Pumpkin Patch - Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Snow!

It snowed here this weekend! The first snow of winter is always special, and E hasn't seen snow for quite a while. Last winter she wasn't walking well enough to go out and play in the snow, so this was a first for her. We only got a dusting at our house, but Grandma and Grandpa got 4 inches! We went to their house for Sunday dinner and E got to play in the snow on the deck.

brushing snow off the chair

seeing how deep it is

Grandma and Grandpa helped E build a snowman!

Tot School Week 2

E is 21 months

This was our second week of tot school. We are continuing with the farm theme, and E is really enjoying all the activities we've been working on.

Learning Toys:
We pulled a few more ideas from 1+1+1=1 for our trays this week. E has been working on several montessori-like activities, like:
transfering pom-poms from bucket to bucket with a spoon. She did not like this activity, she would much rather hold them and pet them. Ha! Having to use a spoon just frustrated her.

sorting yellow and purple pom-poms into separate containers.

pushing pasta into small holes. This activity was a big hit, we used it for three days straight!

We also continued using our animal matching cards from last week. I've found if I put fewer matches out, then E has a much easier time finding the matches and keeping interest in the game. We're working on 6 sets at a time.

Another game we tried this week was finding the objects hidden in the bowl of pasta. This was also a great activity, E just loves to play with pasta.

Alphabet:
We had our playdate for Letter C and read some caterpillar stories. We also made a Letter C caterpillar to hang on our fridge. You can see my post about that here.

E helped me make carrot and pineapple muffins for our playdate. She has been quite the helper in the kitchen recently. She loves to help stir and pour when I'm baking, and the other day she breaded the fish for dinner (with mama's help, of course).

Theme - Farm:
We got a new toy this week, a set of Little People Building Blocks. We got the farm set and it came with a farmer, scarecrow (E's favorite), and chicken nest with eggs. We have had fun building towers with it, sometimes matching colors or shapes, but mostly just trying it out and playing around with it.

I printed off the farm totbook from 1+1+1=1 and we have started working on that. We read through the alphabet book, and did a few of the pages in the coloring book. I introduced the size cards to E and had her find the big tractor or the small tractor when I was holding up just two cards.

Another activity I printed from 1+1+1=1 was a matching page. I used velcro for the pieces once I had them laminated, and E had so much fun matching up the images and then ripping the velcro off to do it again.
Reading Basket:
Our reading basket this week was the same as last week.

We did go to storytime at the library this week and the theme was fall stories. E had a lot of fun, and I appreciated someone else reading her stories for a half hour!

Favorite Photos of the Week:Wearing Daddy's Shoes

Letter C for Caterpillar

We had such a fun playdate at our house this Thursday. Every other week we host a "letter of the week" playdate. This week was letter C! The weather even cooperated, because it was COLD! I saw somewhere that October 8 was Read for the Record day, with the book being The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I didn't have that book planned to read, but we pulled it out anyways and added our names to the list for the world record! We also read The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain.

We did our Letter C for Caterpillar craft, borrowed from No Time for Flashcards, as usual.

The kids did a great job of playing together, they are getting fairly good at sharing toys with each other. We also got to eat Letter C snacks like crackers, cheese, coldcuts, cucumbers, celery with cream cheese, and carrot muffins! Moms enjoyed some coffee, too!

Yay for Letter C!

I've Been a Busy Mama!

This is turning out to be such a busy week! I feel like I am still recuperating from cooking day back on Sunday! I have, however, gotten a few things done for E's totschool and arts and crafts time. I got a new color cartridge for my printer and I am back in business!

E's farm theme "totbook" (You can download it for free here) It has so many great activites; a coloring book, ABC book, a puzzle (probably too hard for E), size sequencing cards, a counting fold-out, matching/memory cards, and a match the front half and back half of the animal game:


Colored rice and orzo for arts and crafts, and pouring practice - once she gets a little better with the bigger pasta. Rice is a little harder to clean up when it's all in my carpet!:

In His Hands,
Nicole

Butterfly Craft

We wrapped up Letter B with a butterfly craft this weekend. And this week we are starting Letter C with a caterpillar craft! I like things to flow . . . I'm just like that, I guess. I'm sure E doesn't care, she just likes to color and paint. Anyhow, here's what we did:

First, draw your butterfly body shape out on construction paper. E wanted blue and white paper today.

Let them color away. This was the first time E has used markers in about a month. I am amazed at how much better she does with them now! Last month she would only mark up her hands.
Cut out the butterfly body and add a smile if you didn't already.

Paint another piece of construction paper. Just go for it, it doesn't have to look like wings or anything. This was another first for E, using a paintbrush. She did really well!
Then she needed to use two paintbrushes, and finally she just wanted to "stir the water," so I figured we were done.
Let the painting dry.

Draw around the painting in a wing shape and cut out. Glue the body onto the wings and tape a pipe-cleaner antenna behind the head. Ta-da!!

Freezer Cooking

This was my weekend to cook. I use the 30 Day Gourmet cookbook and website, and cook only once a month. This month, my friend, Sara, decided to cook with me! We had a blast and got all our meals made for October.

We started out with this:

And ended up with this!

On the menu this month is:
Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Cube Steak Bake
Pork Chops and Apple Gravy
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pockets
Chicken Noodle Casserole
Chicken and Beef Fajitas
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Dijon Chicken Breasts
Polynesian Turkey Burgers
We each made 3 meals of each one of these recipes. We both have only 3 people (2 adults and 1 toddler) in our families, so we cut most of the recipes in half.

Then, because I like to have some snacks and breakfasts on hand, I also made
Peanut Butter Muffins
Quiche Muffins
Cincinnati Chili (because Sara's family doesn't like chili)

It took us pretty much all day but it's so rewarding to see that pile of food ready for the freezer. All the recipes I got for free at the 30 Day Gourmet website. They're from the newsletter recipes section. I check the book out from the library frequently, though. One of these days I'll have to buy it.

Thanks for cooking with me, Sara!!