Birthdays, Parties, and Babies

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If you checked out our Instagram at all this week, many of the pictures will be familiar. We had another full week outside, and were lucky to see many friends. Most of Skyler's little buddies have recently or soon will be turning two, and we have been happy to celebrate with them lately! We attended a birthday party last weekend and have another one tomorrow. Here are some of the other things we have been up to this week.

On Wednesday we went to see one of Skyler's friends, and we got to meet her sweet new baby sister. Skyler happily played with his friend, and mama got three-week-old baby snuggles. After a lot of water play, we walked across the street to play at the park and poor Skyler cried when we left. That boy loves playing at the park. Any park :)

We had such a fun morning getting birthday cupcakes and going to the park on Thursday. These sweet boys (plus an adorable six-month-old sister that Skyler just loves!) got to choose their own cupcake at Sweet Retreat Cupcake Boutique and they picked the same one, cookies and cream! Skyler inhaled his - they were delicious!

Today this little friend of Skyler's turned two, so along with another friend of hers, we spent the morning at the Minnesota Zoo. It is one of our favorite places, and extra fun when we have a friend to go with! These two are so cute because they will always walk next to each other no matter where they go, and there are lots of hugs exchanged whenever they are together. Last time we went to the zoo with them, they held hands the entire time. 

My mom got Skyler this easel for his birthday, so my husband and I spent Wednesday night putting it together. Skyler saw it when he woke up yesterday and has been going to it whenever we play in the living room. I used his first piece of artwork to make a daddy countdown while my husband is away at a training. Past daddy countdowns can be seen here and here.

I hope we had a wonderful week, and enjoy your weekend ahead!

Parks, Walks, and Outdoor Time!

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Wow - this week has gone by so quickly! With my husband working a later shift and some beautiful Minnesota weather (finally!) we have spent most of our time out and about. It has been so wonderful to take advantage of the warm and sunny days, we will leave in the morning, stop back home for nap, and then head back out when Skyler wakes up. It has, unfortunately, not left much time for crafting or activities at home, but with rain in the forecast next week, I am sure we will be doing more of that! Here are some pictures from a few of our favorite outdoorsy things this week.

Monday rained off and on, so we braved some sprinkles and checked out a new-to-us park that is near our house. We have gone to the little bucket swings on the other side of the beach, but this was our first time at the big playground, and we had it all to ourselves!

We were given this small basketball hoop from a high school friend after I posted a video of Skyler enjoying a similar one at our ECFE class. He has been obsessed! He wants to "play basketball hoop" all the time. So fun!!

We spent a morning at Lake Harriet to walk and play at the park. I would go there every day for a walk and iced coffee if it wasn't such a drive from our house. Skyler especially loves the airplanes that are always flying over the lake. I have been worried that we wouldn't really get to go for long stroller walks now that Skyler is walking, but he is so happy watching for dogs and looking at the boats, ducks, or any sort of cool vehicle that goes by!

Yesterday we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for a picnic lunch and to check out their butterfly exhibit. It was so much fun! Skyler was very careful around the butterflies and gentle when we had them on our fingers. He talked about it for the rest of the day. 

Last week, Skyler started smiling if I say "show me your teeth" which used to work on him months ago. I am pretty excited about it - look at that face!!

Fedora family - Skyler insisted on wearing his after mama and daddy grabbed theirs :)

These spring and summer months in Minnesota are completely worth putting up with winter! There are so many trails, parks, lakes, and activities to fill our time with. I am very much looking forward to more bike rides and splash pads in the near future!

Pinecone Painting - Two Ways

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One of Skyler's favorite things to do when we walk around our neighborhood is find pinecones. He collects all the ones sitting on the sidewalk and throws them around. The other day we had his recycling truck with us, so all the pinecones ended up getting recycled and dumped throughout our walk. We ended up with several when we got home, so I wanted to let him explore with them. 

Skyler's only experience painting with natural materials as a tool was when we did flower paintings. I thought that using the pinecones as a tool to paint with would be a fun way for him to use the pinecones that he enjoys collecting so much.

Skyler really enjoyed this. He used his little pincer grasp to create lines with the small pinecones, and also liked to roll them around in the paint.

Of course he did some finger painting as well! :)

Having him use the pinecones as a tool was an extra activity, my original idea was to have him paint on the bumpy texture of the pinecones. I used hot glue to adhere some pinecones to a piece of foam and set out a paint brush with some fun glittery paint.

At first Skyler wouldn't paint on the pinecones, but would paint around them. After awhile he did try painting them, and eventually they all had some paint on them. Most of the paint ended up on the foam or the white paper, though. The pinecones made a cool noise when painted on, like a washboard. Skyler liked the sound it made, but treated the painting more like an obstacle course which I thought was pretty cute.

Since all the pinecones did have some paint on them, we pulled out the glitter to add to the craft. Skyler started off by sprinkling the glitter over the pinecones.

Then had fun dumping the glitter out, pinching some back into the bowl and dumping it out again.

Both painting methods were a lot of fun and it was great to use the pinecones that Skyler loves to collect on our walks in an extension activity at home.

 

Easter Day

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Happy Easter! It was a very fun day for us. I felt like we never really stopped moving, but it was wonderful to see so much of our family and it was special spending time with my husband since he returned from a two week training yesterday! Last night I set up Skyler's Easter basket. It ended up being mostly a bike/train/automobile theme with a few animals thrown in and a basketball that was never intended to be included :)

I have been looking forward to Skyler being of age for a train set. This one from IKEA seemed like the perfect starter set. And of course, with his huge interest in garbage trucks lately, I was on the hunt for a toy garbage truck for him. This sweet recycling truck fit the bill. While at IKEA, I also picked up a roll of drawing paper for our future crafting fun.

Inside Skyler's basket, I was going to fill the bottom with Easter grass, but Skyler became obsessed with this basketball after I bought it to go in a silent auction basket for our ECFE class. I had to go buy a new one, and this red and black ball became the new base of Skyler's basket!

The rest of his basket included Toob animals (Farm, Wild, and North American Wildlife), a new Easter book, a bell for our bike, and some non-candy treats!

Skyler was so sweet when he saw his Easter basket set up. He quietly walked around, checking out everything there. He started with the train, looked at the truck for a bit, and then took out the basket fillers one by one. He was SO excited to see his beloved basketball!

Last night along with setting up Skyler's basket, my hubby and I made these lemon coconut cottontail cookies for one of our family parties today. They taste awesome and are so very festive!

We attempted a family photo today, and ended up with three pretty cute tries.

And a necessary selfie with my guy :)

 
I hope you had a very happy Easter day with your loved ones. Have a wonderful week ahead!
 

Easter Craft and Activities Roundup

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Skyler and I had a lot of fun with Easter crafts and activities the past several weeks. From pom-poms to painting, and thanks to the perfectly colored plastic eggs, a lot of fun color themed play! Here is a roundup of all the Easter themed fun we had at Minne-Mama!

Pom-Pom Easter Eggs

Mirrored Easter Egg Painting

Easter Egg Bubble Bath 

Easter Egg Color Sort

Peek-a-boo Eggs Sensory Bin

Easter Egg Hunt Contact Paper Play

Frozen Watercolor Easter Egg Paints

Easter Basket Color Match

I am sure this is not the last of plastic Easter egg play for us this year! There are so many fun things to be done with those eggs! We have also enjoyed using them with play dough and "washing" them in the sink with a ton of bubbles and a dish scrubber :)

To see more Easter crafts and activities, check out my Easter Pinterest board!