Happy Birthday Michaela!

Happy Birthday, Michaela Grace. I have loved every moment with you this past year. You have brought so many smiles to my face (and so many tests of my temper.) As I look back over this past year through pictures I am amazed at what a sweet girl you have grown into. I can't imagine how I could enjoy this next year with you as much but I'm sure we will have an amazing time. My prayer for you this next year is for you to grow in the Lord and continue to obtain a better understanding of who He is. I love you so much.

Enjoying looking back at our past year together...

First Birthday

Swimming in the baby pool for the first time.

The beginning of Tot School.

Your lovely smile.

The infamous edible art project.

Seeing baby Corbin for the first time.

One of the first times you helped me clean the house.

Going to the pumpkin patch for the first time.

I remember how happy I was for you the first time you were able to put this toy together.

This was your first match! You were so proud of yourself.

Trunk-or-Treat

First time at Chuck-E-Cheese

The beginning of your obsession with hats.

Thanksgiving

The two of us.

Your first pigtails!

Valentine's Day

First time at the park with me and Daddy.

You really started playing with your babies this year.

Smelling the flowers at Easter.

Your first "official" tray.

Holding Corbin for the first time.

You loved him from the start.

Helping me in the garden.

The first time we baked Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch together.

Playing with Ella during the Easter Egg Hunt

Unfortunately, we had a few bad moments. I didn't want to ignore this part because it was used by God to make me appreciate and love you even more!

Praise God for the healing that took place!
You got to see Dora Live! and finally got Boots.

Your first 4th of July with Corbin.

You got a school room this year, which you love!

You really started to use your imagination during play. It has brought me so many laughs.

I love you! Happy Birthday!

Matching Colors Activity

This is a frugal simple activity for Matching Colors. I don't have a laminating machine or much colored ink so I improvise...a lot.

Materials Needed:

• Packing Tape
• Markers
• Coordinating Clothespins
• Piece of Cardboard
• Piece of White Paper
  

Simply draw a few circles, or any other shape of your choosing, onto the white paper. Wrap the cardboard with the colored paper then cover with packing tape. I decided to do use the tape so she could get the clothespins on easier without tearing the paper.

Now your Tot is ready to work on colors,
matching and hand/eye coordination.

Check out other Tools for Tots here.

Tot School-23 Months 3 Weeks

Michaela is 23 Months Old

Warning: I have a lot of pictures this week. I'm not really sure why because it seemed like we did less Tot School this week but a lot of the pictures have the same outfit. (I think we had 1 really good day which makes us look like we did stuff all week. I'm sure that never happens to anyone else, haha.) I'll keep the writing to a minimum and let the pictures do most of the talking for you.

Learning to get out her mat.

Learning to unroll the mat.

She was really good about putting everything back once she was done with the activity.

Matching lids.
First time for this one and it was a success. Just save different bottles when you are cooking. Can't get much cheaper then this!

She wanted me to call out a shape or color. Then she would hammer it.

Matching Colors.
I'll do a follow-up post to explain this one in more detail.

Cutting for the first time.
This one wasn't very successful. She needs to get better with hand/eye coordination and I need to buy her left-handed scissors. I forgot about that small fact when I purchased 'normal' scissors.

Transferring Rocks

Arranging Flowers

Putting together Cootie Bugs

Playing with her new feather board. For instructions on how to make this go here.

Matching the Uno Cards. (Notice the PJ's and hairbow?!?)

Official Kick-Off to our once-a-month Play Group.
We've talked about this for months now!

Now some practical life activities:
Putting together her art easel.

Using the easel.
This is a new favorite. I can't seem to get her to do ANYTHING else now that this is up!

Helping Mommy cook.
I wish you could really see this outfit. Leopard Dora Shirt, Orange Skirt, Rainbow socks and Pink/Blue plaid shoes. She is in the "I-can-dress-myself" phase.

Putting away the utensils. (And yes, I have already put away the knives.)

Helping me with muffins.

Want more ideas for Tot School? Check out this link. You will find many wonderful mommies with many wonderful ideas!

Slow Blogging Week

I just wanted to mention that I may not be posting as much this week. Michaela is turning 2 this weekend and I've been getting some things ready for the party. I have a wonderful, wonderful friend who offered to throw Michaela's party. That was such a blessing in so many ways.

One way is that I have time to do a few extra things for Michaela that I may not have done otherwise. One of my other awesome friends came over this week to help me make my first dress for Michaela. I would have been COMPLETELY lost. Patterns might as well be written in Latin!

This is the front of the dress.

Here is the back. We had a beautiful mess up. The ribbon was originally suppose to meet at the zipper in the back. While I was sewing the zipper it moved the satin ribbon. We had to take it out but we decided to make the sash extra long so that we could tie a bow in the back. It's beauty from my ashes. ;)

My sister, Michaela and I also decided to learn how to make fondant. I'm not sure it's going to work on the cake but we had fun learning. Michaela also had a blast!She must see me on the phone a lot. She is already talking on the phone while cooking.

That is a true woman!

Mommy Confession Mon..Opps Tuesday

Bathroom Edition

So..I'm a day behind. I have to apologize! This Saturday is Michaela's 2nd Birthday so I have been super busy getting things ready for the party but that is for another post for another time

I've been thinking about what to admit to you all this week. I decided to go with something embarrassing in the hopes that someone else does this. We don't really have a lot of storage room in the bathroom so I have to use the actual tub to store things. You'll see in the picture below what the tub looks like before we use it. We actually empty is out every time we need to use it. If you notice on the bottom you will see the used towels. I was going to take them out before the picture but I figured that would defeat the purpose of this confession.

This is a picture of the downstairs bathroom. We don't actually use this shower, ever. When I worked on cleaning up the school room I decided to use the shower stall for storage. I knew my husband would not let his Lego's go to the garage. Please someone out there tell me I'm not the only one that has to use the tubs for storage!