hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

Here is another treasure from the backfiles. This started as an act of desperation on my part, I just needed her to be occupied so I could finish something, but it quickly became one of her favorite activities. If you have a chalkboard (we made ours on a half wall with chalkboard paint), all you need is a paintbrush, sponge, or washcloth, and a cup of water. Dip the brush in the water and have at it! Kit LOVES how the water turns the board black. So often, she will be at this so long that by the time she gets across the board, the first area she painted will be dry and a fresh pallet once again. You can get creative with the things you use as paintbrushes, but she has been completely happy with our basic art brushes from Walmart. I love watching her do this.

So I was going through old drafts, "cleaning house" so to speak, and I found this precious gem that got left behind. It was just the pictures, I hadn't written anything with it yet, don't even remember what if anything I was going to. Several things I love about these pictures.  One, she has baby hands and toes in them, her hands and feet are growing and looking like big girl feet lately, and usually have several colors of fingernail polish on alternating nails.  Two, the dress in these pics doesn't fit her anymore, but, we have the exact same dress in a size 5, which heartbreakingly, does not look as gigantic on her as it feels like it should.  Three, she still runs barefoot everywhere...at least some things haven't changed.

Welcome to Fresh Brewed! Each week I will write about a topic that relates to families. Then, at the bottom of the post is a Linky Tool so that you can link up your posts related to the topic for the week. It doesn't have to be a new post from the past week, if you have written about it in a previous post, link it! The topics will be broad enough to encompass many avenues of thought, but do please only post related posts. Opinion posts are welcome, but not bashing ones please. Please keep it respectful. There may be posts with vastly different viewpoints, or addressing points on vastly different areas of the topic. That's fantastic as every family is different and struggles with different circumstances. If you are not a blogger, but you have an interesting article to share, or read something another blogger posted, please feel free to leave a link in the comments section of the weekly post and a short description of how it relates to the topic.  Fresh Brewed Weekly Link...

We are still buzzing with excitement from this weekend. Our house was transformed Saturday afternoon into a dazzling venue for our Mid-Summer Indoor Garden Tea Party in November.  Confused?  No worries. I'll explain. First, allow me introduce an amazing book: A Year in the Secret Garden by Valarie Budayr & Marilyn Scott-Waters I recieved a beautiful paperback copy for review, but otherwise I have recieved no compensation. All thoughts and opinions of the book are entirely my own. Inspired by and written as sort of a companion and activity guide for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this book is divided into twelve month sections. Each month highlights traditional activities, recipes, life in that era, and a character study. It is a wonderful, hands on, practical way to take kids on a journey back in time and see how children and families lived in another era. The illustrations are colorful and whimsical. The photogr...

I've decided to divide and conquer this week. This post will highlight some of the preschool books that we read over the past few weeks, while the next post will contain the favorites for young readers and myself. To start us off we have a family favorite that was so well loved it literally fell apart, and we finally replaced it, with the board book version. I am very pleased as it is the entire story and not a condensed version. We love Wooly! Kit said this was her favorite page, the one with all the Kitty Kisses! My personal fave is the the duck lullaby, the kids go crazy giggly when I belt out my quacky rendition. Fun times. I have to confess that I have never really been able to get into the How Do Dinosaurs series for reasons I can't exactly pinpoint. I think the artwork is great. I love that they write the names of each dino on the various pages. I think it a very clever way to help kids sort out their own feelings in a funny and non-accusing ...

I have not been compensated in any way to provide this review.(Except with loads of fun.)  We got our container of H2O-la-la as part of Kit's Preschool Curriculum back in August. It took us a while to pull it out and discover that it totally ROCKS!! H2O-la-la are fizzy color tablets that can be added to bathwater, or any other container of water to make crisp, bright colored water! The container contains a combined total of 300 large and small tablets that, according to the packaging, "fizz, swirl, and color the water!" And that is indeed what these amazing little tablets do! The tablets are "kid safe, lab tested, no soap or fragrance". But the label still warns that the tablets are not to be eaten. This product is labeled for kids 3+, so use caution with younger children, especially if they like to drink the bathwater. We love them. Kit loves them. She loves choosing a color for her bath each night! The tablets come in the...