"V" Is For Valentine's

Anytime I can do something with Ava in the kitchen I'm all for it! Tomorrow happens to be Valentine's Day and although we consider every day "love day" we decided to bake a cake. And yes, it was from a box and not from scratch. It's all about the time spent together. Of course the frosting had to be PINK because it's Ava's favorite color complete with sprinkles!

The finished product!

Snack Preparation

Ava enjoys helping prepare snack for Lucy and herself. On this particular day we were going to have Strawberries. I asked her if she wanted to prepare the snack and of course she was eager to. 

Ava got the strawberries out of the fridge, washed them using her colander, cut the stems with a knife on her cutting board (from dollar tree) and shared with her sister. 

Sidenote: Before Ava was able to use the knife we had a "safety" talk. Our littles are very capable and it's our job to guide them. When giving a safety talk you don't have to go into too much depth. An example would be,"This is a knife. We use knives to cut food. We need to be careful while using a knife because it is sharp."

So proud of her work and ready to eat!

I think Lucy approves!

Lucy And Her Pegboard

The pegboard is a great transition work for your little one. It takes great concentration and hand-eye coordination to place each individual peg in a hole. The pegboard allows for practice grasping and building fine motor skills. I found this particular pegboard at Lakeshore.

 

You can use the pegboard for sorting, patterning and color recognition as well. 

I love the concentration on Lucy's face.

February Practical Life

My mom, Chris and I have been busy organizing all of my Montessori Bins over the last few months. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel HA! I'll share in another post how I organized my materials and a look at the girls new room/playroom once I'm finally finished.
I said that to say, I found some of my February/Valentine's practical life works and put them out for the girls. Hopefully, theses pictures will spark some ideas for you!

Use of a baster:

You will need 2 glass heart containers (from Michaels), baster, tray, color water, and a sponge for spills.

Tonging:

You will need a tray, tongs, heart glass beads (from Michaels), container for beads, and a heart candy mold (from Target).

                                      

Scooping:

Tray, 2 heart bowls (from Michaels), glass heart beads (from Michaels), and spoon.

Lucy tried her hand at scooping.

Her infamous "cheese" face. hehe

The Lonely Lunchbox

It was a hectic morning, mostly my fault. The alarm went off at its usual time, but I just couldn't bring myself to get out of the bed. 15 minutes later the alarm went off again and I sprung out of bed. We did our usual morning routine, but now we were 15 minutes behind schedule. I prepared Ava's lunch and placed her lunchbox on the counter. We got our coats on and rushed out the door. As soon as we got on the highway, it hit me that I had left Ava's lunchbox on the counter. Fortunately, I knew Chris hadn't left for class yet so I called him quickly and asked that he drop it off on his way to work. Crisis adverted! Whew!

We pulled into Ava's school carpool, and I turned and apologized that mommy had forgot her lunch and explained that daddy would bring it by. Ava just said "okay!" I thought to myself "well, that went well." I walked around and got Ava out of the carseat only to be welcomed by the saddest face. I gave her a squeeze and apologized once again and assured her that daddy would bring her lunchbox before lunch time. Ava didn't want to budge so I decided to carry her to the door to give her a little more assurance that everything was going to be okay. I explained to her teacher the issue and she also assured Ava that mommy was taking care of it. Ava finally lifted her head and gave a little smile and went on into class. Sigh, I walked back to my car and my eyes filled with tears.

This particular day was one of those days where you feel like you're the worst parent in the world. I know this seems like a minor issue but it's not the first time I've dropped the ball. You plan and you prepare. You try your best to be on top of things but sometimes you just feel so worn out and no matter what you do you feel like you can't do anything right. Have you been there?
Fast forward to later that day when I picked up Ava. I got out of our car and headed to the gate and before I got there I heard the happiest squeal followed by "MOMMY!" Talk about turning around your day! Ava gave me the biggest hug and showed me that daddy had brought her lunchbox. She told me she had the best day playing with her friends Rob and Maci. Tears again filled my eyes but this time they were happy tears. I knew all was forgiven and I got to try again.

I said all of this to say this....First, there is no such thing as the "perfect" parent. It's something I have to daily remove from my thought bank. So let that notion go!!! Second, a reminder I received from my sister a few months back that God chose YOU to parent your child or children. Everything it'll take to raise and guide your child is within YOU already. Through God's grace and strength you can be the best parent to your child even with your weaknesses.
 I'd like to leave you with a few scriptures that I quote when I'm having a hard time and need a reminder that with God's strength I can do this thing called parenthood.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear, I will help you." Isaiah 41:14

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Christmas Cheer

Each December Ava's school has a cookie exchange. This year we were unable to attend because both girls were sick with colds. We had bought all the supplies to make our cookies and didn't want it to go to waste. Ava made sugar cookies with her favorite sprinkles. We used our Christmas cookie cutters which make Santa, stockings, snowman, candy canes and trees.

We decided to spread some Christmas cheer to our neighbors. Ava was so excited to make the cookies and package them for everyone. It never hurts to spread a little love to those around you.

Painting Pinecones

We were at the park and Ava couldn't help but notice all the pine cones on the ground. We decided to take a few home with us that she picked out and paint them. Of course we had to use her favorite colors, pink and purple, complete with glitter. It's the simple things in life that bring so much joy. What a way to connect with nature!