Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Monday, August 9, 2010

Tot School

Tot School 

We missed doing a formal tot-school entry last week, but we’ve been keeping busy!  My grandma was in the hospital and we went out of town to visit her for a few days, so we’ve been pretty low-key lately (I think we’ll always be pretty low-key!). 

A few things we’ve been doing…

1) Eye-dropper Activities.  Ella continues to enjoy using the eye dropper!  My favorite thing about it is that it’s fast and easy to set-up.  It’s been perfect for her to do in the kitchen at the table while I cook dinner, or we just need something to do while we wait for something else (like waiting for her dad to finish getting ready so we can go out to do something fun as a family!). 

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2)  Using a magnifying glass!  Ella has LOVED this activity!  Basically, it’s a matching game.  You have to use the magnifying glass to match the teeny tiny pictures with the larger sized photos.  You can download the cards with more detailed instructions here

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3)  Cooking!  Ella helped me to make a rice-crispy type dessert.  She didn’t help a lot and got bored pretty fast, but she liked touching/playing with the marshmallows!  Good thing I had her wash her hands first…! 

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4)  I forget what this toy is called, but she played with it at the table for a long time the other day!  She had fun moving the little beads around and problem-solving (she had to figure out how to move the toy or move her hands so that she could reach the different beads). 

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5) Stringing Beads.  This is a set from Plan Toys.  It takes a lot of hand-eye coordination and is a perfect beginner bead set.  They’re nice and big, so great for little hands! 

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6)  Matching Cards.  She loves to use these cards to match!  When we first started (a month or 2 ago), I laid the cards face-up, and asked her to match them.  Now, they are face down and she has to remember where the matches are. 

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She’ll say, “Is this a match?  Nooooo……!” 

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Wes’ Company Picnic!

(written yesterday, 8.22.09)

Wes’ company picnic was today—and it was a lot of fun!  It was at the Columbus Zoo, and it was BEAUTIFUL today!  When we arrived, the car thermometer said 72 degrees!  It did start to sprinkle toward the end, but we were in a pavilion/shelter, so it didn’t matter. 

A week or so ago, Wes mentioned that we needed to bring a dessert that would feed 2 dozen people.  Then, yesterday morning, he also mentioned that there would be a dessert contest!  He said that we didn’t have to enter, but honestly, it sounded like fun to me!  So, all day, I tried to think of something creative to make.  I asked friends for ideas, searched the internet, looked at other people’s creations for ideas—but when I went to bed last night, I still didn’t know what to make. 

So, this morning, I woke up before Wes and Ella, and laid awake in bed for 45 minutes thinking about this.  And then I had an idea!  So, I went to the store, spent more money than I should have on decorating supplies, and ended up with this: 

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Now, I can’t take credit for actually decorating it!  We were running short on time, so Wes did the decorating while I finished getting myself and Ella ready. 

There weren’t many desserts that were decorated—only a few.  As a result, our little Script Ohio Sheet Cake won 1st place for presentation!  Our prize was a gift card to PF Chang’s!  Yum! 

Since I spent the majority of the morning baking, Ella missed her morning nap.  But, when she’s tired enough, she never fails to fall asleep on Wes…100_7571

After eating, the zoo brought out some animals for us to look at close-up!  I wish I had more pictures to share, but the only animal we took pictures of was this BEAUTIFUL Snow-Leopard!  He is 4 months old! 

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A fun day was had by all.  :)