where have all the pictures gone?!!

Just noticed that the pictures aren't showing up on some of my recent posts:((
Will have to wait till I get back home from work to have them fixed...what a bummer!

A Sunday Pasta Party!!!

R Sr. was out of the country for the past week and I had to come up with something interesting for R Jr. to do on the weekend. Yesterday, when he asked what we would be doing, I said "Let's have a pasta party!". "What's a pasta party, Mama" asked R Jr. "Well, we shall cook some pasta for lunch, and then make some pasta craft" I replied. His excitement couldn't be contained, even though he had no idea what pasta craft was. Truth be told, even I hadn't the slightest idea about what I was going to do but decided to let him lead and see what he would come up with.

So, R Jr. insisted on helping me make spaghetti(sans spaghetti, R Jr. selected the pasta to go into the spaghetti). So I let him add pasta to the boiling water.

Then I prepped up the materials for the craft project. I spread a shower liner over the patio deck, some old newspapers to catch any kind of paint spill. I brought out the paints, construction paper, some containers for the paints and different shapes of pasta.

Here are the different shapes of pasta we used:

I got these fun travel pasta from World market:

And here is R Jr. busy at work:

By the time he was done with all the painting, it was nap time. I explained to him that the paint needs to dry up before we can do anything with it. In the evening, we glued the painted pasta onto a construction paper :

Now, you know that R Jr. has had a significant contribution in this when you see the bustling traffic on that street:)

What a fun Sunday it was!!

Getting to know Uppercase/Lowercase Letters

We made a trip to the Dollar Tree yesterday and R Jr. picked up these Alphabet Foam Puzzle Playmats. I thought these would be helpful especially since R Jr. knows his upper case letters well, but gets confused with the lower case ones.

R Jr. has several other similar boards, like the wooden alphabet puzzle board in uppercase letters. Then he has the Leapfrog Fridge Phonics with lower case. But yesterday, I was surprised to see him play with his new mats almost the entire afternoon. After dinner, I asked him to match as many letters as he could. He managed to do these till he decided to move on to something else. Not bad at all... I love the Dollar Tree even more now:)

I was just browsing, and came across this article on "Ideas for teaching letter recognition".

Toothbrush spray painting

This is another art project that I learnt from my sister as a kid. So decided to try it out with R Jr. and I enjoyed it as much as he did.

Materials required:

Old toothbrush

Two sheets of construction paper: one to create the desired design, the other to actually paint on

Watercolor(s)

To create the design: Draw and cut out the design you want to be painted. Since R Jr. just couldn't wait to get his hands dirty with paint, I simply folded the paper and cut out pieces to make a patterned stencil as in the picture below. I placed this cutout over the other sheet to spray paint on. I also cut out hearts and stuck them on to a sheet with tape. Then I had R Jr. dip the toothbrush in paint and stroke the bristles to create the "spray effect" on the paper. The paint should cover the entire design created by the cutout.

This is how it should look:

Since this was our first time doing this, I kept it simple. In future, will try it with other patterns. Will post pictures when they are done.

Friday Blog Hop

It's been a week since I have been into blog hopping and I love it so far. This is such a great way to find new readers, meet other bloggers and in the process support each other. I have come across so many talented bloggers, with truly amazing blogs showcasing their creativity or flair for writing. I don't consider myself anywhere close to them. In fact, this makes me wonder why I am even blogging. I tend to write in very very simple language, just because I do not have much time to sit and blog(I have a full time job and my 21/2 year old boy is my boss at home). So, cooking up fancy words or sentences takes time as it doesn't come naturally to me:) What matters to me is that all that I blog about comes straight from my heart.

Today I am participating in Social Parade Follow on Fridays

If you are new to my blog, a big warm WELCOME and Happy Friday!! Feel free to take a look around. I hope you like what you see . I love comments, and am always looking to make improvements to my blog (content wise or cosmetic). Suggestions are always welcome...since words of encouragement and appreciation from fellow bloggers are what keep me going.

Fun with Pattern Blocks

I had bought this pattern blocks set from Amazon for R Jr.'s Easter Basket this past Easter. He didn't really show a lot of interest for a couple of months, but has now really taken a liking to it. This is surely one of his favorite activities in the house that he can do independently.

Cons: The biggest problem with this set is that the pieces move a lot, so I have to keep putting them back in place before he gets frustrated. Also, while this set comes in a two compartment wooden box to store the pattern boards and pieces, it does not have a cover(just a plastic sheet) and the pieces could easily get lost. So, I have the pieces in a ziploc bag.

Pros: Like any Melissa and Doug toy, this is a very durable, sturdy set. The set also has a list of "extension activities" to put it to more creative use. There are 5 double-sided pattern boards (that is, two images per board), making it pretty compact. Each shape has a very distinguishable bright color, making it so attractive to the young ones.

Pattern blocks help kids:

• build visual- spatial skills
• increase pattern recognition
• practice shape recognition
• visualize how shapes work together to create new shapes
• master color recognition
• learn beginning math concepts
• practice creativity

(Pardon the picture quality above. We just happened to do this at night, and this is the best shot I could get.)

There are a lot of free printable pattern templates available online to keep it interesting and challenging for the little ones. I also print out the shapes using colored sheets and cut them out. I put some glue on the pattern outline so that he can just place the desired shapes on to the template. I have never asked R Jr. to do this, but he almost always tends to count the number of blocks each pattern requires, like 4 squares, 2 hexagons etc. Isn't that a nice way of learning to count too..

Here is a list of online resources:
Printable source 1 (also has a good collection of Christmas themed patterns.)
Printable source 2

Printable source 3

Note: The review of the product above is based on my personal experiences. I have not been contacted by the manufacturer or any retailer for this review.

Wordless Wednesday - A boy's love for things that go

This is my first Wordless Wednesday post. I was always fascinated by Wordless Wednesday posts that I read on other blogs. Thought it is super cool and how truly a picture could convey a message.

All boys love big vehicles. R Jr. is no exception-he loves trains the best, and then there's the fire truck, tow truck, garbage truck and so on. Well, this makes me think, may be I should have his pictures taken with each one of them:)

Printable Nursery Rhymes

R Jr. loves to sing along when I play his nursery rhymes CD. But, I noticed that he finds it hard to pick up the words from a song, or doesn't say them right. I have quite a few Nursery Rhymes books, but they have pretty much the same songs, mainly the most popular ones like Mary had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc. and he has already mastered those. So I printed out these free printable nursery rhymes and put them in a binder. I used http://www.smart-central.com/. One thing that I did not like was that the print for some of the songs is pretty tiny for those little eyes. Otherwise, this site offers a very good collection, like R Jr.'s favorites from Mary Poppins and Sound of Music. They have also included the origin of some of the songs. The French song "Alouette" printable has the English translation for the key words.

We had fun last night reading and of course singing. This way, I can correct him when he doesn't sing a line or verse right. I can point out the words to him as he sings which helps him hone his reading skills too. As he shows interest in a new song from his CD collection, I can just print it off and add to the existing collection. I also plan on adding some Disney classics to the collection, which I am sure R Jr. will love.

Organizing my jewelry

Doesn't it get so frustrating when you have to get to work in five minutes and you can't find the other earring or your necklace is all knotted up into a ball. Well, that happens to me on more than one occasion in a week, and I have tried several methods to keep my jewelry more organized. I used to have them all in seperate boxes, or several small resealable packets within boxes, only to be too lazy to put them back where they should belong.

I didn't have to browse for too long to find the perfect solution. I bought the biggest photo frame that I could find from Dollar Tree and dressed it up. All the necklaces and the hook earring sets found a place here.

But wait, I am not done yet...All the clip-on or friction back earring sets found a new home in an empty egg carton...

I am trying to think of a way to disguise the egg carton top. Have a few ideas that I might try this evening. Will post pictures once I am done. But for now, I hope this serves the purpose and there are no more instances of lost or mixed up earrings.

Thoughts?

Sunday Show and Tell

"Sunday Show and Tell" is a live blog hop hosted by Sarah from Mama to a Sweet Thing, Meaghan from BellOrel Baby and Jill from A Masters and a Mom. This is how it works: post the Sunday Show and Tell button anywhere on your page, link up and follow as many people as you want, don't forget to leave a comment to let them know you were there! Also make sure to follow the hostesses above. Creating a show and tell post is not mandatory, but wouldn't it be fun to include a picture and write something about it.

So, here I go, keeping it simple

“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

-Angela Schwindt

Paper weaving

I love ideas that are fun, creative, and that do not require a lot of planning or money. Paper weaving is actually something I did as a kid. For R Jr., it was a new idea and fun way to practice this style of weaving.

Here is what you need: Two sheets of thick construction paper(different colored) and scissors. That's it. Don't you love it already!!! No scope for your toddler to make a mess that cannot be cleaned up in a jiffy.

• Fold one of the sheets into half and cut 1 inch slits from the folded edge and continue up to one inch from the opposite edge. Open up the page.
• Cut the other sheet into one inch strips.
• Take one strip and weave it horizontally across the slits, going over and under the slits. Push it to the top and repeat with other strips alternating the sequence of going up and down to create a pattern.

This simple craft offers kids an opportunity to exercise their fingers and imagination. It also helps improve coordination and forces them to focus on the details of the task at hand. R Jr. started off with very keen interest but not for too long...

His interest waned off in a bit but at least managed to complete half the sheet with some help. And then,we know that no toddler craft is complete without a drop of drool here and there(alteast R Jr. has to bless everything with a bit of drool:)) Here is R Jr. goofing around with his final product.

Weekly schedule chart

I created this chart so that R Jr. knows what to expect and look forward to during a week. I got these locker magnets from Dollar tree and decided to do something fun with it. R Jr. will turn three years old in December, so he yet to start reading on his own. So I drew pictures of various events/activities and stuck them on to the magnets.

R Jr. and I spend time every morning talking about the activities and the different days of the week. If he wants to move any of the activities around, we talk about it and switch spots on the chart. I know that in the process, R Jr. will get into the habit of planning activities ahead of time. He is also honing his counting skills...like, everyday we have a countdown to a particular event he is really looking forward to (the zoo, or a play date) over the weekend.

Marble Painting

I read about marble painting online, and it looked like so much fun that I had to do it right away. So R Jr. and I sat down to do this last evening. We both had a ball. This is so easy and not too messy unless you have a kid who loves to dive into paint for no particular reason.

Materials needed: Paints (3-4 colors), Marbles ( one for each color), Spoons for each color, Construction paper and a box.

Place the paper at the bottom of a box. Have your kid scoop the marbles out of the paints with the respective spoons and place it on the paper. Then, have your kid shake the box in different directions to have the marbles roll all over the paper. After the marbles have distributed the paint all over the paper, you will see a colorful display of lines and designs.

Here is R Jr. in action

And here is his piece of art:

My little Picasso

There are two things that top R Jr.'s list of hobbies: Crafts and drawing. I have seen him graduate from meaningless scribbles to attempts to draw people, animals or his favorite characters. Last night after realizing that the house was awfully quiet for a few minutes, I walk into his room. I see my little darling on the floor busy doodling on his doodle pro. I ask him what was he trying to draw and he goes "Mama, I am dwawing Barney..He wants to be friends with Elmo". Yes, my budding artist...isn't that obvious:)

Zucchini nut bread

A lady at work gave me a home-grown zucchini a few days ago. I loove zucchini. I usually make zucchini nut bread or grill them with mushroom. But this one was so big, that I would still have some left over. So I will have to try something new with the rest. Here is R Jr. exhibiting the giant zucchini that he so excitedly called 'big cucumber'.

Zucchini or courgette is a small summer squash. It is low in calories (approximately 15 food caloreis per 100 gm fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of folate, potassium and vitamin A. It also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese.

Here are the ingredients for the zucchini nut bread:

2 cups flour

around 1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardomon pods, 1/4 inch nutmeg and 3 cloves, powdered

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar mixed

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

Grease a pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the dry ingredients together.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar together in a bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet, beat well.

Stir in zucchini, walnuts and raisins.

Pour batter in pan and bake for an hour.

Here is the finished product. It turned out very soft and flavorful. An easy recipe that is a must try.

10 ways to show your kid love

Being a working mom, I wish I could spend some more time with R Jr. That is all a child wants.... your time. Needless to say, this is very important. But we get so caught up in the hustle bustle of our daily lives, that we tend to forget how important it is to connect with our child on an emotional level. We love our kids more than anything in this world, but sometimes forget to show them that love. Here are ten ways that I show R Jr. my utmost love for him:

1. Say something silly and make them laugh. Laugh together.
2. Make popcorn together. Enjoy the popcorn while watching his favorite cartoons on television.
3. Sing Barney's "I love you" song together and enact it.
4. Put on some music (got to be his favorite:)) and dance together. Make up some silly moves.
5. Go through all his baby pictures, explain the details of the pictures and all his milestones.
6. Blow raspberries on his belly. He just cannot get enough of these.
7. Do a craft together. I let him decide on what he wants to do. On occasions, let him make a mess. Praise his work of art.
8. Help him clean up. Clean up for him once in a while.
9. Make bathtime special. Add lots of bubbles, and let him play with his tub toys. I let him put in his beach toys too.
10. Make jelly sandwiches together. Use different shaped cookie cutters to cut out the sandwiches.

There are so many ways you can get creative and show them that you love and care for them. What are some ways you show your child love?

Organizing R Jr.'s craft/art work

R Jr. shares my love for crafts and I am so proud of it. There was a time when I saved every little scribble...I started saving all his work in those 5 pocketed letter folders from Target dollar aisle. But very soon I realized that I would never get myself to open these at all...they would just be sitting in the drawer, all ignored...Not anymore!!!

THIS, is how I keep his craftwork now...

This binder method is a lifesaver! No more craftwork lying around. Everything worth keeping is neatly filed into this binder. I just took a gift wrapping paper and and used it as the binder cover. I created tabs to seperate his paintwork, his craft, other memories like his some his first birthday greeting cards from friends. Here are some tips to make the binder system work:

1. Organize them by year
2. Create a binder for every two years(seriously, you do not want to fill your house with binders)
3. You can slip in one of your child's masterpiece in the front cover.
4. Use tabs to organize them in categories of your choice.
5. Decide on what is worth going into the binder. Not every piece of scribbled paper. Also, some of the craftwork done at school may be done mostly by the teacher.
6. I like to put the date on all art/craft work.
7. Sit down with your child and go through the binder when you have time. Ask you child of his/her interpretation of a drawing. Appreciate his/her work of art or creativity.

Today, R Jr. and I went through the binder. He was so excited seeing some of his old craftwork, like the snowman he made for last christmas, or the valentine card he gave his mama...it was so much fun.

Now, I plan to do the same with my recipe printouts, embroidery patterns and so much more.

How do you organize your kid's masterpieces?

What's for lunch, mama?

I have always loved cooking, and very rarely have had to scratch my head wondering what to cook for a meal....until I had to cook for my very own son. He has always been a picky eater. Even when he was an infant, he hated his milk. I thought it would get better with time, but I wish...I try to create meals that not only look appealing to those little eyes but also provide the much needed nutrition. Necessity is the mother of invention...and this mother is sure a life saver for me when it comes to his lunch...Take a look at this....Doesn't it look gorgeous..

Here's how I make it...Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan. Stir in chopped broccoli (I also add a few finely chopped spinach leaves at times) and saute for a minute or so. Add in about half a cup of heavy cream. When it comes to a boil, toss in a quarter cup of grated parmigiano reggiano. Simmer till the sauce thickens and then throw in the cooked pasta with salt to your liking. Finish it off with a dash of pepper. Ain't that easy...

My son is such a brat..anything green is yucky to him...When he got home last evening, I asked him what he ate for lunch, and pat came the reply "Yucky pasta!!!". And then he asked "Mama, did you put grass in my pasta?" That had us all cracking up...But I know for sure he loved it...

My first post...Hurray!!!

Woke up at 5AM this morning with a mission... typing my very first post. Hot chai beside me, and thoughts overflowing. 5:10AM , I hear my little boy cry from his bed. Back to my desk at 5:45, the chai now all cold, and I almost lost my train of thought. But here I go...I don't know what got me into starting a blog...I had started one late last year that went kaput even before it started...Been stressed out the past few weeks, and I realized that I have been losing my sleep and peace of mind over certain issues. It just isn't worth it...Life is too short to waste it on brooding over certain things you have no control over. So, I wanted to divert my energy into something positive. I thought the best way to get about this, was to reflect on the positive things happening, and pen it down...Hence it all started....... 'purely for fun'.

I am a working mom, and as any mom knows, your child means the world to you. I love doing fun stuff with my son, laughing at all the silly things he says out of innocence, reading books and bringing the characters to life...this is the life I never imagined before having him and now the life I cannot live without...

So join me on my blogging journey ...and till my next post...keep smiling!!!