baby toys

Posted: April 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Family, Learning, Little Ones, Noelle | Tags: | 2 Comments

This is not a toy.

These blocks are.

This house is.

Everything in this messy pile is.

Bin after colorful bin… toys.

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We set our sweet baby in front of all of these ‘toy’ areas numerous times throughout the day.

This is where we find her every time we turn around.

And if we aren’t quite sure which door where she’s taken off to, we just have to pause, tilt an ear, and wait for the “boooiiinnggg” of that door stopper being plucked.

week of firsts

Posted: March 10, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Family, Learning, Little Ones, Noelle | Tags: | 1 Comment

This week started out with us laughing at Noelle as she did this silly arm-flapping dance while playing with us on the living room floor.  It took us a while to realize that she was WAVING!  So began a week of firsts and A-LOT of “Hi’s” from the 3 of us, trying to prompt that sweet, silly, arm-flapping wave.
 If you can’t tell, Elle hasn’t found a food she doesn’t like.  However, when she loves things that I consider healthy choices, I am SO happy!  This week, beans! During lunch one day (following a bowl of veggie soup) Elle ventured into the world of clapping.  It was so cute to watch her realize that it was her tiny hands making that sound.  The delight on her face was priceless and the 900 claps that followed the first left Ava and I with a laughing-tummy-ache! This was truly a trick-a-day kind of week. Elle finally successfully drank through a straw too.

The other day Ava and I were talking and she informed me that she had the perfect job for Noelle when she grows up.  “A DRUMMER!”  In her sweet little Ava voice in true Ava form (hair flipping and matter-of-fact tone) she said, “Since she likes to drum on everything I think she would enjoy that job.  And she could be in a band like Dad.”  When asked what she was going to do when she grows up she said, “Be a Mom like you.  We can share Noelle and I’ll do Keva work during naps.”

That girl has it all figured out. Ha!

In other news, Saturday morning the three of us walked in to see what all the racket was during Elle’s “nap”.  It was her. Hanging onto the rails, on her knees, just bouncing away.  We dropped that crib mattress down so quick!  This kid is gonna keep us on our toes!

Very much inspired (continuously) with my crafty BFF I randomly decided that I would venture into the world of sewing.  Ummm.  Harder than it looks folks.  My first sewing project, a lumpy, asymmetrical, FAR from what I envisioned, blanket.  However, it turned out to be the perfect companion for my youngest girl.

AND…. SHE’S CRAWLING!!!

going to school

Posted: February 24, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Ava Rae, Learning, Little Ones | Tags: | Leave a comment

Thanks to one of my ‘Super Mom’ friends, Ava and I have ventured into the world of Home-Preschool! How wonderful is it that through the wonders of the internet we can copy take the advise of those friends that we look up to oh-so-much and use their resources to enhance our life and time at home!  Thank you Sarah for introducing us to this fun, entertaining, EASY Preparatory Curriculum for little ones!  I have to say that from week one I was amazed at the sponginess of Ava’s brain.  She was so ready to learn and absorb each thing that we discussed that I couldn’t believe I had waited so long to schedule some “school” time.  In the weeks since we started, this is one of her favorite parts of our day.  She loves doing a craft, reading a story, watching videos on the internet, memorizing our Bible verse and best of all, sharing it all with Kurt when he gets home!  This has been such a great addition to our daily schedule, something fun for us to do together and a good lesson in patience and organization for me.

Here is the board for one of our recent weeks of school!

Bible verse- Proverbs 30:5- “Every Word of God proves true.”

Letter- E

Number- 5

Theme- Lighthouses

Vocabulary Word- Beacon

Shape- Octagon

We “learn” one or two of the above lessons per day and pair it with reading a related story, doing a craft, watching videos or anything else that seems to tie the idea to our daily life.  The website is a wonderful tool and gives ideas for each weeks activities. The best part- there is total freedom to adjust the lessons to your home and supplies!