Letter Aa Activities

I was excited to see this apple mask on the paper grocery bags at Whole Foods this week.  I use my own bags, but I always ask for a paper bag for any meats I buy.  I cut the mask out and taped a popsicle stick on the back.  Kate thought it was funny for me to have an apple face, but she wanted no part of trying it herself.

 Kate is a HUGE fan of these peg stacking letters.  We have a few different alphabet toys, but this is her absolute favorite and she plays with them quite a bit.  It's funny to me because Collin and Reagan hardly played with any of the peg stacking toys.  We paid special attention to the letter A this week.

 Kate enjoys using the Do A Dot markers, so I printed this page for her to dot all of the letters.

She really didn't have any interest in this tactile A.  She said it was pink and pretty and that she was "done".

The play dough has been out a lot!  She was very excited about adding toothpicks to her dough!

She put all but one of those toothpicks in by herself.  She would put them in and take them out and put them back in; LOVED it!

Yes, she does have clothes, but NO she does not like to wear any of them!

I made baked apples with a pie crust topping for a treat.  The recipe came from American Girl magazine.  It is really easy:

- core apples
- stuff each apple with a little butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar
- top with pie dough weaved as shown
- bake in foil muffin cups in 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes

If I make these again, I'll add more brown sugar and cinnamon.  Also, I would like to bake the apples longer.  Maybe if I covered the dough after the fifteen minutes, that would work out.  They were pretty good though.

So far, our letter Aa fun has been a success!

Birthday Videos

I took this short video of Kate yesterday.  I love it and want to make sure I have it here for future reference.

I also like this birthday song from this morning.  The cha cha cha (Reagan followed by Katelyn) is priceless.

Just a reminder that you will not be able to open the videos in email.  You have to actually log in to the blog to see them.

Kate's Birthday Celebration

We had a nice birthday celebration for Kate at Grandma Susan's house.  It was just right for Kate, and she seemed to have a great time.

 A toy phone for Great Grandpa, and a toy phone for Kate.  I think they were texting each other just like the teenagers do -- sitting in the same room, but still have to text each other.

 I wish I had brought my camera instead of relying on my phone.  Kate is too quick for my phone and my pictures are a bit blurry, and the flash on her hair -- YIKES, harsh.  Oh well.  One of her gifts was a toy purse, and she enjoyed putting lipstick on everyone!  Too cute.

Thank you, Grandma, for hosting this party and doing all of the work!  We had a great time, and Katelyn's birthday was very special.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

My sweet girl is two!  From the minute she woke up this morning, she has been asking for her cake and ice cream!  She will enjoy it thoroughly later on today!

These pictures are a little dark.  I wanted to celebrate with everyone, so that meant it had to be done at 6:30 this morning before Tom left for work and Tyler left for school.

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

We gave Kate Doc McStuffins coloring pages, a pink sweatshirt, and the Little People A to Z Learning Zoo.

A few things I remember about Kate's birth:

- I woke up just before midnight on September 10th with my first strong contraction.  I was in labor all day on the 11th, and assumed she would be born that day.  We left for the hospital a little after 9 PM, and I remember being happy when midnight arrived so that she wouldn't have a September 11th birthday.

- Tom and I were SO tired.  It was a long day of contractions and waiting around, and then Kate wasn't born until after 3 AM.  At one point, Tom was trying to sleep on the floor in the labor and delivery room.  I think a nice nurse brought him a chair or something more comfortable.

- I LOVED that the labor and delivery nurse said that being of "advanced maternal age is a bunch of bologna"!!!  There are risks in every pregnancy whether you are young or old.

- Kate found her finger and put it in her mouth while the nurse was cleaning her up.  I thought she was going to be a finger sucker like Reagan was, but that was a one time thing.

- As soon as all was well, I shooed Tom out the hospital door so that he could be home to see Reagan get on the school bus for her first day of Kindergarten.  The nurse asked where he was going so soon after his baby was born!

- For Tom, Tyler, Collin, Reagan, and me it was love at first sight, and the love continues.  Kate brings joy to all of us each and every day.  She is the sweetest little girl with so much love to give.

Pencils

The other day Collin told me that I used to make special after school treats EVERY DAY, and now I hardly ever make them.  First of all, I never made special treats on a daily basis, that would be crazy and I would never get anything else done!  However, he was so excited about the apple smiles yesterday, that I thought I would make a super special sweet treat to celebrate the school year.  These treats didn't require much work on my part, so they are a win win!

Just in case you haven't seen these all over Pinterest and blogs and everywhere else, and you are wondering what is wrapped in that construction paper, here's a peek:

I'm sure they will be ripped apart and eaten in less time than it took me to wrap them up!

A is for Apple

We are totally immersed in our letter A fun.

I made apple smiles using sliced apples, a tiny bit of peanut butter, and mini marshmallows.  

Kate and Collin loved them.  Reagan ate the apples and peanut butter and left the marshmallows for her siblings.

I also made homemade play dough and added red food coloring and a lot of cinnamon.

 For fun, I stuck in a twig and a leaf to make an "apple".  Kate immediately removed the stick and leaf and threw them to the floor!  She had fun with the play dough though.

The play dough recipe I use is:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
1 t. extract (this varies on the season or whatever I have on hand, but I have used peppermint, vanilla, lemon, coconut, almond, and maple); you can also use spices (for this recipe, I used about 2-3 tsp of cinnamon; I like it to smell good!)
1 t. glitter (optional)
food coloring (optional - I obviously used red today) 

I measure the ingredients into a nonstick pot and stir until well mixed.  It's important to add food coloring before heating the dough, otherwise the color will transfer to hands and surfaces.  Then I cook it over medium heat until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball.  I dump it out onto a cutting board and once it is cool enough, I knead it until smooth.  I love kneading warm play dough - super soothing!

Spectrum

Tom and I left for Tyler's football game soon after Collin and Reagan arrived home from school yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to look at anything in their folders until this morning.  What I found in Collin's folder made me jump with joy!!

Spectrum starts in third grade, and Collin participated last year, but only in math.  I am beyond ecstatic and so very proud that he qualified for both math and English Language Arts this year.  He is a very bright boy and loves to be challenged academically.  I think it's going to be a great school year!!!