365 Days of Fun - Day #5

Brenda's Activity - Leaf Rubbings

I was pleasantly surprised at how much Brenda liked this activity. She loved how the leaves would magically appear when she colored. 

Dominick's Activity - Baby Massage

Dominick loved me giving him a baby massage with lotion. It was a full body massage including legs, arms, and belly. My favorite part was the lotion smiley face on his tummy.

I think it surprised him a little bit.

I made sure to get his cute little toes, too.

 Activity grades:

7. Leaf Rubbings - A

      Brenda had fun with this. I know we will be doing this again, because I plan on having her do a lot of leaf rubbings when I teach her about different types of leaves when she's older. For now the coloring part is good enough for us.

8. Baby Massage - A

      Who doesn't love a massage?

365 Days of Fun - Day #4

Activity - Baby Dedication

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
- 1 Samuel 1:27

 Ok, so it's not a typical "activity", but it is something that is super special and only happens once in a child's life. Today, Aaron and I brought our children to the church and before God to let it be known that we will be raising them in a Christian home. We are going to try the best we can to show God's love to them and teach them that Jesus is in fact "the way, the truth and the life." It was a beautiful dedication. One of the reasons I know we are right where God wants us is our church. It's been a long time since I have felt completely welcome in a church and these people made me feel that way from day one. I wouldn't have wanted our kids dedicated anywhere else.

Activity Grade:

6. Baby Dedication - A+

    This is an activity that I am so happy that we were able to do for our kids. It is also an activity that we won't be doing again. At least not for Dominick and Brenda.

The Rest of Our Day

   It didn't end there for us. It was also the churches anniversary, so they had a special lunch after the service. Then, Brenda had a birthday tea party to go to for one of her soccer friends.

Tea Please.

She got her face painted.

The girls were so cute at their tea party.

They even decorated cupcakes.

     Dominick was there, too. He didn't drink tea, but he sure was cute.

Was that all? Nope. After the tea party we met back up with our church friends at the lake for a baptismal service. It was a very fulfilling Sunday. Even with all the activity that was our day, my favorite part was hearing Dominick laugh for the very first time. 

365 Days of Fun - Day #3

Activity - No Mess Painting

This activity started with just Brenda, but I soon realized that it was something that Dominick could be a part of, too. I put paper in a ziplock bag with paint and taped the paper to the table. Brenda seemed to like it once she figured out that she could write letters in the paint and that the paint wouldn't get her messy. She hates getting messy when she's inside. Outside, she's in the mud puddles and dirt piles, but inside she likes to be clean. On Dominick's, I had him stand on it to get his feet prints and wrote his name on it. I was surprised that the prints stayed once I took it out of the bag.

 

We practiced letters and words in the paint.

Activity Grade:

5. No Mess Painting - B

     Once again, this was more fun for me than it was for Brenda. She was only interested in it for a couple minutes. I'm going to have to find some less artsy activities to keep her attention. Dominick didn't really care either way, but I got a really cool picture out of it. :)

 The rest of our day was good. We took Brenda to her soccer game, but it was quickly rained out. Then we went to lunch with a friend of ours and his beautiful little girl.

365 Days of Fun - Day #2

Brenda's Activity - Johnny Appleseed Hat

 Today we stayed with the Johnny Appleseed theme, because I thought Brenda would really enjoy this activity. Well, she enjoyed wearing the hat. Since she can't use scissors very well yet, I had to cut everything for her and I had to help her put it together. I basically did everything. The only thing she was really able to do was trace her name which I think she did an awesome job at. After we finished the hat, she watched the Disney cartoon about Johnny Appleseed.

 Showing off her new hat.

 Dominick's Activity - Tummy Textures

                                                  

                                                                                                                                                         Dominick's activity was much more of a success. I gathered a bunch of baby toys and touched them to his tummy, so he could feel the texture of the toys

Brenda loved helping with this activity. I think she enjoyed this more than her own activity.

Dominick's favorite was the owl, because it vibrated. I'm guessing it tickled.

 Activity grades:

3. Johnny Appleseed Hat - D+

      The final product was fun, but making it was not. I think this would have been better for an older kid. I might try this again in a few years.

4. Tummy Textures - A-

      Another good activity for a 3 month old. It was simple and gave us a way to play with his toys before he can really play with his toys.

      

 My kids and I had a pretty good day. We did other things besides the activities. Brenda's favorite thing was hide and seek. We also pretended to be a cat and practiced hunting and pouncing on a stuffed bunny. Dominick is a total doll baby. Here are my favorite pictures of him today:

365 Days of Fun - Day #1

Brenda's Activity - Paper Plate Apple

Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday, so I wanted to do something apple related. I found this craft and thought that it would be a really simple first craft that my 3 year old would be able to do mostly herself. I started off trying this with markers. She got frustrated and bored really quickly with that idea. After an hour or so break, we came back to the project with paint. Bingo! Of course she would like paint better. What was I thinking?

 The markers were just too slow for my fast paced little one.

Dominick's Activity - Tube Talking

 Dominick just turned 3 months old and he loved this activity. I may end up doing this everyday just because I'm addicted to his smiles. This is a hearing activity to show a baby that he can hear out of both ears. I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star softly through a paper towel roll to him and alternated sides.

He was so surprised at first. 

Activity grades:

1. Paper Plate Apple - B+ 

      This was a good activity for a 3 year old once I changed it to paints, but she still wasn't overly enthusiastic about it. I think I had more fun than she did.

2. Tube Talking - A

      This simple activity was so much fun. It was perfect for his age and he really did love it. I have the paper towel roll at the changing table now, so we can play more after each diaper change.

Update with a new idea! 365 Days of Fun Challenge!

Reading through my old blogs made me want to write more. It's a great way to watch my kids grow. I don't know why I stopped. Oh, yeah... I started college, moved twice and had another baby. Yep, I've been busy the last year and a half, but I think I'm ready to try this again. I have a great idea to get motivated. I am going to challenge myself to do one different fun thing outside of our normal routine with both the kids for 365 days and keep track by blogging. Most things I can do with Brenda who is 3 years old and not my 3 month old, Dominick, so I may end up having to come up with way more than 365 activities to fill 365 days. I am up for the challenge! I am also going to go out of my comfort zone and start tomorrow, Thursday the 25th of September. This is not the beginning of the week or the beginning of the month which is when I usually start things, but I figured that I will be covering 365 days so why does it matter what day I start? Now I have to come up with some fun day 1 activities. As my husband would say, "TO THE INTERNET!"