Exploring Textures through Balls; A My First Sensory Bins Post

Well this Plain Vanilla Mom is proud of herself once again.  I set up another sensory bin for the babycakes! BALLS. Yes balls. We know he loves them. You see, I got to thinking about how much he loves playing with that red ball of his and that got me thinking about the texture of it and well...the ball bin was born.

The other day while he was napping I ran around the house and collected every ball I could find, in every texture I could find, that would fit in our wonderful dollar store bin. ( oh how I love those bins! ) There were tennis balls, plastic balls, baseballs, footballs, spongey balls, bumpy balls, and even a couple of big brother's pokemon balls (shhh...don't tell, we put them back before he got home from school).

I couldn't wait until C got up from his nap. I was SURE he was going to love this sensory bin!! The very first thing he reached for when I set him down in front of it was......

My water bottle lol! 

Ok, so things don't always go off as planned and I let him play with that for awhile. Can you tell this kid likes his sensory bottles? But then....

Once he had that out of his system he dug into the ball bin and did play with it for quite awhile. It was actually very interesting to watch because at any point in time he always had two balls in his hands. I could only imagine he was comparing them in his mind because he would keeping looking at one and then the other. He would put one in his mouth and then the other. Once I realized he was likely comparing them I put the camera down and started narrating for him. "This one is smooth, this one is bumpy". "You have the red ball."  "That's the blue ball".  He would look at me, and then the balls. So endearing. It actually looked like some of what I was saying was sinking in. (Mommas..talk to your babies while they play...they love it!)  I'm sure his little brain was working overtime on this one. All those different textures, sizes and weights had to make for a great sensory experience.  I'm loving this stage where he's starting to interact with his environment more. He's growing more inquisitive by the day.

Lots of exploring and learning to be done just through a simple basket of balls.

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Bubble Pool

Poor little C was down and out last week with a nasty cold. There were a couple of days where he just couldn't stand himself. So....what do you do with a sick (almost) 9 month old on a hot day?

Fill up the baby pool with bubbles of course!

For a few minutes the little guy forgot all his troubles and just had fun!

I just used his usual baby bubble bath, filled the pool, tossed in a couple of toys

 and we were good to go.

The end results were these faces, and a good long (much needed) nap!

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Our Butterflies of 2012

A few weeks ago I introduced you to the caterpillars that were to be our butterfly family of 2012. Well this is the continuation of their story. We had eight caterpillars in all and each of them turned into beautiful butterflies. When I asked Mr. A when he thought we should release them he gave me a day nearly two weeks out!  I was not so into the idea of having to feed and maintain butterflies for that long but I went with it. However, about three days in he surprised me. The weather was gorgeous and there was a perfect breeze. We had been playing outside all afternoon after school and when we came in we went up to his room to feed the butterflies.  He surprised me by saying "Mom, we should really let them go today.... It's the right thing to do" How sweet. My heart melted just a little bit. Now,  hubby will tell you there was a little of (what he calls) jedi-mind tricking going on on my part. You see, while we were outside playing that day I mused about what a beautiful day it was and how much the butterflies would love this kind of weather...

Here are a few pictures of our butterfly family from this year. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.  Raising butterflies is a project that, for us, never gets old. Mr. A enjoyed it so much this year we may even order another batch of caterpillars and have a second go of it later in the summer. It's always amazing to see the transformation. The babycakes even enjoyed sitting with us watching the butterflies fly around their habitat on occasion. We had the added treat this year of being able to see one of the butterflies as it was emerging.

The day we let them go, it really was a beautiful day. Those butterflies were very happy to be set free. As soon as the breeze hit their habitat they started fluttering around like crazy. A few of them flew out right away and a couple needed a little hand from A (which he was happy to lend).

Now it's your turn! 

We want to see your butterfly families too. If you have a post about your experience raising butterflies this year,  link it up here! If you haven't raised butterflies that's ok too. Feel free to link up any butterfly craft or activity you have done recently. The linky will be open all summer (until Sept 1st) so feel free to come back and add to it, or just visit.

Sweet Sundays: Sometimes It's Just Sweet

Between being sick this week, the babes being sick, and a wedding this weekend, this Mama has done ZERO baking [sad face].  In fact, the most gourmet meal I've had this week was soup and grilled cheese (and I didn't even make the soup). Well, check that...hubby did take pity on me and grilled salmon one night. *sigh*

So with that in mind.....sometimes there is nothing sweeter than a picture....

Now I'm off to cook up something for next week!

If you really want to know the deal with the cupcake, it's one of these.

Weekend Recap and a Special Announcement

Welcome to one of my favorite weekends of the year...Memorial Day weekend. I love the feeling of "officially" kicking off summer this weekend brings to our family. The weather is starting to get warmer, we are getting outside more, our lifestyle is starting to relax (the kids are starting to stay up later..ack). But, we are all having fun and that's what counts. Here's a recap of what this past week looked like for us in case you missed anything. Oh, and yea.... I have something I am REALLY excited to share with you but you'll have to get to the end of this post to find out what it is! :D

1. We test drove a sweet treat for the long holiday weekend. 
2. We (finally) got around to planting our gardens.
3. I got the car organized with a little help from some friends and I figured out what to do with some baby toys I wasn't ready to party with yet.
4. Last but not least, we simply Had a Ball!

Don't forget to pop in next week. I'll be sharing the continuation of our butterfly story with you as well as elaborating on what led to THIS face...

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. This was too cute not to give you a sneak peak!

Ok,  I promised so here it is....This Plain Vanilla Mom is now one 

Quirky Plain Vanilla Momma. 

How's that for a title! I am beyond thrilled, make that ecstatic, to share with you that I have just signed on to be a contributor over at the Kids Activity Blog. You can check out the website here and find them on Facebook too. I really hope you will pop in over there as well! I am humbled to be writing for them among such talented Mommas. So very excited about this step in my journey.

Hope you had just as much fun this week as we did! What are you up to this weekend? If you have a minute, I'd love to have you say hi or leave a comment. If you haven't already guessed,  I love to chat! I promise to answer back :)

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Have a Ball Baby

There's nothing quite as classic as a big red ball. A quintessential toy of childhood if you will. I have been wanting to get C one of those traditional red playground balls for awhile. Instead I found something slightly better. It's the red playground ball, but baby-sized. The perfect size for his little baby hands! I'm sure it's still a HUGE ball to him :) He LOVES it! I can honestly say it's one of his favorite toys. He has yet to grow tired of playing with it. It comes out at least once a day,  every day, and has since a month or so ago when we got it.

C has just started to crawl and it's become the best motivator there ever was! 

The kid will really move to get after this ball.

It makes for a good game of peek-a-boo too!

Of course we love just rolling it around. And he seems to really like the texture of it. 

It's also good for a mean game of pass when he's in the stroller. It's probably more accurately described as baby drops the ball and mommy picks it up (ie. the pick-up game) but I prefer to think of it as pass ;)

Some might see this as just another toy, but what I see is a symbol of classic childhood.
A reminder of a time when one can find pure joy in the simple things.

With that in mind. I hope you are all "Havin' a Ball" this week!

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Travel Boxes

I don't know about you, but now that we've got a little one again,  whenever I leave the house my purse looks like this! Even if it's just a quick trip to the post office. Ugh... I load it up every time I leave the house only to have half of the contents remain in the car and stroller anyway.

So, here's my genius idea! C is starting to outgrow and get bored with some of his smaller 'baby' toys.  I was am really having a hard timing packing them away parting with them. I guess this mama is not quite ready to move onto the next phase yet. So, I have been wracking my brain to figure out a way to put them to good use. I think I've figured it out. After seeing a couple of posts from a few good blogging buddies I was inspired!

I decided to take some empty baby wipes cases, which the babycakes loves to play with anyway, and repurpose them. I filled them with a variety of the small toys in question and gave them a new home in the car. This is working fabulously!! He still finds them interesting when they are the only things to play with lol! We just have so much at home I guess they get overlooked when tossed in with his other toys. This gives them new life. Everything has a place, and I no longer have to stuff my purse before leaving the house.  The travel boxes permanently reside in the car so no more lugging toys back and forth! As C gets older I'll have to change out the contents of the boxes a bit but for now it's perfect.  The old toys are put to good use, C is entertained in the car and I didn't have to part with that piece of his babyhood yet. Everyone is happy, including my overstuffed purse... (at least for now).

Some of what I put in the boxes includes various teething rings, small books, small stuffed animals, rattles,  small balls, and finger puppets. I still have a bin full of more of these types of things in the house so if he starts to get bored with any of the boxes I can easily rotate the contents.

I would be remiss not to share with you the links I gained inspiration from....

1. My good friend Amanda over at Dirt & Boogers recently did a great post on Getting Your Car Organized. It is a MUST READ! You won't believe the amount of tips she's packed into one post.
2. Famiglia & Seoul recently made Travel Sensory Bins  (which I love)! They would be fantastic if your child is a little older than my C.
3. And we must not forget the  'big kids' (of which we have three).  All For the Boys has some great ideas for Travel Bags for the older ones. I've already got a couple of her suggested items in my amazon shopping cart ;)

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How Does Your Garden Grow

One of the many things I love about the summer season is the gardening. There's something very satisfying and luxurious about being able to run outside and grab fresh tomatoes and basil for dinner.

Thankfully we finally had a weekend at home during which I could get ours started.  Mr. A helped while the hubs worked on building a new planter for me on another part of the house (more on that later). Planting flowers and vegetables has been a summer tradition for Mr. A and I for as long as he's been old enough to dig in the dirt. I thought I would share a little of our gardening project with you, now and throughout the summer. I'm sure I can rustle up a recipe or two for you too as we go along using some of our fresh veggies and herbs ;) Something as simple as checking on the garden and watering it is one of our favorite daily activities in the summer months. Hubby and I are fortunate enough that these gardens are right outside our bedroom windows so I get an early peak every morning.  It never gets old. We use raised beds that hubs built from kits he picked up at the home depot last year but almost everything we grow could also be grown in containers (and that's how we did it for a long time).

What We Plant

spinach

lettuce

basil

sage

tomatoes

cucumber

zucchini

hot peppers

butternut squash

chives

A loves to get involved, I'm so glad he's not 'too old' or 'too cool' to garden with Mom.

To be fair. I often have to let A take pictures of me these days in exchange for pictures of him. 

THIS is our sage....from last year.  We don't live in an area where sage normally comes back,  but we had a mild winter and the sage has come back in full force!! I'm so excited because some of our favorite dishes use fresh sage. I will share those with you later too :)

Photography tidbit of the day for you! This picture [below] was purely for fun. I was playing with the aperture setting on my camera. The wider the aperture (ie. the smaller that aperture number gets), the better background blur (also known as bokeh) you get. This was taken with my 50mm lens at an aperture setting of 1.6 (f1.6) Can you find the point of focus? Yup! It's that beautiful dirt in the shovel!  If you are interested in learning a little more about aperture let me know in the comments.  It would make a great topic for a post! Photography took on a whole new world for me once I understood how to use aperture to my advantage.

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Sweet Sundays: Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches

I must have a thing for 'faux' ice cream lately. I suppose these are definitely less caloric than the real deal. If you are looking for a quick, fun summer treat, these would be fantastic! I gave them the good ole college try this weekend because I plan to make them as a dessert for our Memorial Day BBQ. If you are looking for a recipe to get the kids involved in the kitchen, this is a SUPER easy (and yummy) one! We ended up with leftover "ice cream" and just used it as dip for the left over and broken graham crackers. I would totally make this again just for that purpose!

I originally found the recipe for these here, but I doctored it up to make a smaller batch. Here's what you do...

Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 small pkg of chocolate instant pudding

1/2 of a 8oz container of cool whip

milk (according to package directions on pudding)

1 box of your favorite graham crackers

Break the graham crackers into two squares and set aside. Mix the pudding according to the package directions. Then, fold in about half of the container of cool whip until it's well blended. Let the mixture set in the fridge for 20 minutes or so (just long enough so it's not too soft). Sandwich a good sized spoonful (maybe 2tbsp or so) between two graham cracker squares.
Dip the edges in sprinkles if you so choose and then freeze. 

So as not to squish these beauties I put a single layer of them on a cookie sheet and put that in the freezer for about 30min before I packed them in any kind of container.

I found some patriotic looking sprinkles at the grocery store. They will be perfect for Memorial Day!

Mmmmmm....don't you just want one? 

I set them out for a bit before serving them so they would soften a little. Very yummy, these were a hit for both kids and grown ups alike.

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We are also sharing this post at the All Year Round Blog Carnival.

Weekend Recap

Phew! It's been a busy week for this Plain Vanilla Mom!! So, just in case you missed anything,  I am trying out a weekly recap of the high points for you! Much (much) more in the works for next week so do come back and visit! I love having you :)

1. We started out the week letting the Little Mr. try out his first sensory bin.
2. We played with some homemade finger paints and guest posted at one of my FAVORITE blogs Dirt & Boogers!
3. I am thrilled to now be co-hosting the All Year Round Blog Carnival. We have just started the Summer edition of that blog carnival so don't miss a minute of it. I've dedicated a page to it on the blog so you'll have easy access to lots of fun ideas all summer long.
4. And last but certainly not least we had some fun with a variety of sensory bottles for the babes! 

If you have a minute, I'd love to have you say hi or leave a comment. If you haven't already guessed (by the length of some of my posts) I love to chat! I promise to answer back :) Hope you had just as much fun this week as we did! Oh, and don't forget to check in tomorrow for Sweet Sundays!

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Sensory Bottles for Little Ones

My little guy LOVES his sensory bottles. I started making them for him one day when I realized how much he was enjoying playing with my half-full water bottle. 

His current favorite is this one filled with water, small balloons, and pony beads.

At six months we started with something very basic like these colored water bottles.

Since then I've gotten a little more creative. I keep making new sets and changing them out periodically to keep him interested. He loves looking at them and it gets him up close and personal to materials he would otherwise not be able to go near at his age. I try to mix it up a little bit. Fill some with water and other objects, but others I fill with things like pom poms, water beads, or popcorn kernels. When I make the bottles I try to think about the different weights of the bottles or sounds they might make as he plays with them as well as how visually stimulating they are. As C has gotten more mobile they've also become good motivators for crawling. He bats at them...they roll away... he tries to go after them!

If you've yet to try making sensory bottles for your little ones (babies & toddlers alike) don't miss out on the fun. There's plenty of inspiration out there. You can put just about anything in them.  Here are a few ideas from a few good friends to get you started!

Check out these fun bottles that The Iowa Farmer's Wife did her her little ones.
She added a special twist to make it even more interactive for her oldest.  I especially love how vibrant her bottles came out. You can read how she did it here.

Sometimes its the simplest things that entertain our babes the longest. 

See how Mama Smiles made a beautifully simple bottle to entertain her little ones.

I love how Famiglia & Seoul made her Four Seasons Discover Bottles travel friendly.

Hands on as we Grow did a sensory jar soapy activity that any kid would love.
Who wouldn't love bubbles in a bottle!

Growing a Jeweled Rose is sorta known for her ability to make things glow (and her sensory play dates). Check out these fantastic glowing discovery bottles she did for a backlight themed playdate!

Carrots are Orange has a great post with a list of ideas to make various sight and sound bottles.

We can't forget about the older kiddos either!

These I SPY bottles that Living Life Intentionally made are beautiful!
Make sure you read why she made them... great idea! 

You will find a ton and I mean a TON if ideas of discovery bottles over at Familylicious!

I love how they used the larger gatorade bottles. I need to try that sometime!

And lastly... (if all else fails)... Just give them the empty bottles :)
Our babes has lots of fun with those too!

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