Goals

The new year is here and I've been thinking a lot about the goals I have for 2012.  I'm a huge list maker, but I thought I'd share them on the blog, since I'd be more likely to look back on them here.  So, here they are:

1. Get back to bigger, better blogging.  I still do so many learning activities with Maddie, but I have completely dropped the ball with taking pictures, blogging, and sharing.  Plus, even though Grayson is only 7 months old, he's been getting in on the learning action lately and I want to share!

2. Improve at couponing.  Several months ago, I dipped my toe into the coupon waters and I became (almost instantly) hooked.  It's a rush when you save money or get items for free and I want to get better at it this year.

3. Create organizing solutions to problem areas.  There are so many spaces in our home that I'm just in love with, and they work so well for us.  But.  There are other areas that make my skin crawl and I'm determined to fix them this year (master bedroom closet, lower kitchen cabinets, master bathroom storage, and dun-dun-dun... the garage.  Yuck).

4. Go on more dates with my man.  We need to get a little selfish and just take the time for us.  We've got some really awesome gift cards burning a hole in my wallet and I want to use them!

5. More one-on-one time with Maddie.  We spend Grayson's nap times doing things together, but I want to make sure that we also have time out together.  She hates going to the post office with me, but we need to carve out more Mommy-Maddie dates.

6. Build my tutoring business and our store, Time for Tots.  God has definitely blessed me with both of these opportunities and I want to expand both of them.

7.  Take more risks.  Be it with decorating, cooking, fashion, or adventures... I want to see if I can take a risk or two.

8. Run?  I used to run Cross Country and I have such fond memories of it.  I'm forcing myself to channel those fond memories into motivation to get back to running.  I feel super out of shape and I want to fix that.

9. Slow down and enjoy my family.  Every Sunday I sit down with my calendar (now on my phone) and examine the week ahead.  Sometimes it is so packed with activities that I get tired before it's even started.  Grayson and Maddie are so little.  I want to enjoy this season of our lives and just slow down.  I'm not good at slowing down.

I think that's it.  At least, that's where I'll stop.  I'm getting a little overwhelmed already and despite it being 11:00 at night, I'm itching to tear everything out of our kitchen cabinets and organize.  I'm pretty sure every other member of this family would be less than thrilled with my endeavors!  Ha!

2011 in Review

It's the first day of the new year and I have a moment to reflect on our 2011.

It was a big year.  For as much good that happened, a fair share of bad happened, too.  But, maybe that's how years go.  The blessings and the joy, sprinkled with loss and sadness.  I pray that this year, there's an abundance of joy.  Our family has a great deal of uncertainty looming over us, but we feel so hopeful and know that God is always so, SO good.

For I know the plans I have for you.

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

It was January of last year that Grayson's room was prepared...

And Maddie prepared by taking a big sister class at the hospital.

His birth was becoming so real and it was around this time that I let myself believe he was truly coming.

Easter was celebrated...

And we went on many adventures.

We visited a petting zoo (where Maddie fell in love with guinea pigs.  Great.),

 had our first beach day of the season,

 and she played in first soccer league.

And then, it was time to welcome our son into the world.

A day that I had prayed about for so long, a day that was so very anticipated.

Our sweet little man (well, all 10.9lbs of him!) entered this world, and my heart had never felt so complete.

 Just moments after his birth, and the very little time that we got to see him, before he was whisked away...  I fell so in love with him.  So incredibly, completely, and entirely in love with him.

A father and his son.

A baby that represents such faith and restoration and promise.

 Two of my greatest blessings ever

 So long we waited for this little man, and how we all rejoiced to be able to touch him.

 Two perfect miracles

And so we came home and learned how to do this family of four thing.

There were definitely some ups and downs, but my girl has made us so proud.

 And my "baby" girl turned four.

The little girl that made me a mom, and continually makes me a better person.

It was on Maddie's birthday that my grandma slipped quietly, and peacefully, away from us in the early hours of the morning.

I will never forget opening the door that morning to my parents, birthday balloon in their hand, and hearing whispered words that my Nana had passed.

A day of great joy for Maddie and great loss for us.

Summer trip to pick watermelons...

 And a summer vacation with family.

 Maddie started her final year of preschool and my heart ached a little at how old she's getting.

I turned 30, and then...

 Mike turned 30.  :)

We celebrated Halloween as the cast of Wizard of Oz,

 and visited Arizona to ride The Polar Express.

 Thanksgiving was spent with family in Las Vegas,

 and Christmas was spent at home, surrounded by family and friends.

There's lots to come in the new year.  We hope that prayers will be answered and that God will continue to protect us and keep us.
Happy New Year to our friends and family!

Tot School Time!

Well, the Christmas decorations are down (a fact that, unfortunately, continues to bring tears to poor Maddie's eyes) and life is beginning to settle back down. She still asks, daily, to do her Advent calendar, so I've been working a little harder than normal to come up with fun crafts and projects and activities.

In addition to these activities, we've done a week-long study on penguins (my foray into theme-based learning! Much fun!). I'm thinking I'll post a separate entry, since this one was getting really long... But, it was definitely a great unit of study, so keep your eyes open for it!

We did lots of New Year's activities this week in Tot School. This was a dot stamper page that she and her friend Kylie did together (well, they each had their own; I'm not that stingy with paper!).

I think it's so interesting to watch how Maddie's precision and hand-eye coordination has developed throughout the months. Stamping in the dots is now a quick and easy task, whereas just a few months ago, it required great concentration. It's for the little reasons like this that I just love working with Maddie. I truly get to watch her skills blossom.

This was a fun shape page. First, she colored the hat. Then, I called out a shape. She had to find it and stamp it. I'm not totally sure why, but she loved doing this (so we did it twice!). She knew all of her shapes and was super excited to show Daddy her hard work.

Here she is stamping the shape.

For another New Year's tray, she decorated a party hat. She colored and colored and colored...

And then glued (by herself, I might add!) some sparkly butterflies on. I was in an especially generous mood and even gave her a tube of glitter to go wild with.

I was praising the use of the trays (they made glitter clean up a snap) as we 'Ohh-ed' and 'Ahh-ed' over the beauty of glitter.

Fun party hat, huh?

Remember when I dyed all that rice months ago? Well this week, we put it to good use when we created, founded and established (all in one day, mind you) Rainbowland. I wanted a big flat box, but am too cheap to go buy one just for that use am so clever that I used an empty plastic drawer. We poured the rice in and then Maddie swirled it up.

My goodness... The swirling was the highlight of our week.

By the way, one of my very favorite blogs, Pink and Green Mama (she is beyond amazing!) always comes up with clever and creative box-type play areas, and she was the inspiration of this mighty land.

She immediately started relocating her endless supply of figures over to Rainbowland. I took this picture 45 minutes after Rainbowland's creation. She was just in heaven.

And, I was absolutely loving my sneaky, listen-over-the-edge-of-the-couch work that I was doing.

Those figures were too funny.

Some were put in time-out, some were called to "participate in the Christmas parade!" while others stood in a circle and talked about "candy canes." Such fun.

My parents got Maddie this laptop for Christmas. Honestly, I wasn't sure how it would go over (it's recommended for ages 3-6, I think). But, as soon as we got home with it, she was hooked. I'm quite impressed with this little product and the variety of activities it offers. Mike or I will sit with her and help her, but I'm guessing that in a few months, she'll be manuevering it all on her own. It comes with a little mouse (connected and stored in the laptop= very cool) and she's getting pretty good working it.

Alright. The swirling of rice in Rainbowland elicited many a squeal of delight, but her sticker box is in a class of its own. I recently filled a small box with a bunch of stickers (remember how I've mentioned that I'm a recovering sticker-buying addict?). It sits on her shelf, on a tray, along with paper. And let me tell, you, I can't keep that paper stocked fast enough.

Here's one of the creations. I could go on and on about stickers and their ability to develop fine motor work, strengthening those little fingers to bend and peel and pull. Stickers also pull such great vocabulary out, as she labels each one, sometimes even making stories from her works of art.

We used the pill box again (seriously, if you're at a dollar store, pick one of these up; they're little jewels of excitement for tiny hands), along with a bowl of pony beads. I put two of each color in the bowl and her job was to match the beads into the spots. Oddly enough, I didn't explain this to her because she got to the tray while I was still saying, "Hold on Maddie. Let me get-dressed-brush-my-hair-and-start-the-laundry real fast." But, she figured it out on her own.

We did this once as a tray activity before I moved it to an activity bag. She has since done it several times and it makes the time pass quite quickly when you're out and about (although, pack a couple extra beads because if you lose one of those under a table, they can be quite tricky to hunt down!).

This was a quick one to put together and fueled her interest in money (though, as she told me, "There isn't any paper money here!"). I used this tray (Dollar Tree) and put a handful of coins in the middle (three of each type, I think). Then, I made little labels to tape in each section (I think if you click on the picture it becomes full-screen). I traced the actual coin, which became her control when she was doing the activity. If she wasn't sure if she was right (or, if she's demonstrating signs of being Type-A like her mommy and just needing a little extra confirmation), she laid the coin on top to see if it matched.

This was actually a little tricky for her, but she has gone back to it several times throughout the week, so that's always a good sign.

When I saw this on The Adventures of Bear, I just knew we had to try it. Using the ornament container (the one we'd previously used for a math game), I added a bowl of five different types of snacks.

Maddie immediately said, "I can sort them!" and set to work. She had her Wheat-Thins, raisins, Goldfish, cereal and marshmallows sorted in no time. And, it made for a tasty snack!

Look, another sticker celebration!

Ohhhh, I am very excited about this!! She is still in love with her drawers of tiny objects and uses them throughout the day (especially since they are at her level and always available). We tried a new spin on them and she did so well.

While she sat with me, we unrolled two felt mats. Then, I pulled out two drawers, the M and the B. I chose sounds that are easily discernible and that she knows well, since it was our first time doing an activity like this. We dumped the contents of those two drawers on the floor (though next time, I'll provide a bowl) and she worked to sort by sound.

This was such fabulous, and fun, phonics practice and I really was blown away by her ability. Because she's so used to laying out the objects and, "telling the whole story" ("/b/-Ball, /b/-Baby, /b/-Bell), she would pick an object up, say the name and the sound, placing it on the correct mat.

We'll definitely be continuing this type of work together.

And finally, our January sensory tub. I was inspired by my sweet friend Mari-Ann (seriously, go check out her blog because she is incredible!) to swap out our "December" rice and use cotton balls. I hid red marbles (aka: cranberries), small eggs, a nest, a bucket, different birds, a pinecone and of course, Nikki's mitten (from The Mitten, a book Maddie still loves).

These tubs are such fun and again, promote great vocabulary development. Past tubs have been more about a scavenger hunt of sorts, but I've found that this one has prompted more pretend play, which is such fun.

Alright, the penguin unit will be coming up shortly, so that will wrap up this week's Tot School. To follow the happenings of other tots, click over to Carisa's blog!