Pinterest-inspired book for Emma

We made this as Emma's Christmas gift from Ada.  I had wanted it to be a more hands on activity for Ada- print pictures, glue to pages, add stickers, drawing, etc, but alas, this became an after bath photo shoot before bed then upload to Shutterfly and a few clicks later we had a book.  Again, taking a page from the Just Make It camp, instead of the perfect minds eye project, this became a project that got done.


Here is were I got the idea to do this...

I wish we had added some words that Ada could read as she gets a little older.  Something like:

 "Ada is holding an orange car"   "Papa is wearing black glasses" and so on.

Emma made a gift for Ada that they both play with now.  You can see a picture on Flickr of the nesting wooden dolls I got for a couple dollars at Hobby Lobby and simply gave her one color for each doll and let her have at it.  I just used the regular finger paint we use for painting and Tony put a healthy amount of soap on the edges to help them open and close more easily.

First family vacation with Emma

The Burrows June 2011 travel as a group of four (plus 2 cats)...

Yes, all four of us drove from MA to MN, but that doesn't really count as a "vacation".   This was the first trip just for fun that we have been on as a family since Emma was born.  I have to say it was a huge success.  There were so many things that could have gone wildly wrong traveling with 2 small kids but we just had fun start to finish.  The girls did great with all the car and airplane trips so long as there was a movie for Ada to watch and Emma had a place to squiggle around (one of our laps) and plenty of food to eat.

We stayed with my folks- this was the first time we've been down and it was even nicer than described.  We got to spend loads of time in the pool and go out on the boat a couple of times too.  Emma LOVES the boat- the faster the better- I think I finally have found my roller coaster/ snowboarding buddy.  Ada was way more excited about swimming in the pool.  all. day. long.  There's a cool butterfly garden with hiking trails near their house and we went for a nice walk surrounded by palm trees and mangrove.  We also saw a great blue heron on that walk.

We hit the beach near their house which is on a canal, and made it out to the open ocean too.  Amazingly when we got to the ocean there was a pod of dolphins about 50 ft off the beach just swimming around.   It was so beautiful to see.  Tony and I had seen "Big Miracle" the night before so I was primed to see ocean mammals.  Yes, because we were staying with Nana and Gampa we had built-in babysitting so we could sneak out to have a couple of dates:)

Emma has been fascinated with birds for weeks, but Minnesota in the winter isn't exactly the best place for birdwatching.  She was so excited to see all the seagulls, pelicans,  herons, osprey, and ibis.  And in fact she said "bird" for the first time while we were there...

The ocean was the highlight for me.  Tony, Don, and Ada built an awesome sand castle and Don even brought a real shovel to dig into the sand and make it super huge.  Ada and Emma climbed on top which they of course thought was fantastic.  Ada ran back and forth to the water's edge collecting buckets of water to add to the "river" and a big hole that Papa built.  Emma and Nana made a big batch of "clam soup".  We all made it into the water and spent quite a while enjoying the waves and watching the pelicans and seagulls flying and fishing.   The beach was filled with seashells and we were able to collect  some to bring back to have in Minnesota and for Ada to bring in to school to show her friends.

***Beach pictures are on a different camera...coming soon***

As you might be able to tell from the looks on their faces in the airport picture above (it's on the way home, they're sitting on the window together), the girls really got to play and develop their relationship as well on this trip.  They were sleeping in the same room (they don't usually) and they thought that was HILARIOUS!  In fact, the grown ups thought it was pretty funny too when they were up giggling after bed time.  We've been putting them together since we've been home and they are loving it!

Tony and I spent a bit of time plotting on when we can get back again to the sunny oasis that Florida is.  We certainly enjoyed it even more coming from a cold place and going to a warm place.  Sandals, shorts, swimming, and lots of smiling.

Thanks Nana and Gampa Don for having us.  We had a blast!!

Family work

I'll post about our vacation in the next day or two, but for now thought I would share this work I made up for the girls.  It's a nice way to teach Emma the names of the people in our lives as her language is really starting to blossom.

It's also nice to remind Ada of some of names of the extended family/ friends who we don't see as often.

So far, the girls like it and I plan to make more cards.

************UPDATE- 2/13***************

We received a postcard from Lex this morning from London.  I pulled out the "Alexa" card to remind the girls who had sent it.  I am in love with this picture.  The best is hearing Ada say "ayexa" <3

We also used them to look at people and think of all the things we love about them when we made our Valentine's Day cards.  At one point Ada said, "I want to make one for Gramma Bon now!"  She last saw Gramma Bon when she was about 6 months old, so I found this especially adorable.

Vacation!

We are off to Florida for a week with the Grandparents.  My goal is to put the electronics down and just enjoy the sun and swim with the 2 little fish girls.  We are all so excited to have some time together as a family, be warm, and not have any pressing matters at home.  

I think Ada is going to simply love every moment of the trip and showing off her new swimming skills to her Papa (Tony), and to Nana and Gampa Don.  She LOVES going under water.  She would really rather do that than just about anything else she could do.  She climbs out, climbs in, holds onto the side and dunks herself repeatedly.  This is what she does when we come to the pool at the health club and I am excited to see how she responds to a pool outside, and to the OCEAN!!!  Yes, we are going to see the ocean.  I cannot believe it but, Emma has never even been IN the ocean.  I am a total failure as a parent, but luckily that will be remedied next week- yahoo!!

For now, it's packing, organizing and getting ready for lots of travel with small people.   I will leave you with two  pictures of the girls and will be posting more when we get back.

Emma looking at some birds flying by.

Ada sleeping in our bed.

Consumer Science

Most people know this as "Home Economics" but really these days it's called Family and Consumer Science.  Those of us who have been lucky enough to teach this subject to teenagers know how rewarding it can be to watch a 15 year old cook their first pancake and fearlessly (yes, that's the trick to a good flip) flip that sucker over.  But as one fantastic woman I know describes it, "It's like cooking Thanksgiving Dinner everyday"- TRUE STORY!!

When I was in Massachusetts I had an awesome job teaching 9-12 grade elective classes in Foods (basic cooking and nutrition), World Foods (exploring food through cooking around the world), and Child Growth & Development (prenatal- preschool).  It was awesome.  Not only did I work with amazing women, but my students were inspiring.  I really miss it.

The other day I pulled out a toy that I made as an example of a homework assignment I had assigned my Child Growth class.  They would need to make a toy for a child without spending any money- in other words, use what you've got.   I really wish I had taken photos of some of the things these students made.  Ispy jars, musical instruments, coloring books, one girl made a open the flap activity using the lids off wipes containers.  So cool!

Emma was so into this I thought I would take a video.  It's the sort of thing I would have liked to show in class to talk about the materials used- spice jar from the recycling bin (okay Ms. we know you want us to recycle), and q-tips.  In fact I think this one was from the FHS recycling bin ;)  You can practically see her little hand muscles getting stronger as she does this and she is concentrating SO hard.  We played with this in various ways for about 30 min when it was time to go pick up Ada.  Emma insisted on bringing it in the car.  Good toy!

Ada Dancing... as promised

Our little Ada has recently been enamored with all things ballerina.  It might be because there were some leotards in a batch of awesome hand-me-downs that came from Tony's cousin that are finally fitting her.  She wears them so much that I had to hang a special set of hooks in her room for her "ballerinas" and her tights so we wouldn't keep finding them all over the house.  Usually the first thing she does when we get home from school is go put on her ballerina.  FYI- do not try to call her Ada when she is wearing her tutu or leotard because you will be corrected, "I'm not Ada, I'm Ballerina".

For the record I think ballet is super cool and athletic, but I have never done it, talked about it apart from reading Angelina Ballerina to her a handful of times... she has done this on her own.  She gives "classes" to me and Emma and usually we need correcting on our moves, but she is pretty encouraging.  A good little teacher:)

Some nights we for some reason or another need a little dance party break.  Usually it's so I don't start drinking vodka directly out of the freezer, but last night it was a request from Ada.  You will see our kitchen in all it's 5:00 crazy including the roll of toilet paper Emma had just brought in from the bathroom.  Don't judge!

We almost always listen to:
Michael Franti- Say Hey
Feist- 1234 (Sesame Street version)

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Preparations

I'm not real big on holidays in general, but I like the idea of having an excuse to talk about the people we love and to share our appreciation of them.  Ada and I have been talking about the people we love and in her own little way she is trying to put things together- I think.  My valentine is of course my amazing husband

I cannot even believe how much I love Ada and Emma.  I remember people talking about the love of children before Ada was born, but nothing can describe it.  It's the best feeling in the world.  


This week has been unseasonably warm in Minnesota and in fact has felt like spring.  All the ice on the driveway melted and we've been able to go out without all the usual gear which is so much easier!

The girls out walking their babies...Emma's baby is tiny and slid down out of view.

Love this!  Can't wait for summer

At home I've been trying to get ready for a little trip to Florida in a couple days, but also to prep for Valentine's Day so here are a couple of things we've been doing.


Thanks to the $1 bins at Target, I was inspired to make some Valentine's Day themed work.  I don't think I have ever been so prepped for a "holiday" before.  But since we'll be away all next week I wanted to have time for Ada to make some cards I really wanted to get this out and ready for play.  

Color Sorting work with little hearts from Target.  The wooden box is from a Melissa and Doug  stamp set package.

Heart 1:1 correspondence work.  This is all over the place on Montessori blogs.  Here: a silicone heart shape ice cube tray from Target.  Training chopsticks- got them in the "Asian" section of HyVee.  And some heart shaped strawberry marshmallows- I put them in a glass jar with a latching lid so Emma doesn't snag them and hide them around the house and it's good small motor training for Ada.  Had this from a batch of granola that Grampa Kalman got from work (I think).

Here's Ada doing the marshmallow heart work.  She really wanted to eat them but I told her that wasn't in the plan.  She adapted well and "pretend gobbled them all up".  Then she put them all away. <3 

So far Ada is liking the card work.  She suggested- "Maybe I can make one for my friends?"  When I pressed her on who that was she said, "Mellisa"- that's one of her teachers from the fall.  So far she has made cards for 3 of her teachers.  Adorable.  I only got pics of the last one since she was very excited to put them in the envelopes and seal them.

Tray of heart stickers stamps and pink and purple pens.  I cut small pieces of pink construction paper and folded them for her to use.  I made a card for her to get the idea.

I used 2 foam heart stickers (to get height) on a milk cap as a stamp.  We've used these before to make other stamps so she was keen to it and used it a bunch.

Inside of card- She wrote it from Emma too- note the "E" at the top of the card, and she has a few of her "A"'s on there for Ada too :)

Front of Michelle's card.

That's all for now.  Coming next will be some dancing Ada and pictures of the girls being awesome.