HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE STERTZ FAMILY

From Untitled Album

Annika's "How To" on Turkey Cookies!

Annika wanted to share her first tutorial with you all! How to make Turkey Cookies!

Look at these fun little guys!


What you will need:



The "How To"


Getting ready to travel!



ENJOY!

Tune back in on Thanksgiving Day!

Peter and the Wolf

A near-by college orchestra was putting on a concert for little kids in which "Peter and The Wolf" was included. We have a CD at home with this music/story on it and Annika enjoys listening to it, so we thought we'd take her to the concert. She enjoyed it a lot.

Before the concert they had a "petting zoo" where kids could see and touch the different instruments. She was a bit hestitant to try the instruments (but the place was VERY crowded and there wasn't much room). Daddy was able to talk her into trying out the harp.


They also had a table where the kids could make a mask for one of the character, I was a bit surprised when Annika said she wanted to make a duck mask and not the cat mask. I have to say she makes a pretty cute little duck! :)


Donovan came with us also and had a fun time hanging out with daddy.

What's up with Annika

First off, Check out this face!

This is the face of a little girl who finally uses the potty on a regular basis and went all day yesterday without any accidents (this included a dry diaper in the morning when she woke up and at nap time...she took a 3 1/2 hour nap)!!

Annika LOVES music! She's been playing her "violin" (saran wrap roll and a stick) all around the house. It's amazing the imagination she has (the stick than turns into a gun to go "Hunty" with)! :) I love to watch her! We've also started playing the Carnival of the Animals for her (classical music with no words) she's able to tell us what animal most of the songs are trying to portray.
Here's a short video of her playing and singing!

Last but not least we started working on the letter "A" work sheets. She knows her alphabet for the most part but she has enjoyed trying to write it. Here's a worksheet she did today: She traced the dots for the most part all by herself.

Here she's showing off the dress that mommy made for her from an old large womens skirt!

Colors, shapes, and potty training....

Here's a short video of Annika saying her colors and shapes. We are just about ready to add some more colors and shapes. I'm not exactly sure if she's ahead for two and a half year olds or right on target or even behind, but I think she's pretty smart!! :)

I didn't realize until I was almost done with the video that the top of her head got cut off for the shapes part. I thought about doing taping it over, but I love her responses in this video so I decided to just leave it and write an apology.



We've also been working on potty training the last couple of days....she's not doing too bad, we've had more times going on the potty than accidents today and she has had her fair share of candy for going on the potty today! We've still got a ways to go, but we are getting there slowly.

A Princess and her Little Cow (and a dog)!

Yep...Halloween!

Wind + Excitement + Sassy Little Princess = Not so great pictures!

These are the best I can do for Miss Annika.

Yes she's her mother's child...tennis shoes! :)

Can you just see the excitement??

I made her princess outfit (not to bad)...the shirt ended up a little big (but it was the first time I've made a shirt w/ sleeves) and it was nice b/c I was able to layer underneith it. Her skirt matches the curtains in my living room! The crown was one of my favorite things to work. I lined it with fleece so she could wear it over her ears if they got cold.

And last (but not least) my little cow! :) Sir Donovan....I didn't get any pictures of his little black nose, but I did find some face paint and put a bit on his nose to add to his costume (it was the perfect touch).

He wasn't quite sure what we were doing to him!

Then he got use to it.We were kind of bummed this year b/c the nursing home wouldn't let us in to hand out candy to the folks there b/c of the H1N1 going around...so we just ended up going to the outlet center.

I almost forgot the dog...no we don't usually dress him up, but my brother got this "costume" for my mom's dog, Lucy (but Lucy is to fat to fit in it). :)



Note: again you can click on the pictures to enlarge them!