This week in our “Alphabet Adventure” we traveled through the letter “L”! We had a lot more opportunities this week for crafts, however not as many for activities. Would you believe me if I didn’t think of “L for Logan” until about halfway through the week. I think again it was a friend of Logan’s who reminded us.

Another word that came to mind this week was LOVE.

We are going to go off on a bit of a tangent here-

Other moms who are reading this completely understands me when I say that some weeks, things are A LOT. Logan was sick this week, Dad’s work schedule was a little crazy as was the weather- back up to triple digits some days, on top of all the other things that come with taking care of a home and family.

When I became a mom, one of the hardest things to do was to learn how to give myself grace. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so when I can not accomplish things to the extent that I wanted, it eats at me a bit. Logan doesn’t know all that I had planned and that I didn’t get to accomplish that week. All he knows is that his mom was with him all week long, we had fun, snuggled, laughed, got messy, went for adventures and made memories but most of all he knows his mom LOVES him. That’s something I have never had to question from the moment he was born, if he knows that I truly love him.

Again, other moms reading this knows the feeling I’m talking about. It felt like our hearts were literally ripped open (in the best possible way) and born anew with our baby(ies) being at the center the day they came into this world. And if you’re anything like me, you spend everyday making sure they know that!

Phew, that was a lot! Just a gentle reminder that you are doing an amazing job, Mama. Your little ones don’t require much—just your presence and the love that only you can give them.

Now, let’s return to our regularly scheduled programming.😉

If you are just now joining us on our “Alphabet Adventure”, you can read all about what it is in the post below—>

Alphabet Adventures

For this week we focused on: leaves, ladybugs and LOGAN!

It also would have been a great week to focus on letters for older kiddos!

During Alphabet Adventures, every week needs to include these things:

1. Craft

2. Food

3. Outing

4. Books/Activities

5. Sensory activity

I also decided that every week we are going to do a hand print craft that we will eventually turn into an “ABC” book!

Here is our 12th page!

I couldn’t decide if I should put leaf- singular or leaves- plural. All the other book pages have been a singular item so it felt weird to put a plural word. However, there are clearly multiple leaves in the picture.

Do I still think about this decision- yes.

Again, does Logan care?- no

If you were to ask him what this is a picture of, he would say “leaf”….singular.

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Craft

For our crafts this week we made lemonade, fall leaves, a lion, lavender, leaf wreath and a ladybug!

Lemonade

Every week I have been challenging Logan with a more “structured” activity. This one he was instructed to color and glue the objects inside the cup- look how well he did! Still a big fan of glue over here so I created some lemons and a straw for him to glue within the lemonade.

Fall Leaves

At first I had the idea to collect leaves outside and let Logan glue them on (which would still be fun to do!) but he has never used a sponge to paint before. I thought it would be a pretty way to mix the fall colors.

I did turn the picture so that the top of the tree would be closest to him to help him with his placement

Lion

This one would be so fun for older kids so they can actually get the strokes of the fork down to make it look like hair! Logan used the fork like a paintbrush and just pushed it around, which is totally fine too! Process over product, remember!

Plus, a fork is not usually used with paint. I’m surprised he didn’t try to eat it.

I

Then hand Logan glue down the lion face in the middle and he immediately said “rawrrrrr!!” 🦁

Lavender

Wanted to include some of our paint dotters this week and decided on letting Logan create some lavender. Again, I turned the paper so that the tops were closest to him so the petals were primarily at the top.

Leaf Wreath

This project took forever to complete and that’s ok! My toddler definitely did not sit here and glue every single leaf on the whole wreath in one go. He would do a couple at a time and then be done with the project, only to revisit it a couple hours later!

Ladybug

Same as the project above, him paining the plate red with the paint stick did not happen in one go. To get the paint that saturated in red it took a couple of times.

I left this project at Logan’s craft station with his red paint stick for him to revisit whenever he wishes to add to his red lady bug body.

When it was saturated enough, he glued on the body parts!

Food

The food of the week was parmesan crusted lemon chicken! 🍋🐓

Logan’s rating-7/10 chicken is always a safe bet with Logan! I think his favorite is still BBQ chicken but he loved this one too. Will definitely make again.

Outing

For “L” week we went to one of our favorite places, the library!

It just so happened that this week was the first week back of story time! They took a break for a couple of weeks to plan out the rest of the year. As I have mentioned in a previous post, we love our story time because we have the BEST librarian!

Logan also completed the “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” program! He got a certificate, a reading buddy and his picture taken.

I also made Logan a new library bag because I never had a designated bag for all his books and ended up just carrying them. I also plan to stitch a “book themed” design on the front as well but hand stitching takes so long! I’ll work on it bit by bit.

Books

Logan has always had a major love for books! However, this past month or so, I would say it has turned into so much more than that. From the moment he wakes up and we go to get him, his first word is usually, “book!” asking us to read to him before we even have time to open the curtains! As a former educator, I absolutely love it and hope it caries on. That’s not to say I haven’t hidden a couple books at the top of the closet when he has asked me to read them for the 20th time that day 😉 “Let’s read another book!” i’ll gently say.

If you’re a toddler mom, I’m fairly confident you have heard of “Little Blue Truck”! We love these books and are slowly collecting them

Sensory Activity

sensory bins are my absolute favorite

Theme- L is for leaves and ladybugs

He loved the felt bees from “h” week so I decided to make him some ladybugs for this week. Toddlers are all about the loose parts!

I got a needle felting kit, watched a quick YouTube video and was able to produce a couple of cute little lady bugs! Word to the wise- wear the finger protectors if you attempt needle felting. I learned the hard way.

Sensory Bin– IKEA

Sensory bin filler- fake leaves

Ladybugs- DIY with wool roving

leaf cups- homegoods