Muffin Tin Monday-Food Pyramid

This week's theme for Muffin Tin Monday is the Food Pyramid. I have to admit, I had to Google it to make sure I was adding the correct components. It's been a while since I've had to look at it. It has definitely motivated me to add healthier food options to our menu this week.


L to R: rice (grains), chicken and beans (protein), yogurt
(dairy), peas and corn (vegetables), apples (fruit) and
caramel for dipping apples (fat)
OK. OK. I'm kidding about the caramel and fat. I know they
aren't talking about this kind of fat, but I couldn't resist.


Guess what she ate first!
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Muffin Tin Monday-No Theme

It's been a LONG time since I've participated in Muffin Tin Monday, but my goal is to make lunch like this at least twice a month. We'll see. No theme this week, so I just put together some random stuff.

L to R: banana, pumpkin-shaped bread with pumpkin spice

flavored cream cheese, raisins to decorate the pumpkin's face

with, crackers, salsa for the crackers and a fortune cookie.

Totally random. Told ya!

Hattie having fun making her jack-o-lantern

Finished jack-o-lantern: a "miley" face, nose, eyes and

eyebrows.

I know Halloween has come and gone, but since I didn't

make a muffin tin for Halloween, I snuck it in now.

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Halloween 2010

My computer has been down for a couple of days, so Halloween pictures are a little late.

Hattie was a flower fairy, and Celie wore the infamous rabbit costume. Hopefully it will still fit her for Easter.

Lots of Halloween ativities over here and even more chocolate.

My Favorite Thing Right Now

Looking in the back seat and watching the girls hold hands.

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we took our annual trip to Joan's Pumpkin Patch in Livermore. Hattie rode Red (again), and Celie rode on Lightning. We stayed a little less than two hours because it was so hot!

Birthday Party

The theme for Celie's birthday was a "Guess Whoo's One"

theme with brown and pink owls. I found the dress on Etsy.

It came with two matching hair clips. The owner, Tracy,

finished the dress in just a few days and it was adorable.

What I like about the dress is that Celie can wear it

as a shirt when it is too small for a dress. If you

are interested in taking a look at Tracy's shop, go here.






The owl pinata was from 1stwishes.com . Instead of hitting

the poor thing with a bat, each child pulls a ribbon and the

candy falls out. Much safer.






The owl cake was made by Randy, but Celie was not

pleased. I was surprised because Grandpa John

had to hold her back a few times as she took off towards

the cake before we sang "Happy Birthday." She cried when

we made her taste it and she definitely

did not like it on her fingers.




Some of the details of the party. The favor bags were filled

with chocolate and topped with an owl topper, the guests

ate owl cupcakes made by Randy and myself using this book,

a banner was hung on my parent's fireplace, and someone

was stealing candy from the children's pinata. I wonder who

that was?

12 Months and an Amazing Year

What a joy our Celie is. She hasn't changed much in personality over the course of the year. Still easy-going and happy. I hope it stays put through her toddler years. Who am I kidding. I hope it stays put through her teen years as well!
She has been an amazing addition to our family and I can't imagine our lives without her. I know Hattie can't. They are the best of friends.
At 1 year,
She:
-has 7 words: mama, hi, bye, uh oh, more, up, ball
-has 24 signs with the newest ones being: loud, car, shoe, bird, butterfly, and horse
-stands up with ease, no walking
-sleeps through the night
-still takes 2 naps a day
-doesn't like clips in her hair
-puts the phone to her ear and "talks"
-says "hi" whenever the phone rings
-tries to put shoes on her feet
-likes to comb her hair
-likes cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
-has her 1-year appointment this Wednesday( I'll know then how much she weighs-I'm guessing 19lbs.)
-is a good traveler except when she's tired
-doesn't like her picture taken (she often turns her head or avoids the camera)
-loves to throw her food on the ground (I find Cheerios everywhere)
-can show you where her nose is
-doesn't like birthday cake :) (pictures of that later)
ETA-also knows the sign for train and says "ashes ashes" when singing Ring Around the Rosy

Preschool

Hattie started preschool this week. She will be attending school a few half days per week in a Spanish immersion school. I was more nervous then she was; she didn't even cry when we dropped her off (I may have a little). When I picked her up, she ran over to me and said, "Mommy, we sang songs!" When I asked about her favorite parts of her day, she said she liked playing in the garden and splashing in the puddles. I am so happy she likes it there. It has put my nerves to rest.

11 Months and No Likey Grass

When strangers ask me how old Celie is, they are shocked when I say, "Almost 11 months." Their guess is usually around 6-8 months. I'm just shocked that I'm saying, "Almost 11 months." Can't believe how time flies.

At 11 months,

She:

-has 5 words (hi, bye, uh oh, mama and more)

-points to everything and it sounds like she is saying, "What's that?"

-has 18 signs total, with the newest ones being: cat, toilet (poop), all done, book, ball, get dressed, take off, Cheerio, and cheese

-is learning the signs: car, home, horse, duck

-still sleeps from 6pm-6am

-may be dropping her third nap any day now

-has 9 teeth

-is still not walking, and not even close

-LOVES cheese and peas

-is starting to understand the word "no"

-has been on her first carousel ride and roller coaster and she loved them

-doesn't like water or grass (see picture below)

Tot School-Monkeys

Lots of fun with the Monkey Theme this week. We were even able to go to the San Francisco Zoo yesterday and see some in person.


We started off the week by playing Feeding Monkeys (great
fine motor game), looking for monkeys in a container of rice,
and rolling a die (Dollar Store) and placing the same number
of bananas in the basket


Placing monkey erasers (Dollar Store) onto squares to practice
one-to-one correspondence (paper from Confessions of a
Homeschooler) and sorting monkey cards by color from the
card game 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (I have lost
the instructions on how to play the card game, not board game.
If you know how to play, can you send me an email? Thanks!)

Hattie's friend Liam came over, and after we read the book,
"Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," the kids made
headbands with monkey ears and jumped on pretend beds.
Hattie liked "bumping" her head the best

The kids then colored a picture of a
monkey (DLTK Kids) and glued it to
construction paper where they had stamped
on it using bananas (top right) For snack,
monkey bread of course! (bottom right)


Pretending to be a polar bear at the San Francisco Zoo

After we watched these bears hug, I mentioned to her that
the mama and baby bear were snuggling. She stopped me
and started to snuggle with me saying, "Awww, mama and
big kid snuggling."

L to R: I made a keyring zoo book created by All About the Journey.
We would look through the booklet and read the facts about each animal.
Amazingly, Celie fell asleep. A picture of Hattie holding a snake
(you know that's a fake snake, right?) and when we got home,
since she did not have any accidents while we were at the zoo,
she earned a zoo sticker sheet (Dollar Store). Even though I took
pictures of lots of monkeys, for some reason I didn't include
them in this post. Ha!

Tot School-Zoo Theme Week 1

Zoo theme this month. This week we focused on the concepts: spots, stripes and solids. Just today she pointed to her shirt and said, "Look Mommy. Hattie's shirt has stripes."


Playing with zoo animals, she made a cage for them, sorting
the animals by spots, stripes or solids (and yes, she is still
wearing her Christmas pajamas)

Hattie's friend Liam came over this week. They pretended
to be zookeepers and "caught" all of the animals that had
escaped their cages. Patterns of the animals and zookeeper's
hat from Kids Soup.

H and L put spots on a giraffe, and stripes on a zebra (string
wrapped around a can and dipped in black paint). Patterns
from Kids Soup.

Four Years

Four wonderful years...

Tot School-Summer Theme

Since I have been slacking on taking pictures of our activities, I decided just to do one post to show the highlights of this past month. Hopefully I'll do better this month with our Zoo theme.


Ice cream cone (childcareland.com), making watermelon using red and
green paint and paper plates, eating ice cream with Liam



Sorting colored shells (dyed pasta) into muffin tins, eating
a "beach" snack (vanilla pudding dyed blue with crumbled
graham cracker topping and a Swedish fish), sandcastles
(made out of toilet paper rolls and covered with sand) and
playing in the sand table.

I forgot to take photos of them having a picnic in the backyard
and of the felt food I made. That was a favorite of hers.


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Carmel

I love that it takes us a little over an hour to drive to Carmel. Quick trip to the beach for a picnic and fun in the sun. Celie loves the sand, but doesn't care for the water. Hattie loves both. She found lots of shells and wanted to take all of them home :)

Muffin Tin Monday-Summer Theme Wrap up

So this week we are finishing our Summer theme. The first week of July we focused on Independence Day, then onto watermelon and ice cream, then picnics, and this week we are learning about the beach. The tin is an accumulation of all of the various weeks.



L to R: ice cream, watermelon-shaped pb & j, raisins (ants
picnic theme), couscous (sand) with chocolate shell (beach
theme), star-shaped watermelon and pasta shells (with
Parmesan of course!)


When she discovered the shell in the "sand"


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10 Months and A Father's Day Photo

Whoa! 10 months already? But I haven't even started planning her birthday party yet! I feel so behind.
At 10 months
She:
-says 3 words: hi, bye, uh oh
-uses 9 signs: up, more, milk, sleep, dog, diaper, baby, eat and tickle
-is learning the signs for car, cracker and water
-sleeps from 6pm-6am
-still has 3 naps a day, but I think it will be turning into 2 naps soon
-likes to eat black beans, mozzarella and couscous
-screams (with excitement) whenever Hattie wakes up from a nap
-crawls everywhere but doesn't want to pull herself up
-drinks from a sippy cup and loves water
-loves Cameron
-follows the commands: clap hands, jump, cough and kiss baby
-is starting to point
-can pick up pieces of food and feed herself (we needed to practice this a lot)
-has greenish-blue eyes


I forgot to share my favorite photo from Father's Day this year.

35

Yesterday I turned the big 3-5. I have to admit, I do feel a bit different. I didn't think I would. I feel "wiser." Ha! Must be all of the new grey hair I've been getting lately. Randy took the day off and I was able to spend some time by myself
(2 hours in Target without kids=bliss) and time with the family. The best part of yesterday? Hattie earned her Thomas the Train pillow. I won't tell you how she earned it (to spare the squeamish out there), but those who know what that means, let's just say I was glad to get him off of the TV :)

Muffin Tin Monday-Independence Day

An Independence Day themed MTM.



Star-shaped pb&j sandwich, strawberries, mozzarella
cheese, blueberries, yogurt coated cookies from Trader Joe's


A few photos of the girls on the 4th




I can't believe this is my 2-year old.
She looks so much older here. Sigh.