X, Y & Z!

Letter 'X' day was a pretty tough one, but we squeezed in a few things.  

Between MOPS and my work day we made an X-ray picture with white paint and black paper.  

Later that afternoon we had fun making banana slices into X shapes for a snack and then played on her Xylophone!  We made some great music with her "drum", keyboard and xylophone lemme tell you. 

Letter 'Y' day took me by surprise when our power went out in the morning.  We ended up over at Grandma's house so I could work and Kaia was super excited to be playing at Grandma's house all afternoon.  So we mostly talked about 'Y' words and pointed out "yellow" items throughout the day. 

We made sure to paste a Yarn 'Y' in her book that night.

Finally we made it to Letter Z day!  And we ended the 'Letter of the Day' series on a very fun note by going to the Zoo!  We were blessed by a kind stranger with a free "complimentary" ticket they had, and since Kaia is still 2 years old for a few more weeks, we only had to pay for 1 adult!  

Kaia wanted to see the Zebra's first, and luckily for her they were one of the first things around the bend. She really loved the Giraffes, Penguins and Orangutans.  Something I'll never forget is her "waddling" around the zoo like a penguin and making sure we waddled too. "Waddle Daddy!!"  From one animal exhibit to the next..waddle waddle. :)  Also, Daddy kept her happy by making Mickey talk back to her (who she brought along for the day).  It was a beautiful day and I think we saw almost everything there!

Yep she kept asking to see the snakes!  

Then when we left "Bye Snakeys!!"

'W' is for Wonderful Waffles!

Kaia loves "waffles & dip"  (meaning syrup) for breakfast.  And today we had a lovely morning brunch with a great friend at Village Inn.  So when she said she wanted "Waffles & dip" and I asked her what letter Waffles starts with she proudly proclaimed "W!!!"

We also made a paper Watch Kaia can Wear, out of a dixie cup I cut in half and some paper.  She had fun Wearing it for awhile but then ran around and wouldn't let me catch her picture...typical busy 2 year old. Here's the best I got:

Soon after we had to get our Wiggles out!  That was fun wiggling around all together like we're Worms!

We also made a 'W' out of scotch tape in her book and then colored over it with blue like Water.

Very 'V'

We had a very 'V' day and it started with a fun activity of making a play dough Volcano.  First, I looked up pictures of real volcanoes on the computer to show Kaia what they are.  Then we built up the mountain part out of the play dough in a pan, and then I had her poke down a hole with an end of a spoon.  I filled it with a tsp of baking soda and gave her the red "fire" vinegar to pour in the hole and watch it explode!  We had to make it explode a second time of course!

We played a game of trying to think of other "V" words/things.  We ate Vegetables, and made lots of silly Voices. 

'U' is for Umbrella

Since we just played with the Umbrella in the rain for letter 'R' day, we left the real Umbrella in the closet and made some colorful pretend ones.  We colored a paper towel cut out with washable markers and then sprayed them with a spray bottle (her favorite part) until they blended into each other.  Then we pasted it and finished the handle with markers.

We also played with her Unicorn stuffy.

Like her cheesy smile?

I couldn't think of any 'U' foods, but she did have fun crawling Under the table and chairs and hanging Upside down off her bed.  We also traced some 'U's and made some out of play dough.

Tea for Two

Tea for Two Today for letter 'T' day!  Kaia loves her tea set and having tea parties.  So it was especially fitting for today.

We also made a Tree out of Triangles.

Built a Tower of Ten boxes.  And for a special Treat, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and she played in the Tree and Tunnels in the play area.

Meet the Comfy Sack Sock Monster

For letter 'S' today we had SO many things we could do.  We Started by decorating Stars with Stickers.  Then we cut Shapes with Scissors!

  Later, we Sponge painted Stars and Shapes.

They turned out pretty cool!
















She also traced "S"s for awhile, but my favorite of the day was when I asked Brad to play Sock puppets with her while I cooked dinner.  He then created "Comfy Sack Sock Monster".  It was hilarious and I wish I had the time to video it and cook, but I have a feeling he'll return someday at the request of Kaia. :)  What a daddy!

Ready for 'R'

We're Ready for 'R'!

We made a pet Rock today, and when asked what color Kaia wanted to paint it she said: "Red - red starts with R mommy!"  Such a smarty.

Then she watched Rapunzel, a favorite.. or used to be favorite?  Today she said she didn't like Rapunzel.  Not sure where that came from.

We Read some stories.  We Ran with Charlie.  We sang the Rainbow song multiple times and played with her Ribbon wand.  We also took a walk in the Rain.  Kaia has a fascination with umbrellas, so it was a fun time.

Presenting Queen of 'Q'

'Q' is one of the more difficult letters but we found a way to make it work!

We did Q-tip painting before lunch.

We also made a Queen's crown.

We quacked like ducks and were very Quiet while her baby was sleeping.  

And at the end of the day, we drew a Q in her book.  

Popular Letter 'P'!

The letter 'P' is very Popular in our house because Penguins start with the letter 'p' and penguins are just the cutest things ever!  Kaia took a liking to my penguin stuffy's from the beginning.  Perhaps liking them is genetic? :)

Here's her awesome bottle Penguin we made!  She *loved* stuffing the cotton balls in the bottle, and wanted to take them out and do it over again... if I had more supplies we probably would have a penguin army!

Since it is getting to be closer to fall, I've been craving some fall foods...and after a taste of some pumpkin bread at MOPS decided I must make some at home with Kaia.  So this morning we made some pumpkin muffins.  She declared she wouldn't like them, until I said it was kind of like banana bread.  Still unsure, she took a bite... now here we are 3 muffins down!

These would be fantastic with cream cheese frosting or butter with sugar and cinnamon on top!

We did Puzzles, had some Pears, and Played Pooyoos on the Wii.  At the end of the night she colored a picture of Pooh & Piglet.  

Oh my goodness, it's letter 'O'

Ollllld MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O!

After a lovely rendition of Old MacDonald, Kaia requested Oranges for a letter 'O' day snack!

Then we painted 'O's with a toilet paper roll, easy and super fun for the little ones.  She had to fill up at least 3 pages.  We also ate cheerio's and strung them on some string.

Then she drew a big 'O' and little 'o' in her book and did a very good job!

'N' is for Noses!

Today started out with something New for us.  Kaia and I went to our first MOPS meeting.  It was a good morning, and Kaia had so much fun she was very sad to go home.  She kept asking to go back.

Once we got home I let her try on some of my Necklaces, something she loves to do anyway, my sweet girly girl!  After that we had some Noodles for lunch and then Kaia took her Nap.

Then the fun really began when we made our craft for the day - animal Noses!

Before Daddy got home she played with her Numbers puzzle.

'M' is for Mommy's Monkey

Letter 'M' day was almost too easy.  It started like every Morning - with Milk.  Kaia *loves* her Milk.  She would drink it all day long if we'd let her.  3 people go through 2 gallons of milk in less than a week usually - Crazy!

After Milk, Kaia wanted Mango's for a late breakfast.  But first we Made a Monkey Mask!  I found a printable one here!  She colored it and we stuck it on a popsicle stick and off she went chasing Charlie making monkey noises.  Don't worry though, she quickly reassured him it was just her-Kaia, not a real monkey!  That kid cracks me up..

Ahhh!  The monkey's are loose!  

After a lunch of Macaroni and cheese, we also played with Money!

Played with Mickey & Minnie Mouse of course, and Mopped up her Mess after Making Muffins!  Went to get the Mail, looked for the Moon (a favorite of Kaia's) and listened to some Music.  Whew!

Leaping Lizards it's letter 'L' day!

While jumping on the trampoline, Grandma said she looked like a Leaping Lizard!  Not sure what Kaia thought about that because she doesn't slow down much these days..

We had a good time with letter 'L', and so did Grandma!  We had her make this sweet Ladybug hand puppet.  I think she's having more fun playing with it then the actual making it today.

We also made pink Lemonade!  And made Lines out of various objects and toys.  We were going to make Leaf rubbing pictures too but since it was a longer work day I ran out of time!  Oh well, another good craft for an upcoming fall day for sure.