Tot School: Mac's First Offical Week!

Izzie is currently 40 months old and Mac is 12 months old.

Yay! Mac just turned one, so we are officially beginning "Tot School" with her too!

I made her texture bags for her birthday (post coming soon) and she has had the best time with them!

I gave her a handful of cotton balls and a snowman muffin tin ($2.50 at Target)...she explored...then, quickly began to put the cotton balls in the muffin tin...

Then, became very interested in pulling apart the cotton balls...

And, finally, decided to taste the cotton balls!

When given the opportunity to the bathroom, she heads straight to the toilet paper and loves to measure how much she needs to cover herself...this does count for early math skills, right?

When left alone for a split second with a semi-open wipes container, she uses her fine motor skills to quickly remove as many wipes as possible from the container, before I come back into the room.

Her current favorite book is, Little Feet Like, which has a different texture on each page. She really enjoys using her feet to feel the different textures!

Izzie's theme this week was "Snowman". She completed several shelf activities, click here to see!

In addition, for her stART project, she created an adorable snowman!

And, had a great time playing in the 12+ inches of snow that we received on Saturday! This afternoon, she helped Daddy shovel the driveway.

To see more Tot School activities, visit 1+1+1=1.

Happy First Birthday, Mac!

Today is Mac's birthday...it's hard to believe that this time last year, I was anxiously waiting to meet her for the very first time!

There was a time that my husband and I thought we weren't going to be able to have children, but God has truly blessed us with two precious little girls! And, each day, I thank him for allowing me the privilege to be their Mama.

Now, it's hard to imagine life without Mac and amazing to think that a whole year has already gone by!

We had planned a huge celebration, but due to the weather (we received 12+ inches of snow!), her party has been postponed. So, we were able to selfishly enjoy her all to ourselves today!

Happy Birthday, Mac! We love you!

stART: How To Build A Snowman

For our stART project, we read How To Build A Snowman. It's a cute, simple book with different textures on each page. It's an excellent book to use for Izzie's "speech therapy" and Mac loved the touchy feel parts.

Izzie created an adorable little snowman (printable) while reciting the book.

This week, she also completed several other Snowman activities, including...

Number Sequencing (printable) (1-10)

1:1 Correspondence (printable) with snowflake stickers

Fine Motor Skills: Matching clothespins to correct color

Dot Art (printable)

Simple Patterns (AB and ABB) printable

Snowman Game: Matching Hats

Writing Practice (printable) I decided to turn this into a File Folder activity (laminated), so she can easily wipe off the washable marker and try again. She's doing well with straight lines, the curvy lines are still a little tricky!


Scissor Skills printable


Izzie has been having the hardest time learning how to use scissors and we have been practicing for months with several different types of scissors. Well, I finally found a Melissa and Doug scissor set that she can easily manipulate! She is so excited to be cutting....everything! So, this snowman scissor skill page was a huge hit, even though she is nowhere near cutting the dotted lines, she still had fun "just cutting"! (No idea why I didn't get a picture of her using her new scissors...the blue pair is her favorite.)

For more stART projects, please visit A Mommy's Adventures!

*Please note the PDF Snowman Printables were created by Confessions Of A Homeschooler*

Matching Letters

Izzie is really enjoying her Melissa and Doug magnetic letters! We're finding a lot of fun and simple activities to do with them. The most recent...matching lowercase and capital letters on the refrigerator.

Mac was more interested in what was INSIDE the fridge!

Ice Skating

We are finally getting back to Story Time at the library. Izzie loves going to the library...she likes singing the songs, listening to the stories, making a craft, and playing with the other children. Before, Mac arrived, I took Izzie to the library 2-3 times a week, but this past year, we were lucky to get there once a month. I really want to make a better effort of getting the girls there, so my goal this year is to take the girls to the library at least once a week. Well, this week, we actually made it there twice!

For one story time craft, Izzie was able to make ice-skates and had the best time "skating" around the library. It was adorable to see a group of children skating around on decorated paper plates! Izzie had a lot of fun ice-skating at home too!

If you haven't checked out your local library's children programs, I would highly recommend you to do so! There are so many fun activities at the library!

Playdate At The Museum

We had a playdate at our local Children's Museum, where Izzie always has so much fun! This was Mac's first time at the Museum and she had a lot of fun too!

Izzie is starting to become very interested in the human body, so she was thrilled to put the skeleton back together. It was nice that there was a life-size skeleton standing next to this exhibit, it allowed Izzie to "copy" the skeleton.

Both girls really enjoyed the market area.


Izzie was so proud of herself. This was her first visit going down the "big" barn slide by herself! She continued and continued...

Mac loved riding the bear!

When I asked Izzie what her favorite part was...she quickly responded, "Being A Princess!"

Weight Loss Challenge: Week 1

Okay, how did everyone do during their first week? I didn't stick (exactly) to my eating plan and unfortunately, I didn't even start my exercise plan...I know...the first week and I'm already off track! To my defense, we have been debating whether or not to put our house on the market and suddenly decided to go for it. So, last week, I was a crazy woman trying to get the house clean and organized...I think that should count as "exercise"! Well, our house is currently on the market as of Monday and we had our first showing on Tuesday night...no contract, but we heard today that they are coming back on Sunday for a second showing (fingers crossed). In spite of all this, I was able to loose 2.6 pounds, so my current weight is 160.2. I would love to know how you're doing too!

Click here to see Weight Loss Challenge Introduction post.

FREE Shutterfly Calendar Poster

For those of you who use Shutterfly....and for those who may want to try it out (shutterfly.com)....

I just found out that Shutterfly is offering a FREE 16x20 Calendar Poster until January 17 (midnight)! You only have to pay shipping, which is $4.99. In order to get the calendar, sign into your Shutterfly account, scroll down to the bottom and click on "My Special Offers", then on the right hand side where it asks, "Do you have a special offer code?"...type in "FREECALENDAR"...it will then appear under your special offers!!!

Now, go create your calendar! Enjoy!

Lacing Beads

Izzie received these Melissa and Doug Lacing Beads for her birthday back in September, but wasn't interested in them until recently. I really like how this set contains beads with numbers and shapes. It's great for fine motor skills and will be handy to practice pattern skills too.

Now, she having a great time...

Making a very long necklace...

And sorting and stacking by shapes.

Snowman Activities

When I first started surfing blogs, I found this amazing blog, Confessions Of A Homeschooler! Then, I started blogging and completely forgot about this blog...I have no idea how that happened. Well, I was surfing around over the weekend and rediscovered it and fell in love all over again!

I printed off these Snowman Number Cards and had Izzie practice putting numbers 1-10 in correct number sequence.

She used the same cards to practice 1:1 correspondence with foam snowflake stickers.

And the same cards to color match with clothespins. Izzie still has a difficult time manipulating the clothespins. Since she knows her colors, this activity was more for practicing fine motor skills.

I love being able to use one printable for numerous activities. It saves paper and most importantly, time!

Weight Loss Challenge...Are You In?

So, I normally write about Izzie's preschool days at home and my craft adventures...

Now, once a week, I'll be posting about my post-baby weight loss journey. I gained 60 pounds with Mac, who will be 1 year old at the end of January and I'm still lugging around 23 "baby" pounds. I'm a huge fan of the Biggest Loser and decided to participate in the Pound For Pound Challenge this season. So, Tuesday I weighed in at 162.8, yep, I'm even disclosing my weight, which will hold me accountable each week to stick to my eating plan and exercise program! I'm hoping to be at my pre-pregnancy weight of 140 or less at the Biggest Loser Finale in May.

I will be using Weight Watchers for my eating plan and using Tony Horton's 10-Minute Trainer for my exercise program.

I'm looking for some Blogger Friends, who are up for the challenge too! Feel free to post a comment with your name/blog and starting weight and/or pounds to loose. I'm officially starting the Challenge this Tuesday, January 12. Each Tuesday, I'll have a quick update and would love to hear about your progress too!

Me & Marie Baggie Games

I first discovered Me & Marie a few months back and I LOVE all of her wonderful educational activities, especially her learning packs! Each learning pack is full of unique learning activities and amazing printables! Click here and here to see the reviews that I have written about her products.
She has created new Baggie Games, Winter and Farm! These would be perfect to have in your purse for your little ones when you're waiting at the doctor's office or a restaurant. She is currently giving away the Winter Baggie game on her blog...be sure to check out her blog for more details! Hurry, the offer ends on Saturday, January 9, 2010.

Fabric Wreath

I was looking for a cute and simple gift to make my Aunt for her birthday when I stumbled upon fabric wreaths.

It was super easy to make. I simply took a wire clothes hanger and bent it in the shape of a circle and then tied individual pieces of fabric around it until I got it "fluffed" to my liking. I bought 1/4 of yard of 3 different fabric designs at Wal-mart for a total of around $4. I cut the fabric into 6 inch strips that were about 1 1/2 inches wide. I included a clear wreath hanger for her too, which I found in the Christmas section of Wal-mart on sale for 48 cents!

I love the way it turned out and I'm excited to make a few more for upcoming birthday gifts!

Framed Handprints

Since, this was Mac's first Christmas, I wanted a memorable handprint. And, since I adore handprints, I assumed that my Mom and Mother-In-Law would like them too! I made each of them the below framed art of Izzie and Mac. They both really liked their gift!

Great memorable keepsake for under $10! I bought the frames at Michael's on sale for $9 each and used scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge that I had on hand.

Quiet Time Reading

I was in the next room cleaning and the girls were being awfully quiet, so I peeped around the corner to check on them and this is what I discovered!

They love to read their books!