Our Week: Garden and Outside Time

We've had such a wonderful week, keeping busy with the garden and our little girl.  My birthday was over the weekend and Katie got to help make a cake.  She liked helping use the hand mixer.

Dad's dog, Diamond stayed over the weekend and Katie loved having her around.  She would pile toys all around Diamond...poor dog was very patient.

We went to see our puppy on Monday, only two more weeks until she gets to come home!  Katie was crazy about the dog and tried picking it up several times.  It will definitly be a learning process once we get our puppy home.

Katie making silly faces at Daddy on the car ride home from the dog breeder.

After we got home Katie went outside.  While we were fixing dinner she got to "paint" with water on the patio and draw with chalk.

She's really enjoying her new chair.  The first day we had it she had to take it everywhere with her.

What do you get when you mix this innocent little face with spaghetti and chocolate cake?!

A spaghetti and chocolate cake covered silly girl!

We've been doing a lot of work in the garden.  Rich made some raised beds out of cedar.  We've got all of them filled up except the long one.  The long one is for asparagus and needs to be filled up slowly throughout the summer so the asparagus won't rot while sprouting.

Katie loves helping out in the garden (or maybe she just likes playing in the dirt).

Getting cleaned off before going in for lunch.

Can you tell she sat down in the mud?

Katie and Knox had a playdate.  They were so excited to see each other and play together.

We've gone on several walks down the trail this week.

To my complete surpise Katie put on her own shoes today!  I know I'm a proud mom but that seems pretty amazing to me!  She was really concentrating on getting them on just right.

See the look of complete concentration?

Taaa daaa!  Shoe on, all by herself!

Our Week: Nothing Too Exciting

 Not too much going on around here this week.  Katie got some new clothes and had fun wearing her dress.  She kept twirling and lifting up the bottom of her dress as she spun.

 Knox and Julie came over for a playdate and the babies had so much fun running around.  They are really starting to get excited to see each other and play with each other.

 Grandmother and Grandfather came over for a visit on friday.  Katie had to put on makeup just like Grandmother.

 She kept putting the makeup brush in her ear lol!

 Grandmother, Katie and Grandfather

 We watched one of Dad's dogs this weekend and Katie has LOVED having Diamond around.  She is constantly loving on her, kissing her and bringing her all her toys.  Poor Diamond always has a pile of toys around her.

 Katie enjoying the warm sun, sitting on the back porch step.

Making an orange discovery bottle.

Adventures in Sewing: Busy Book

This is my first attempt at a real "busy book".  Busy books are books usually made of cloth or felt that are used to occupy little ones at church, in the doctor's office, in the car, etc.  You can make them for just about any age and they can be quite addictive to create.  I have many, many more ideas for busy books for Katie and can't wait to get working on them!

This is the front cover.  The same material was used for the back cover.

 

The first page is four pockets.  Each pocket has a matching button that Katie can put in and out of the pocket.  I attached the buttons with ribbon behind the pocket so the buttons won't get lost (or eaten lol)

 

The second page is two pockets.  The back pocket can hold a book, notebook, flashcards, etc.  The front pocket is for crayons, markers, pens, etc.

This page is Katie's absolute favorite.  It's a texture page...at the top is a strip of glitter ribbon, then some very puffy and frilly ribbon, then some fleece that I cut into strips, next is three layers of buttons (her favorite part of this page) and finally some minky fabric.

 

I made this page out of felt.  The barn door opens and there's a donkey button behind it.  The hay stack on the right also opens and there's a horse behind it.  I cut the felt at the bottom into strips to make grass and got to use several different stitches to create some interesting looks for the water and the grass.

 

The beads on this page move back and forth along the ribbon.  We can practice our colors or counting using the beads.

 

This is a book within a book page made out of felt.  The mini book is attached with a ribbon.

 

There are four fish here that Katie can move around.  I used ric rac to look like waves in the water and to hide where I sewed the ribbons to attach the fish.

 

There are four flaps on this page made of felt.  The flaps each open a different way and behind each one is an animal.

 

The last page has a mini billfold.  We've been saving up used gift cards for her to put in and out of her wallet.

Here's Ms. Katie enjoying her new busy book.

Our Week: A trip to the zoo

We've had a wonderful week!  We've enjoyed the beautiful weather and are spending more and more time outside.  We took advantage of the last $1 day at the zoo and took a trip there monday.  Katie loved, loved, loved being able to walk around and see all the animals.

 We went to the petting zoo and as soon as Katie saw the sheep and goats she started saying "Baaaa!"  The goats were incredibly gentle and laid there the whole time that Katie was going around petting on them.

This little howler monkey was very curious about Katie....Katie didn't share his interest lol!

We think the thing she enjoyed most was being able to run around on her own. 

We got to see the sea lion trainer working with the sea lions in the new exhibit they've made for the sea lions.

Katie and I slid down the slide at the playground.

We started planting this week and this included pansies in the front yard and some mint in pots in the backyard.  Katie loved helping dig in the dirt...and eating dirt lol!

Here's Ms. Blueberry showing me the dirt that she's been snacking on.

We've been talking about oceans this week (that's the theme for this week's storytime).  Katie made a seashell discovery bottle and a blue discovery bottle.  She spent about a half hour putting all the little pieces in the bottle and putting the cap on and off the bottle.

Katie got to paint again this week.  She used a brush and her fingers and painted a fish...and herself.

Katie was the greeter at storytime this week.  We were the first people there...Katie went up to every single person that walked in the door waving and saying "hi", "hi" until they said hi back to her.  She doesn't have a shy bone in her body!

We've gone on several walks this week...instead of riding in the stroller the whole time we let Katie get out and walk around with us. 

And here's our little puppy...4 1/2 weeks old.  We need a name for this girl!  Any suggestions?