Santa, Please bring me THIS!!

I am sure Kylie was wishing "Santa, Please bring me THIS!!" last night as we browsed in Pottery Barn Kids (PBK).

Pottery Barn Kids is Kylie's favorite store in the mall.  Last night, the ladies working in the store asked Kylie if she was looking for anything special.  I replied "EVERYTHING is special here!"  - we all got a good chuckle and shared a knowing grin.

In fact, my very first post on this blog was about Pottery Barn Kids.

Last night, Kylie went immediately to the jewelry boxes.  They are her very favorite items in Pottery Barn Kids. She LOVES watching the ballerinas spin to the music.

She especially loves changing out the ballerinas (every box comes with 2 of the tulle beauties).

Kylie loves things that come in sets.  She loves to line them up and change them out.  So, I asked the sales lady if you could purchase extra (or replacement) ballerinas.  She looked online and said she didn't see them available for purchase by themselves. (Bummer!! I was hoping I could order 2 or three extra to give her more to change out)

I would love for Kylie to have one of these beautiful boxes as she has been so consistent in her adoration of them for literally years.  Last night, she played with the card-stock ones, but if I ever lay down the money to buy her one, it will be a beautiful wooden one (they are expensive, but sturdy)

As you can see, Kylie made herself right at home in the little girls bedroom display (even taking off her shoes).  What I wouldn't give to be able to have a good size room for her so she could enjoy it like she enjoys the one in Pottery Barn Kids.

What was interesting about her play last night, was that she had both a pink jewelry box and a purple jewelry box that she was playing with.

There are two beds in the display and she kept going back and forth between the two.

She was trying to carry both boxes and I kept envisioning her dropping one and breaking the mirror inside, so I told her that she could only carry one.  She chose the purple one and went over to the other bed.

I followed her over (ever hovering over the boxes to ensure they didn't get broken or damaged) and asked Kylie "Is purple your favorite one?" She replied "Yes" but then I noticed that the bedding was all in purple shades (on that bed, the other bed was in pinks) so I asked Kylie "Is it your favorite because the bed is purple?" and she replied "Yes"

... so, moral of the story is that purple is not necessarily her favorite, but matching the surface that she is on, is really important. (light bulb moment!)

After about 45 minutes of watching the ballerinas, we moved on to the books and Kylie became fascinated with "Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet"

Here she is reading the Fancy Nancy book on yet another Pottery Barn Bed! 

(I think this book will go on the Santa wish list too)

Yep, I'm packing our bags.  We're just going to move in!  Pottery Barn Kids, here we come!!!

File Folder Games for Fall (Halloween Too)

This was one crazy busy weekend for our family.  Before it was over, Kylie had been in her Halloween costume no less than 6 times.  We had a blast as a family! 

I will be sharing pics as I get them cropped and formatted, but here is a sneak peak.

However, in addition to all the Holiday Happenings this weekend, My fabulous hubby gave me some time to put together 5 Fall themed File folder Games for Kylie.  November starts THIS WEEK and I am trying to pull everything together for my November themes.

These ideas are not original with me.  Most of them come from Preschool Printables, Learning Center World and File Folder Fun.

I was unaware of how much TIME it takes to put these together.  It looked so easy (well, it IS easy, but they take a long time to make - especially if you make them to last by laminating everything)

Here's a few pics of our Fall File Folder Fun in action.

Halloween Number Game:
The Ghosts have the numbers written on them alphabetically.  You match those to the numeral on each pumpkin stem.

This one is called "Halloween Number Names" (from Learning Center World)

"Pumpkin Alphabet" by File Folder Fun

Pumpkin Alphabet was a real draw for Kylie.  I modified this one so that you fill in the missing letters, but then also so you can match all the letters to their pumpkins.

Scarecrow Colors:
This one, I also modified so that not only do you match the colors, but I also made a color free set with just the alphabetical wording on them so she matches the color words to their colors.

"Scarecrow Colors" by Preschool Printables

Here she is matching the colors

And, of course, it wouldn't be a good day if we didn't line them all up...
But notice they are not lined up in the order of the color of the rainbow... Progress in being flexible!!

Here she is matching the all white scarecrows with their colored matches

 Turkey Lurkey:
I made her two Turkey Lurkey games - one for colors and one for numbers/counting.  She is boycotting the number one because you have to "work" to count the dots on the Turkey's chest and then match the correct number.  She will do it with prompting only. 

However, she loves the color one. This isn't just solid colors either.  The Turkeys are very colorful making it a bit more challenging

"Turkey Lurkey Number Match" and "Turkey Lurkey Color Match"  by Preschool Printables

This one is "work" for Kylie. 
She is really smart and can do it, she just doesn't want to take the time to do it.

I love that they are so colorful and appealing to the eye.

We have had a really productive weekend and Kylie has really enjoyed this addition to her learning/therapy tools.  She gets them out as she wants them and she has been really good about putting the pieces back into their bags. 

However... This pic better sums up our weekend.... Very little work and a whole lot of SILLY!!

More pics to come and

Happy Halloween!!