash out these storage bins and Norah promptly removed her boots and shorts and got right in!  Who needs a pool?

 

I printed most of the sheets we used from other websites and if anyone is interested I can start posting the websites, but it will take more time so if no one really cares then I won’t : )