THE WHAT YOU LOVE SHOP.

 

welp. i opened an etsy shop. it's pretty simple right now. the christmas season is almost upon us. please don't jump down my throat for announcing that before halloween has even passed. i'm a person that believes in the u.s. postal service and all the wonders that come with sending and receiving mail. and christmas mail is just one of the best. i love the photos. i love the newsletters and updates. i really just love it.

so literally i few days ago, when i was dreaming up how we were going to pay for the extra cost of special formula (yep- turns out mr. jakey is just like rorie- allergic to milk protein), i thought: "i'll make christmas cards!" and i did. and they're for sale. and you could buy them!

so i would love it if you'd check out my shop. it's the WHAT YOU LOVE SHOP. and we are open for business!


p.s. i loved all your suggestions from my last post. this is most definitely going to be a shop of made of many materials!

THE THINGS SHE DOES.

during one of jacob's "naps", i wrote out the alphabet and asked, "can you color the [insert letter] [insert color]?" it actually was a really fun spur of the moment activity. we also got a little wild and did dots.

a duck game at grandma's house. each duck has a different color on the bottom. there's three of each color for each lily pad. really cute, even if it's not technically for her age.

aaron built rorie a tent when we were living in chicago. the lucky pair got to watch finding nemo in it one night. complete with popcorn.

"super girl" taking my tea order. i believe on this particular day we had "shell tea". sometimes we have "rock tea". oh... she literally wore that outfit all day. her pjs are underneath. 

another activity totally not geared for her age, but it's great for concentration and fine motor skills. she loved it. can't wait to show her what happens when you iron it. i bet she'll be mad they get all stuck together. anyone want to bet on it?

pipe cleaners and beads. enough said.

painting shells is a touisset point past time. 

sweet girl now sits here and goes through the whole bookshelf while i'm putting jacob to sleep. 3-4 times a day.

"i have a mustache"

 

and.... here's jakey!

have a great  day!

ARTS & CRAFTS & WAITING FOR BABY.

if i'm going to be completely honest... i've been resorting to arts & crafts multiple times a day. haha did i trick you into thinking i was doing something cray-cray? :) ah well... we're just nestled into our new NH house waiting, waiting, waiting for baby jacob to make his arrival. it could be any day now or it could be weeks. so while we wait, we do art. here are a few things we've been doing lately:

1) markers & crayons. i prefer when she uses markers because she gets a greater satisfaction, at least at this age, of the juicy marks they make on the page. and it's really good hand-eye coordination practice when she tries to put the caps back on. it's really cute to watch and she rarely needs my help.

2) stickers. i learned at the young age of 12 that stickers were a mothers best friend. it started with my littlest sister and a flight home to thailand when she was rorie's age. stickers kept her busy and quiet. so i always suggest stickers to mothers traveling with their young babies on airplanes. well, stickers are just as awesome on land as they are in the air. i stocked up at wal-mart after easter. $0.12 for a page of stickers seemed to be just too awesome to pass up. i also got a big bag of foam stickers at a craft store. rorie has figured out how to bend the sticker page to get them off herself, but she still needs me with the foam ones. it's really a fun activity and then we usually use markers on the stickers afterwards for double the arts & crafts time.

3) watercolors. i recently took out the watercolors i'd been saving since high school (the markers i have are also from high school... i knew i would need them in the future for my babies!). turns out it was the best decision i've made in a while. almost two is a perfect age for watercolors and they make the most beautiful abstract pieces. in my opinion. let me know if you want a rorie original...we'll get right to work. it's a pretty simple process. i just ask her what color she wants to use and doctor up the brush and then she does the work until more paint is needed. it's very calming and we are working on being soft with the brush. but she's also into polka dots... which is not very soft on the brush, but i'm not going to deny her the polka-dots. it's also really fun to watch her brain work. she painted a "tiger with polka dots, here's his tail" and "snakes" this morning.

it's finally getting warmer out here, too. so we've been playing on our porch and in the side yard every chance we get. we're also buying berries again! and that makes everything better.

any other fun arts & crafts we should try?