Sunday, September 30, 2012

A Letter a Day - pre Pre-School Prep


We just decided that we are going to wait until next Fall to enroll Ivy in Pre-School. She turns 3 this week. I know she's ready to learn, but the logistics of pre-school just don't work for us right now. I know everyone makes these decisions for different reasons. Here's ours:

1. I work in the afternoons (3:00pm-7:00pm usually). So Ivy would head to pre-school all day, then when it's time to pick her up, I would be leaving for work. :(

2. She has a late birthday, which means she would be in pre-school for 3 years if we enrolled her now.

3. Money. We have been working really hard to get out of some debt, and we're very close to meeting our goal. Adding on a monthly pre-school payment would set us back. We live next door to my parents, who work from home, so it's not like we need "day care." They gladly let Ivy come over anytime we need her to.

4. Germs. This isn't a real reason, but it does sit in the back of my mind. I have had huge trouble with my immune system, and I do all that I can to not get sick, especially since I work with kids all week long. In the last year (via diet change, herbal supplements and acupuncture), I've made leaps and bounds boosting my immunity. If right now Ivy went to school and started bringing home all those little illnesses, I think I'd be right back to square one, health-wise. In another year, my immune system will be that much stronger. Lucky for Ivy, when she gets sick (which is rare) she's over it in a day or two, just like her daddy. For me, I'm down for the count for about 2 weeks. 

With all that said, I know Ivy is craving a piece of academia. So I started doing "A Letter A Day" with her. We started at the beginning of the alphabet. Here's how we do it:

1. On a piece of paper, I write the letter. Then I draw a dashed version of the letter for her to trace. Then I have her try to write it on her own. For now, I just do uppercase. Some of the books show the lowercase, and I briefly say to her "big H, little h, uppercase H, lowercase h" but I really just stick with learning the uppercase.
2. I tell her the sound that letter makes, then recite a bunch of words off the top of my head that start with that letter. For 'H,' I said, "hand, head, happy, hurry, help..." It's really neat when she "gets it" and then says a word. When we did the letter 'J,' she interrupted me with the word "juggle"! I was overjoyed. :)


3. I gathered these Alphabet items we already had: 3 books and a stacking block set. After we write our letter, she knows to go get these things.

4. We go through each book and find the page with that letter, and say the name of the picture that goes along with it. The "Elmo's Alphabet" book is cool because it has a whole little paragraph that goes along with the letter. 




5. Then we get the Alphabet Block with the letter on it, and I have her find the letter on it. It also has a corresponding picture, which gives her more chances to hear the sounds.






6. Then we go to our bookshelf and try to find the letter in the titles of the books.





7. Lastly, we take the letter we wrote and put it on the refrigerator with the rest of the letters. When daddy comes home from work, we show it to him proudly!


I will also usually write the letter on our main family calendar, so I remember which one we're on, if we happen to miss a day. Ivy watches me do this, and that's kind of the beginning of teaching her about dates!

If you have a toddler at home, I hope you can take something from this post and use it!
Ivy just loves doing her Letter A Day, 
and reminds me about it all the time. 

How did you come to your decision about pre-school?

Aloha, Rebecca
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Thursday, September 27, 2012

ALOHA Friday Link Party #6

Welcome to Jed & Ivy's ALOHA Friday Link Party #6!

Thanks to everyone who linked up last week! I don't think you realize it, but every time I see a new project linked up, I get really excited! I love seeing all the inspiration out there in cyber-space. We've been sitting at 10-12 projects each week, and I'd really love to hit 15 this time around. Can you do it?!

Hana Hou!
(That means, let's see it again, because it was so good.)
Here are my two favorite projects from last week's party:


I'm slightly biased, because I've been checking out various backsplashes for the past few weeks, so it's like Stephanie read my mind, posting this up at the party!


I feel like I've seen a lot of Halloween wreaths lately, so this one jumped out at me because it was not Halloween-ish, and because it has my first name initial on it: R! I also love how it could match a variety of seasons. 

Go ahead and grab the featured button below, ladies!

Jed & Ivy
Pau Hana! 
(That means we're finished working for the week...)
Grab a lilikoi, link up, and leisurely look through the other fun posts!

Jed & Ivy
1- Link up!
2- Grab the button and post it on your blog, if you have one. 
3- Link up anything you want to share! I'm not picky. Got an Etsy store? Link up an awesome product in your store. Having a giveaway? Link it up! And I do love a good DIY project. Especially furniture. But that's just me :) 
4- Follow this blog.
5- By linking up, you're allowing me to feature your photos on this blog. 
6- Share the Aloha and visit each other's links! 

Aloha,
Rebecca




Read more ...

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl (part 1)

I grew up as the youngest in my family, with 2 older brothers. I was the baby. I was the one everyone played with and took care of. I didn't have to change anyone's diapers or hold a bottle to an infant's mouth while my mom was doing some crazy multi-tasking. As I grew older I never felt like volunteering in our church nursery and didn't have too many babysitting jobs. Babies usually cried when I held them. 

Fast forward a couple dozen years to today. I'm now a mom to an almost-3-year-old. The whole pregnancy and baby thing did not come naturally to me. Don't get me wrong, I love Ivy more than anything, and think she's the coolest kid EVER, but when I found out I was pregnant, there were tears. Tears of fear. Making my living as a dance instructor, you'd think, "Becca will be such a great mom! She has so much experience with kids!" Well, the majority of those kids were over the age of 3... Moral of the story: when I had Ivy, I had to figure her out. I had to figure me out!

Well, Kit and I finally feel like we're in a groove. Parenting took us by surprise, then took us for a ride. But today's blog post is not about that journey, it's about where we are today. Specifically, it's about what we do today.

As a new parent, it takes a little motivation to figure out what to do in your new role in life. You visit parenting websites, read books, and maybe even join a mom's group. Eventually you get a routine going and see what you like to do, but more importantly, what your child likes to do.

That's where we are now.
And as Ivy transitions from toddler-age to pre-school-age,
I feel like it's getting more and more fun each and every day!

So here's a list of 11 things we like to do with our daughter:


This is probably the most common activity new moms do. It was so fun when Ivy got old enough to finally start climbing up on the equipment. We've got two great playgrounds by our house. One is brand new, but the trees haven't quite grown big enough to create shade, so it's a little hot. Bring sunscreen!



We have a great library just down the road. Once a week they have story time for toddlers (age 0-2). On another day they have story time for pre-schoolers (age 3-5). Ivy turns 3 in a couple of weeks, so we might be transitioning to a new day! On the toddler day, it's somewhat noisy (you think?), but no one seems to care too much, and if it gets out of control, the librarian will just politely ask the parents to have their children sit near them, or do some kind of attention-getting poem/song. 



When my brother was here last Fall, he and his wife would take Ivy to the Humane Society. She could see the dogs, hold the cats, watch the turtles and bunnies. Kit recently discovered this little pet shop close by that has cats, dogs and turtles roaming the store freely, as well as birds, fish and rabbits to see. It's right across from the library, so we usually go after story time! 
(Can you tell we live on an island? Everything is close by!)



Now I know I may be judged for this one: 
"How could you succumb to exposing your daughter to such vanity at her ripe young age?" 
Oh, you weren't thinking that? Phew! Well, just in case you were, here's why I love to do this with Ivy:

  • It teaches patience. It's not easy for a 2 year old to sit still for 20+ minutes! But, Ivy is now amazing at it!!
  • Growing up, this was something I always wanted to do with my mom, but she cleaned for a living, so she could never really justify getting a manicure.
  • It teaches a girl how to take care of herself, giving her pride in her clean, maintained nails.
  • She makes a choice, and has to stick with her choice! There have been visits (not many) where Ivy has chosen her nail polish color (kelly green, let's say), and we've gotten home and she's wanted me to take it off and repaint them pink... I don't let her. She made a choice and has to stick with it! (...at least until it starts chipping off.)
  • It's cheap for kids to get their nails done. I go to a place that does a kids "polish change" on hands and toes for $10 total! Then they'll do a polish change on my hands or feet for $10. The only thing missing from the polish change versus the full mani or pedi, is the soaking and massage, which I don't have time for anyway! I think spending $20 for an hour with your daughter in a sanitary, peaceful environment, every other month or so, is worth it. 
Do you do any of these things with your daughter? I'd love to hear about it! 
Come back in a few days for PART 2 of "11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl."

Aloha, 
Rebecca 

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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Upcycled Trapeze Shirt

Back in 2008 I got an awesome shirt from Zara in Slovenia. It was on burnout material before burnout was big. It was a trapeze shirt before anyone rocked the trapeze. And it had a very "grown up Tim Burton" image of a girl on it. Well, 4 years later, the image is still just as cool, but the rest of the shirt was not. Too much wear and tear. Trapeze was perfect for my 2009 pregnancy. Those of you who have ever been pregnant, you know how you feel about clothes you wore during your pregnancy. You want to burn them afterward! 

Well, like I did with my Bob Marley/Jack Johnson upcycle, I got out my scissors and sewing machine. (I just realized I didn't even take a "before" photo of my beloved shirt I just cut up.) :(





First I cut out the design on the original shirt. I bought a long sleeve orange shirt at Forever 21 for $6.80. I actually took the original shirt with me to make sure the color and size were ok. The original shirt was a little tricky to cut out because it was on a trapeze shirt. So I had to be a little creative with the shape of the cut.

Then I pinned the design in place and I used orange thread to sew it on the shirt. I didn't turn the fabric under or anything, since knits don't fray.


Oila! Interesting... the thread gathered slightly. I'm not sure why. It didn't do that on my Jack Johnson shirt.  I've been playing with the tension a little on my sewing machine, so I may have had it on the wrong setting, but I also kind of like it gathered.


Since this blog is named after Ivy, I think it's only appropriate that Ivy take the photos of me in the shirt... :)  


Also, right after I finished this long-sleeve up cycled shirt, it started raining! It never rains! It was destiny that I chose a long sleeve.

Aloha, Becca




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ALOHA Friday Link Party #5

Welcome to Jed & Ivy's ALOHA Friday Link Party #5!

Hana Hou!
(That means, let's see it again, because it was so good.)
So here are my two favorite projects from the party:
Go ahead and grab the button below!

Jed & Ivy
Pau Hana! 
(That means we're finished working for the week...)

Grab a lilikoi, link up, and leisurely look through the other fun posts!

Jed & Ivy
1- Link up!
2- Grab the button and post it on your blog, if you have one. 
3- Link up anything you want to share! I'm not picky. Got an Etsy store? Link up an awesome product in your store. Having a giveaway? Link it up! And I do love a good DIY project. Especially furniture. But that's just me :) 
4- Follow this blog.
5- By linking up, you're allowing me to feature your photos on this blog. 
6- Share the Aloha and visit each other's links! 

Aloha,
Rebecca



Read more ...

Monday, September 17, 2012

Father's Day in September

So this post is about 3 months late...

Kit is off-island on a little inter-island vacay, and as an ode to him, I'm posting the wall art "Ivy" made for him for Father's Day this year. You can really use the same idea for any piece of wall art, or as a gift to dad any time of the year, but this one is tailor-made for Father's Day. 


Supplies:
-a canvas (ours is 8"x10")
-fabric cut out with about 2" extra on each side
-modge podge
-thumb tacks
-quote printed on scrapbook paper
-acrylic paint
-paint brush

First I measured the fabric and cut it out. 
Then I put modge podge on the canvas to help the fabric start to stick. 
I used thumb tacks to keep the fabric in place. 


Then I found a cute Father's Day quote, typed it out and printed it on Scrapbook paper with Ivy's full name and the date. 

"These are the hands you used to hold when I was only 2 years old."


Then I modge podged just the back of the paper onto the fabric.
Be sure to press out any air bubbles.


Before modge-podge-ing the whole thing, I had Ivy dip her hands in acrylic paint and do two handprints on the bottom of the canvas. Note: Two-year-olds have a really tricky time doing their thumb properly in a hand print. I don't know why. 


 Oh, but first we practiced a few times. See the right thumb? Very interesting.


After modge-podge-ing the entire canvas (front, sides, and the back edges), we let it dry in a clean space. It's really dusty where I live, so it was important to find a clean place to let it dry, dust-free. 

And here it is, hanging on our wall, where its been since Father's Day, haha. 
(Kit made those two pallets above the canvas wall art. Aren't they awesome?)



Happy Father's Day, Kit!

Aloha, 
Rebecca, (and Ivy)
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You know you're a mom, when...

You're cooking breakfast and you notice your daughter's mermaid doll is laying on the kitchen counter, swaddled in your grandma's vintage table cloth...
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Thursday, September 13, 2012

ALOHA Friday Link Party #4

Welcome to ALOHA Friday Link Party #4!

Hana Hou!
(That means, let's see it again, because it was so good.)
So here is my favorite project from the party:


Amy's Cathedral Window Block from Crafty Shenanigans

I love the colors she used. In the post she also admits that sewing curves takes some practice. I thoroughly appreciated her honesty, since that is something I find soooo difficult.

Go ahead and grab the button below, Amy!

Jed & Ivy
Pau Hana! 
(That means we're finished working for the week...)

Grab a lilikoi, link up, and leisurely look through the other fun posts!

Jed & Ivy
1- Link up!
2- Grab the button and post it on your blog, if you have one. 
3- Link up anything you want to share! I'm not picky. Got an Etsy store? Link up an awesome product in your store. Having a giveaway? Link it up! And I do love a good DIY project. Especially furniture. But that's just me :) 
4- Follow this blog.
5- By linking up, you're allowing me to feature your photos on this blog. 
6- Share the Aloha and visit each other's links!

Aloha,
Rebecca




Read more ...