This week of New Year's was extra busy, short, but a whole lot of fun! We threw a New Year's party a day early on the 30th, broke in new Christmas toys and craft supplies, had an extra chilly sensory activity, took a couple of days off to celebrate the new year, and ended our week already making plans for summer break.
Here are a few highlights from our week:
The kids used
Do-A-Dot Art - Washable Fluorescent, pack of 5, art supplies to decorate paper shapes of mittens and stars.
The kids love to have dance parties to "Shake It Off" and "All About The Bass." Elizabeth so kindly played around with the ipod until she got them to play.
Little People sets may say recommended for ages 1-5, but even the oldest kids I had enjoyed setting up Little People towns and acted out very intricate scenarios. I was quite impressed with their detailed imaginations.
It took a bit for the kids to figure this one out and the water used for the paint brushes got spilled a few times, but the pictures turned out well!
Melissa & Doug My First Paint with Water - Blue
Growing up I had paper dolls, these kids have
Melissa & Doug Joey Magnetic Dress-Up,
Minnie Wooden Magnetic Dress-Up Play Set, and
Melissa & Doug Maggie Leigh Magnetic Dress-Up
A typical two year old tantrum: throw yourself down on the table, scream while smiling, and yell "no look at me!!"
Our New Year's party happened on the 30th, complete with noise makers and party hats (the toilet paper rolls and paper plates decorated with Do A Dot markers), a brownie countdown clock (
Wilton 50 Piece ABC & 123 Cookie Cutter Set), a balloon drop, pizza party, and a movie.
Balloon drop courtesy of Nobbies for $9.99
We hung the balloon drop up with blue painters tape. After the balloons fell out of the bag, we tore the bag down, but the tape stayed up. This was a big concern for the kids throughout the afternoon.
The kids took turns burying each other with balloons. After that we learned about static electricity when they rubbed the balloons against their heads and then stuck them on the walls around the house.
Pizza party picnic and a movie.
The kids really wanted to paint snowmen, but we haven't had much snow. I tried out using the salt dough ornament recipe (1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, 1/2 water) to make 3D snowman. It worked out pretty well and then the kids used
Crayola Washable Kids Paint set of 10 Bottles (2 fl oz/59mL)
to paint them.
The Polar Ice sensory activity. The kids needed gloves to play in this one!
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were lazy days for us. We had planned to do a few things around town, but we chose to completely veg out at home (and have a small get together New Year's Eve for adults).
Our New Year's Day breakfast, requested by Mr. Max: homemade raspberry pancakes and raspberry sauce. It was delicious!
We found out NY Day that Elizabeth can write letters. Max informed us she's been writing them for quite some time now.
All of us on the couch, some sleeping, some relaxing, and others irritated we weren't going anywhere.
The kids painted snowflake paper shapes from Michael's using blue and white paint.
The kids did snowflake cookie cutter paintings.
While the other kids nicely painted their pictures, my daughter decided to paint her toe nails. Thankfully it was washable paint.
We made power balls this summer with a kit from the Target dollar section. These that we made this week turned out much better and made twice as many!
Made by Me Power Balls
Friday night at Monkey Joe's celebrating a friend's (and former daycare baby) 4th birthday! It was a great way to burn off some winter energy!
Harrison tried so many times to complete this obstacle course and he finally did it....and beat his brother!
Of course, the kids were too wound up after Monkey Joe's to go home and go to bed, so we went shopping at the mall instead. I finally found a dress and accessories for an upcoming wedding I'm attending. During this shopping excursion, we discovered our daughter has my uncanny Gap abilities. Read more here:
http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2015/01/gap-is-my-clothing-fate.html
When we walked out of the mall there were snowflakes in the air. So the minis tried catching them with their tongues. Then Max nearly walked into a parked car, but luckily Hubs was there to grab him!
The first full week in January will be back to school for several of the kids and back to a regular school year schedule for me too. Our main goal for the week will be readjusting to our schedule, welcoming a new daycare baby, a Numbers Day, and a couple of snowman crafts. We'll also be working with letters, recognizing the letters in their name, and even writing their names (for a few of the older kids).
