Sibling Love

My sister lent me her bumbo to a few weeks ago.  I put Peter in it on the table and Claire did not want to be left out.  She put her booster seat up on the table, climbed up, and sat right next to him.  Sibling love is the sweetest.  
And one more shot of Peter trying to decide if he likes the bumbo or not.  He's so chubby he'll probably only fit in it for a few weeks anyway haha.

Peter Bryson Week by Week: 15 Weeks

Peter at 15 Weeks old.  I love his big blue eyes.

Tot School: Week 4 Texture

For week 4 of Tot School our theme was Texture!  Here is a summary of our week:

Day 1: We started off with a texture alphabet matching sensory bin.  Claire got the alphabet puzzle for Christmas so I decided to use that and add a texture (oatmeal) to make it a little more fun.  She loved playing in the oatmeal, finding and matching all the letters.  Next I had Claire do a hard & soft toy sorting activity.  She did pretty good with this one but every time she pulled out a toy she wanted to play with it instead of sort it haha.  After she sorted them all we just played with all the toys for a while.  We also went on a texture scavenger hunt in our backyard and tried to find items with different textures. 
Day 2: We did Play doh imprints with different textured items.  Next we did bubble wrap painting.  I cut strips of bubble wrap and taped them around her play doh rollers.  She thought this was really fun!  I also made her a tray of snacks that were all different textures.  We talked about what the different textures were as she ate the different items.  She seriously loved this snack tray and ate everything on it.  I'm definitely going to have to use it again! 
Day 3: We experienced texture with coloring and made leaf rubbings.  We watched and sang a texture song on youtube.  Music is one of Claire's favorite ways to learn new things so she really enjoyed this.  We got out each of the items used in the video and had Claire hold them when they were sung about.  I also had her do a 'build a cloud' activity.  In a muffin tin I put different textured (and all edible) white items for her to use to build a cloud.  I used white pearl sprinkles, mini marshmallows, jumbo marshmallows, cool whip, and yogurt.  I thought this would be really fun for Claire but this was probably her least favorite activity.  She's not a big fan of getting her hands dirty or sticky haha (unless its mud, which I still don't understand haha).
Day 4: We did shaving cream color mixing.  I squirted two different colors of paint into a large bag and then filled it with shaving cream.  I duct taped it shut and let Claire mix it together and see what happened when the colors all mixed.  Next we did texture painting with different texture paintbrushes.  I clipped a cotton ball, sponge, leaves, yarn, and a flower onto the end of clothespins for the paintbrushes.  This was a favorite activity of hers from the week.  She loved getting to see what the different paintbrushes did.  Throughout the week we always read books relating to our theme.  I had a hard time finding books about texture so I had to get creative.  We used one of our favorite alphabet books, Adventures with Barefoot Critters, and would talk about the different textures of the activities the critters did (playing in the mud, swimming in the lake, ice skating, etc).

Day 5: I made Claire some texture flashcards that we went through a few times to help her learn more textures.  I made a card for something hard, soft, fluffy, rough, smooth, and squishy.  I also made her some texture balloons.  I made her four different balloons, one filled with flour, one filled with salt, one filled with gel, and one filled with play doh.  I set it up on a tray with four cups that had the ingredients that were in each balloon.  I had her squish and play with the balloons and then showed her the cups that had the same ingredient in the matching balloon.  This was a another favorite activity from the week, she played with the balloons all weekend long!   

Peter Bryson Week by Week: 14 Weeks

Peter Bryson at 14 weeks....in a 12 month size outfit that basically already fits him!

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a great Labor Day Weekend.  Bryce actually had the holiday off, which he usually doesn't, so we were so excited to have him home with us. We went to a pirate party at the Treehouse Museum in the morning on Labor Day.  I rummaged through Claire's closet and managed to put her together a decent last-minute pirate costume.  She loved it.

Bryce taught her to say "Arr, Mateys" and she kept doing all morning.  It was hilarious.
After the Treehouse Museum we picked up take out from Costa Vida, went home and ate, and then put our kids down for naps.  Bryce and I worked on a few projects while the kids were sleeping and later that evening I set up dinner outside for us on the porch.  The weather was so nice!  It made even more excited for Fall than I already am.
Claire thought this was the most awesome part of the weekend.  She loved getting to eat outside (& run and play in between bites).  

Happy little Peter hanging out in his car seat, watching us eat!

Best buddies.

Peter and I watched Bryce, Rory, and Claire play around the yard and I ended the weekend the very best way snuggled up to my baby.  I wish all weekends were 3 day weekends!  

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