Our summer farm days inspired me to put together our list of favourite farm books. We’ve got several {maybe not as many as cat or dino books}. Some of Sam’s earliest books were farm themed, actually. Seems pretty fitting for our part-time farm kiddo.
Time for some more good reads for kiddos! Cat books? Of course cat books!! Sam has had a fondness for cat books since he was a babe. Anything cat, anything dino. He’s totally our kid! Anywhooo, when I went to write this post, I realized just how many cat books we have. I pulled the ones out we read the most or were obsessed with in days past.
We have quite the book worm in our house, and honestly, reading is pretty important to hubby & I too. We started reading to Sam as a baby, in the toddler years we could pass hours just reading stories to him, and reading time is built into our day-to-day routine even now. We’ve definitely got a lot of favourites! Some are pretty common, others might not be, so that’s why I thought I would start to share some of our good reads.
We’ve been moving Sam away from nap time the past few weeks because his nighttime sleep was getting pretty crazy. He gets quiet time in his room instead of naps, which he is growing to like more and more. No naps in the afternoon can make for long days though. I recently whipped up this little activity for him to try out just to break up one particularly long afternoon.
This has been a big week. Between bathroom renovations, our washing machine officially dying and rearranging bedrooms to accommodate Sam’s new big boy bed {all in a five day period} I feel like our home was turned upside down and inside out. Or at least, that’s how these changes are making my tummy feel. A little queasy and uneasy. I’m not necessarily a fearless person when it comes to change. I hesitate, I deliberate, I ponder and I get a bit grumpy.
Ok. So I have to admit that I actually did this project with Sam well over six months ago, back when he was a toddler. Somehow I didn’t get around to posting about it until now. Go figure.
This is a simple project for you to make when your creative time with the kiddos needs a little refreshing. Sam was getting bored with the typical paint options, so I put together his own little paint roller to add some fun.
Here are the supplies you will need for this project:
The toilet paper rolls are a nice size for the little ones to use, but you could also try empty paper towel rolls. And of course, I hope the the bubble wrap is inspiration for you to try other materials too. It’s fun for them to see what textures different things create. Here are some other DIY Paint Roller techniques to consider:
Also, just a note to mention, that at the same time I was writing this post, my friend Kerri was experimenting with bubble wrap painting on FABRIC!! You can see the results of her project on her newly started blog Soham Design.
Three years ago today, we welcomed this cute bundle of warm cries & bright eyes into our life.
The days were long, but the weeks flew by as we kept our Sammy safe, happy, and loved.
We rediscovered the world around us through the eyes and mind of a toddler;
frustrating at times, but also fascinating.
We’ve tried to keep up with this boy of ours, who is always changing and challenging us. This parenthood journey has been the greatest learning curve I have ever found myself on. His smiles still make it worth it though.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY!!
I’m hoping to post more about our trip after we get back (with plenty of photos), in case you’re dreaming about your own Disney vacation. In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of pre-trip tips with you. I’ve been collecting tips, cruise secrets, packing list suggestions, and the like on Pinterest, so head over there to get a helpful links to other blog posts.
One of the best suggestions I came across was pre-ordering baby & toddler items from Babies Travel Lite. What a stress-relieving solution for mamas (and papas)! Our little (ok, not so little) Sammy is not yet potty trained. In my mind, that meant we had two options: packing all the diapers, wipes & such we would need for an almost two week trip in his suitcase (including swim diapers) OR bringing just enough for a couple of days & trying to get to a store during our short Disney World stay to purchase the rest. Both options seemed a bit stressful. Who really wants to use any of their precious time at Disney World to go diaper shopping?! And that’s when I came across Babies Travel Lite. They’ve got diaper packages based on the number of days of your vacation. The packages are very customizable (choose your sizes, brand & type preferences). And it’s not just diapers, they have lots of stuff for meal time, bath time, and sun time. Even little potties for those that are in the potty training process. Place your order, and they will deliver it to your Disney hotel or cruise. We put together a diaper order and included some handy toddler snacks that we can bring along on our port adventures (since prepackaged snacks on cruises cost extra anyway). The beauty of it all is that now, we just walk onto our cruise and our box of goodies will be waiting in our stateroom.
We didn’t book our trip waaaaay in advance like a lot of families, but I’m sure it’s felt like a looong time for Sam. When a single day can feel like two or three to a toddler (and his mama), waiting four months for an oh-so-special Disney trip might as well be a year. As the day of departure grew closer though, I really wanted to do a simple countdown calendar, so Sam could have a more tangible way of seeing the passing of time and experience the excitement building up. I found several options, but went with free, printable design from 505 Design Inc. Just pick your design (Disney World or Disneyland), print, and cut. We hung ours in the kitchen and each morning we put up the new number and then count to it. Sammy can only count to 12, so I didn’t start the countdown until day 13. I think it’s a pretty fun pre-trip activity to do with kids!
Ok, that’s all I’ve got time for right now. Gotta get back to making lists, checking things off, and getting packed. Also still have boxes of tomatoes ripening in the basement that need to be made into sauce. See you when we get back from what will be an awesome family adventure!!!
Things have been busy, busy, busy. You can probably tell by this poor neglected blog. Sammy is getting dragged along from chore to chore. And even though his hands are little, he sure has been a BIG help. He might enjoy some more time to play with his trucks or go to the park, but I think he feels pretty proud every time he gets to help out the grown-ups in his life. I sometimes can’t believe the number of things he is learning to do at such an early age (hello, he’s only 2.5 years old)! I can imagine him living on our farm more & more. And maybe, I’m starting to picture my own life on the farm a bit more too.
A fairly regular, if not weekly, post to share photos of random moments in our lives. No particular rhyme or reason to them, just things we’ve done, or small bits of our lives I’ve finally taken notice of. Thanks for popping by and taking a peek into our week, so far:
