Rainbow Foam

 Kate was a bit out of sorts today as she is recovering from a bit of a cold.  I thought this beautiful rainbow foam would be the perfect antidote for all that was ailing her, and made it mostly to cure the grumpies.

It was super easy to make.  For each color, I mixed 2 TBSP dish soap (I originally assumed that clear or white dish soap was necessary, but I was wrong, the dye in the dish soap will not interfere with the color of the foam.  I found that Dawn makes the best foam!), 1/4 cup water, and a few drops of food coloring in my mixer on high speed for 1 - 2 minutes.  That's it!  Then I scooped the foam into an under the bed storage bin.  I made one color at a time, and Kate really enjoyed watching the soap foam up in the mixer!

 Kate is averse to touching anything like this, so she used spoons and cups to play in the foam.  I know that somewhat defeats the sensory experience, but Kate enjoyed it in her own way!  I'll have to make this again because I know Reagan will LOVE it.  I bet Reagan will climb right in and enjoy every bit of the foam!!

  Kate had a rainbow foam tea party!

 Her face in the above picture is so precious!  I'm SO ridiculously happy that I was able to capture that expression!

 Here's a cappuccino with extra foam for you Mama!

 Obviously, Kate did get foam on her hands, but I had a small container of warm water and a towel nearby for her.  Phew.  She's not my first child to flip out over sensory issues, so I am usually one step ahead of her!

This was so pretty and all of the soap made my kitchen smell nice and clean.  I am planning to repeat this during our Rainbow week for the letter R.

Daddy and Kate (and Boo)

I took this picture just a few days ago.  Before bed, Kate always asks to snuggle with Daddy for a few minutes.  We all know that this is her way of prolonging the inevitable bedtime, but it's still sweet.

Usually, she will snuggle for a few minutes and then she will get down ready to play.  I typically scoop her up and bring her upstairs for books and bed.

Yesterday, Kate had a very slight fever and was not feeling well all day.  After her bath, she asked to snuggle with Daddy and she actually fell asleep and stayed asleep on him until I brought her up to her crib an hour or so later.  Even when I carried her up, she opened her eyes but curled up in her crib and went back to sleep without argument.  She is a very good patient!

I love capturing these sweet moments.

She has been fever free all day today, but is not completely back to herself.

Days 9 - 11 of 14 Days of Love

Day Nine:

Day Ten:

Day Eleven:

Yesterday, I prepared a treasure hunt for the eleventh day of love.  The kids really liked this!  I made one set of clues for Reagan and Kate, and a different set of clues for Collin.  Collin had school newspaper yesterday, so he came home later than Reagan and I didn't want her telling him anything about the clues, so I thought it was best to have completely different clues for him.

They were so excited about the treasure hunt that they didn't even stop to take off their coats, and Collin kept his backpack on the whole time!  I'm glad they enjoyed it, and I will definitely work treasure hunts into future fun days!

Kate wasn't feeling well yesterday and she wasn't feeling up to going on the treasure hunt, but she was well enough to eat some of the treasure!

Days 5 - 8 of 14 Days of Love

Day Five:  

Day Six:

Day Seven:

These three kids LOVE making their own pizzas.  It was the perfect activity for them.  Tyler wasn't feeling great, so Reagan made pizza for him!

Reagan and I used a small heart cookie cutter to cut the pepperoni.

I love this little video of Reagan and Kate making pizza.  Reagan is being her silly self and Kate is trying to copy her.  You can also see Kate licking the pepperoni and eating all of the cheese!  Kate ate so much pepperoni and cheese that she wasn't hungry for her pizza!

Day Eight:

K is for Key

Kate began learning the letter K this week.  We will spend some time on K is for Katelyn over the next few days, but we started with K is for Key.

Kate LOVES both of these books!

The Turn The Key book is SO cute.  Each page features a different place around town, and the key opens the door to each place allowing the reader a look inside.  There is a pet shop, sweet shop, toy store, playground, and more.

 Kate enjoyed using the attached key to open the doors, but she did need a little help turning the key.

 I gave her a real key to press into play dough.

I haven't been printing any pages for her, but I did this week just to see if her interest in them had grown.  She likes to use the dot markers and she likes to color, but she likes to use materials in her own way (that's great, in my opinion!).  I will wait a while before printing more letter pages or Tot Packs or any other worksheets for her.  That's just not how she learns right now.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day happened to fall on a day when we also had tennis, the Superbowl, and our Fourteen Days of Love.  We still made a little time for tradition.  We didn't actually watch any of the news coverage, but we did google the results to find out that Phil saw his shadow and forecasted six more weeks of winter - no surprise there.

After lunch, I whipped up a very quick groundhog pudding treat.

Days 1 - 4 of 14 Days of Love

I have wanted to do Fourteen Days of Love since I first saw it a few years ago, and I finally managed to put it together this year.

Here are the first four days:

Kate is really too young to understand the point, but she certainly is enjoying the treats.  The other kids have rolled their eyes a bit at all of this LOVE, but deep down I know they are loving the special treatment, and they are certainly enjoying the treats!