Olivia's School Work

The director at the morning out program that Little O attends is so great, as are her teachers. Each week has a theme that directly relates to the monthly unit. This week Little O learned about rectangles and the letter N.

She created this masterpiece yesterday at school. I love it that she insisted that her noodles stand upright on the paper, and I'm amazed I was able to get it home that way.

I think she's ready for us to start using glue in our craft projects at home now too. For some reason, this makes me so happy!

Art Party Invitations

I finished the art party invitations for O's 2nd birthday.

You can read all about how I made them here.

Olivia's Birthday Party

I've started planning Olivia's birthday party this week. I can't believe she's going to be two next month. Amazing. People say they grow up so fast, but you really don't know what that means until the baby you swear you just brought home from the hospital is getting ready to turn two!

Right now, Olivia is really into arts and crafts. She loves anything that involves crayons, markers, colored pencils, stamps, stickers, playdough, etc. So, this year, I'm planning an art party for her birthday. I've rented out a community room here in town, and I've been furiously planning what activities to include. Some of her friends are arty like she is, and some of them haven't had much experience with art supplies beyond crayons.

I'm planning three different activity tables. The first one will be for paper crafts, including crayons, markers, stamps, and stickers. A playdough table is also a must. I'm going to make homemade playdough using this recipe because some her friends still like to put things in their mouths. I'm planning to include a sign that the playdough is safe to eat, so parents can relax a little. I'll provide the usual playdough toys and cookie cutters, and I think I'll also include some other sculpting materials such as pipe cleaners and feathers. The third table will be a painting table. I toyed with the idea of making a no-mess baggie finger print activity, but then I decided that they can do that anywhere. Olivia's party should be the real deal. I included information in the invitation to wear art clothes, and I'm planning to make each child a smock as their party favor.

I've already started the invitations. They are so cute (if I do say so myself). I was inspired by an invitation on Etsy. I created the palette on my computer and printed it onto brown card stock that sort of resembled cardboard. Then, instead of glitter paper cut into paint blobs, I used glitter glue and painted on the blobs myself. I had the glitter glue on hand from the Toddler Christmas Tree I made, and I didn't have any glitter paper. I only used stuff I had on hand for the invitations, so they cost me nothing. In fact, I have enough postage leftover from Christmas cards that I won't have to buy more. Love saving money!

I'll post pictures of the invitations when I'm done. I'm really pleased with how they are turning out. Last year's were really cute too. I'm not sure which I like better. I did forget to include a date for RSVPs this year, but I think it will be OK.

Flying to Boston

I've spent the day getting myself and Olivia packed up for our trip to Boston. Pete is there for work, and we're joining him for my birthday weekend.

I'm pretty nervous about flying solo with Olivia. I've packed her a busy bag just for this trip. In addition to her loveys, I packed her some really neat arts and crafts supplies that should be fairly mess free and able to do on the airplane tray.

I got her coloring books and new crayons. Some Color Wonder travel pads (farm animals and fairies) with Color Wonder markers. I packed two new board books. And I found a really neat dry erase board. It's black on one side and white on the other. I bought her some dry erase crayons to go with it. I had never even heard of these before. I love the kid craft section of Michaels!

In addition to art supplies and books, I bought Olivia her very first baby doll. She is obsessed with playing with dolls when we go to playdates, so I think she'll love having her own.

She hasn't seen any of the things in her busy bag yet, so hopefully they will keep her entertained with their newness.

I have also downloaded a few apps for my phone, but most of them seem to be just above her ability right now. We shall see.

Off to print our boarding pass, take out the trash, and head to bed. I'll post pictures of our trip when we get back!

Playful Learners at the CDM

Last week, Pete and I took baby O to the Children's Discovery Museum for a call called Playful Learners. It's a discovery class for babies from 12-24 months old.

When we got there Olivia was a little shy. It took her quite a bit of time to warm up to the whole idea. One little boy ran up to her to give her a hug, and she wound up sobbing for quite a while.

Eventually she relaxed and was able to enjoy herself. It helped that she knew two of the other kids in the class. Baby B from a mom's group and Baby G from Kindermusik.

When we got there, the teacher had set out a bin of toys to play with. Olivia selected a noisy shaker. When it was time to clean up, Olivia had no problem putting her toys away in the bin all by herself.

After playtime, we read a story and sang a song. Then it was time for crafts (Mommy's favorite part)!! There were four station set up for craft time. We went to the play dough table first. It was green and smelled like lime jello. Olivia enjoyed smashing the play dough and running it over with textured rolling pins.

After a few minutes at the play dough table, we moved on to the stamping table. Olivia enjoyed pressing the stamps onto the paper. She got pretty excited to see what appeared on the paper each time. She even tried pressing the stamp into the ink herself, but that didn't appear to be as interesting.

We went to the puppet-making table next. We used paper bags and pieces of cut-out construction paper with double-sided tape to make a frog puppet. Olivia chose where to put the eyes.

Finally, we made a bug catcher. Olivia used Bingo dotters to stamp polka dots on hers. She selected a foam bumble bee to decorate it. Unfortunately, when we got home Baxter ate it.

After crafts, the teacher had set up an area with different play stations. There were tunnels, a playhouse with play food, and a water bin. Olivia enjoyed the tunnels best. (I think it's time to get out the tunnel I bought her from IKEA).

After playtime, we played with bubbles, read one last story, sang one last song, and then class was over.

The CDM offers these baby classes once each month. I hope we are able to go again in July. It might conflict with our vacation plans. We'll definitely go to the one in August.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

It has come and gone. All the planning, crafting, and stressing has finally come to fruition. Her birthday party was this afternoon, and I think it was a success. From the dress (thanks Grandma!) to the cake, the photo board to caterpillar paper lanterns, the snack table and all the guests. It was so much fun!

I made this sign for the party room door using scrapbook paper, my Cricut, and pompoms.

We hosted her party in one of the party rooms at the Discovery Museum. We were still setting up when the guests began to arrive. 20 minutes to set up isn't much time! But it worked out. We served pizza and cake. And of course we served all the fruit that the caterpillar munches on in the book: apples, pears, plums, oranges, strawberries, and watermelon.

Here's the food table. We served all the fruit from the book. I also made the photo board on the table. 

The food table. I downloaded the labels for the food here.

On Monday he ate through one apple.

On Tuesday he ate through two pears.

On Wednesday he ate through three plums.

On Thursday he ate through four strawberries.

On Friday he ate through five oranges.

On Saturday he ate one slice of watermelon.

Photo board I made from newborn to birthday girl. Amazing to see how she's grown.

Above the table I hung a paper lantern caterpillar.

I got the inspiration for this big guy here.

I printed out the labels I made for the favor tins.
The Baby Caterpillar Food tins are filled with puffs.

The regular Caterpillar Food tins are filled with M&Ms.
I bought the frames at the dollar store and spray painted them different colors.

For her guest book, I used a hardback copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
I made the pen using a Sharpie and a green pipe cleaner. I glued a red pompom on top.
Then I attached google eyes with hot glue and twisted on a piece of black pipe cleaner for antennae.

After fruit and pizza, Olivia opened her presents. Her friends and family were so generous. She is very loved.

After presents, we changed Olivia out of her pretty caterpillar dress. And we tried (without success) to get her to wear the silly birthday hat I made.

The hat was inspired by this one.

Then, it was time for the cake! Our friend Amanda made the cake from scratch and even learned how to work with fondant. It turned out beautiful. And pretty tasty too! Thanks, Amanda!

Here's the cake Amanda made for us. It was chocolate and vanilla. YUM!
I made the cake stand. I bought a plain white stand and hot glued grosgrain ribbon around the rim.
Then I hot glued pompoms to the ribbon.

Olivia had her very own large cupcake. She loved everything about it. The way it felt, the way it tasted, the way it made her hair stand up on end when she rubbed the frosting into it. What a mess! But so much fun.

And while a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a video. Those photos don't quite capture the messy baby Olivia is.

After cake, it was already time to clear out of the party room. But Olivia got to enjoy some playtime in the museum with her friends.

You can see most of the dress my mom made.

Now both Daddy and Olivia are down for the count, and I have a few minutes to get the pictures uploaded.

Thanks to everyone who played a part in Olivia's special day!