Quiet Book: One page done!

I decided my latest project was going to be a Quiet Book for Little Guy.  We will be traveling a few times this year, and I wanted the book for when we are on the airplane or traveling far in the car.  A search on Pinterest turned up lots of ideas, so I even had to start a board just for Quiet Book ideas (see this board here).

Well, as you can guess, this book will take a lot of time to put togeter.  So here is my first page!

 I got the template for the dinosaur from Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows.

All the spots and spines have snaps.

There is a zipper on the dinosaur's back!  The dinosaur becomes a pocket to store the pieces in (or a fun thing for a certain little boy to have fun zipping)!

More pages to come!

Easter Egg Table

We are starting to get ready for Easter this week.  Saturday morning we went to the zoo for their Easter Eggstravaganza.  It was a cold morning, so we did not stay very long.  As part of the festivities, Little Guy participated in an Easter egg scramble.  He was in the zero to two age group, and there were lots of eggs scattered on a field.  Daddy took him out and they collected three eggs!  Little Guy wanted to investigate the eggs as he picked them up.  He seemed to enjoy opening and closing the eggs, and did not seem to notice as I spirited the candy away.

When we got home, we dug out our Easter box and found more eggs.  Little Guy seemed to enjoy playing with the eggs, and even putting other eggs or pom poms into them.  So the idea for the play table was hatched!

Wow!  Look at all those eggs!

We did not have quite enough eggs to fill the table originally, so I picked up some more as I was running errands.  Little Guy seemed to be really interested!

Here is a big one!

 I put an empty egg carton into the table as well, and we had a basket sitting nearby.  Little Guy spent part of his time putting eggs into the basket.

What's inside?

 Some of the eggs still had pom poms in them from playing earlier.  Little Guy enjoyed discovering the hidden treasures!

Working to close the egg.

 It is tough for him to close the eggs.  He is getting lots of practice signing the word "help!"

I'm going to fill my basket!

What are you doing to get ready for Easter?

Tote, Cell phone holder, and zippered pouch

I have been busy sewing.  I told you about the tote bag I made here.  Well, I like it so much that I have been using it for everything.  I had a problem with it, though.  My cell phone would get lost into the bottom, and I had a hard time fishing it out when it was ringing.  So I designed and made a cell phone holder.  It buttons so I can loop it around the handle of the bag, and I can take it out if I don't need it.  I also made a small zippered pouch.  I got the tutorial for the zippered pouch from Skip to My Lou off Pinterest.

Zippered pouch and cell phone holder.

It fits nicely!

Well, I loved these so much, I had to share them.  One of my sisters is getting married this spring, so I made her a set for her bridal shower.  I made one change to the bag.  I added a loop and button so it will close.

I wanted to put in a little personalization to my bags.  I used a tutorial from Kojo Designs to make a tag to go into my bags.  I had some extra material that had monkey faces on it, so I used that and wrote on the other side.  I think they came out cute!

Isn't it a cute monkey face!

My personalized tags.

Now onto my next project!

Cheerios and a Pipe Cleaner

So Little Guy and I had to stay home today.  I know, you feel bad for me, don't you!  He was running a fever so we we had an extra day together.  But the thing about little people is that they don't really want to stay in bed when they're sick.  Once they get the medicine that helps them feel better, they're off and running again.

So I was trying to do some activities with Little Guy that would keep him stationary.  One activity we did was threading Cheerios onto a pipe cleaner.  I got it started by putting one Cheerio on and wrapping the pipe cleaner around it so it wouldn't fall off.  Then I gave it to Little Guy to try. 

Getting started and trying on my own.

At first, he was having hard time getting the pipe cleaner through the hole if he was holding both items.  As long as I held the pipe cleaner and kind of directed it, he was able to thread the Cheerios.  After a while, we has able to do some completely on his own!

Mommy helping to hold the pipe cleaner.

Pushing the Cheerio to the bottom.

Look at all those Cheerios that I threaded!

This activity probably held his attention for about 10 to 15 minutes.  He seemed to enjoy it and when he would look at the Cheerios on the pipe cleaner he would get a big smile on his face!

All done!

We are traveling during the next few months, and I think this will be a good activity to take with us. 

What activities do you do with your toddler when they are sick?