Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Father's Day!

I have the most wonderful husband and father to my little boy! I wanted to do something that made his first Father's day fun and memorable! I was inspired by this post by Growing Book by Book. So I ordered the book I love you Daddy!  by Jillian Harker. I am hoping to start a great tradition of giving a "Father's Day" book to my husband every year that he can read and share with our children. My husband and I both love to read and I hope we are able to pass that love onto our children!

I also used a simple salt dough recipe to make molds of my son's hands and feet.

Salt Dough Recipe:
1 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup warm water

Combine. If it is too sticky add more flour. Roll out and make impression. Bake for 3 hours at 200 degrees.

It is really hard to try to make the mold of hands and feet when you are working with a squirmy 3 month old! Especially, when trying to do it by myself. I was able to get both feet, but only one hand! After multiple attempts and him snatching a chunk of the dough I gave up on getting his other hand.

I can't get it to rotate :(


 I can't wait for more firsts and adventures with my little family!!!



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Alpha Treats

I have a shopping problem that I have been working on controlling over the last couple of months. It is getting better! The Dollar Tree is a danger zone for me as it is one of my favorite places to go. You will never know what you can find! I found these adorable stuffed dogs! I had to get them because I knew I could find some way to use them! So I bought a few thinking I could use them in my classroom somehow. I did!! I made an alphabet game with them.

I also found the dog bowl at the dollar store.




I found a box and decorated it with scrapbook stickers and filled it with magnetic letters.



Then I hot glued a magnet to the dogs mouth so they can "eat" the treats.



 Once the dog "eats" the treat, the children have to identify the letter.

 
 

Here is what the completed game looks like.


I will use this as a small group or center in my preschool classroom. They are going to love playing with the dogs and I hope to sneak some learning in there too!! :)

Monday, June 9, 2014

Early Birthday Present

My wonderful husband built my early birthday present last weekend! He built me a raised flower bed. I am going to try to grow pumpkins for the second time. The first time I was able to grow vines but no pumpkins :( So I am going to try again in the raised flower bed and see if I have better luck. I want to use the pumpkins to decorate with in the fall.


I planted 10 big pumpkin seeds, 10 Medium pumpkin seeds, and 10 small pumpkin seeds in a seed starter kit. Once the vines start growing I will replant them in the flower box. I also planted 5 watermelon seeds and some herbs. Sometimes my thumb is more black than green, so we will see how it all turns out!

Bentley and Cooper (aka Pete and Repeat)
My dogs were very interested in what I was working on. They wanted to help me plant seeds!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Summer at last!!

I am a VPK teacher in Northwest Florida.  I had my son at the end of February and took an eight week maternity leave. When my maternity leave was over there was only six weeks of school left. Instead of putting my son in daycare for those six weeks we were blessed enough to have my mother-in-law and my mother take turns to come stay at our house to keep him. Needless to say he was spoiled rotten during those six weeks!! Now that summer has started....so has mommy boot camp!

We have had a very relaxing weekend as a family of three. For the first time ever my son slept in his room in his own crib that my husband built for him! He has slept all night for two nights in a row! (Knock on wood)

We are working on a simple bedtime routine of bath, story, feeding, and then bed. My current favorite book is I love you through and through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak.

Such a sweet Book!!

My husband and I both have such a love for reading that we hope reading to him everyday will help instill that same love of books!!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Car Contrast

Last weekend I went on a road trip from Northwest Florida to my parent's house in Central Alabama with my three month old. My husband stayed behind to work and  watch our two dogs. It was a long weekend! I left Friday afternoon and returned Monday. Nater Tater DOES NOT like his car seat. So I was a little worried how the trip was going to go, because my parent's house was not our only stop. I traveled to Auburn (War Eagle) to see three of my good friends Saturday. Then Sunday we went to Birmingham for my future sister- in -laws wedding shower.
I had been trying to think of ways to make riding in the car more enjoyable for Nater Tater. He gets really hot in his seat! I am still trying to think of solutions to this problem. (any suggestions are welcome!) So, while I was in Auburn on Saturday I went to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby! I decided to make a contrast quilt to attach to the back of the seat for Nater Tater to look at. I grabbed several different black/white patterned fabric and some black minky dot fabric for the backing. One reason Hobby Lobby is a favorite store of mine: SALES! They were having a 30% off sale on fabric!


The cow pattern is my favorite :)

 
 



Since I was at my mom and dad's I had to use my mom's sewing machine! I am not used to her machine, but I made it work! I measured my seat to get a rough estimation for how big it needed to be. My seat was 14" x 16". I rough but my pieces 8"x 5". I pieced the fabric together, sewed them, added my minky backing and ribbon to tie it to the head rest. TaDa!

I love little baby feet!


Now my son has something to look at while riding in the car! So far he seems to enjoy looking at it!
Needless to say, I had one tired little boy by the time we got home Monday afternoon! And we get to make the trip again at the end of June for the wedding! :) But this time maybe we will be a little more prepared! As first time parents, we are still trying to get the hang of things! I am told it gets better! We will see! :)