Where you have Water...

you should have SAND!  So it just so happened that I had 2 of the under the bed totes so we decided to buy some sand and make a sand table too.  As you can see she wanted to mix the water and sand so the water is a little dirty. 
She loves them.  We've been outside after her nap every day.  She plays for a bit and then she's ready to come inside. 
I don't know if any of you read Lori's comment on the last post but she had a great idea for the tables too for in the winter inside the house is to put beans in there and let her play or rice or pasta.
So there are lots of uses for them.  I've been finding ideas online for sensory tubs (I'll show some of them in a bit) but you could totally use these tubs for that too.
Hope everyone is having a great week!

Frugal

So I've often wondered if Virginia would like a water table like the ones you see in all the toy stores.  She usually naps through the nice warm afternoons so we just haven't had alot of time outside.  Or we haven't gone outside much at home because well besides swinging and snake watching there isn't much to do outside.
So I admit I have a problem with surfing the internet.  My currect obsession is looking at other Mom's blogs who there focus on their blog is activities and things for their toddlers to do.  So while I was surfing the internet one day I came across this mom's blog who had used household items to make her children a water table.  It just so happened that we had the exact same plastic tote that this mom used.  It's one of those under the bed totes that sound like a great idea until you actually have to bend over all the time to see what's in the tote and then have a hard time shoveing it back underneath the bed!  I had almost emptied all of my under the bed totes because well I wasn't using them so I took one outside, put it up on the plastic outdoor tables, filled with water, and the FUN BEGAN!!  Virginia LOVED IT!! 
I'm only mad because I didn't think of this sooner.  Knowing Colorado we'll probably have snow the second week of September.  But this is something once winter sets in I can move to the garage and we can use in there. 
And you know what goes GREAT with a water table....

Virginia Only

So with August being SMA Awareness month and all the AMAZING things going on with fundraising there is alot of SMA stuff going on!  Which is GREAT!!  There is also ALOT of people being directed to our blog, which IS GREAT but I have felt lately that with the fundraising going on and "new" people I don't want to put Virginia stuff on there and push the June stuff further down the blog.  In other words I want "new" people who are coming for SMA information to see the information prominently even though I have the tabs at the top that will take them straight to the SMA information I just feel at this time it's better to have another blog with Virginia stuff. 
This is all VERY EXCITING stuff because it simply means we are RAISING AWARENESS and FUNDS and I'm truly feeling blessed.  I've been thinking of doing this ever since we did the TV News appearance and I knew people would be directed to our blog.  I just finally decided to do it.
And I may overlap stories.  June is very much a part of our every day lives and Virginia will appear on the original blog too.  I don't know I just have some "every day" pictures that I want to share but are mainly just for family so this is where I'm going to put them.
Sorry if this causes extra work for everyone to check both.  This one may not last long.  I guess I"m sort of testing it out to see how it will work.   So here goes!

Going to the mailbox is like going to Toy's R Us for Virginia. She gets so excited because usually Grandma/Grandpa or Nana/Papa have sent her something and she LOVES everything they send.
These pictures are from a recent package from Grandma and Grandpa.  As a former teacher you know I love back to school time/shopping!  All those fresh, new crayons and markers.  The notebooks for less than 25 cents!!  It doesn't matter if we need them or not at the prices they are right now you can't pass up the school supplies.  I mean at these prices you need enough to last until next year at this time.  So imagine my excitement when we got this package and it was FULL OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!!  She got a book bag (which we carry to Moms Morning Out), crayons, colored pencils, a ruler, and all sorts of goodies.  Oh and I can't forget the Nutter Butter cookies.  Yes Grandpa I think she ate the whole bag that night!!  There was also a crown and a dress in the box which she had to put on immediately. 
We so appreciate these "treats" that we get in the mail and I try to take lots of pictures so that you can see the joy on Virginia's face as she opens each thing.  Thank You!