Treats for Dad Basket {A Quick and Easy Father’s Day Gift}

6 / 15 / 136 / 22 / 13

Brad and I really don’t do big gifts for one another and haven’t for years (so imagine my surprise when a brand new MacBook Pro was delivered to our door in time for my birthday last year!), but I do enjoy putting together little non-gifty things to make celebrations a tiny bit more special. This year, besides Gracen’s sweet little interview and drawing and the annual daddy-daughter photo book I make for Brad (which sadly is still in progress), Miss G and I decided to put together a basket of some of Brad’s very favourite treats.

Brad is a true snacker, so loading up a big basket full of goodies he loves was not hard to do. Miss G and I made a list beforehand, then headed to the market in search of our items. Included was chips (Gracen chose pop chips), blue corn and flax tortillas with tomatillo salsa, pistachio nuts, roasted cashews, hot and sweet beef jerky, a dark chocolate bar, dark chocolate-covered goji berries, a big bottle of limonata, and a couple of organic sodas.

To personalize it just a little, we printed off these Father’s Day tags from Paper & Stitch, cut them out, and attached them to the different goodies using a glue stick. In our case, I really should have taken the time to make similar tags that used ‘Papa’ instead of dad, but this time around, this was just easier.

Gracen proudly gave this basket to her Papa today so that he can enjoy it all weekend long. Picnic treats for tomorrow here we come! ☺

♥

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A Delicious First {& a Recipe}

6 / 15 / 136 / 15 / 13

This happened tonight… Miss G’s first ever ice cream cone. And oh my goodness, did she ever love it. Before we knew it, all that was left was sticky fingers and a drippy chin and dress.

She’s already planned our next two flavours too – pumpkin with cinnamon first, and then strawberry afterwards. There’s bound to be plenty of ice cream in our future.

{Healthier} Creamy Coconut Ice Cream with Candied Coconut Sprinkles

Ice cream:

1/2 cup of whipping cream
2 cans of coconut milk (we used full fat)
6 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl, then place in fridge to cool for a couple of hours. Process in an ice cream machine for 20 minutes and put into the freezer for a few hours to set.

Sprinkles:

1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup

Put both ingredients into a jar or bag and shake well. Spread coconut out on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Roast at 250 degrees until crunchy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

For more healthy-ish desserts, click here.

♥

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Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

6 / 15 / 136 / 15 / 13

Gracen and I have experimented with making many different versions of healthier peanut butter cookies – cream cheese ones, two ingredient ones, banana-based ones – but sadly, none have ever turned out really well. Late this afternoon, however, when she randomly declared that “We should make cookies! Yummy no sugar ones that Gracen can have – YEAAAAAAAAH!”, we came up with our first batch that actually taste like real peanut butter cookies. Only they’re much healthier. ☺ Here’s our new go-to peanut butter cookie recipe…

Healthier Peanut Butter Oat Cookies (based off of this recipe by Weelicious)

1/2 cup of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of good honey

1 cup of all-natural peanut butter
1 large egg
3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla

1 1/4 cups of wholewheat flour
1 cup of old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Using a mixer, cream the coconut oil and honey together until smooth. Add the peanut butter, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix again until smooth.

Add all of the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix just until combined. Scoop out 1 tablespoon balls of dough and flatten with a floured fork. (For an additional nutrition boost, you could roll the balls in chia seeds or hemp hearts before flattening.)

Bake for 9 or 10 minutes, then cool and serve.

Enjoy!

For more healthy-ish desserts, click here.

♥

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Building Beaded Pattern Sticks

6 / 14 / 136 / 16 / 13

The other day while picking up a few craft supplies, Miss G absolutely fell in love with these heart-shaped pony beads. Next to them, we found tiny little wooden dowels that the beads fit onto perfectly. At the time, I really had no idea what we’d do with the pair, but I knew we’d figure something out.

Turns out, the answer was play with patterns! I was quite surprised by how early on Miss G grasped the concept of patterns… I remember being in the kitchen cooking dinner one night long ago and hearing Brad ask Grae about a pattern out in the living room. I thought to myself, ‘she’s way too young to know what he’s talking about’, but sure enough she proved me wrong on the spot. So since we really haven’t explored them all that much, I decided our beads and dowels would be perfect for it. While Miss G napped today, I spent a little bit of time catching up on my RSS feed while colouring pattern stripes on the dowels with markers. This time around, I chose to pattern the entire dowel, but next time around I’d probably just start the patterns in order to let her complete them on her own.

With my patterned sticks complete, I knew I wanted to stand them upright somehow. Out came some homemade lemony play dough and the little pots we used for our flower garden yogurt parfaits, and voila. Mission accomplished.

When Gracen woke up, she immediately saw the little station I’d set out and was thrilled. After a squeal and cheer, the first thing’Mama, I want you to tell me what to do’, but when I asked if she really wanted me to tell her what to do or if she wanted to just play, she decided she was happy to just play.

Of course she immediately realized that the colours on the dowels coordinated with the bead colours and began matching them up. (Just look at that little face… Makes me melt!)

Shortly after beginning the activity, I realized that the dough-filled pots allowed the dowels to sink down as she added beads, so I changed things up a little bit and just used a play dough pancake to hold the sticks up instead. She realized that the stripes in fact made patterns, and ‘read’ each one out to me.

Not only has this activity been fun and great for discussing colours and patterns, but it’s also great fine motor practice too! Fitting the tiny beads onto the tiny dowels requires some serious concentration.

This activity has been out for several days now, is still out currently (dried up play dough and all), and gets some decent attention each day… A hit in my books. ☺

♥

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Fun Ways to Teach Kids to Spell and Write Their Names

6 / 12 / 136 / 11 / 14

It may sound sort of strange seeing as I spent 7 years teaching kindergarten and grade one before Miss G was born, but very rarely do I sit down with Gracen with the intention of teaching her something specific. At 2 and 3/4 years old, I truly believe that she does all of the learning she needs {for now} through playing, going on adventures, and reading books. The exception to this is when Grae takes the lead… In that case, I’m more than happy to follow along.

Recently, she’s become very interested in “drawing words”. It started off with random words like ‘swing’ and ‘tall’, and then it became focused solely on her name. There’s been a whole lot of ‘How do you draw my name again, Mama?’ and ‘Mama, can we play another name game today?’ this past week, so that’s just what we’ve been doing… Exploring her name in fun, hands-on ways. All of these simple activities are things I’ve done with my students in the past and Grae has thoroughly enjoyed each one.

Stamping – We are lucky to have alphabet stamps, but you can easily make your own by adhering foam letter stickers onto cork tops or bottle caps. Right now, I set out only the letters needed for her name {along with a piece of paper and stamp pad}, but to make the activity a little more challenging, you can include extra stamps too.

Magnetic Letters – I particularly like these wooden ones by Melissa & Doug, especially because the set includes both upper and lowercase letters, but any sort of alphabet magnets will do (you can even make some using scrabble tiles or foam letters). I simply set out the required letters in a bowl next to a magnetic board, and let Miss G play.

Computer Typing – This activity is extra special in our house since we really don’t let Gracen use our computers yet. I simply open up a blank word document, select a good clear font, make it nice and big, and let Miss G choose the colour. Then she goes ahead and searches out each letter on the keyboard. Today as she was about to hit the ‘G’, she asked, “But Mama, is this going to be a capital G? Because my name needs a capital G.’ After getting over my surprise, I taught her how to use the shift key and that was that.

Felt Board Name Game – Since my days in elementary school, I’ve always loved felt boards and felt board games. Though you can purchase pre-made felt boards and felt alphabet pieces online, you can very easily and inexpensively make your own. Here is my felt board tutorial and my felt name game tutorial {along with a collection of my very favourite fonts}.

Duplo / Lego Stacking – Depending on the size of your collection, you may want to write the letters of your child’s name straight onto your Lego or Duplo to create a permanent and lasting game. Or, if you’re like us, you can print the letters on sticker dots or labels and then attach them to the pieces. This activity is always a huge hit and I especially like it because it can be done both horizontally and vertically.

Salt Printing – This one is one of my absolute favourite ways to have kids practice their printing. In the classroom, I always keep a stack of colourful plastic plates filled with a layer of salt for practicing printing. The students use their finger as a pencil, then simply give the plate a little shake to erase the letter and practice again. In this case, I used a rectangular serving tray and provided Gracen with an example of her name on card stock in front of her. (P.S. How amazing is that bed head?!)

Chalkboard Water Painting – If asked, I have a feeling that Gracen may say this is her favourite name game to date. To set it up, simply print the name on a chalkboard (using chalk of course), and give your wee one a paintbrush and some water to paint on top of the lines. As he or she paints the letters, they will ‘disappear’, which is always fun!

Highlighter Tracing – This is probably the simplest of the bunch. I print Gracen’s name and she traces over it using a darker marker or pencil. We pretend the highlighter lines are the road (or racetrack) and the marker is the car, and of course you want to keep your car on the road!

Letter boxes – While I prefer to teach beginners how to print their names on plain, unlined paper, some munchkins, Miss G included, enjoy having a little more structure than that. Creating two sets of boxes, your sample letters on top and blank ones directly below, gives many the ability to focus on one letter at a time with the goal of filling up all of the boxes by the end.

So that’s that! Gracen’s been enjoying these name activities so much that we’ve done almost all of them multiple times. I know I’ll be asked for new ones in the very near future, so as of now, I’ve got ideas that use spaghetti, clothespins, rocks, cookie cutters, beads, blocks, and bean bags ready to go, but beyond that, I may have to get Googling. ☺

♥

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Apple Sandwiches {An Old Favourite}

6 / 10 / 136 / 12 / 13

I’ve been making these fun and easy apple sandwiches for Miss G for a long time now (we didn’t follow the usual no nuts until the age of 2 rule) and they’ve always been a total hit. And because we load ours up with all kinds of healthful fillings, they make a perfect breakfast or even lunch!

You certainly don’t need all of these things, but since we almost always have them all on hand and Miss G enjoys the variety, we usually go for it. In today’s lineup was peanut butter, almond butter, and a pink lady apple, plus unsweetened coconut, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, old-fashioned oats, sunflower seeds, and hemp hearts. Also needed is a sharp knife and small cookie cutter of some sort (though you can do without if needed).

Apple sandwiches are really so simple to throw together that I’m sure instructions aren’t needed, but this is how we normally make ours… First off, I slice them up quite thinly. We usually get 8 or 9 slices (not including the 2 end pieces) per apple. Then we separate them into two piles – one where the seeds have to be cut out, and the other where there really aren’t any seeds at all.

Next, we use our small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the centres out of the seedy slices. You can use an apple corer or a sharp knife to the trick too. These pieces will become the sandwich tops.

On to the bottoms! Since these really don’t have any seeds, there’s no cookie cutter needed. Just slather them with your favourite nut butter…

And have your munchkin sprinkle them with the toppings of his or her choice.

Then pop the tops on and you’ve got a yummy snack or meal ready for your little one (or you!) to gobble up!

♥

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G-r-a-c-e-n

6 / 9 / 136 / 22 / 13

It’s hard to believe we’re here already.

♥

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iPhoneography // Simple Rice Tray Play

6 / 9 / 139 / 12 / 13

This morning I had a little bit of housework to do and Miss G suggested that she’d play with some freshly coloured rice I’d made while I got my clean on. It’d been a quite a while since she’d last opted to play with a rice bin or tray, so I was happy to hear that she was still excited about such a simple sensory activity. While I put the rice into small containers, she picked out items she wanted to use while playing with it. She gathered up a divided plate, heart-shaped ice cube tray, cup, scoop, bowl, and funnel and we laid everything down on a large blanket in the living room.

She got to playing right away and immediately mixed the different colours in the bowl while using the funnel. Watching the individual colours mix into speckled sea of rainbow colours is always so much fun (and so is crazy bed head ☺).

There was a lot of mixing, dumping, and pouring, but the favourite of the morning was definitely this little scoop paired with the funnel. She quickly learned that using the two together was a great way to fill the little heart-shaped ice moulds and we later on we even experimented with extending our funnel using a bubble tea straw.

After she was through playing, we scooped up the rice, added it to the bin of coloured rice we keep in the solarium, and shook the remaining grains off of the blanket outside. Easy, simple fun.

To see how we make our coloured rice, click here.

♥

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{Pretend Play} Bubble Tea Shop

6 / 7 / 136 / 12 / 13

Ever since the very first time we played with water beads, I’ve had a pretend play bubble tea station on my mind. I just can’t help it… It may be that we live in a city that has a bubble tea shop every couple of blocks, but the squishy, shiny beads make me think of tapioca pearls every time I see them.

Finally, almost a year after dreaming up the idea, my wee one and I put together our first pretend bubble tea shop. And it couldn’t have been better timing as Miss G is really into pretend play (in particular, store games where an exchange of some sort takes place) right now.

While I often set up invitations to play or create while she’s sleeping, this time around Gracen helped me. Together, we gathered up a few things we had around the house and a couple of inexpensive things we purchased especially for this activity. Included in the set-up were some tall plastic cups, a few containers of water beads with small scoops (our tapioca pearls), a couple of small pitchers of coloured water (our tea / fruit juice), a small spouted container of water coloured white with cornstarch (our condensed milk), and a jar full of colourful bubble tea straws (purchased at our local Japanese dollar store). Though I really don’t mind a mess in the name of great play, I also included tray on the pouring area of the table to catch little spills and prevent a slippery wooden floor.

To complete the set-up, we popped over to the computer to create a quick shop sign. I told her how to spell ‘bubble tea’ and Miss G carefully located and pressed each key, which was a fun activity in itself. Afterwards, I selected a good, bold outline font and she chose the image and the drink price. We printed it off, coloured it together, and used some washi tape to hang it on the wall.

With our shop complete, it was time to get down to business and Gracen couldn’t have been more excited. While she’s never tried bubble tea herself, she’s seen people walking down the street with it plenty, so she had a very good idea of what she wanted to do.

At this point I should say that Miss G is well out of the putting things in her mouth stage and because she is such a rule follower, I was not worried in the least that she would attempt to drink her creations (she wouldn’t even consider it). Of course, if you suspect that your little one would be tempted to drink the pretend bubble tea or if you’re unable to supervise the play the entire time, this activity is not for you as water beads are {obviously} not edible.

I invited her to get started without giving her any instructions (as I usually do), and this is how she put together her creation… Pearls first, then juice, then a straw and some milk – a pretty solid method I’d say!

She made drink after drink, each time talking about the person she was making for. This particular one was for Grandma Sue because Grandma Sue loves pink and therefore she’d pick pink pearls and pink juice. The process went on and on until she could no longer think of another person she knew. Then it was on to making them for people’s pets!

Here are a few of her bubble tea creations. Pretty, aren’t they?

Because the station was such a hit, I set up a bowl with a strainer in it so she could pour out her drinks and refill her containers when she’d run out of supplies (well, she was in charge of refilling her water bead containers and I poured the water from the bowl back into the pitchers). This allowed the fun to continue on and on without having to waste water or make trips back and forth to the kitchen.

Gracen enjoyed this activity so much that it stayed out for nearly a week, getting lots of action each day. We’ll definitely be doing it again in the near future, and while it was great inside, I can’t wait to set it up outside in the backyard on a warm day too!

Again, water beads are not edible and should never be consumed. This activity should always be supervised and is not intended for munchkins prone to tasting play materials or putting things in their mouths.

♥

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Ho Hey

6 / 6 / 136 / 10 / 13

Our girl is a true music lover. She just adores music. When given the choice, she’ll almost always choose to watch a music videos over a kids’ shows, she memorizes faster than I can, and it’s rare to find her not dancing, singing, or holding a microphone of some sort.

This afternoon, she watched these two videos back to back several times. She strategically placed her plastic golf club in a blanket to create a mic and mic stand and strummed along on her guitar while practicing the words. If I would have let her, she probably would have watched until dinnertime. And I don’t blame her… Watching these sisters sing almost always brings shiver bumps to my arms or tears to my eyes. How it’s possible to have that much talent at that young of an age, I don’t know. Blows me away every time.

♥

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Repeat

6 / 5 / 136 / 13 / 13

Another skipped nap for Grae. Another busy day for Mama. Another late night at work for Brad…

Another picnic in the park, more zip lining, and a little girl fast asleep at 6:30 p.m. once again. ☺

♥

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An Evening Picnic

6 / 4 / 136 / 13 / 13

With Brad working on the school’s yearend production until 9 or 10 p.m. most nights this week and me preparing for an upcoming craft market each night into the wee hours, it’s bound to be one heck of a week. Unfortunately, Miss G didn’t help me out any today when she decided to not nap either. (Yesterday we got stuck in a huge traffic mess on the way home from a play date out in the burbs and by the time we arrived home, we’d already missed the nap window by quite a lot. Sadly, one missed nap throws our very routine little lady way off sometimes.) My solution to a potentially chaotic and grumpy afternoon? Stealing Papa away from work for an hour and a half, picking up dinner at a local deli, and pairing an evening picnic with loads of fresh air and playground time. And I’m happy to report that it worked like a gem. Brad was back at school in plenty of time, the outdoors prevented our little lady from slipping into a case of the overtired crazies, and this mama got a teeny bit of afternoon downtime, something I desperately need.

♥

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Super Simple 5 Minute Backyard Teepee

6 / 3 / 131 / 15 / 14

First off, I have to say that my Baba is hands down one of the most amazing, wonderful women I know. She’s one of those ladies who can truly do anything… From sewing to cooking to running a farm, fixing things, painting, gardening, building things, and entertaining – she excels at all. Oh, and at 70 something years old, having never used a computer or the internet, she bought herself an iPad and taught herself how to use it too. Amazing, right? (Hi Baba! Love you!) ☺

Growing up, my little brother and I would spend a week or two at my Baba’s house each summer. Our days out at the farm were wonderful. We spent nearly all of our time outdoors… We herded cattle, carried huge buckets of grain out each morning, and watched calves being born. We roamed through massive gardens with freedom to pick and eat as much as we pleased. We devoured fresh peas off the vine, ate up buckets of raspberries, and wandered around with long stalks of rhubarb with little glass bowls of dipping sugar. Baba taught us how to use the ride-on mower, make pedaheh from scratch, and draw with artists’ pencils and shading sticks – all of the things childhoods should be made of.

But above all other adventures and activities that took place on that farm, the one that stands out most in my mind – the one that was most anticipated each year – was building a backyard teepee. Baba would take us out into the forest, small saw in hand, and we’d cut down the trees that would form the structure of our new home. We’d drag them back, position them and tie them up, then drape them in sheets until our teepee was fully enclosed. Perhaps the very best part was furnishing it afterwards. We’d carefully separate the space in half, position our mattresses and end tables (Baba doesn’t mess around), then stock it up with blankets, flashlights, snacks, books, and activities. I can’t even describe how cool it all seemed as a child.

Recently, I introduced the magic of backyard teepees to Miss G. Nothing that could rival one of the ones my Baba used to make, but a teepee none the less. Our first one was a completely impromptu build, but it was so quick and easy that we’ve made them the same way each time since. Here’s how we put together our super simple backyard teepee in no longer than five minutes…

First up, the materials… We use 6 6-foot tall bamboo stakes (purchased at any store that has a decent gardening section), a king-sized sheet, some jute, and 10 – 12 clothespins.

To start out, I push the stakes into the ground just an inch or two to form a circle with an open front. (As you can see, G likes to stand in the middle and have me build around her. ☺)

Next, I gather up the top of the stakes in one hand (there really isn’t a right way to do this – I just grab them and how they come together is how they come together) and use the other hand to wrap the jute around. One thing I try to do while wrapping the jute is to weave it in and out of the stakes – this gives it some better holding power. When the jute seems secure, I tie it off in a bow so it’s easy to undo later.

With the structure built, it’s time to enclose it with the sheet. To do this, I simply drape the sheet around the stakes horizontally with the ends being at the front opening. To hold it in place temporarily, I bring the two sides of the sheet together at the top and secure it using a clothespin and add another two at the base of the two front stakes.

Next up, it’s time fix the positioning a little, smooth everything out, tuck in the extra fabric, and secure it all. I like to start at the front, making sure that both of the front stakes are fully covered and each side has a flap of extra fabric that can be used to close up the teepee completely if desired. To do this, I just tug and adjust until it’s the way I want it. With the sheet positioned properly, I move to the top and add several clothes pins to secure the sheet to the stakes. I usually use four, but you could put one on each of the 6 stakes if you wanted to. Then I go to the bottom and add a pin to each of the stakes, tucking under the extra fabric along the way if needed.

And that’s it – the basic teepee is complete. Super simple, right?

To make ours extra cozy, we always add a blanket in the bottom and a few throw cushions along the sides.

One of Gracen’s favourite parts is selecting an activity to bring into her teepee with her. Most often, it’s a stack of books to read, but today it was a stack of puzzles instead.

When we’re done playing for the day, we normally take down the sheet and bring everything inside, but leave the bamboo stake structure up, which makes for an even faster set up the next time and the time after that and the time after that…

♥

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Fast Friends

6 / 3 / 136 / 22 / 13

This little blog has led to so many wonderful opportunities, the best of which is undoubtedly being part of Vancouvermom.ca’s Top 30 Bloggers of 2012. These ladies started out as being people I chatted with online with, and very quickly became people I considered ‘blogging friends’, then just regular ‘friends’. I’m so lucky to have them in my life and even sweeter is that Miss G now has a whole new set of friends also. Today we spent the day with Tairalyn, Amy, and their little ladies, and had a blast. There was dancing, bubbles, a sprinkler, a water slide, strawberry picking, sidewalk painting, and yummy treats… Who could ask for more? Here is our morning in photos…

♥

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Calming Bedtime Bath

6 / 2 / 136 / 4 / 13

Whether it’s been a long day, Miss G is amped up and bedtime is nearing, or I’m in need of a quick and easy “special bath“, this is a go to I count on regularly. It’s incredibly simple and fills the entire bathroom with the warm, tranquil combination of lavender and rosemary – perfect for calming our little lady before tucking her in at night.

Here’s what I use to put it together… Organic lavender essential oil, fresh rosemary, lavender flowers from the garden (or other dainty purple flowers if you’ve already depleted your lavender supply like I have) and a couple of drops of purple gel food colouring (yes, the not good for you conventional kind… if you know of an all-natural food colouring that works well, please let me know – I’m desperate to find one!)

While the warm water runs into the tub, I add 3 or 4 drops of the lavender essential oil and 2 drops of the purple food colouring to the stream. When the tub is nice and full, I break up the rosemary sprigs and sprinkle both them and the flowers on the surface. Miss G loves this bath and inevitably, I end up with a bouquet or two in the process.

And cleanup is just as easy. After removing my lovely-smelling babe from the tub, I quickly skim a strainer along the surface of the water to remove the plant pieces before draining the water. Done!