Our Little Visitor

Today I got a text message from one of our church members saying they had a baby bird and asking if I would take it. I volunteer at our local zoo, and they knew that, so they figured I'd be a good one to call. I went and picked it up and brought it home so the kids could see it. It is a baby kestrel, just starting to get some of its feathers. It was sooo cute! Callie didn't want to put it down. She named it "Chasey" because it was being chased by a cat when it was rescued! I think Callie is going to be a zoologist or wildlife rescuer when she grows up. She absolutely loves all animals. Anytime she sees an animal on tv or in a book, she tells me she wants a baby one! If we lived at a zoo, she would be in heaven! When we took the bird over to the zoo, she cried and cried because she wanted to keep it so badly. Poor kid. We definitely need to live on more land so we can get more animals for her!

Pure joy!

Josh, on the other hand, would only pet with one finger!

Pretty long wings for such a little guy.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

Callie was begging to paint something, so I threw this together really fast. I am going to be starting a unit on bugs/insects this week, so I thought it would fit in perfectly. I pulled out our stash of coffee filters and our spray bottles containing liquid watercolors. The kids had a blast spraying the filters. We had to let them dry the rest of the day before we could scrunch them together with a pipe cleaner to make the butterfly. They were really into painting the filters and made a ton of them. You can see from the bottom pic that we only made a couple into butterflies before they tired of that! (For anyone wanting to know, the liquid watercolors can be bought at Discount School Supply. There is a button for it in the left column of my blog. They are a little pricey, but are so worth it because the colors are amazing! They also last a long time.)

Josh wanted to stack all of his on top of each other.

All done!

Fun Food Friday: Dolphins

I didn't have anything special planned today, so I pulled out one of my trusty sandwich punches and put together this super easy lunch. The dolphins are peanut butter and jelly with candy eyes. There are applesauce and cantaloupe in the large muffin liners, and some vegan marshmallows in the little one.

Products I used for this lunch:


     

Fun Food Friday: A Sweet Butterfly

This was another quick and easy one that I copied from Meet the Dubiens. I am so glad there are so many awesome ideas on the internet that I don't have to come up with everything! It's so much easier to copy, and the kids could care less!

I should have just used regular bread because my kids aren't a fan of tortillas for whatever reason. Callie ate her veggie meat with the lettuce rolled up inside, and Josh just picked out the cheese and ate that. Maybe I should have also just stuck with peanut butter and jelly!

Products I used to make this lunch:

      

Playing With Bubbles

This is a quick and easy activity that I do when the kids seem to be getting into everything and I need to channel their energy into something! I put the plug in the sink, squirt a whole lot of dish soap in, then run the water. I then scrape out all the bubbles into big bowls. I give them cookie sheets and various spoons and smaller bowls. I love watching how their creativity runs wild with this.

Callie made cookies

Josh stirring his bubbles

Easter Sensory Bath

Callie and Josh both love bath time. I enjoy mixing it up every once in awhile to make it extra special. The blog, Growing a Jeweled Rose, has a lot of awesome sensory play ideas, including bath play. I completely copied this Easter bath from her. (Isn't it great to have the internet for so many ideas now!?) Neither Callie nor Josh really liked all the Easter grass in the tub because it was clinging all over them, so we took it out pretty quickly.

For this bath, I dyed the water with food coloring. I put some plastic dinosaurs in the big eggs and in the little eggs I put some of those pellets that have sponge shapes that grow when placed in water. I also added some foam eggs that stick really well to the walls when wet.

Purple water, foam Easter eggs, and plastic eggs filled with treasures!

Easter grass on top.

Opening the eggs.

Watching the pellet open and form a butterfly.

The dinosaurs taking a ride on egg boats.

The foam eggs became boats.

Another Lazy Week

Here are some pictures of the kiddos playing with their tot trays this week. You can see in the background that we've also had fun playing with some Easter window clings that Grandma sent us! Thanks Grandma!!

Sorting bears

Pouring water

Playing with magnets

Decorating an Easter tree

Peeling the backing off of stickers is an awesome fine motor skill.

I pulled out some file folder games that I have had in my collection since teaching Kindergarten. Callie really enjoys these, though the matching color one was too easy for her.

Putting things that go together in the correct flower pot.

Matching colors to the color words. She knows her colors. I would like to make the main folder in just black and white so she has to read the colors.

This is how the cover looks. I don't know why there isn't a picture on the blue one. They are so old I can't remember.

Working on subtraction.