I’m officially twenty-eight years old! It seems like the years are getting shorter, but way more fuller.
To make my life even crazier and busier than it currently is, I surprised myself with a little gift. Our family has grown… again. This time by four more furry feet.
Yes…we got a puppy!
It was sort of spur of the moment, but the idea of a new dog has been in my head for the last few weeks. I feel like Max has been super lonely with school starting. He loves other dogs too and it’s just been something I’ve considered.
Plus, Mila and I love puppies and dogs too! The more craziness in our house, the better.
So yesterday, I found the perfect little guy for our family. I can’t wait to see how big he grows and how he fits right in with us.
Everyone… meet Toby!
He’s a Bernese Mountain Dog who is twelve weeks old. His paws are massive and he has the prettiest grey eyes. For a puppy, he’s calm and just loves on us.
Mila knows his name is Toby, but calls him ‘tube-y.’ It’s cute and he still runs to her.
Even though puppies are SO much work, he’s the perfect birthday present. I’m so happy with him and just smile when I look his way.
Max is obsessed with him and was like a mother hen helping him out on his first night at home.
Fingers crossed for more sleep tonight though!
Do you have any puppy tips or tricks? I’d love to hear more in the comments!
No matter if your little needs to stay busy after school or during the day, activity boxes will help! This week, Mila has been enjoying a Dinosaur Activity Box.
Filled with books, educational worksheets, sensory objects, and dinosaur toys, Mila has been engaged with this activity box all week. Every time she goes to pull something out, she can explore a new way to play. That’s what makes these boxes so intriguing to kids.
I’m actually really happy that Mila is interested in dinosaurs. Here’s a little secret… dinosaurs are one of my weird fears. I mean they’re extinct. Since Mila is interested in them now, I’ve learned a ton about them. Thank you to all the authors who have simplified the terms and information to toddler books. I really think the dancing dino books have been a huge help into getting Mila interested in them.
Anyways, since Mila is in a weird in between of waiting for preschool while I’m at school, I thought putting together activity boxes would be perfect.
This is a low prep solution to keeping her engaged while she’s with my mom. I can imagine babysitters would love this idea too. All my mom has to do is grab the box and take it. Next week, I’ll have a different theme with similar activities.
Here’s what’s in the box…
Dinosaur Books
Mila learns best with books and activities. We’ve collected a ton of books in her three years, but they have paid themselves off with all that she’s learned.
A few months ago, we actually did a fun activity with Dino Dance by Sandra Boynton. Mila actually remembered it when she saw her activity box and flipped to their dances. It’s so nice to know she has that information stored somewhere.
The other books are just as valuable. We love them all and read them even without talking about dinosaurs…
It turns out, Mila loves worksheets. She loves the idea of ‘working,’ so it’s made learning a breeze.
I went through all her different workbooks and found the dinosaur themed ones. Some of them talk about the letter ‘d’ and others are working on prewriting. Either way, they are her level and she’s learning.
I’d definitely recommend starting your toddler or preschooler with worksheets at home. Target and Amazon always has amazing options!
Resin Letters
Resin letters are a must to add to any activity. I love that they help familiarize kids with the alphabet in a fun way that they can hold in their hands.
For this activity bin, I obviously put ‘dinosaur’ in an egg for Mila to explore. She matched them up with the letters on the books and we went over them too. This particular set was made by one of my students. However, I love Beags and Bubs‘ resin letters on Instagram. I bought a custom set a few weeks ago and have used them a ton. They’d be a great Christmas or birthday present!
Pretend play is Mila’s favorite way to play. She likes to make up different voices and scenarios. I HAD to include them in her bin.
Not only did the dinosaurs dance, they played all types of different games with them too. Mila likes to make the dinosaur toys act out the books as well. She could pretend play for hours. This was no different than usual!
I also added some sensory play items in there for her too. She loves the different textures of the play-dough and slime. In this bin, I only put in ‘dinosaur colors,’ which are greens and blues. This way she can make foot prints, try to make dinosaurs, or just give her brain a little break.
Some of the other sensory items I added were beads, a dinosaur egg, and play-dough moulds.
Overall, this activity box was a success! Mila loved it and I love watching her learn.
I have a few ideas for future boxes, but would love to hear what you all would like to see too! Let me know in the comments!
Then check out these dinosaur inspired activities:
It’s back to school time! Before I know it, Mila will be starting her first year of preschool. To help her start the year off right, I compiled a Back to School Success Backpack for her.
Although we didn’t get a supply list, I figured there were some must haves that Mila needed. I want her to feel comfortable going away to school for the first time ever. It’s a HUGE change. She’s going to thrive there, but if there’s a chance she’ll miss me or be a little sad, I wanted her to have things that made her smile.
Everything personalized I ordered from Etsy, but you can find non-personalized things at a ton of local stores. Mila loves personalized things because she’s familiar with ‘her letters.’
If you love any of these items, I’m going to list the shop and the item link below. That way you’re able to check them out. All of these shops have different colors and styles that will be perfect for you child. This is just what I knew Mila would love.
For every first day of school, you need a fresh look. I just loved how cheerful this shirt was. It reminded me of Mila the first second I saw it. I mean, hello rainbow!
Another thing with this shirt… it can be customized to whatever grade a child is going into. If you’re not into pink, you can pick another color too.
BIG surprise here… Mila just had to have a rainbow backpack. We love what rainbows symbolize to us. Plus, it’s pink. I know Mila will love taking this to school everyday and will remember to bring it back filled with goodies too!
This is my FAVORITE item in her first day of school success backpack.
Not only do we get matching bracelets, it’s super meaningful. I miss her all day when I’m at work and I have a feeling she might feel the same. Whenever she looks down, I hope she knows I’m thinking about her too.
Mila actually loves bracelets and I know she’ll take really good care of this one. Probably until it breaks!
Mila loves Pop Its. They calm her down when needed and they’re a ton of fun activities to do with them outside of school too! I know this will be a familiar tool for her to use when needed.
One activity that really clicks for Mila are scavenger hunts. To help prepare her for school, I downloaded these really handy morning and night checklists from Celebration Stylist. They have a TON of different printables for almost any occasion you can think about. I’d definitely recommend their website for busy moms who don’t have the time to make decorations or items, but still want to incorporate them in their lives.
Anyways, we’ve been using these to help her understand what we have to do to make our days successful. At night, she’s already remembering what should happen next and is enjoying this routine.
If you’re looking for page protectors, I got this specific one from Target! They work so nice and let us reuse these every day!
This affirmation sheet is also from Celebration Stylist. For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading them all to her and they make her smile. These types of affirmations can really help boost a child’s confidence.
I’m putting this in her folder to take to school so she can remember them. My hope is if she is feeling down, she looks at this list and remembers who she is.
The last two items I’m making sure she has handy for her first day of school is a snack and one of her water bottles. I cannot go through the work day without drinking or snacking throughout. Even though I know her teachers will provide her with that, this is just an ‘in case of emergency’ type of deal.
I am so excited for Mila to start this new journey. Every part of me knows she will succeed and love learning and playing with her new friends.
It’s my hope that Mila will have all the tools she will need in this Back to School Success Backpack. In her three years, I’ve done my best to help prepare her for this step and now it’s time for her to shine. This will be another part of her life that I’m just insanely proud of.
I can’t wait to hear all her stories… and maybe share a few here too.
In the comments, let me know what you did to be successful. What did you send with your preschooler on their first day? Do you have any tips or tricks?
After that, check out how these other moms are prepping for back to school:
If you’re looking for a fun, ocean animal themed animal craft that’s not a mermaid, you’ve came to the right spot. This Cupcake Liner Octopus is easy to do and turns out looking cute!
When I say easy, I mean that Mila made her octopus with little assistance by me. Yay for independence and growth.
I also like that even though we LOVE mermaids, we’ve done so many this year. It was nice to switch up the ocean themed activities with a different sea animals. Mila remembers them from our trip to Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, which helped a lot!
The best part of this activity, you can find everything at your local dollar store for less than $5! Here’s what you’ll need:
First, have your child pick out what colors they want the octopuses to be. In our pack of cupcake liners we had pastels: pink, yellow, blue, and green.
Mila picked pink for her (of course) and yellow for me.
Then, to help your toddler succeed in this craft, cut four, long strips of scrapbook paper and tissue paper. These will be the octopus’s legs.
Then, glue together a strip of tissue paper and a strip of scrapbook paper. The scrapbook paper should be on top of the tissue paper. I folded them in the middle to help my guide where they should meet.
Mila did help me with gluing, but she doesn’t have the scissor skills yet to cut long strips. She enjoyed cutting some small pieces off though.
While the legs are drying, take two of the same color cupcake liners and glue them together. This reinforces the octopus and makes it stronger if you want it to hang longterm.
Then, it’s time for the googly eyes. Mila matched the octopuses’ body color with their eyes. She’s been obsessed with googly eyes so I knew I needed to have a craft that had them in there. It was a success.
Just glue the eyes on to the cupcake liner. For this, I flattened the liner to make sure they stayed.
After that, I had her used a marker to draw a smiley face.
Now it’s time to put the legs and body together!
I assisted her with this a lot because it’s a little tricky for toddler.
Take one of the legs and put glue on the center of the scrapbook paper part. Then, place it in the inside of the cupcake liner. It should look like the octopus has two legs dangling down.
After, flip it upside down again, repeat the gluing, and rotate how you put the legs so it’s opposite. You want to make a little ‘x’ in the middle.
While the first two strips dry on the octopus, help with the other one or wait until it dries a little more. I found it dried better if it was flipped on the octopus’s head.
When it’s strong enough make another ‘x’ with the remaining legs.
The legs should look like a star when they’re laying down. It’s hard to explain, but simple to do.
If you’d like to hang then, just take a string and scrapbook paper and glue it on top of its head. I put the string under the paper to give it a little more strength.
Now you’re all done!
Mila was super proud of our Cupcake Liner Octopus and I think they both turned amazingly cute.
If you try this craft out, let me know in the comments. Also, if you know of a cute octopus book, I’d love for you to share it too. It’d be a great idea to pair this craft with a book for other toddlers.
After that, check out how these other moms incorporated mermaids and sea creatures in their day too!
There’s nothing more special than a mother daughter date night! Instead of going out, Mila and I stayed in and practiced self care.
Since this first week back to school has been hectic, staying in and relaxing felt right. We both needed the rest and the together time to recharge for the upcoming week. Plus, we got to just focus on what self care we needed.
To begin the night, I took a hot shower where I put on a hair mask (seriously the mask I linked does wonders!) and used sugar scrub.
I never have enough time to do these extra steps! Setting aside this time made my skin and hair feel so soft and new.
Mila, on the other hand, had a bubble bath beforehand. She spent her time doing her own makeup. I didn’t know this, but she definitely was feeling herself and all the glitter.
We kept it on until right before bed because she liked it. When you have a self care night, you have to feel like your best self.
I can’t blame her for wanting to be covered in glitter.
After my lotion dried, we put on our favorite jammies. Then, we got our self care essentials for the night:
As a busy mom, I don’t always get to read as much as I’d like. Just even being able to read a few pages felt so nice. It’s also amazing for Mila to see me reading and enjoying it! I hope so loves English and language as much as I do.
The book she picked out is adorable! She often asks me to read it to her before bed. Now she makes up the story when she looks at it herself.
Throughout watching movies and reading our books, we snacked on our cheese balls and jello.
Mila asked for water, without Mio. I’m so proud of her positive choices. I told her she could have anything to drink and that’s what she chose.
We ended the night taking selfies and I painted Mila’s nails. I love that we both have dark purple polish on now. Anytime we can match, I feel like we try to do it. Even when we stay in.
It wasn’t long after her nails dried until Mila fell asleep. We had wiped her makeup off and she was just relaxed.
I ended the night watching dance moms and maybe had a few more cheese balls too.
Our night was pretty perfect.
We love being together and doing the things we enjoy. I can’t express how much joy Mila brings me. Hopefully she’ll be able to see the importance of self care as she gets older.
We all deserve to love and cherish ourselves.
Have you ever had a self care night with just your or with your little? What was your favorite activity?
Cake it till you make it with this Cake Decorating Sensory Bin.
Shaving cream is such a fun ingredient to use during sensory play. It’s cheap, versatile, and easy to clean up. That makes this bin perfect for kids and their parents!
I also loved seeing Mila’s creativity again and again. She did a lot of different designs and pretended she was a cake decorated the entire time.
I feel like I always say this, but putting this bin together took no time.
The longest part was cutting up the straws into sprinkles. For this, all I did was randomly cut it in small pieces. I didn’t measure or make anything exact.
Then, I put shaving cream in the bin. There was a decent sized layer there, but I didn’t fill the bin.
After that, I set it in front of Mila and told her the goal of the sensory bin. She did everything else without me having to monitor it.
The only thing I did have to mention that this was shaving cream… not whipped cream.
Mila played with this activity for way longer than I set it up. Which is always a win in my book. When she wanted to clear off her cake, we put the sprinkles in a colander and cleaned them off.
This Cake Decorating Sensory Bin really was such a simple and fun activity for her!
I’m the future, I can see this activity expanding into her spelling words or having her make certain images. Mainly because it was so easy!
Let me know in the comments your child’s favorite type of sensory play. I think Mila’s might be water!
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is a classic story about sharing. Since preschool is quickly approaching, I thought this story and lesson would be great for Mila to read and remember.
Sharing can be a tricky thing to learn, so a book with beautiful illustrations is a great place to start.
One of my favorite parts about this activity is you can make it however you want!
Before the activity, I prepped the basics of Mila’s fish.
Instead of a paper plate, I just used left over scrapbook paper to make the fish’s body, fins, and eyes. Then I cute out aluminum paper and taped it on the fins. I tried to mimic the book, but I think it turned out just fine!
At this time, I also premade the foil scales too!
To start out this activity, we first read The Rainbow Fish. While reading, I asked Mila a few different situational questions like…
Would you share your scales?
Do you think you have to share to have friends?
Would you be sad if someone didn’t share with you?
Do you know you’re just as beautiful inside as your are out?
Plus a few extra ones that I can’t think of at the moment. Yet, they all touched on these topics.
Another BIG thing we talked about with this book is consent. Mila stated she wouldn’t want to give away her scales or parts of her. When she said this, I thought… duh mom?!
We talked about how it’s okay not to share all of yourself or things with others. But it is nice to take turns with toys and listening ears.
Who knew she’d get so deep so fast.
Then, I had her use her watercolors to paint her own scales. She made me a beautiful pictures first.
After she was finished painting, we let the paint dry. It only took a little bit and you could speed it up with a hair dryer. Then make more paper scales.
To assemble rainbow fish, I taped the back of the scales and we talked about sharing and consenting again.
While she taped on her painted scales, I would ask her about positive ways she could share in preschool. Every time she thought of one, she could add a shiny scale to her rainbow fish.
I think she did excellent and was so proud of her fish after it was done!
When I reflect back on this book and activity, I’m really shocked with the questions she had. It also made me smile knowing she’ll be good to go with sharing and being a friend in preschool.
Let me know in the comments if you love The Rainbow Fish or what other books about sharing you’d recommend.
Then, if you love pairing books and activities, check out some of these ideas…
What’s more fun than water balloons? Throwing water balloons with tie dye in them at a perfectly white sheet.
Let’s just say, Mila custom made me Water Balloon Tie Dye Sheets to celebrate summer.
AND… I love them!
So, let me tell you this first. It was sort of a huge jump of faith to do this activity. Mila was introduced to water balloons this year and throwing them at other people… do you get where my brain went?
Unlike Mila, I didn’t wear a swimsuit for this activity. I hoped with all my might she wouldn’t just throw them at me.
She ended up not getting me with them, but if you do this activity, beware! Tie dye is so hard to get off other clothes if you can’t get to it right away. It also takes a few days to get off of skin too.
But it was totally worth it! This is my favorite art project of the summer that I get to use frequently!
When you brave it with your kids, here’s what you need:
There is some prep going into this activity. It’s a lot easier than the Balloon Pop Artwork we did for Mila’s birthday!
For some reason, Mila slept until 10 am one morning, which gave me a perfect amount of time to set up and prep for this. Usually I’m all for older kids helping with prep, but this one can get messy!
To start off, I mixed the tie dye together and let the solution saturate.
Then, I color coordinated the balloons to match the dye. This way Mila knew what to expect and could do more color recognition… because we’re always learning!
After I thought they were mixed enough, it was time to start.
I’m guessing there’s probably easier ways to do this, but this is how I did it. If you know of a better way, PLEASE let me know in the comments.
Anyways, I blew up the water balloon with air. Then, added the tie dye water to the balloon by sticking the tip of the bottle into the balloon. After, I added extra water into it.
See… messy.
I found it better to blow it up as much as it could and not fill it completely with water.
Not going to lie, this took a little while, but I had the time. If you’re planning to do this, just know they’ll want way more than you planned! We probably threw around 50 to 75. They all didn’t hit or pop on the sheet.
So, if you think you have enough, do ten more.
After the balloons were done, I set up the outside area. Since I have access to pallets, I used that to hold the big sheet. The pillow cases went to the ground to catch the splatter.
At first I had it more upright, but it worked better with a slant.
By the time Mila woke up, the area was ready to rock-n-roll. Let’s just say, she woke up pretty easy when she found out what we’d be doing!
All I told her to do was get her swimsuit on and meet me outside.
Then she saw the balloons and sheets.
I told her the plan for the day and she took right to it. Again, I’m thankful she didn’t hit me with any because I wore normal clothes. Which I would not recommend.
We found out that the balloons were harder to pop than we originally thought. I’m guessing because of the air in them.
She found her rhythm though!
Look at that lefty power.
It took a lot less time to throw all the balloons than it did to pop them.
I actually made more midway through.
We had fun talking about the different colors and making predictions about their pop. Like I said, it took a little bit to figure out how to pop them. I think the sheets softened the blow.
It was fun watching Mila’s strength and persistence while throwing them.
One tip I’ll give is to turn the sheets and pillow cases half way through. That way both sides can get optimal color!
I am super impressed with how these turned out.
To finish off the tie dye, I folded the sheet and pillow cases up, put them in a plastic bag, and popped them in the refrigerator overnight. Then, wash and dry them. They’ll be ready to go after that.
Once I put them on the bed, I’ll update this post and share on Instagram and Facebook.
We’ll definitely be tie dying again with this kit! I’ve made a few shirts with it, but this way by far the most fun we’ve had with it.
Have you ever tie dyed anything? What’s your favorite way to do it? Comment to let us know.
I think ours is with water balloons!
After you comment, check out how these moms incorporate water play with their kids!
These are just the different fruits we used. You can use any that you like best!
First, cut all of your fruit into smaller pieces. I sliced the strawberries and kiwi, halved grapes, used pineapple chunks, and whole blueberries for ours.
Then, cut your watermelon into slices. Then you can make different shapes if your toddler would like. We used star cookie cutters for Mila’s.
After you figure out the shape of your watermelon pizza, spread fruit dip all over it.
You could also use whipped cream too!
Next, take the fruit and cover your watermelon. We ordered ours like the rainbow on Mila’s star and an inverted rainbow on my watermelon slice.
I absolutely love how these turned out!
It was such a tasty snack, but I bet they’d be a huge hit at family get-togethers or parties. I can even see it being an interactive station.
A melon-ion possibilities.
Yes. I absolutely had to throw a watermelon pun in the post somewhere. All of you would be disappointed if I didn’t after the Shark Week post! Which was just JAWesome.
No matter what you make these for, you won’t be disappointed with how they taste. And your toddler will love helping out with their snacks.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever made watermelon pizza.
For this one, you have to do a little preplanning.
The night before you want to do this activity, it has to be frozen. I used an old Tupperware container and filled it with water. Then, I added colored flowers that matched the Olympic Rings to the container.
To keep the flowers in place, I filled the containers lid and put something heavy on it in the freezer.
It ended up looking like this…
Next, I poured a little bit of table salt into a jar and got some brushes out too. To help the melt, I also gave Mila a little cup of water.
Everything was set into a bin to collect the water.
All I instructed Mila to do was rescue the ‘rings’ and that the salt helped make it melt.
While she worked hard on melting all the ice, we talked more about the Olympics and I showed her how it was spelled. She’s recognizing letters that are in her name and the ones she sees frequently!
She worked really hard on figuring out the best way to make the ice melt.
Her favorite was to dump a ton a salt on the ice, then water. It was so neat watching her figure out why it was melting and what helped.
It really did take her a while for all the ice to melt. I was impressed with her persistence.
Once it was melted, she enjoyed played with the letters and the flowers in the water. Water is always a great sensory component!
During this play time, Mila let me know her favorite Olympic sport was swimming… of course. She thinks it’s amazing how fast they can get through the water! I’ve also showed her some gymnastics routines that she enjoyed.
We always love sensory play and toddler activities.
It gives toddlers time to have fun while learning and parents time to get some things done! This Olympic Ice Play was a hit with Mila and I think a ton of other kids will enjoy it too!
Do you watch the Olympic Games? What’s your favorite sport?
Grey Skies & Rainbow Highs 