Birthday Memory Bags

Okay this will be the last birthday post I promise(at least for a while : )

Another tradition I wanted to start this year was creating birthday memory bags for L.  Each draw string bag is supposed to have a number on it and represent one year of L's life. 

In L's first year bag I put in the outfit she wore home from the hospital and her baby booties.  Each bag also contains a picture book of that year and a letter to L talking about what she accomplished that year, her height and weight, her favorite foods and her friends etc.

 Next year I will include a tape measure in the box and she can compare her different sizes and weights each year.

Here she is trying to put on her very first pair of shoes!

I think I saw this idea on the Internet somewhere but I really can't remember where.  All I know is I think it's a wonderful thing for L to look forward to each birthday and another way to take the emphasis off of presents.

Window Crayons Rock!

L got some Crayola window crayons from a neighbour for Halloween.  We tried them out the other day and they totally rock!!! I can't believe I didn't know about these before.  We both spent ages coloring and creating.

The best bit is not only is it a great artistic and creative activity but it's also a fantastic practical life activity.  L enjoyed wiping down the window with a wet cloth and drying it just as much as the coloring!!



Gifts and Your Child

I was going to post about how we deal with gift giving and receiving in our house after L's birthday and just discovered this timely post on the subject over at The Magic Onions. 

For L's birthday we made all of L's gifts.  My husband made her the marimba and a wood doll bed and my mom knitted clothes for her doll.  A close friend made a quilt and pillow for the doll bed.

Over the last few years I've been able to train all of our family members on what appropriate gifts are and usually can recommend gifts for close family.  A good option I find is getting them to pay for a class that L would like to take like swimming or dancing.

 We invited L's whole Montessori preschool class to her birthday party so there were a lot of people.  We put on the invitations to please bring a donation for the foodbank instead of a gift.  This took away the pressure on us but also on the guests.

Look at all of the donations we received!!  L and I gathered them up and took them to the foodbank after her birthday.  We got a tour of the foodbank, learned about how it all works and got a list of items they are always short of for next time. 

I think this was the perfect time to start this tradition while she is still young enough to not question it and we'll carry it on now for every birthday.  L got more than enough gifts from her family and it's a great for her to learn about giving and sharing.  I also think we'll put together a small donation for every birthday in our house.

Luckily for me I love to do crafty things so I always have something homemade for gifts that we give.  Whenever it's one of L's friends I try to involve her in the making of the gift such as a necklace or card.

With Christmas looming and L's birthday over I need to get myself organized to start making all of the Christmas gifts.

What do you do about gifts for your littles for Christmas and Birthdays?

3rd Birthday Celebrations part 2

There is a group of local young people in our community that have started an African marimba band.  They play at local events and family dances.  We went to see them last March and since then L has been besotted.

We have to go and see them every time they play, she always talk about them and pretends to play the marimba.

So we decided to try and make her one of her own.  My wonderful husband found some plans for a small xylophone on the Internet and spent hours in the garage creating it.

 Here is the finished product.

 L couldn't believe her eyes when she removed the cover.  She had to have a go and then another and another.

We also made a marimba cake for her.  I melted some dark chocolate into tin foil molds and then cut the cake in the shape of the marimba.  I used black licorice for the little key holders.

 The best part was that we actually managed to get the marimba band to play for her party!!  It was a surprise and L was in awe when they came to the door and started setting up.

My heart nearly burst when all the children were dancing and playing instruments and my little L was playing her marimba alongside her idols.

Now that my husband has the hang of it he's hoping to make one of the marimbas in the front of the picture for Christmas.  I can't wait!!

3rd Birthday Celebrations!

After long hours of preparation we finally had L's birthday and party.

I was so inspired by all the birthday decorations from the Childhood Magic blog that I wanted to make some for L's birthday.

Here is the felt birthday banner.  I love it and we'll be able to use it every year!

 My mom and I made pennants out of the left over pieces of felt and I made some Waldorf window stars to make the place look more festive.

 The spread.  I make a point to only give L healthy food and birthdays are no exception. 

 The birthday crown.  My mom and I spent ages making this felt crown which represents the four seasons and L refused to wear it.  Typical.  At least we have it now and hopefully she'll be more into it next year : )

 Some time last week I realised that I nothing prepared for all of the children to do.  Yikes! In a panic I put together this crown decorating table.

 Fabric painting which will make up a gift for L

 and bracelet making.

The kids managed to make a complete and thorough mess of it all but had a fab time!

Rainbow Birthday meal

Friday was L's third birthday.  I've been sooo busy the last couple of weeks preparing for everything and now it's finally all over.  We had a fantastic weekend and I think L totally enjoyed herself.

I was lucky enough to time our final rainbow meal for her actual birthday.

We had pesto pasta (L's favorite) for our main course and rainbow veggie and fruit platters.

L and Daddy set the table with candles for each color of the rainbow.

The poor little sausage was sooo tired from all of her birthday celebrations that she barely made it through dinner!

This whole rainbow eating adventure has been such great fun and has given us something to look forward to every Friday.

I would totally recommend tying it out with your little one!

Indigo and Violet...phew!

Things seem to have been pretty hectic around here lately.  I've been busy preparing for L's birthday and birthday party next weekend as well as making her Halloween costume.

I also started teaching two music classes this week and have been looking for other work.

I really wanted to fit in our last rainbow meal this week so we could celebrate L's birthday with a complete rainbow meal with all of the colors.

I decided to combine indigo and violet since really we had a hard enough time with blue to try and do indigo as a whole meal on it's own.

So here we go.  It was actually very successful.  We had blue corn chips with hummus and red(which is actually totally purple!!)cabbage coleslaw with raisins and cashew nuts.  We also tried a Chinese eggplant which I fried up with some garlic, onions, mushrooms and green pepper.  It was totally yum!

L also had to have olives which are her favorite!

 We had blackberry and elderberry juice to drink and plums for dessert!

So there you have it.  Indigo and Violet.  We have  now managed to eat all the colors of the rainbow!! Woohoo!

I'm so looking forward to next week when we will eat all of the colors of the rainbow in one meal!

Stay tuned for that plus tons of upcoming posts on birthday preparations and celebrations!