Thursday, July 28, 2011

Thankful for the Yoop

1. It was 65 degrees here yesterday. Man, oh, man I will take that over 105 heat index any day.
2. Grace is in love with my mom and dad. She used to be afraid of papa, but not any more. Not.at.all.
3. And she is loving her personal playmates...Auntie Mallory, Bella, and Maddie.
4. I just ate homemade gnoochi and Becco's italian sausage. Do I really need to elaborate on how yummy this is?
5. Grace ate chicken last night. And I'm not talking about a frozen chicken nugget or McDonald's. This was bbq chicken that I cut up for her.
6. Who knew we were in a different time zone. Grace switched over like a champ.
7. And I'm sitting here laughing because I can hear my mom and Grace laughing in the bathroom and pretending to bark just to get the dogs to howl.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Who Loves Nemo?

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Today we made Nemo crafts in honor of Grace's newest favorite movie "Finding Nemo." I'm sure if you have any artistic talent (none here) your fish and jellyfish will look more like the real thing, but I'm working with a 2-year-old and well, the animals were made in the spur of the moment. All you need for the jelly fish, Dori, Nemo, and Nemo's daddy is construction paper, glue, googly eyes, yarn (ribbon would work too), and scissors.

I cut out a very rough jelly fish and you'll notice that Grace decided that the bottom should be the top. She also had complete control of the googly eyes. Hence, the one large eyeball and one small eyeball per fish.

I cut out Nemo and Nemo's daddy's bodies and let Grace glue stripes and the googly eyes.

For Dori, Grace ripped up yellow construction paper and didn't waste any time with the glue.

We did start making a "big butt" (the boat for any of you non-Nemo watchers), but she had enough of the crafts and ran off before it was cut out.

Smart Summer Challenge Recap

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So I haven't been the best at posting this past week. To be honest, I can't even remember every single thing we did for the Smart Summer Challenge because I didn't write it all down. Here are some of the things we have done though.

1. Firework Craft in which Grace played with glitter for the first time




2. We took Grace to the Children's Museum, and I exercised my thriftiness by using my teacher's ID to get in free and using a buy one/get one free for Matt and Grace. $10 for the three of us.





3. We hit the Botanical Gardens too.






4. Grace had her last art class. Her teacher had them make art by blowing bubbles using bubble solution with food coloring. She loved it. Thankfully, she let me put a smock on her, and her hands turned a lovely swirl color that faded by the next day. She wasn't a fan of the lacing of supplies. Instead, Grace dumped feathers, ribbons, yarn, and ribbon into the bag.


5. We also shaked our sillies out at story time at the library, and of course, Grace had to complete all the puzzles.


6. And we are reading a lot of books.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Simple Truths


  • Watching a toddler create art is a lot of fun. It also requires a lot of patience. Why patience? Well, sometimes you (the adult) want that art to look a certain way, and quite frankly, your toddler has other ideas. Case in point - Yesterday, Grace received a wooden butterfly to decorate at art class. The table was full of googly eyes, yarn, rhinestones of all colors and shapes, stickers, cotton balls, puff balls, etc. I (the adult) envisioned her using the rhinestones and making a colorful butterfly. Grace (the toddler) envisioned her butterfly covered in different colored POP BOTTLE TOPS. Oh, it was sooooo hard to just sit back and let her do it. But. I. Did. And she is soooo proud of her pop bottle top butterfly.

  • I can't remember the last time I watched real television. I can however recite episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Barney's Night Before Christmas, and Barney's Halloween.

  • It is summer vacation for me, and I have slept in ONCE. In fact, I'm getting up earlier now than I did when I had to get up for work.

  • Watching all (well, almost all) the grandkids of Tom and Melanie Davis jump in the pool yesterday IN THE RAIN made me realize that we all would enjoy life more if we looked at it through the eyes of CHILDREN!

  • And in two different books yesterday, I read about happiness. In one, happiness is being satisfied and being grateful for what you have, for the love you receive, and for what God has given you. In the other, the best way to live is to take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life.

  • When Grace was born, I vowed to never let her watch Barney. I remember when my sister was little. She watched it all.the.time. And that song...I could never get it out of my head. Well, let's just say Barney is a staple in this house. And right now as I type this post, Grace is on the floor covered in her nap (aka blanket) singing Deck the Halls and O, Christmas Tree. I wouldn't change it for anything. It just makes me smile.

  • Dora band-Aids fix everything...even imaginary injuries similar to the injury of Willie the Giant.

Smart Summer Challenge: Art Day

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Smart Summer Challenge Recap for the past few days



  1. Sorry...I haven't uploaded pics for an in-depth post.


  2. On July 4th, at the butt crack of dawn (literally...Grace got up at 5:10 a.m.), we made firework crafts. Grace found her trusty Elmer's glue, and Mommy hunted down blue construction paper and glitter. I tried to show Grace how to make fireworks with the glue, but she was dead set on making giant blobs or designs that resembled crabs (in my opinion). Oh, well. It was the first time for glitter use. Ever. Maybe we'll use it outside next time. I'm still finding glitter. And of course, our glitter set came with stencils, so Grace had to make star fireworks, heart fireworks, and flower fireworks. Because who hasn't seen those before?


  3. Yesterday was art class. I signed up Grace for an art class through the Parks and Rec. program. Saying she loves it is an understatement. We walked into the classroom to see contact paper hung on the wall and tables and tables of just stuff for her to design with. I'm going to call it found art. What did Grace gravitate to for her art? Well, let's see...she used a lot of popsicle sticks, crinkled paper that she pulled straight, random letters, a kangaroo, a dinosaur, cotton balls, and lots and lots of pumpkins. She also received some wooden things to create. Her butterfly is now entirely covered in pop bottle tops. The frame is covered in googly eyes and a few random stickers, and the gingerbread man has two eyes, hair, and a giant googly eye in his stomach. She was so proud of her creations. She brought them home in a paper bag to show her daddy.


  4. And of course, we went to the library after to play with all their cool puzzles.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Smart Summer Challenge: Be Amazed

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Yesterday, in the thick of the heat, we played in the mazes at the botanical gardens. It was fun watching Grace run through them, find a dead end, and have to back track until she found the correct path.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Smart Summer Challenge: Zoo Day

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On Friday, we hit the zoo. Seriously, buying that zoo membership was the BEST investment. During the summer, we go at least once a week. In the beginning, Grace was obsessed with the cattle and lions. With the opening of the new Asian exhibit, she has been loving the tigers and orangutans. And for some reason, these giant butterflies they have hanging from the ceiling.


We talked about what the animals were doing, what sounds they make (Grace's elelphant is hilarious by the way), and their color.


And it wouldn't be a fun trip to the zoo without playing in the water at the end and finding the nearest Golden Arches for lunch.