Fun Fall Activity for a Toddler

We went on a leaf hunt. Although, at the time there weren't many leaves on the ground, now there are a lot. Just waiting for the rain to clear up so we can make a big pile and jump in!! On our leaf hunt we collected leaves, Mackenzie loved this job! Once we collected them I scratched my head for what to do with them. Well, I brought them inside and washed them to save for another day!  I finally decided to make a leaf garland. It was super easy.

I took some plastic straws and cut them in about 1/2" sections.

I then taped those sections to the back of the leaves. I used scotch tape but, they have slowly started to fall down as they dried. So, I would recommend something stronger.

We then took kite string and laced them on. Lacing is a great activity for toddlers, perfect for hand- eye coordination. Mackenzie has some lacing cards and hasn't shown a lot of interest. Needless to say I ended up lacing.

Hang up and all done.

I love how it turned out, I plan on making another but, again I need to wait for the rain to go away.

Next fun fall activity for a rainy day. 

Super easy to make cloud dough. I have actually never used the baby oil we got at our baby shower for Mackenzie. I don't know what to use it for? Is that weird? So, I finally opened it and used it to make cloud dough. This is super easy just 4 cups flour and 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons baby oil. I used a whisk to stir mine and even though it was clumpy as we played with it, it smoothed out.

To make this a fall activity I found fall cookie cutters to play with.

During play time I put it in a cookie sheet on the table above a wood floor. Warning this is messy, clean up is a breeze though. If you don't have an easy to sweep floor it might be nice to do it on a shower curtain (get a cheap one at the dollar store) or I am sure it will vacuum easily. Just expect a mess!!

Both these activities Mackenzie loved and it was nice to do something fun with out a lot of work! Next month I am starting our at home preschool, I will share my ideas with that. November is the color Yellow and the shape is a square. Do you have any activity ideas to share?

Talk to you next time.

Dorinda

Mackenzie Update/ Friday Favorites

I wasn't sure how I wanted to write this update. Although, knowing I did want/need to, since I haven't updated on her in awhile. I did not want to do it how I used to because all favorites would be toys and I thought that would be boring. I love reading the blog Snappy Casual and she does updates in a list fashion, I thought of doing that and Little Baby Garvin (another favorite) does a Friday favorites list. So I have decided to try and combine the two. Let's see how this goes....

Mackenzie at her 2 year checkup was 24 lbs, and 34" tall. She is definitely growing but is still a tiny little girl.

Mackenzie

True size probably 18 months although I put her in/ and buy 2T

Diaper size 4 might be able to still fit in 3

Shoe size 5

• talks like crazy and everyday surprises me with new words, says 3 to 4 word sentences
• loves football
•  terrorizing  loves her animals (although Leela and her are best friends when outside)
• Loves to help in the kitchen
• Lives outside, once out you can never come back in!!
• Loves taking selfies

Some of our favorite activities are:

Going to the library

Swinging (which she hated until about 4 months ago)

Going to the gym daycare bonus if we take her swimming afterwards

Slides including the super scary waterslide at our gym

threading pipe cleaners in a colander (spends like 20min at time doing this)

Favorites in general

football

mickey mouse (bickey bouse)

coloring

balloons (bouys)

Favorite toys

baby stroller and babies

Melissa and Doug birthday cake (happy birfday)

doc mcstuffins doctor set

Favortie foods

pizza (asked for daily at each meal)

(she recently asked for a pizza party after seeing a Chucky Cheese commercial)

Mac and Cheese

Smoothies

She also sleeps in a "big" girl bed, is in the potty training process and I am trying to get away from pacifier but, break down after I hear "bink please". Can get out of tub by herself (not so great), daily has to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Loves to head bang to any and all music but boy bands are her favorite. 

There is my Mackenzie update. I hope you enjoyed, should I do more in this style? Maybe every couple of months?

Dorinda

Mackenzie 2nd birthday

Wow! I have a 2 year old!! Half the time I think it was just last year I was pregnant with her, hard to believe she is actually 2.

For her party this year I kept things simple. I planned to go more elaborate but things just fell through.

I did take a lot of pictures but, I didn't have a lot that turned out great, if you know what I mean. 

So we will just get started.

Everything took a lot longer than I planned so this was all the decor that got put up even though I bought a lot more and more in store! Oh, well. What will she remember in a few years? The decor or the fun? 

For food I wanted everything on a stick, that didn't work out so I did carnival food. Corn dogs, chips with nacho cheese (we also gave the option of doritos, YUM!), veggies in a cup (some had ranch at the bottom), fruit on a stick, and popcorn. For my gluten free friends I put some regular hot dogs on a stick. Sidenote: The food was yummy and kid friendly!!

Next we opened presents, Which was fun this year because she was actually into it! Then we had cake! I wanted to make cakepops to keep with my everything on a stick theme. Since, I hadn't tried it before I got scared off. Instead I went with ice cream cake cones.

The easiest way to do this was to flip the cones upside down into the cupcakes before you place in the oven. These turned out yummy!! Also, for my gluten free friends I went to a local bakery that bakes vegan and bought some cupcakes for them.

This is her "whooooo" chair from mom and dad. 

After this we let the kids run around and play. I put out a coloring table, her Ikea circus tent, some balls, made some homemade bean bags with socks and dried beans (just tie a knot in the top), and brought out her wagon. The wagon turned out to be the kid favorite.

My parents got her a trike for her birthday and that was the other favorite.

Overall it may have not been my most elaborate party thrown but, I think everyone had lots of fun. Mackenzie came inside almost brown from all the dirt which tells me she had fun.

Mackenzie also had a special message to share at her party!

That's right baby #2 is on the way!!

So next post will be a pregnancy update and then I think I will do a Mackenzie update/favorites. I haven't done one of those in a while.

Dorinda

Minnesota: A new Experience for Mackenzie

This last week we went to Minnesota to watch our niece graduate! It was a surprise for her that we came, so I didn't want to blog about it until afterwards. With that said first time flying with a toddler was a little nerve wracking and consuming all my thoughts. Creating a void in my innovative brain and blocking all ideas on what else to blog about. I also didn't want to do just filler posts to fill the empty spaces, I want to make sure each of my blogs are something I actually want to share. So, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Here is review of our trip to Minnesota and how I survived flying with a toddler!

Before we left I had grand ideas of things to buy to pack and take to make flying for Mackenzie as smooth as possible. Then the week before a fellow employee got injured and my hours went from 28 to 44. Leaving me no time to pack, clean or shop until Friday the day before we left. This also added to lack of pictures which I have now had to go back and re set up to take to make it look like I was on top of my game and took these pics. Blogger fail! Another blogger fail while we were there I hardly got in pics  because I was enjoying watching Mackenzie experience it all for the first time,  or I was chasing Mackenzie around and trying to keep my sanity. Overall the trip was great,  too short, but great.

So it all started with Friday, working in the morning, meeting with the house sitter, cleaning and packing. Which I had not done any of that the week leading up. Mackenzie didn't nap great which made dealing with a cranky baby. Finally, she passed out around 5pm on the couch and I was able to move my butt and finish cleaning house. She woke up at 6pm still crabby but wanted to paint, I got her painting and started gathering clothes to pack. 8 o'clock was the time I was hoping to put her to bed but due to earlier nap she was not tired. So, she got a bath and I sat. 9pm I put her to bed then really started packing.

In my personal bag I do this whenever I travel I packed a large bag and then inside the large bag I put a small crossbody purse to double as my wallet. This way when we go shopping I don't have to carry the large bag I can just use the crossbody. Mondo also always brings a back pack. In the large bag I had 3 magazines (I never looked at them and they were heavy. I should have just done one), Mackenzie's change of clothes, 3 board books, a little bag with Minnie, stuffed Minnie, stuffed fox, Coloring book, crayons, headphones for me and her, and 3 binkies. Mondo's backpack contained Ipad, diapers, wipes and all of his other goodies.

Not everything is pictured. Extra's not mentioned are Minnie dress up, extra clothes, scarf, busy wallet for Mackenzie

So our plane was supposed to leave Spokane at 6am, which means we had to be at the airport at 430am, my parent's house, since my dad was driving us, at 4am, leave our house by 330am, up at 3 am. Max joined our bed at 11pm, I think, which is the same time I finally crawled into bed. My alarm scheduled for 245am, was on vibrate and I didn't fell it! Oops! Mondo set his for 3am and him and I both slept through for 10min. Double oops! We finally got out of the house and to my parent's only 10 min late. All good. All the commotion woke Mackenzie up, and she decided to stay awake. Which worked out Ok she slept the whole first flight! Until we touched down in Denver and the pilot slammed on the brakes. She didn't like that but, no crying just frowning. First flight down and all good! Denver we ate breakfast and got doughnuts. Then waited until we boarded. This is where Minnie (Minnie online) came in handy I was afraid of losing pieces and almost didn't bring it but, it worked great for the layover. 2nd plane we watched t.v. I think there was a glitch and we got it for free! Whoo hoo! We colored and played with the Ipad, which we also watched an episode of bubble guppies on. When it came to landing there was quite a bit of tuberlance and she decided to sit with daddy. Again, no crying all good. Minnesota airport had a Chik-fil-a. We needed that for lunch, it was far from baggage claim. So Mondo went for bags and Amy, Max and I for chicken! Mackenzie loved the moving sidewalk but she also loves escalators. Only problem no stroller and after we got food, toddler no longer wanted to walk. So I carried the food, Amy carried Mackenzie and it was was a long awkward walk to baggage claim. We got our rental car and rented a car seat. Surprisingly it was in great condition, although due to a mix up and miss reading of fine print we thought we were getting it for free. Nope, $12 a day. Next time we will gate check ours for free.

passed out first flight!

Finally, Minnesota. Surprise went great, graduation went great. I wore cute outfits. I will blog on this later. Let's keep this post under a 2 hour read. This post is strictly for flying.

Trip home: great news Sister in Minnesota had a spare umbrella stroller she let us have! After calling to make sure I can gate check it for free we headed to the Mall of America. Mackenzie loved the umbrella stroller and would not get out of it! Except when we got to the disney store and Lego store. Minnesota airport chicken for lunch again! How is that place so good? Gosh, it was so nice pushing Mackenzie in the stroller. We were there early so she got to play in the play zone for a while. Then we loaded the plane and gate checked the stroller. I do want to say I read about having one person load early while person 2 stays out and plays with toddler until last minute. This plan did not work for us. It was better to load earlier. Our seats for 3 out of 4 flights were in the back row. Actually all babies were in the back. I found out that this is because they keep the infant life vests in back. Makes sense,  just is an uncomfortable flight. So it was better to load early with families then try to explain to a toddler we can't push people out of our way and why they take a long time to put their carry on in the overhead compartment. So family load in our seats and no lines was the way to go. OK back to the flight. This time she stayed awake. So we colored and read board books over, over, over, over and over. I think I might have fell asleep and she was in daddy's lap. I think he mentioned Ipad and looking out the window too. Landing was smooth no problems.

Mackenzie waving bye

Playing in the MAC train at MSP

Denver at first we thought "we have 1 hr 30 min layover, no prob." Then double check, no only 45 mins. Then get to the gate. 2 hour almost 3 hour delay. Ugh! This was already 7pm Denver time. Flight not supposed to leave until 11pm, which means no Spokane until 12 am, Washington time. Yuck! So we ate, had ice cream. I wasn't feeling good so we sat at a darkened gate a let Mackenzie play. Minnie mouse again and colored some. Then she wanted to run around, which would have been ok, except she was tired and was no longer willing to listen. So we took her closer to our actual gate and let her walk around in a more contained area and look out the window at airplanes. This made her happy. Finally with 30 min left to go she was restless, who could blame her. I also knew she had to be tired since she hardly napped. So mondo and I switched turns pushing her in the stroller around the terminal. Thank you God and Brenda for this stroller!  While pushing the stroller around a bunch of people had flights cancelled and were sleeping at the airport. I was so thankful this wasn't us but, also it broke my heart when I saw a few families and even a few with infants. How yucky would that be! Finally we load. Since we were seated near the front we actually waited to seat with our section. This wasn't too bad. It was late so, I knew we would all sleep. Yucky, thing about this flight I don't think one mommy thought about the ear pressure thing. Her little one cried the whole flight and I noticed baby would cry louder whenever I felt more pressure in my ears. I was glad we choose to let Mackenzie have her binky the whole time we were flying. Of course she fell right to sleep.  We landed again he slammed on the brakes. Seriously! She woke up, dad was there to pick us up got her in the car and she fell back asleep 45 min later. Got home transferred her to her bed she stayed asleep and slept in until 8am.

Overall flying was great! I was so proud of Mackenzie she handled the whole thing like a trooper! I am so excited to fly with her more often. Hopefully next time to Disneyland! I love that place!

So this week Mackenzie turns 2! I plan on posting about her party, including a special surprise!  I also will blog later about the outfits worn in Minnesota. And in July my family moves in with my mom (temporarily), so my mom and I have a few photo sesh planned for so new blog posts. Oh and also coming up weight loss update!

Thank for reading,

Dorinda

Valentine Activities

I had spread out all our Valentine activities through out the month and instead of posting them in individual posts I decided to combine them.

Early in the month we had some snow fall. I had been wanting to make snow cream, so I ran out stuck a bowl in the front yard and snow cream was made (tutorial to come)!! Mackenzie loved it, and since I added valentine sprinkles I felt this made it a valentine activity.

Week before Valentine's day we made glitter hearts.

One wall in my kitchen was screaming for a big chalkboard. Since I haven't been able to find a frame I liked to make my own I made a cheap one to use until I find the perfect frame (tutorial to come). Mackenzie decorated the hearts. Essentially, I just cut out a bunch of hearts from construction paper, taped them down and let her "paint" the glue on, then glittered. She loved it!!

The day before Valentine's one of Mackenzie's friends hosted a tea. So we went to that, there they got to make valentine's and eat pink cinnamon rolls.

Finally, Valentine's day. Mondo and I decided we are going to make a shutterfly book. We just haven't done that yet. Hopefully soon! Here is what we did get each other and Mackenzie.

We were going to make Red velvet pancakes, then Mondo mentioned donuts. So we went to a local donut shop, so fun and cute!!

Of course after that we went to the gym but not before taking some more pictures.

That concludes most of our Valentine's festivities.

I have a ton of posts coming up you won't want to miss out! A new series fight like a girl, new one piece four ways, one diy, and a weight loss update!

I love because He first loved me,

Dorinda

Our Christmas!

Hey, Everyone our Christmas was a whirlwind of busyness, and I was determined to enjoy every last minute of it!!

Here was how our house was decorated this year. Minus Mackenzie and our room. Mackenzie's room I put up her pink tree from last year and hung some snowflakes above her bed!

Mackenzie's tree

washi tape decor

It all started with Mackenzie's bestie coming over on Monday. I had her all day and it was a blast!! The only bad thing was with 2 toddlers by yourself you can't take pictures! boo!!!

playing with washi tape

The girls' had a busy day. We wrapped presents, after I wrapped them in craft paper they stuck stickers on them. We baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa, also made homemade play dough. After the nap they tested the cookies with some "hot cocoa" chocolate milk with marshmallows in it. They also played with washi tape. Seriously though this is the best way to entertain a toddler, I also have used painter's tape. Just stick a bunch of strips on a table and let them peel and stick on.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) we always spend with his sister, my BFF! Usually we cook a nice meal but, since me and hubby had to work, panda it was! After dinner we put on pj's and opened presents! Then off to look at lights! When we came home I still hadn't wrapped any presents, so time to wrap.

christmas pj's

opening gifts with aunty

cats loved the boxes!

Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed! Favorite tradition! Then came up and opened Mackenzie's presents before family came over. I made apple crisp oatmeal for breakfast with bacon (what is a holiday with out bacon?), we also had "special juice"; which is juice with more that one flavor. My family came over for breakfast and after breakfast we opened more presents. Although Max saw one of her presents before breakfast and loved it!! Her little happy dance is so cute, I must get it on video!! That was her new wagon my parents got her! Mondo and I can't wait to use it!! It also has like ski things to put on to use in the snow. I am going to see if I can track down a canopy for it for summer use!  I will post another blog on what our favorite presents were, I don't want to take up to much of your reading time! 

stockings

new headband!

opening gifts with mommy and daddy

Add caption

her with her new wagon!

playing with gramma and granty before breakfast

she moves too fast for pictures

Of course after breakfast and family leaving we napped, then went to my mom's house for a super yummy dinner! And we also skyped with his family in Minnesota!

attempt to get a family pic

her outfit

another shot

Day after Christmas we all went over to my cousin's house for our day after celebrations. This is probably one of my favorite things! We eat leftovers and play games with extended family! LOVE IT!!

How was your holiday? I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!!

Dorinda