This morning I woke up to this post from Kiwi Crate in my inbox, which turned out to be a perfect afternoon activity for Miss G. The moment I nonchalantly mentioned a ‘sticker matching game’, she was ready to go.
Luckily, this little activity takes very little prep work. Miss G helped me gather some paper, some dot stickers, a Sharpie, and some scissors.
To get started, I folded a green sheet of construction paper in half, and cut out a tree shape freehand.
Next, I used the Sharpie to draw 15 unique shapes onto the dot stickers (the original post uses letters instead of shapes, but I thought this would be a better starting point for Miss G).
Next, I drew matching shapes on the tree. And that was it. The game was ready.
Then I let Miss G go. All I said was “Do you want to try this sticker matching game?” and she started peeling stickers off of the backing. I wasn’t sure what she’d do, but she automatically placed the polka dotted circle sticker on top of the polka dotted circle drawn on the paper. Smart little cookie! ☺
And from there, she powered through the rest of the stickers.
Let me tell you, Miss G adores matching games. Mix in stickers, which she also adores, and this game couldn’t be more perfect for her.
Done!
Of course, the second she finished her tree she tilted her head to the side and said, “Grae Grae does anover sticker matching game, Mama?” And really, how can you say no to that? This time, we went with something a little different… I cut out a quick gingerbread person and used the stickers as body parts and decorations.
She loved this one too and pleaded for another.
This time I decided to try the letter idea.
I wasn’t sure if it would be too much for her, but off she went and carefully started making matches.
It definitely took her a little more time, but she happily worked on it on her own as I tidied the house.
“Mama, Mama! All done!!!”
This was such a fun and simple activity that we’ll definitely be doing it again soon (VERY soon – as in tomorrow – if it’s up to Miss G).
♥
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Meet Tess. A mama snowman (snowlady?) who is 2 years old.
Gracen loves her so.
And despite how it may appear, this is a kiss and not a nose nibble.
Tess’ plastic hat just wasn’t working for her. Time to switch it up. This one has Grae’s stamp of approval.
Meet Yess. Mama’s baby boy snowman who is 1 year old.
I’d say she had a great first snowman experience… Now what to tell her when her beloved Tess and Yess begin melting away…
Perfect snowball making snow.
“Yook, Mama! Yook what Grae Grae has.”
Snowballs.
A collection.
Attempted snow angel.
For the freezer.
Beautiful light displays.
Through the tunnel.
Chillin’ with Frosty.
Firefighter Grae.
The happiest little girl.
Magical.
“Mama, take Grae Grae’s picture!”
Warm milk to end a lovely {and chilly} night.
Not too long ago, Miss G ‘s 
This time, we started with an ‘O’ shaped cardboard base. Gracen glued her puzzle pieces (this time using just regular white glue) onto the cardboard doughnut, overlapping them as she went along.
When the ‘O’ was covered to her liking, we set it aside to dry for a while.
Later in the day, she came back and painted the puzzle piece wreath all green. She quickly discovered that dabbing the paint on gave much better coverage than brushing it on, so she went with that method.
When she was done painting, we let the wreath dry again.
Next came the really fun part – decorations! She chose magenta sequins as holly berries, but you could easily use buttons, mini pompoms, foam circles, or dot stickers too. Just add some dots of glue to the wreath and pop your decorations on.
The last step was adding a little ribbon bow I’d quickly made for her… Regular white glue worked just fine for this job too.
For the last few days, Miss G has really been enjoying the new set-up she has happening at her creative table (for a little bit of background info on the whole idea behind her creative table, click 
The sewing station consists of things we mainly already had on hand… Two types of beads (pony beads and meltable beads like 
And some homemade lacing cards (simply made by cutting shapes out of card stock and cardboard, and punching holes around the edges).
When Grae originally discovered her new sewing materials, she was by far most excited about the needles and thread, and got to beading right away…
After a couple of days, she had completed not only a bracelet for herself (I helped with the tying of course), but one for her Mama too!
After that, she begun working on the lacing cards. Right now she’s working on a lacing circle that has beads woven throughout. She works on it a little each day, moving onto something else when she feels like it and returning when the urge returns.
Something that often happens when it comes to her creative table {and sensory play} is that Grae adds to the materials as she goes. These mini cupcake liners were all her idea. 
This is her most recently completed project… A bracelet for Papa! He couldn’t be left out, now could he?
Story time with Mrs. Claus.
A visit to Santa.
Lovely horses in the post office.
Santa’s toy workshop.
Elf school in the barn.
Goofy Gracen and Papa.
Whew. Today Gracen and I spent over 2.5 hours driving, an addition 1.5 hours sitting at border crossings, and 3 hours bopping around Bellingham running errands and getting some shopping done. We powered straight through lunchtime and nap time, and through it all, Miss G was an absolute pleasure.
For the last few days, Gracen’s been working on these sweet little nature wreaths at her 
It started out as a very simple painting station with a few cardboard o’s and some paint in different shades of green.
When the paint was dry, I added a few other things into the mix… Glue, mini pinecones, bits of evergreen tree, and dried out red berries from her 
Though this creative table set-up didn’t take off quite like the 
This morning, after walking past the wreath on our door, she asked if she could have some bows for her wreaths, so I brought out my glue gun, cut up some ribbon, and added a few to the table.
After adding her bow, she put on the finishing touches…
And voila! A beautiful little Christmas wreath made of things {mostly} found outdoors.
While we don’t have a Santa photo for Gracen’s very first Christmas (we were living in Kuwait and didn’t really have the opportunity there, so we planned on getting one taken in Paris while we were on vacation, but ended up spending 3 and a half days in the Frankfurt airport and never making it to France due to weather conditions…), here’s a comparison of Grae’s santa photos for this year and last. It’s amazing what a year does, isn’t it? In the first one she still looks like such a baby, and in the second, she’s clearly a little girl (*sob*). 
I love how the first one starts out very seriously, in the second you can see a cautious smile sneaking out, and in the third she looks like she’s having a good time. 
In the end, the photographer asked if she’d like to sit with both Mama and Santa, and she agreed {although she doesn’t look overly thrilled}.