Learning About Fall

We decided to teach the kids about Fall this week.   We had lots of fun things planned but we could tell the kids were just a little off because of the whole time change thing.  So it was definitely a low key, flexible kind of day.


We started with a nature walk.  We told the kids they could pick up whatever leaves, sticks, rocks, etc they could find and put it in the basket.



Haha...but little miss decided it was a game and mostly played keep away with the basket.  The other kids had to chase her down to put their stuff in it.  :-)



The nature walk didn't last nearly as long as we thought it would so we moved on to our sensory bin.  We had it filled with pumpkins, pine cones, fall colored tissue paper and all of the treasures from our nature walk. 



The sensory bin wasn't a big hit though so we moved on to our Fall bowling.  We used our pumpkins from our bin to bowl with.  The kids all found different ways to use the bottles and the pumpkins.  It was fun to see what all they came up with but the bowling fizzled out fast too.



These cornucopias were actually the surprise hit of the day.  After all of the movement type activities fizzled quickly we decided to have a low key day and we pulled these out.  The kids all seemed excited to place their stickers at just the right places.  Who knew??  :)  {This one is Little Miss's.}



And this one is Little Man's.  The extra benefit is we now have our table decorations for Thanksgiving.  :) 

 We continued to try the sensory bin and bowling throughout the week.  They played with them some but for short amounts of time each time.  Here are a few more pictures I took throughout the week.

We also went ahead and created bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter and bird seeds this week.  This was an activity we had planned for tot time but with it being muddy outside and the kids being so tired we decided to skip it.  But so far no birds???  Maybe it's too cold??  Or maybe they don't like the cinnamon smell?  (Hehe, those are the only pine cones I could find this time of year.)  Oh well...Happy Fall!  :-)

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Linking up to Tot Time and You Capture's Fall Challenge. 

Our Halloween Carnival

We had such a blast this Halloween!  The kids are at that perfect age where they are starting to "get" all the holiday stuff which makes it so much fun.  After enjoying our Trunk or Treat party the night before Halloween, we got to go to a Halloween Carnival with our LensBaby mom's group.  All of the moms in the group are so creative so it turned out extremely cute.

{One of the mom's came up with the cutest marshmallow game where the kids had to try to eat the marshmallow off the line.  And she loved it!!  I don't think she had ever tried marshmallows before this but they were a HUGE hit!}



{Another mom brought Halloween bowling which Little Man seemed to love.  He would set them up all by himself to knock them down again and again.  This will definitely be something we do again soon.}

 

 

{And of course there was a Fall theme set up to take pictures with.  With as active as they normally are, I was surprised they "posed" for me.  He sat next to it like he was a seasoned model.  Hehe...and I bribed her with a cookie.}



{There was also a cute bean bag toss game.  The kids didn't quite use the bean bags as planned but they sure did enjoy playing with the Halloween wrapped toilet paper rolls!}



{We also had a pumpkin patch sensory bin and a "drop the spider in the pumpkin" game for the kids.  All the moms did such a great job!  Especially since it can be so hard finding games for such a young age group.}





{And of course mine both enjoyed the cookie table.  :-)  Oh and one of the mom's made the Halloween bunting for us - so cute and creative!!}



{And I have to add one more picture of her Halloween costume.  I am not sure that I got any other pictures that had her complete costume down to her ruby red slippers while she was looking at me.  :-)  }


We had such a great time!  I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!!!

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Linking up to Tot School, You Capture, and Wordless Wednesday. 

Birthday Cupcakes and Balloons

Last week we got to celebrate the twins birthday with all of our LensBaby friends.  It was so great to catch up with some of the moms I hadn't gotten a chance to see in so long.  And I love that the kids have such great little friends.  We are so glad to be a part of this group.  Here are a few of my favorite moments from the party. 

{Enjoying our cupcakes}


 





{And enjoying our balloons!!}








Our version of "Back to School" - An I Heart Faces Challenge

This week's I Heart Faces Challenge theme is "Back to School".  The kids aren't really old enough to go to school yet but we have started our own version of "Tot Time" - basically where I'm trying to teach them something new while we play.   My friend and I who are doing this together start each session with a photo shoot so that we can make personalized alphabet flash cards for them.  This week's theme was "B is for Bear".  But it also makes the perfect "Apple for the Teacher" picture too.  :-)

You can check out other entries on the I Heart Faces website as well.

F is for Fire Truck

{F is for Fire Truck}

We had such a great time at tot time with the kids this week.  This week's theme was safety.  We started with our "F is for Fire Truck" photo shoot. We took a nice walk to a fire hydrant down the road from us to take our pictures.  I had made each kid their own cardboard fire truck to play with (which I have to admit I had so much fun doing).  :-)   



{F is for Flowers?}

 

{Stop, Drop, and Roll}

 {Our walk}

The kids loved our walk.  We could tell they loved the freedom to run and play as we went.  They were having such a good time playing outside that they were only mildly interested in the fire trucks but it was well worth the trip.  (Honestly I didn't get any good pictures of my little girl with the fire trucks so we tried again later with Daddy.  Hehe...and the only way I could get her near the truck this time was by putting it beside some flowers for her to pick.)    :-)



{Stop, Drop and Roll Games}

 After our walk and photo shoot, we read our book and talked about how to "Stop, Drop and Roll".  The kids loved this!  And it was so cute to watch them all stop, drop, and roll on the floor.  

Once we were done with this, we played with our red "Stop" signs (like in the first puppy picture) and matching green "Go" signs.  We did this rhyme while holding up our "stop" and "go" signs:
        '
              "Where is Red Light?  Where is Red Light?   Here I am.  Here I am.
                When you see me, When you see me.  Stop, Stop, Stop.  Stop, Stop, Stop."

              "Where is Green Light?  Where is Green Light?  Here I am.  Here I am.
                When you see me, When you see me.  Go, Go, Go.  Go, Go, Go."

Then we played a "Stop and Go" game where we would have the kids "Go, go, go, go.....STOP".  The kids loved this and were so interactive with it all.  It was so much fun!

{How to safely cross the road.}

I had also made a road so that we could learn to stop and look both ways before crossing the street.  This was probably our least successful part of our day.  The kids immediately tore up the road and that was that.  :-)




{Our Fire Trucks}





We have continued playing our "Stop and Go" games, "Stop, Drop and Roll" and playing with our fire trucks ever since.  It was so exciting watching the kids learn something new.  I can't wait to play again next week!

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Linking up to Tot Time, Wordless Wednesday and You Capture's "Back to School" Challenge. 

B is for Bear - {Tot Time for 2 year olds}

{B is for Bear}

A friend and I have decided to do tot time for our kids once a week.  Our hope is to expose them to new things and help them learn through having fun.  Today's theme was bears.  We decided we would start each session with a quick photo shoot so that we can create alphabet flashcards to go with our lesson.  The kids really seemed to enjoy going outside for a few minutes even though it was still pretty hot out.

{Going on a Bear Hunt}

We started our morning (after the photo shoot) with circle time which included reading "Going on a Bear Hunt".  The kids listened to the story really well which really impressed me.  Then after we read the book we went on our own bear hunt.  We went through the "Dora tunnel", around the kid table, over the aluminum foil path, and down the slide.  We found the bear with a prize of homemade bear ears for each kid.  The kids were semi-impressed with the ears and the bear hunt.  :-)

{Playing with Puppets}

After our bear hunt, we played with our bear puppets.  This only kept our interest for a few minutes but it was nice to see that they were somewhat interested in them - makes me look forward to all the future craft activities we can do.  :-)

{Teddy Bear Picnic}

We finished our morning with a teddy bear picnic.  We gathered up all of our bears on a blanket and enjoyed a nice lunch.  We counted that 9 bears joined us.  Oh and we practiced our bear growls.  :-)  All in all the kids had a great time!  And it gave my friend and I more insight on what the kids might and not be interested in as 2 year olds.

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Disclaimer:  Everything was moving too fast to get a lot of pictures of the kids today.  :-)

Linking up to Tot Time and You Capture's Peace Challenge.  (The tot time really is giving me more peace of mind about doing something positive for my children's future.)

Photo Shoot with Miss L

Today I got the opportunity to do a photo shoot with Miss L.   It was so different to take pictures of a 7 year old instead of two toddlers.  She actually stood still and smiled pretty for the camera.  And I wasn't chasing after her as she was running away laughing.  It was amazing!  So much fun!  :-)

We met Miss L and her aunt this morning at the park.  And while her aunt entertained my kids I got a chance to take pictures.  Here are some of my favorites.

After Miss L and I took pictures for a while, we all stopped and had donuts.  And I was able to capture a few more pictures of her with her aunt.  I think they look so sweet together!

And of course not to worry a good time was had by all.   Miss L was great at entertaining my kids too!  :-)



I think we may have to go back to this park and play some more some time.  Thank you so much Miss L for letting me take your picture today!!

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Linking up to this week's  "You Capture" challenge.  This was my not so ordinary moments in an ordinary day.