Cinnamon Heart Cloud Dough

4 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of oil

1/4 cup of red powdered tempera paint

1/8 cup of cinnamon

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Start with 1/2 cup of oil and mix.  Gradually add more oil until the cloud dough is moldable.  It should not be sticky like cake batter or anything.  You can also feel free to add more powdered paint or perhaps even red food coloring or liquid watercolors until you achieve the red color you want.  Add in cookie cutter shapes or kitchen play dishes. We will be doing this activity next month!

Just a preview of our Valentine Day pictures, all and all I think we ended up breaking two pairs of sunglasses I got at the Dollar Tree, so we will have to use some new props tomorrow. They also might have been bribed a little by some chocolate hearts. 

Changes in the toddler room...

I've once again rearranged the toddler room, it's good to switch it up every couple of months. We've had a lot of climbers recently wanting to climb on top of either the tables or the shelves. This way I can set up a obstacle course in the middle of the room and let them go crazy on it!

And yes I have started decorating for Valentine's Day already, it will soon approach us!

Thanks to ebay lots I purchased a box of letter and animal leapfrog magnets for our board. We have been chewing off the heads of our animal wooden ones lately so it was time for a change. 

 My Cutest Moments from babysitting this past weekend!!!

Clean Messy Fun!!!

We ended our week with water play. I had three stations set up, painting with water, small tubs with soapy water that apparently were used as small bath tubs and the big sensory tub with random glow wands. Can you guess which one was a big hit?!

Our Cutest Moments:

Outside Smiles!

It's been awhile since we've taken a group photo. They really can't move very well all together bundled up so I thought it would be the perfect time for a picture!

And well there's always one that holds this against me for putting their snow gear on. I'm sorry I just want you to stay warm, apparently the best I could get was the stare.

           

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Pasta Shells

 
I LOVE Pesto... Like really seriously love Pesto... I can eat it out of the jar and be perfectly happy!!!

 

You Will Need:

-1 box of Jumbo Pasta shells (I bought the Great Value Walmart brand and they worked fine)

-4oz softened cream cheese (That’s half of a block)

-1 cup of fresh Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup for topping (Unfortunately, that does not mean the green bottle stuff…dang)

-3 Tablespoons of Pesto (I always buy the Classico brand. It is my favorite and personally I think it’s the best)

-2 cups of shredded cooked chicken

-Garlic (Original recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic minced. Who actually buys/has garlic cloves? Not this girl. So of course I just threw in some garlic powder)

-Salt and Pepper to taste

 

 

Directions:

-Cook pasta shells according to package, but only until al dente. Don’t overcook!

-Cook chicken & cut up/shred

-In a large bowl mix together Pesto, cream cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, and chicken

-Grease a 9×13 baking dish

-Fill shells with Pesto/chicken mix and place in the baking dish

-Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Bake for 30 minutes

"SNOW" much fun!!!

It was so nice outside that we finally got to venture out into the snow. Although toddlers loved running in their snow pants in our classroom today. 

When the meltdowns start, it's time to go inside!

Thankfully this activity calmed them all down when we got back inside. 30 minutes of pure enjoyment crayons and cups. 

It's hard sometimes when I get two young toddlers join the room, you never know how they are going to react to different sensory projects. Thankfully they seemed to enjoy this painting activity I mean after it was just green pudding paint!

There's always two that enjoy the full experience!!!

Our Cutest Moments:

Learning colors and shapes

Did you know that paint chips are free?!  Home Depot carries the Disney line, which means that you can go in and take a few sample colors in the fun Mickey shape!  Make it a matching game or, when your tot gets older, try it as a memory game!

This morning we painted with the color blue. I showed them how to stamp their papers using their paper cups. They were much better using the cups than the toilet tubes. I kept saying look at all those pretty blue circles. Some of them were really proud of their artwork displayed on the wall! 

The older tots today were giving me some pretty cheesy smiles today! :)

This afternoon we painted our windows with water using our paint brushes. Then we stuck foam shapes to it. Alice figured out we could also stick the foam shapes to the back of the diaper changing station when Teagan painted the back of it with water. 

Transitioning is hard on any young toddler. This always seems to be the position they all fall asleep when visiting the toddler room. 

Our Cutest Moments:

Salmon baked in foil

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 salmon (about 1-1/2 pounds), with or without skin (remove before eating)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, white wine vinegar, olive oil, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper.

Lay the salmon on a double sheet of foil on top of a baking sheet.

Fold all 4 sides of the foil up and pour the honey mixture evenly over the salmon.

Seal the foil by folding it as though you are wrapping a present. Place the salmon in the oven.

Cook until the salmon is just cooked through, about 15 minutes. Take care not to overcook the salmon.

Unwrap the salmon from the foil, cut into pieces and serve hot or at room temperature.

Toddlers love Ice!

Last night I thought it would be fun to freeze ABC letters in water and then freeze it outside. The toddlers had fun touching the ice today and tried really hard to brake the ice to get the letters out. Once they broke it they all grabbed for the broken pieces and immediately started sucking away on it. I"m sure it felt good to our teething bunch. 

We had fun exploring these two textured bags filled with our broken play dough pieces. 

This afternoon I let them finger paint with toothpaste.They weren't quite sure of the minty taste. 

 Be sure to check out our Cutest Moments next week, Old pictures will be in your child's folder. And the new pictures will be up on the wall. We are sad to say good-bye to Lola she is moving on up to the 2's. 

Our Cutest Moments: