Sensory Bottles

Feeling all crafty, I made another Pinterest project! Sensory or discovery bottles are everywhere on Pinterest and it seemed like something B would have fun with. They are really easy to make and are neat for the kiddos to shake and swirl and in B's case, roll all over the floor.

I found so many sensory bottle pictures and pretty much combined those ideas make Bradley's bottles. I really liked the finished project on this blog and she even made a holder for her discovery bottles. Bonus points for the holder being from Blue Moon bottles!

You can fill your bottles with anything you'd like which is great. A lot of crafty moms will have already have most of these things at home. I was not one of those moms but maybe that will be me down the road. The Voss water bottles came from Publix where they happened to be on sale - always a plus!



{my materials}


I used glitter, different sized beads, foam animals, letters and numbers, curling ribbon, and little alphabet block to fill the six bottles. I will admit that I went a little overboard with the glitter and I probably didn't have to use it all in one bottle, but glitter is fun and oh so pretty. After filling each of the bottles I used a hot glue gun to deal the caps to the bottles. Just to make sure we wouldn't end up with glitter-covered beads everywhere I had Dan test the caps out and they all passed inspections.

When I gave them to B I put them down on his playroom mat and we went straight for them. He loved taking them out of the holder and rolling them around. All in all I think this latest Pinterest project was a success!



{the finished bottles and holder}




{a close up of the holder}




{the sensory bottles all in their holder}




{B happily playing with his sensory bottles!}


Here are some products similar to the ones I used, but these sensory bottles are great because pretty much anything will work!

        

With Easter right around the corner (see the scary Easter Bunny below ...) I have pinned quite a few Easter ideas, I hope they turn out as great as they look on Pinterest!

Not a Fan of the Easter Bunny

I believe the picture says it all!



{pretty sure the entire mall heard B screaming but in his defense, I would probably be a little frightened too}



Weekend Recap

Since little B could be a St. Patrick's Day mascot with his red hair, we had to celebrate his holiday! B actually kicked things off early with a party at school on Friday. All the kids had to bring in something different and we were in charge of cubed cheese. There was a little mix up with the sign up process because for a few days we were somehow in charge of pickles, then magically we were on cheese duty again. And then they ended up with double cheese and zero pickles. As it should be in my opinion, and I'm pretty sure B would agree.

Then on the big day Dan, Bradley and I went to a St. Patrick's Day festival and it was pretty fun. There were two stages and lots of people drinking green beer. We definitely got our fill of good people watching, some of the green outfit choices were "interesting" to say the least.

But our little Irish boy was quite a hit! It was warm and sunny so B had his shades on. The combination of red hair and big boy sunglasses meant lots of people stopped to check him out and B received many, many compliments.



{my Irish boys}




{Mommy and B}

We had a hat for B to wear as well but he was not a fan. Maybe next year. We took a few more pictures at home, it's amazing comparing this year's pictures to B's first St. Patrick's Day last year!



{happy}




{I love my little man}




{this might be my favorite picture of B to date}


On Sunday we had a girls' get together because a friend was in town with her little ones. B had fun showing off his walking skills and playing with the other kids. Once the dog incident was over that is. There were two dogs there and both resulted in a complete freak out with screaming and crying all rolled into one. It was so sad! Keep in mind we do have a dog who Bradley loves but I guess since he was in a different environment he didn't know what to do. Note to self - taking B to the dog park with Millie will NOT be a good idea.

Oh, and I know I'm not doing the monthly stats anymore for B but he had his 15 month well visit today and I just so happen to have his latest numbers. B weighs 27 lbs, 7 oz and is 31 1/2 inches tall. He has always been a little above the median on the weight chart but this is the first time he has moved from the median on the height chart. Yay Bradley! I knew Dan's height had to start kicking in at some point. Our little boy is getting so big!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

And we have a walker ...

It's finally official - Bradley is a walker! And not just a few steps here and there, this boy can walk all over the place. B is so incredibly proud of himself, it's adorable. He usually has a big grin while the whole time and has been known to also make some interesting high pitched sounds when he's really excited about his new skill. He has also decided that he's a big boy and would rather not have Mommy or Daddy hold one of his hands while he's walking around the house, he can do it on his own, thank you very much. Steps are a little tricky so B will just pause and put one hand out so we can help him out. He's a smart one!

Saturday was Yiayia's 96th birthday and after lunch we went back to her house so B could show off his new skill. A big plus was that Yiayia has carpet and all we have is hardwood and tile so we weren't very worried about him falling. And he put on quite the show for Yiayia - walking and running all over the place. The only downside to all this walking excitement is that B just does not have the time/patience to sit and pose for pictures. It looks like it'll be action shots from here on out.



{walking is so much fun!}




{too busy to sit and smile}


Now B would much rather do laps around the house than play with his toys in the play room. I think this phase will pass but in the mean time I think his toys miss him. Funny story - when I was putting the play room together I found toys and rattles from when he was a little baby and just stuck them in a bin. Hey, easier than packing them all away. B loves to pull out the bins now and in one of them he found these little gems -

I believe these are for little babies. We tried them once when he was around 3 or 4 months old and he hated them. Now, he thinks they're great. He'll randomly bring one over so we can attach it to his wrist. Hey if they still fit his wrist them that must mean he's still in the age group for them, right? Maybe not but he likes them and we think it's cute so wrist rattles it is. They are really cute so I do recommend them. Even for your 15 month old.

I'm Back!

Everything went really well in Denver. I even got to see snow! And some mountains too, but it snowed! I'm pretty sure that out of the 80 attendees I was the only one that didn't say "Ugh!" or "Oh no!" when someone announced it was snowing. It only snowed for an hour or so that day and it was so pretty. I did manage to snap a picture on my cell phone, at that point I didn't care that I looked like a total tourist.



{snow!! it's hard to see but it is actually falling in this picture, not just on the ground}


And then when I boarded my airport shuttle at 5:30 the following morning I saw that everything was blanketed in about 1 inch of snow. It was so pretty but I was so very happy that I live somewhere where scraping ice of windshields is not required.

Besides my picture of snow, I also brought back with me a nasty cold or something along those lines. Ugh. Today I'm finally feeling half normal so at least this bug seems to be on the way out. I've barely seen my little man B in two days because we don't want him to catch this.

On a brighter note, B really worked on his walking skills while I was away. He can now take at least 10-15 steps at a time. He can also turn himself around and can stand on his own for a really long time. Dan has had him throwing basketballs through his hoop while standing the whole time, pretty impressive! The only downside to all of this is that he now takes off at random times. And since he's still not officially a walker someone needs to be there to catch him if he falls. But he's SO close! I'm pretty sure he'll be running in no time.

And last but not least, Happy Birthday Mom!!! We hope you're having a great day and can't wait to see you tonight!