Birthday Love

Posted in Home Life by Selections By Sisters

Year after year I struggle to come up with an idea for a gift to give a man that never wants anything, that says that if he did, he would get it for himself. He doesn’t want a party in his honor or even everyone getting together for a Happy Hour to toast his years on earth. Ugh… So this year I wanted to attempt to give him a feeling. Sounds weird, to want to give a feeling, I know. My husband is a hard worker and is always doing for others. I don’t think he often stops to realize the fabulous qualities that he possesses and the wonderful thoughts and memories that his friends and family have of him.

At the beginning of January, my sisters, our father and our husbands (Jason and Ryan) threw our mother a surprise 60th birthday party. It was a blast and we created a few special things that I know my mom will treasure forever.

Caitlin found this fabulous memory idea on Nothing But bonfires (http://nothingbutbonfires.com/2011/06/sixty-years-memories) and ran with it. The result was lovely and my mother enjoyed reading all of the wonderful memories and thoughts her friends and family have of her.

I thought that this would be such a great way for me to give Ryan a fabulous present without having to ‘buy’ anything. I enlisted Ryan’s brother, Tyler, to help me out and I tweaked the original letter from http://nothingbutbonfires.com/2011/06/sixty-years-memories and we sent the letter out through email to family and friends, past and present. I was anxious to see who would respond and to read all of the fabulous memories. It took some email reminders and a phone call or two, but we ended up receiving 54 memories, which was awesome! Some memories came through email and others were hand written and mailed to Tyler’s house, so Ryan wouldn’t find them. I received memories from a 5th grade girlfriend, an old neighbor, coworkers, out of town friends, family and so many more.

My original idea was to fill Ryan’s office with helium filled balloons and to tie a string to each balloon with a memory attached to the end of each string. I wasn’t thinking of the fact that helium and the freezing cold Rochester weather wouldn’t mix very well (balloons deflated a bit and got wrinkly when I did a test run). So for me to be able to accomplish the office balloon idea, I would have had to fill the helium balloons at his office and lets be honest, what mom of a busy 15th month old has time to do that? So the the plan changed and I decided to place each memory into a white envelope and to number the envelopes from 1-54.

On the morning of Ryan’s birthday while he was still asleep, I fanned out the envelopes onto the coffee table so that he would have a comfy place to sit, drink his coffee and read the notes that his family and friends sent. I was hoping that he would love it. I was hoping that he wouldn’t think that it was cheesy and be embarrassed by the fact that I contacted people for a memory that they had of him.

He thought that it was anything but cheesy and I think that he absolutely LOVED it…yay!!! Reagan had a blast helping her dada open his notes and she of course thought that the ones that included pictures of her were the best! The plan is to put all of the memories into an album so that he can cherish them forever!

Reagan’s Happy Birthday sign that she worked so hard on, hung in the family room for Ryan to enjoy while opening his memories.

I wrote little notes on large index cards and while he was still sleeping the morning of his birthday I placed them around the house in spots that he goes to in the morning. There was a note on the coffee maker, in his bathroom drawer, in his closet, on the mirrors, on the coffee creamer, on the window above the sink (from our dog, Colby), just to name a few. I thought that these could be little reminders of how Reagan and I feel about him.

To finish off our gifts to dada, I had a t-shirt made for Reagan with Ryan’s business logo on the front. My husband is an AMAZING realtor (http://www.rochestersells.com) and has the most clever logo; a bobble head of himself holding a ReMax balloon..very eye catching since he’s so handsome! Reagan rocked the t-shirt and Ryan thought it was hilarious!

So it was a HAPPY birthday and I’m glad that my husband felt special on his day. We love him and wanted to show him how amazing he really is. I hope that I was actually as successful as I think that I was in my attempt to give my husband a feeling for his birthday…a feeling of being loved. By the look on his face, I think I nailed it!

13Feb2013

Pasta Necklace

Posted in Kid's Corner by Selections By Sisters

Today Reagan was a disaster; tearing apart every toy that ‘lives’ in the family room (as you can see in the background of all these pictures…HOT MESS!). I was attempting to put away things purchased from a trip to BJs (the TP that you see in the background), but Reagan wasn’t having it. She was in desperate need of a quick wind down activity.

A few months ago I dyed, with food coloring, a box of uncooked ziti. I wouldn’t repeat the way that I dyed the ziti because if Reagan puts it into her mouth, which I know she will, the food coloring wipes off onto whatever the ziti touches after getting wet. I need to find a better way to dye the pasta and when I do, I will be sure to share it with you! Nevertheless, I’m continuing to use the pasta until it’s gone.

Continuing on the path of strengthening her fine motor skills, I decided that Reagan could make a pasta necklace. We used a piece of ribbon that I cut long enough for Reagan to make a necklace that when tied would fit over her head, dried dyed ziti, and a pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner is such an important part of this activity for Reagan. She struggles with stringing the ziti on a floppy piece of ribbon, I’m not sure what 15 month old wouldn’t. By twisting a pipe cleaner around the end of the ribbon, I am giving the ribbon support and allowing for Reagan to have something straight and sturdy to string her ziti on to.

By stringing a single piece of pasta and then tying it off with a knot, you are creating a stopper and are ensuring that not one piece of pasta will fall to the floor while stringing.

I poured out the dyed ziti bags onto a large rimmed plate, held up the pipe cleaner with the straw attached and told Reagan that we were going to string some ziti to make a necklace. We’ve done this multiple times, so I no longer need to show her how to string the ziti. The first few times that we did this activity I showed Reagan how to string the ziti, I then guided her hand to assist in stringing the ziti, all while verbally explaining what was happening.

A solid ten minutes is spent in deep concentration as Reagan chooses a colored piece of ziti, we say the color name, and then she strings it onto the pipe cleaner.

I tie the loose end to the tied noodle on the opposite side and BAM…a colorful ziti necklace!
I totally forgot to take a picture of the necklace yesterday, so here’s one the next morning. Oh, and checkout the toilet paper that is still sitting in the front hall.

8Feb2013

Water Colors

Posted in Kid's Corner by Selections By Sisters

Reagan is in LOVE with dipping things lately…thanks to her cousin Henry, who taught her how to dip, dip veggies into blue cheese dressing at their grandmas house. FYI- neither kid really eats the veggies, it’s more of a triple dipper disaster, they really should have their own dip bowls, but hey, it’s all in the family…right?

I thought that I would put her ‘dipping’ skills to work and see if water colors would be of interest to her. I had the materials for the activity, so it really seemed like a no brainer to try it out. First mistake I made right out of the gate…giving Reagan a bowl with water in it. She immediately picked up the bowl and drank the water- at least she hadn’t dipped any paint in it yet. I refilled the bowl with a very small amount of water and explained to Reagan that the water wasn’t for drinking and proceeded to show her what do to. With the paper, water color pad and water bowl in front of her and paintbrush in hand, I guided Reagan’s hand to dip the paintbrush into the water bowl, then to the color pad and onto the paper. I made sure to verbalize what we were doing and to say the color names that she was dipping into.

Reagan seemed to enjoy the watercolors, switching from using the brush to paint to using her fingers. I ended up giving her a foam paint brush to allow for the activity to last a little longer. A bib would have been a great idea, but Reagan just yanks them off. A previously stained turtle neck worked out perfectly!

Another great activity to strengthen her fine motor skills!

8Feb2013

The Sound of Music

Posted in Kid's Corner by Selections By Sisters

The sound of music…or banging and clanging! An easy activity that can be done at anytime of the day (aspirin may be needed at the conclusion of the activity for the adults in the room) Reagan LOVES music, especially making her own! Play is so fantastic and can be created using such basic things like pot bases, pot tops, wooden spoons and whisks. Reagan’s favorite is the whisk! A drummer in the making!

6Feb2013

Rice Play for Toddlers

Posted in Kid's Corner by Selections By Sisters

I had some serious pot cleaning to do today, so I set Reagan up on a towel in the kitchen with an activity that she LOVES…playing with rice! I provide Reagan with various ‘tools’, such as spoons, forks, measuring cups, bowls, pots, pans and muffin tins. The cream colored circle thingy in the picture came with the Baby Bullet- it was used to freeze pureed foods. I don’t give her all of the ‘tools’ at once, by adding things as she plays, it allows for longer play time.

We have been doing this activity for several months now. When I first introduced rice play, a fantastic sensory activity to Reagan; I would sit on the floor with her and guide her in how to use the ‘tools’ that I provided her with. I began with only two bowls and a spoon until Reagan got the hang of scooping the rice from one bowl to the next. As Reagan masters the ‘tools’ that are provided, I add more ‘tools’ for her to explore with; showing her first a couple of ways to use them, before allowing her to explore independently. It’s amazing how her fine motor skills have progressed and she is able to use a table spoon to scoop rice from a bowl into 12 individual muffin tin spots.

The first several times that I did this activity with Reagan, we used Uncle Ben’s White Rice, because that’s what I had in the house. While cleaning out the cupboards one day I found an unopened bag of Lunderg’s Brown Basmati, which I believe Erin, my sister, gave to me to ground to feed to Reagan when she was just beginning to eat solids. Anyway, I continue to use Lunderg’s Brown Basmati because I find that it is smoother than the Uncle Ben’s White Rice but it’s totally a personal preference. FYI- we have been using the same bag of rice for 3 months now.

I will warn you that this activity is a bit of a mess until your child begins to figure out the ‘tools’ that they are given. At the beginning stages, I turned the messy cleanup into something fun for Reagan. She loves using the mini vacuum, so after she finished play, I would pick up the towel and the ‘tools’ and let her vacuums up all of the rice! At this stage, Reagan rarely gets any rice off of the towel, so the vacuum doesn’t even need to come out! An easy way to get the rice off of the towel is to lift the sides of the towel and allow the rice to roll to the middle. It’s so much easier to clean up the rice from one neat pile.

I keep the rice that we play with in a zip locked bag, labeled with her name in sharpie marker. I wouldn’t want to come home to my husband cooking rice that we play with on the floor with the stinky dog. As I said before, we have been using the same bag of rice for about 3 months now.

Use what you have and have fun with it!

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