Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! 

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the weekend.  Especially considering it's going to be 62 degrees tomorrow!!! I desperately need a break from this cold weather!

Our weekend involves a basketball game, shopping, and preparing for Lexie's 9th birthday on Monday.  I still can't believe my sweet girl is going to be 9.  That's way too close to double digits!

This week kind of kicked my butt. The kids didn't have school on Monday, then had a snow day on Tuesday.  It was so nice to have a 4 day weekend, but then things got crazy.

On Wednesday, I officially had my first parenting experience of a child throwing up in public. I guess you could say I've been lucky up until now considering I've been a parent for over 11 years. But let me just say that I had to clean up an ENTIRE 3 stall restroom (walls included) and my kid. She actually slipped in it, fell on her back, and slid 3 feet across the bathroom floor and into a stall. Her bum hitting the toilet was what stopped her. Looking back, it really was quite comical, but the mess was horrendous! My life is so glam.

Lily was fine immediately after, but I was on edge. I was just waiting for it to hit another family member. It has been a few years since our last stomach virus nightmare, so I feel like our luck is running out. (It hasn't yet. Fingers and toes are crossed.) Of course, I woke up with a nasty cold on Thursday morning.  No more germs, PLEASE.

Needless to say, I'm ready for a warm weekend and a break from routine!

On that note, here is what I'm loving this week:

{ONE}

The Salted Caramel Latte from Bolthouse Farms.   My husband introduced me to these drinks and I'm hooked.  It's so much cheaper than a Starbucks habit, so I don't feel the least bit guilty! If you haven't tried it, do yourself a favor and buy one! (The Strawberry Banana Smoothie is really good, too.)

{TWO}

Days off of school.  I canceled Liam's in-home therapy sessions and we stayed home all day.  It was PERFECT.

{THREE}

The sweet treasures Lily made for me for Valentine's Day and going to the Sweetheart Tea.  Keepsakes made by my children are my absolute favorite gifts!

{FOUR}

My favorite Target Dollar Spot find of the week. Rather, $3, but who is counting?  (I don't even WANT to know how much I spend there in a month!)  I found it just in time for Lexie's birthday!

{FIVE}

My sweet boy's love of books. He seriously melts my heart!  I shared our favorites HERE.

{SIX}

The excitement over snow days!

{SEVEN}

Sherlock on Netflix.  We just started watching it and we LOVE it!  Each episode is long, so it's like watching a movie. Season 2 Episode 1 is our favorite so far!

 

{source}

{EIGHT}

His smile. Enough said.

{NINE}

Our Seeds & Scoops Sensory Table.  It's one of Lily's favorite winter activities, and I finally introduced Liam to it on Wednesday.  It was a huge hit!!!

Bonus...they looked really cute in the snow!

{TEN}

TAX RETURN.  Need I say more? 

What are you loving right now? What's on your agenda the next few days? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

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Linking up for Friday Favorites  //  Oh Hey Friday  //  High Five For FRIDAY

Seeds and Scoops Sensory Table + Feed the Birds

The winter weather is upon us, which means cabin fever is rapidly setting in! 

Anyone who has kids knows this isn't a good thing.  Being trapped indoors with four bored children is NOT my idea of fun! I reached the point of desperation this afternoon while watching Lily and Liam race through the house.  We HAD to go outside before we all went crazy!

Liam is not a fan of the cold (as in anything below 50), so I had to get creative and find something that would keep his mind off the temperature.

I really can't blame him.  His typical reaction to the cold is the same as mine.

 

I scanned my trusty list of activities for kids, and settled on one of Lily's favorite winter activities. It involves our water table, a 10 pound bag of wild bird seed, some scoops and funnels, and bird seed thrown all over the backyard!

The concept for the Seeds and Scoops Sensory Table is really simple and inexpensive. Clean out that water table, collect some kitchen utensils, and buy a cheap bag of wild bird seed that will last for weeks!  Water tables are NOT just for water! We use ours for sensory play year-round.

With the exception of summer, we keep our water table on our sun porch.  Most of our sensory table play is done there. Even though I can easily sweep the mess out the back door, I like to take the messier activities outdoors. This is definitely classified as messy. (Trust me. I attempted corn kernel play inside our house once and the result was not pretty.)

The BEST part of this activity is that the mess makes everyone happy! The kids don't have to worry about being neat, the wild birds are extremely grateful, and I don't have to clean up the mess because the birds do it for me! It's a win-win situation for everyone involved!

So fill up that table (I use a 10 pound bag of wild bird seed), arm the kids with some tools, and let them play.  An added bonus is that they're working on building their OT skills with all that scooping and pouring! (Liam's occupational therapist definitely approves!)

Lily was so excited to "feed the birds" so she immediately dug in.  After initially squealing about the 35 degree weather, Liam spotted the table and rushed over.  Although Lily (and my older kids) have done this many times, Liam was too young last winter. It definitely captured his attention!

 

Lily ran back and forth, but for 25 glorious minutes, Liam scooped and poured and touched and tasted (he decided it wasn't very tasty).

When they were done playing, bird seed was scattered all around the table.  Just like she did last year, my sweet Lily still had to take the time to feed the birds just a bit more!

Our backyard birds are very grateful!

As for the cleanup, it is so easy!  I just toss the kitchen utensils into a sensory play storage container and carry the water table back into the sunporch. It's all ready to go the next time we go outside, and the bird seed usually lasts us a few weeks! (Although I did leave the seed in the table this time, I do have a container on my porch to store bird seed/corn kernels/etc in case I need to use the table for something else.)

Lily loves to scoop the seeds and feed the birds, and it was a hit with Liam, too. I am constantly looking for ways to engage him from a therapy standpoint, and this was a great activity for him! Later, we were able to watch the birds clean up the mess from our kitchen table!

The Seeds and Scoops Sensory Table is a fun sensory activity that helps build essential OT skills, plus it attracts those backyard birds.  It's perfect for outdoor play in the winter AND it's a great boredom buster!

Are your children into sensory play or do you shy away from the mess? 

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*I'm linking up with Grammie Time for Party at My Place and Holly for While I'm Waiting.

Snapshots of Love

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend!

It all started with a Sweetheart Tea with my little sweetheart, Lily.

Lexie had a class party that day, too. She returned with a box full of valentines and a cold. (She was better within 24 hours. She rarely gets sick and when she does, she gets better ridiculously fast!)

On Friday evening, we ended up getting snowed in at my parent's house.  We went up for dinner and it started snowing like crazy.  It got really bad really fast, so we stayed put.  It wasn't the best night of sleep, but we woke up to a big breakfast cooked by my mom!

The girls stayed with their grandparents while the boys and I picked up Grant and headed to Dylan's basketball game.  Dylan played so well, and ended up scoring again. He really stepped it up this past week!

After the game, we had mandatory family nap time!

My parents brought the girls home and they stayed with our kids so Grant and I could escape for a rare date night!

We met two other couples at the movie theater for a triple date to see Deadpool! I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was actually entertaining.  I mean...Ryan Reynolds.  Enough said.

After the movie, we parted ways and went out to eat. Grant and I sat next to a table full of teenagers going to a dance and it hit us that in about 5 years, Dylan will be doing the same thing. (And I will totally be sitting in the corner of the restaurant spying on him.)  Time truly does fly by.

After our meal, we strolled the aisles of Target, and picked out some Valentine's Day treats for our four little valentines.

Meanwhile, back at home...

(And the tween was MIA again.)

It wasn't an overly romantic date, but it was a much needed date. It gave us time to step out of the parenting role and reconnect! Once home, we sent my exhausted (they hid it well) parents on their way, put on our pajamas, put the kids to bed, and had a date with Netflix.

On Valentine's Day, we had our annual Valentine's Day Breakfast! It was extra special this year because it fell on a weekend. I made heart-shaped pink pancakes and strawberry milk and didn't let anyone come into the kitchen until everything was ready!

The kids were so excited and grateful. They showered us with thanks, then ran off to play.  My littlest valentine stayed behind to keep me company as I cleaned up!

All the Valentine's Day excitement was apparently exhausting. 

Liam fell asleep while playing, so we put him down for an early nap.  I was able to sneak away for the ultimate Valentine's Day gift: Grocery Shopping ALONE. It was like a mini vacation!

That night, we had a simple dinner of heart-shaped cheese quesadillas, which the kids LOVED!

We ended Love Day by just spending time together.  It's what we do best!

Grant and I put the kids to bed, then enjoyed the last few hours of Valentine's Day together.  We celebrated the same way many other couples did on Sunday night: by curling up to watch The Walking Dead.  That's how we roll! 

We didn't have an extravagant, overly romantic Valentine's Day weekend full of exciting getaways and perfect snapshots.  But it was a weekend full of love and it was absolutely perfect for us! 

How was your Valentine's Day?

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Raising Readers: The Best Books for Babies and Toddlers

I can still vividly remember reading a book to my very first child for the very first time. It truly is a moment I will never forget.

Dylan was just a few days old at the time.  He was so tiny and it was still weeks away from his due date. I walked into his nursery, spotted a book that was given to him as a gift, and thought it was a good moment to begin story time. I sat down on the floor with my tiny baby cradled in my arms. I remember how happy, peaceful, and in love I felt as I opened the book and began to read. The book was called Sleepy Jesus, and I read it to him as the snow fell softly outside. That was the start of a tradition that never ended.

For 11 years and 3 months I have been reading to my children.

Over those 11 years and 4 children, we attained an amazing collection of books. Some of our books are SO loved that they are held together with tape. Liam's personal collection rivals the board book section at our local library, thanks to all the hand-me-downs.

Sometimes the amount of books we own overwhelms me, but all those books are worth it. We managed to raise 4 kids who love to read. Dylan and Lexie read way above grade level and Lily and Liam prefer books to anything else.  It makes me so happy when I walk into a room and find one of my kids reading.

Liam will spend hours every week looking through his books, but when it comes to sitting to listen to a book, he's like any other active toddler.  I have to choose wisely to keep his attention!

Over the years, I've found that the best books for babies and toddlers are short books that are repetitive or include catchy rhymes. You know...basically those books that you could recite in your sleep! Interactive books such as touch and feel and lift the flap are great choices, too!

I definitely have a list of favorites after 11+ years of reading to my kids, and all of my favorites are Liam-approved!

Books by Sandra Boynton 

These books are short and catchy!  I have read Snuggle Puppy thousands of times, and the giggles at the very end are the best!

1. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
2. Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton
3. The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

Books by Dr. Seuss

Also short and catchy, and they make my kids laugh.  I guarantee you will memorize them in no time!

4. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
5. There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
6. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

Counting Books

These 3 books were favorites among all 4 of my children. They are very repetitive and always held their interest!

7. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
8. Baby Einstein: Baby Galileo Sees the Stars by Julie Aigner-Clark
9. Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth

Book Series

We have multiple DK Touch and Feel, That's Not My ______ Usborne Touchy Feely, and How Do Dinosaurs _____ books!  Liam absolutely loves touch and feel books!

10. DK Touch and Feel Bathtime
11. How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?  by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
12. That's Not My Dinosaur (Usborne Touchy Feely) by Fiona Watt

Interactive Books

Books with mirrors, lift the flaps, and lights are big hits with my toddler! The Moon in my Room was Dylan's favorite when he was a toddler/preschooler!

13. Disney: It's a Small World Guess Who!
14. DK Baby Says Peekaboo!
15. Tails by Matthew Van Fleet
16. The Moon in my Room Night Light Book by Annette Norris

Classics

These are timeless books that belong in every child's book collection! Goodnight Moon is still Lily's favorite book!

17. Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
18. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
19. How Do I Love You? by P.K. Hallinan
20. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

 Press Here & Mix It Up!

These two deserve their own category!  They are relatively newer bestsellers. These books are so perfect for every child that I often buy them as gifts.  They are also a FANTASTIC occupational therapy tool, so I always recommend them to parents who have kids with special needs. If you buy any book, make it one of these. Seriously. These books are THAT good!

21. Press Here by Herve Tullet
22. Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet


Happy reading, my friends!

Do you have any of these books in your collection?  What are your favorite books for babies and young toddlers?

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Linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk.