We Love Love!

From our little family to yours, Happy Valentines Day! To tell you the truth, I've never been keen on this holiday. But lately, I've had such an overwhelming sense of love in abundance, I wanted to share it. So did Pyper.
She made you hand-dipped chocolate strawberries!
I really thought she wouldn't be able to do the entire process, but she surprised me with her determination to make these. I showed her once, but if I offered to help, she would tell me, "No, Momma, I do it!" Well then. Have I mentioned how much I love our Learning Tower? It puts her at the right height for the counter and is very safe.

She's picking just the right berry for you!

As a side note, when I went to collect eggs, this one had a feather attached to the top just like a little hairdo. So, I made it a friendly egg for Pyper. She loved it. Hope you have a wonderful day of love and joy, and be sure to tell all those who fill your heart how much they are appreciated.

Drain Cleaning Fun!

I had read somewhere that an environmentally safe drain de-clogger (is that a word?) was adding baking soda and vinegar to the sink and the miraculous bubbles do all the work for you. Sans the harsh chemicals found in Drain-O and other commercial products. Plus, it's a lot cheaper! I was giving Raegan a bath, when Shannon suggested letting Pyper unclog the drains. What a great idea! She loved it! He pulled the Learning Tower up to the sink and introduced her to science. She loved the bubbles formed by the carbon dioxide gas produced by combining these two common household ingredients.

Pouring more baking soda....

More vinegar....

Being as tactile as she is, she HAD to feel what the bubbles felt like! By the way, it unclogged our drain beautifully! Maybe because we used a full box of soda and a HUGE tub of vinegar? Who cares! It was an inexpensive science project. This is a clear example of how you can teach your kids everyday lessons and life skills inside the home. Did Shannon the pharmacist discuss the chemical reactions and the production of carbon dioxide gas? No. But she learned at 2 when you combine these two items, fun bubbles appear and fizz. Keep it simple. Keep it fun. I'm so blessed to have a great hubby and the girls to have a great dad like Shannon to teach them their first chemistry lessons!

See how happy my hoodlums are? ha! Pyper is OBSESSED with hats lately, and wanted to wear Raegan's, so Raegan wore hers. Love my babies!

New Year, New Arrangements

We decided to turn Pyper and Raegan's nursery downstairs into the playroom. They were using it as such anyways, so moving the crib out and reorganizing the setup was logical since 4 kids under the age of 4 use it daily (our nanny brings her two boys ages 2 and 4). We moved the girls upstairs into their "big girl room." So far, it's been a success.
We moved Pyper's clothes upstairs and Shannon bought some shelves for toys.

Raegan's clothes were moved upstairs as well and her side became the craft closet. I like to have the crafts accessible to each child. It's a great way to instill trust and the concept of cleaning up.

The music corner. Pyper loves to play the piano and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star..."

The reading corner.

Today, we played with water beads. Have you ever heard of them? You get them in the floral dept of Walmart. $2 a bag for these tiny beads of fun! Add water, and they grow. Pyper is very sensory driven, and anything with texture, color or sound thrills her. In this picture above, I set up all her "toys," pulled up her Learning Tower to the sink and waited for the introduction (after her nap.)

These are the water beads close up after sitting in water for about 5 hours or so. These are pink and turquoise. They grow to the size of marbles and are squishy. Great sensory integration!

After the introduction, Pyper decided to make "cupcakes." She's big into pouring things from one container into another and loves water play.

Getting her hands into the mix. She did try eating one, and realized they weren't very tasty.

Here, she's dropping them one by one into a jar. She likes the sounds of the "plopping," telling me about each step she did and what she liked about it. She played with the water beads for 2 hours while I made dinner, paid bills and fed Raegan. I feel VERY comfortable leaving the room while Pyper plays in the sink...the Learning Tower is very sturdy and has a large platform so she can move about. I think I'll add some water beads to her bath next time!!!