Sometimes I’m in awe of what an amazingly kind, creative, and intuitive little person our girl has become over the course of the last three years. She’s always willing to help, she’ll give you her very last bite of her coveted treat, and she wants nothing more than to take care of those around her.
I’m so lucky she’s mine.
Since we already celebrated Miss G’s third birthday (THIRD!!!) with a party back home in Canada before leaving, today we kept things super low key and just spent the day the three of us. I thought I might have a little celebration with the kids who are already back in Kuwait, or make a little cake and venture out in a taxi for some candles, but none of that happened…
Last year, when Miss G turned two, we did her first ever birthday interview. I prepared a short list of questions, then recorded our conversation as I asked about her interests and likes and she shared her responses. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched that little video since… The enthusiasm that moves her whole body as she tells me her favourite colour… the way she bursts into dance when I ask her about the song she loves best… her silly little antics when she sings happy birthday at the end – they just make me melt. It makes my heart happy that I have a tiny snippet in time frozen, to remember always.
So, with another birthday under her belt, early this morning I asked my newly minted three year old the same questions I asked one year ago.
And here’s this year’s keepsake…
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Today Gracen and I put together this very simple sensory bin stand for her brand new {big} bedroom. It was an idea I’d seen on Ikea Hackers a few years back, and I’m so glad I remembered it. It’s simple, inexpensive, multipurpose, and fully customizable, which I love. And now that we’ve put it to the test, I think we may even get another one to add to our collection.
I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing one of Miss G’s all-time favourite games over at I Can Teach My Child today {one of the very first blogs I ever followed!} We’ve made and played these super simple homemade matching games since Gracen was around 2, and they never get old. Over time, we’ve varied them according to the season and Gracen’s interests and abilities, which makes them perfect for all kinds of munchkins. Pop on over and see the full post here. ☺
I saw this awesome idea on one of my favourite play blogs, Play at Home Mom LLC, long ago and loved it at first sight. At the time, Miss G wasn’t yet really into drawing, so I filed it away for sometime in the future. Now, with an almost 3 year old who adores drawing and colouring and a 30 {or so} hour trek to the other side of the planet looming near, it was one of the first things that popped into my mind when preparing for what is bound to be a somewhat challenging journey. It’s silly, fun, doesn’t require a ton of pieces, and since it’s dry erase, will be perfect for using again and again during our long plane rides.
When I recently learned about Over the Loom (thank you, Little Miss Mama!), it was love at first sight. The online boutique is stocked full of gorgeous {and affordable!} children’s clothes that have the perfect amount of vintage charm, and to be honest, that was enough for me. What I didn’t know at the time though, is that Over the Loom is a Vancouver-based shop run by a local mama of two little girls. Her dream has always been to open a children’s clothing shop, and with a lot of hard work and an eye for hand-selecting gorgeous pieces, she’s making her dream a reality. Learning that made me fall in love with the shop all over again… I love supporting local businesses, and when they’re run by hardworking goal-oriented mamas? Well that’s even more amazing!
Knowing there was absolutely no way I couldn’t support Over the Loom, I settled in on the couch, cup of tea in hand, and began to narrow down my favourites pieces. Hah – narrowing them down was a near impossibility! After reviewing and whittling my selections several times, I think I was left with 9 or 10 very favourite pieces. Oy. After a couple days’ thought and the help of both Brad and Grae, I managed to narrow it down to just my very favourite top 5 pieces. Here they are…
Though all of my family members have slowly migrated away from the Okanagan and back to our home province of Alberta, we’re lucky to be able to stay with Brad’s parents while we enjoy the Okanagan sun. Gracen adores being here. The house {that Brad grew up in} is filled with treasures {new and old} to discover, Bella {her best fur buddy} lives here, and there’s endless space to run free.
One of her very favourite parts about being here is enjoying long morning walks with Grandma Charlotte and Bella. There’s a whole routine in place which involves puppy treats in a little bag, particular treat distribution spots, and a visit to the hay barn where shoeless antics take place. Today, with Uncle Brett home for the weekend but heading back to Vancouver at lunchtime, we all headed out for one last family walk before our big departure next week.
When this is all you know, it’s easy to take the beauty of the tree-covered mountains, blue skies, and sunshine for granted, but knowing how drastically our scenery will be changing shortly, I did my very best to soak every moment of this morning in…
“Com’on, Bella! Let’s run!”
Our rice-filled, Japenese-themed sensory bin was such a hit with the little girls at Gracen’s 3rd birthday party, we decided to bring it out to enjoy again today. We brought a soft blanket, parked ourselves in the shade of a big tree on the far side of the yard, and Grae snuck in the calm, quiet time she quite desperately needed in order to regroup after a couple of busy people-filled days (if you’ve yet to try it, slowly running your hands through dry, cool rice is quite therapeutic).
Have I mentioned how much I love when fun, unplanned activities just come about naturally during the day? I do! In fact, I often find that they’re some of our very favourites. That’s exactly what happened today with our super simple table top roadway.
It took us a while, but we finally made it to the Kangaroo Creek Farm in Winfield today. It’s been on our radar since visiting the zebra farm last summer, and I’m so glad we snuck it in before leaving.
While cleaning out our vehicle yesterday, I realized that we still had a big stash of beach shells we’d collected a couple months hiding in our hatch (you know you’re a parent when…) We’d originally collected them with the intent of painting them, so that’s just what we did.
Yesterday Miss G and I finally got around to something that’s been on my mental activity list forever now… Bubble painting! Now if you cruise Pinterest, you’ll see that bubble painting is all over the internet and everyone seems to do it a little bit differently. Variations include all different sorts of bubble solutions, wands, and methods, so we just made up our own.
