Tot School {Christmas}

We're been doing various Christmas activities on and off.  

I updated my notebook with Christmas printables so we could quickly pull those out.

Earlier in the month I also made a list of things I wanted to do with the kids:

*See the decorations at the mall

*Decorate cookies

*Go look at Christmas lights

*Candy Cane Hunt

*Christmas play dough

*Lots of Christmas crafts

*Truth in the Tinsel printable ornaments

*Make our own nativity

*Indoor swimming party

*Christmas {snowman & candy cane} pizza

*And anything else along the way

Personally I like having a list of simple ideas that I can quickly do at any time with the kids.

Then when we have a few extra minutes I can pull out my notebook or do a fun activity.

Our quick go to activities are our playdough box and the printable ornaments.

One of our first activities was an indoor swimming party.  

Addi loved it! And she looks too old.

We also have lots of printables in the notebook to pull out and simple crafts ready to go.  

This one is construction paper, glue, and cotton balls. 

All three kids loved it {2 & 4 year olds}.

A Day in the Life

Maybe you've noticed that sometimes there is a little girl in my photos {other then Addi}.

Two days a week I nanny for a friend, so those are usually the days I do more activities.

She's four and Addi is two, so sometime it's hard to find an activity that they both love.

Play dough is our go to activity! 

They both love it! 

Sometimes they create the same thing, like this pumpkin pie sessions, but something Maddie does more complex pie crust crimping while Addi counts the pumpkins going into the pie.

Every single Monday we do play dough because they both love it and this mama can have a simple Monday where I just don't have to over think what we're going to do.

Usually I nanny Monday and Wednesday, but with Thanksgiving our schedule changed. 

So we got to do lots of different activities on Tuesday with Maddie.

First we met friends for breakfast {4 kids + 2 post sickness moms = lots of fun!}

Then we went to our libraries story time {a favorite of ours}.

We squeezed in a quick vacuum the car session and drive thru coffee for mama.

And wrapped up our nannying morning with a trip to the gymnastics center.

We had a blast! I seriously love busy days because it makes them go by so quick.

However I love those long, slow cuddle days when it's just me and my girl.

On our way to get coffee Miss Maddie exclaimed, 

"I love everything in the world {long pause} except yellow slow!"

The beginning of that statement didn't even phase me because she loves everything, 

but I died laughing when the second part was the tagline.  

Of all things, yellow pee.  Why not brussel sprouts or lima beans? 

Oh sweet Maddie, you always give me a big smile and a good laugh.

Tot School {Simplified}

Since I'm still feeling like a newbie with Tot School I'm constantly working out kinks and I feel like I'm taking two step forward and one step back.  I love my notebook, school in a bag, and of course the 1+1+1 printables, but something just wasn't working.  Honestly, I think we were trying to do to much.

Each week I printed out the letter of the week activities for Addi and I think we could done each letter for two weeks.   On top of that I was trying to do theme play dough, songs, books, etc for each week. So what did I decide to do?  After the "holiday rush" I'll experiment more, but this is what I'm thinking:


CALENDAR TIME: Recently I found a calendar time I absolutely adored! They get to choose what the weather is like outside and what color their wearing.  Once we get going I think we will quickly be able to change the format, but it's super simple to start with.  And I'm all about simplifying! 

THIS WEEK IN TOT SCHOOL: For each month I will create an over all theme, to go with the season. 

November - Fall/Thankfulness 

December - Christmas

January - Winter

Then I will create a few activities that will go with the over all monthly theme and use the printables packets for two weeks. Honestly, I think using printable packets for more then one week will make a huge difference for us.  We will be saving ink, paper, and time.  I was finding myself not using all of the sheets, so now I have enough left over sheets to probably last us all next month.  To bad it's not for next month's theme.  

ARTS & CRAFTS: Each week I want to do one craft to go with the theme.  To some that might not seem like a lot, but we have our favorite crafty activity, play dough, and we go to a story time each week where she also does craft.  Plus church nursery and general coloring, so I'm comfortable with this decision.  I'm the type person that if I commit to much I am setting myself up for failure.  Saying I'll do more then one craft a week would mean I am setting myself up for failure.

PLAY DOUGH: Each month I will make play dough for the month's theme.  October and November was fall spiced play dough, December will be candy cane play dough, January will be sparkly snow play dough, etc. In general I will keep this the same for the whole month, but if something isn't working or I find something in the $1 section I'll add it.

BOOK BIN: Each week we go to the library for story time and a children's music class.  So I try to plan what books I want from the library a few weeks in advance.  I go onto my favorite website to find what books are recommend for the theme, make my list, then check our library database.  That way I go into the library with a plan.  Usually I write down ten books, but sometimes I walk out with four and other times all ten are on the shelves. I also use books from my personal library as well.

Now I want to start using library books for a few weeks instead of switching each week.  Before I didn't want to use pumpkin books if it wasn't pumpkin week, instead of using pumpkins, leaves, acorn books all month long. 

Hopefully these changes will help us not only learn more, but also simplify so we can have more fun!

Spiced Fall Playdough Recipe

Last week we tested out a few different fall playdough recipes, 

but weren't impressed with any of them.

So this playdough loving, baking mama set out to create her own recipe.

The key thing I've found in all the playdough recipes I've tried is salt!

To much salt and it's a dry, stiff waste of time.

Personally, I think the perfect ratio is 1 cup flour to 1/4 cup salt.

Kid tested, mom approved!

This recipe is sure to make your house smell great while it's cooking,

Plus your kiddos will love the smell every time they are playing with it. 

Enjoy!