Do You Have A Licence for That Light Saber?

Little Dude is slightly obsessed with Star Wars right now. Everything, including food, can transform into a light saber; we've had a few talks about how food can't be a light saber, no matter how powerful his imagination.

Food is for eating. I find myself saying that an awful lot, but I digress.

For the past month or so, Star Wars has been a daily activity here, so much so that just yesterday JR-who is not even 2 yet-was walking around with a toy broom making light saber sounds. "Vmmmmm, Bvmmmmm Shooosh Vmmmmm". Oh yes, the kid is just now starting to talk-when he feels like it, I might add-but he knows how a light saber works. And he can say BLUE when you ask him what color is light saber is. He already picked up on Blue being the color of choice for his brother.

So with all this playing, you would think we had seen the movies a million times, right?

Wrong.

We had not seen the movies even once with the kids. Everything Little Dude and JR know about Star Wars they learned from the neighborhood boys. In fact, the whole reason we decided to watch them was because Little Dude was starting to make up his own plot line to the story and I couldn't figure out what a Tarn Tarn was.

We have made it through the first two and I'm actually looking forward to watching the third (we are talking the original three here) because I think the boys will really dig the bears. I know they are called something else, but that word escapes me at the moment; you know what I mean.

So for the time being, my family is made up of Darth Vader, played by Bill, Princess Leia, played by me, Luke, played by Little Dude and either Yoda aka "O-da" or another Luke, played by JR.

Oh yes, we are quite the characters.

Boys, Monster Trucks, and a Lack of Butterflies

We went to see a Monster truck. The boys (and Bill) were super excited to meet Bigfoot. I was more excited about the food tent that indicated I might be able to get coffee, since it was really chilly and I'm addicted to coffee.
Anyways, the food tent didn't pan out, as they only had soda; however, Little Dude had SO MUCH fun talking to Bigfoot's driver that it was well worth standing around listening to boys of all ages talk car/truck/monster truck gears/parts/stuff.

The boys even got autographed photos of Bigfoot from the driver and Little Dude carried his around everywhere with him for a solid two days. Now it sits on his dresser where he can see it from his bed. So adorable, even though I still don't know anything about cars. Er, I mean Monster Trucks. My three year old keeps reminding me its not just a car, it's a MONSTER TRUCK!

Is it wrong to claim girl-y status or should I really try to learn all this car/truck talk? I'm a little nervous now about my future with three car/truck loving men. I was getting a strong urge to chase butterflies when gear shifts and transmission talk started.....

Little Dude loved that the wheel is bigger than he is!
JR did NOT like the Bigfoot driver getting down to talk to him; JR is coming for me here. While I probably should have been scooping him up in a hug, since he was upset, I couldn't resist getting a photo first. JR did accept an autographed photo, too, so I think the driver got a few cool points as long as he didn't try to talk to JR down low. In any case, the driver got huge cool points from Bill and me; he was great talking to all the kids and answering three year old questions.

Now Bill is talking about taking the boys to a Monster Truck Rally. Oh my, help me now. Where did those butterflies go?

Being Grateful

My friend, Heather, got to be a part of a video on how to teach your children to be grateful. The video is GREAT, so you should check it out:



What are some of the things you want to do or have done? Every year, our church raises funds for feeding and helping local people in need-and in the case of Haiti, sending food, resources, and personal help. So this year, we let the kids be a part of our contribution.

At first, it was hard for Little Dude to pick out things to give to children in need or food for those that are hungry. The one thing that helped him find it fun was we reminded him that we could buy more. We are blessed and can go to the store anytime we want. Others are cold and don't have beds tonight.

So, Little Dude helped me pick food out of our pantry and set aside some toys and books that we could give to those that need. We also let him and JR put extra money in the basket when it came around for Haiti donations, and we explained to them that this money was to help all the people that needed food and shelter after the earthquake. And we told him, that someday, if we need help, people will be there to help us. So as long as we are able, we need to do our part and do as much as we can to help. I think he understood a little and I think it made him feel good to know he could help in such a huge way.

When Little Dude and JR are old enough, we want to have them help with Habitat for Humanity, too. It is something I did while I was in college, and along with learning great skills, it really makes you appreciate what goes into a home and providing shelter for someone.

Blue Angel's Show

As I was going through my photos, desperately searching for an updated family photo, I realized I had not shared photos from our great boat trip to see the Blue Angels Air Show!

You will notice though, that I still don't have an updated family photo on here. The old one from LAST 4th of July is still there-yea, the kids are a year older now, I have finally lost all the baby weight and gotten a little more sleep, and Bill, well, my Bill is just amazing and perfect, so really I just need to update me and the kids. You now know that I have NO photos of the 4 of us together, much to my dismay, since it seems like I have thousands of us not all together on my computer. Mental note for me to jump on that.

But, I digress.

As I browsed through photos, I came across these great ones and realized that I had talked up going to see the airshow with tons of friends and family, but had never shared pictures! So, without further ado, here are some photos:


Here is my man, Bill, and I know it sounds gush-y, but after knowing him for 8 years and being married for over 5 now, I just feel luckier and luckier that everyday I get to wake up next to him. I know, I warned you, gush-y! And he is holding our awesome little toddler, Little Dude, who is growing too quickly for my liking. He will be 3 in September. I'm sad and happy at the same time. In his hands? His shark friend, dutifully named "Shark". He was originally a cheap toy at Target, that I bought with the sole intention that IF he got lost at the beach ("Shark", not Little Dude) then it would be no big deal to replace him. Wouldn't you know that "Shark" must now go everywhere with us? Apparently the best $1 I have ever spent...
Here are the fabulous friends we went with-l to r: Scott, (with son Cole), Bill (with Little Dude), Tim, Melissa (Scott's wife and Cole's mom), Gigi (on the boat), and Tim and Gigi's daughter, Amanda (also on the boat). I know, I got everyone's backs, but there was no way I was taking my camera into the water with me to get their faces. The noise from the air show was so loud I don't even think they would have heard me had I yelled for them to look at me.

So what is an air show? Well, from what I understand, the Blue Angels are an elite team of fighter pilots who can do AMAZING tricks in their planes.

And though they are far away in the sky, those pilots are flying just feet away from each other. It was really breathtaking and scary to watch. My heart stopped a million times (well, maybe just 12).
Here is JR, mad because I made him leave the boat buttons alone. We were so excited to go out on Scott's boat, and even though they all said he couldn't break anything, you just never know.

And I can't swim that well. So I was paranoid about the boat sinking, though if you look at the group photo up above, everyone is standing.

I know, I'm irrational, but as a short, red headed, country-mountain raised, non swimming, woman, I'm allowed a little irrational thinking.

Red Fish, Blue Fish

One Fish, Two Fish

We have a new pet! Little Dude has gotten old enough that Bill and I decided a low maintenance pet would be perfect for him to care for, so we took a family trip to the local pet store.

And we found this cute little guy:



Since I'm crazy, I agreed that adding the weekly cleaning of a fish tank to the list of things I do around here would be a piece of cake. Actually, I really am excited about it (though let us be honest-it may not get cleaned every single week). My favorite college roomies (Joey and Susan) and I shared a fish tank while we lived together and it was SO FUN. We even had a water frog, a white crawfish guy and some Mickey Mouse fish-yes, those were mine-but I digress.

Anyways, as soon as we had purchased our new family member, (he is a beta fish if anyone is wondering) we decided we would let Little Dude pick out a name for him.

Little did we realize we had opened a can of worms with that one. He suggested names like, Construction Worker Man, Fire Engine Truck, Taco Bell, Red Lobster, (as I mentioned before, my son is an advertiser's dream).

So we did our best to try to guide Little Dude to a name that may not take 5 minutes to say, or involve fast food. We also had to rule out all Thomas the Train names, as that started to lead to conversations about our fish riding on the trains, or the trains visiting him in the tank, and I could only see bad things happening from there.

In the end? His name is Red. He is peaceful, calm and super fun to watch as he fans his tail. Little Dude is also getting a kick out of feeding him each morning and letting the kids watch the fish eat as I fix their breakfast has been fabulous for me. Getting Red has drastically cut down the amount of time the boys spend tugging on my legs, so all the time it takes to clean his tank is worth it.

Here is Little Dude getting Red's fish home all set up. I caught some on video too that I will try to find the time to upload tomorrow-now it seems I need to go, as instead of the nice quiet of nap time, I am hearing hysterical giggles....

Dinner Out With A Toddler

For fun this weekend, we went out to dinner as a family. On a chance, we asked Little Dude where he might like to go-and apparently Red Lobster is his favorite place ever. Marketing gurus-your ads are working on my 2 year old.

Anyways, we decided Red Lobster was, in fact, a great dinner place for us to try out as a family, so off we went.

Dinner was great, our waiter was amazing, and we had a ton of fun! Little Dude even ate most of his meal, proving that it must really be his favorite place ever.

The only thing that can through a kink into a nice family dinner? Well, it went something like this:

Us: eating and talking
JR: GRUNT
Us: Looking at JR, knowing what he's doing.
Little Dude: giggling
Us: smiling
Little Dude: (VERY LOUD VOICE) JR is POOPING!! He's POOPING!
Us: SHUUUSH! It's OK....
Little Dude: (Sorta Loud Voice) Will his poop be green?

Oh my.

Fourth Of July Kid Safe Activity

I LOVE the 4th of July, and back when I taught preschool on of my fellow teachers shared this activity with me. I don't know who came up with it or where it is from, but it is SO FUN and great I just had to share it. Little Dude is amazed every time we do it. And you can do it any time of the year with different colors, like red and green at Christmas, or red and purple at Valentine's-you get the idea. I really enjoy watching it, too, because the experiment is just so very fun! It actually looks like magic.

So, without further ado, here is what you need:

* Large, tall clear jar filled with water, the more the better!
* Blue, red and yellow liquid food coloring
* 2 or 3 tablespoons cooking oil
* Smaller jar
* Spoon or stir stick for mixing
* Clear Pyrex measuring cup

What you and your kids do:

1. Fill the jar with tap water. Place it on a table where your child can watch it from several angles. If your child is older, they could even do this step.

2. Invite your child to pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a clear Pyrex measuring cup-your kids will have a blast, and honestly, they can't put too much in. Just make sure you have at least 2 tablespoons, less and it won't work with that much water.

3. Next have your child put in drops of each food coloring into the oil, about 5 drops of each color.

4. Have your child pour the oil into the jar all at once. At first, the oil will be spread around in globules, but keep watching: right before your eyes, the oil and food coloring will first float to the top, and then the globs will “find” one another and come together. SO COOL!

5. Now the “fireworks” begin! The food coloring will begin to separate from the oil and move back into the water, in long streams of each of the three colors. The colors will separate from one another as if they never mixed in the first place, and stream through the water in the three original colors that you began with; it is REALLY amazing!

Pictures From Thomas

Here are some pictures from our Adventure with Thomas the Train On Stage!

Best friends, Cole and Little Dude, on the way to the show:

The boys with their tickets (JR didn't need one):
Sharing popcorn and watching Thomas:
This is how close we were; I'm not zoomed in, we were super close to the front:
The boys entranced by the "pre-show" of circus acts and train drivers walking around the audience:


We also learned that three car seats fit quite nicely in the truck, and that having three little guys was pretty fun!

Movie Night With The Neighbors

I'm quite blessed to have awesome neighbors all around me and many of them have kids or grandkids pretty close in age to my children, so that is even better! I have to say though, my son is in love with two of our little neighbor friends who also have a stay at home mama that I love, so it turns out to be perfect for us all when we have play dates!

Our latest was yesterday evening and it was a PJ movie night! It was so fun and came at perfect timing, because I was feeling a little depressed-bored-what-to-do-tired-of-the-park funk coming on. Caroline, one of my said awesome neighbors and mother of the two adorable kids my oldest son loves, brought over her kids, right after dinner and baths, along with a huge bag of popcorn and all of us in our PJs (us mamas, too!) sat down to watch Pinocchio. It was SO fun and reminded me so much of when I was little and having movie nights with my sisters.

The kids loved it, and really enjoyed hanging out with each other and eating popcorn like at a real movie theater! A fantastic and free way to break up the nightly routine into something fun.
Here is JR with his sippy cup, all ready for the movie to start:

Here is the gang, from left to right: Little Dude, Cole, Caroline and Keely. Note that there is also a wine glass; adding wine to any play date makes it super fun, esp when you get to share the wine with a wonderful friend!

Make A Bird Feeder

I love hands on activities for kids, and I was so lucky to work in a fabulous day care where we did all kinds of creative, fun, learning activities with the children. So, I have been excited to start doing a lot of the ones I especially enjoyed with my own children. This one is easy, simple, and environment AND budget friendly since everything is edible or out of the yard. Without further ado, here is how to make a bird feeder with your little ones:




Now that spring is here, I hope you guys have lots of fun with this activity; it can be done outside or inside and has minimal mess involved. Also, find a great place near some of your windows, if possible, to hang the feeder, then you can enjoy watching the birds with your child! This activity can also be a more involved learning activity for older kids, as you point out different kinds of birds, their colors, what kinds of homes they make-you can take this as far as your child shows interest and even make a great homeschooling lesson on birds out of it. Super fun, super easy, and that is what Works For Me Wednesday! Check out We Are THAT Family for more great tips!!

Marching Green

Today is one of my favorite smaller holidays. St. Patrick's Day is super fun for me because I love the color green AND my dad's side of the family is Irish, so we always did up a corned beef brisket, cabbage and potatoes, along with making everything we possibly could green!

And this year Little Dude is finally getting old enough to really help and get excited, so he will be my little kitchen helper today too!

And in honor of St. Patrick, I will share a fun activity my preschool kids loved:

Make Shamrocks
What you need:
Sandpaper
Scissors
Crayons
Paper

Cut shamrock shapes out of sandpaper. Depending on the age and skill of your child, you can let them cut or you can cut for them. If your children are younger, make sure you are using safety scissors and watching.

Once the shamrock shapes are cut, show your child how to place his paper over the shamrock and rub with the side of a crayon to get a St. Patrick's Day design!

This is a really fun activity to learn about texture and appearance of texture. You can also cut the shamrock shapes out after rubbing on a textured surface if you want to go take the kids outside and have them find textures in nature-like tree bark, sand, concrete, leaves, bricks, etc. Rubbing those textures will be easier with a big piece of paper, then have the kids cut out shamrock shapes from the bigger piece.

There is all kinds of fun you can have too-make green Kool-Aid, put green dye into juice or water, make green pancakes (either by pureeing veggies into the batter or just adding dye).

Have tons of fun, and if you feel like it, take the time to teach your little ones about St. Patrick.

Flying With My Hearts

Our playgroup went to the Air and Space Museum over in Pensacola, Florida. Little Dude loved it and got so excitied to see all the planes; it was an hour drive away, but well worth it. We will have to go again when Bill can come too!

I wore JR the whole day in my sling, and was SO GLAD I didn't have a stroller with me. Little Dude was so excited to run all over to all the levels, and it was so much easier and comfortable to keep up with him by having JR tied to me! I think I converted a few moms from their strollers after I let them try my sling; they all loved how padded and comfortable it was! Whooo hoo for babywearing!


While there, we met a lot of vetrans, and I couldn't help taking a picture of these soldiers as they stood before our flag. Quite beautiful, don't you think?


I wish I could have run into them and told them how thankful I am to have them protect us and serve in our military. I also wish I could have gotten another angle on this shot, but they walked away before I could.

A New Puppy

It seems I have a new puppy in my life. He is super cute, cuddly, loves water, and gives me puppy kisses. And did I mention he is adorable?

Edible Paint

Well, in honor of Shannon's last

Works For Me Wendsday

, I will share a fun, edible, go-to rainy day activity. This was great fun to make in my preschool class, and I am sure your children will love it as well. In a pinch, you can go from being stuck inside and bored to busy and happy around the kitchen table! This homemade paint recipe is safe to eat, easy to clean up, and fun to make with your kids!

Condensed-Milk Paint

you'll need:
bowls (1 for each color you want to make)
1 cup condensed milk per color you're making
food coloring

In bowl, mix 1 cup condensed milk with many drops of food coloring to make a very bright, glossy paint. This paint is not intended to be eaten, but it won't hurt your kid if they do eat it, which is fabulous! You can store leftover paint in the fridge, or just toss down the drain. This paint is great on paper, but not as great on poster board.

To clean up, just use a soapy rag or sponge, just like you would after lunch time. Depending on the food coloring you use, it might stain clothes, so either wear old clothes, a smock, or add a little dish soap to the paint so it will wash out of clothes easily. (But note if you do add the soap it is not longer edible)

Enjoy!! Next week

Works For Me Wednesday

will be moving to Kristen's, so stay up on all the great tips out there by checking her out next Wed!

Still Sick

We are still sick, but I am feeling tons better. Both my sons have noses that more closely resemble Niagara Falls (nice visual, eh?) but the coughs have started to clear up so I am hopeful that perhaps by tomorrow I won't have snot rubbed all over my clothes anymore. That would be nice, because let me just tell you that it is gross to think you kid is hugging you, then look down and realize he is using your pants to wipe his nose. Oh my.

So, now I'm off to get some work done before the kids get up. Then I'm sure I will be building a fort in the living room, as we have for the past 3 days. I'll work on getting some pictures or video of my awesome fort skills for everyone later, you guys just must see how much Little Dude LOVES playing in the fort! I am getting a kick out of it too; isn't it fun how kids give you an excuse to act like a kid yourself?

Playing Garbge Truck

My first year as a preschool teacher, I LOVED playing dolls and tea time with the little girls in my class. It never failed I would be asked to participate, and I was all too happy to oblige.

Now that I am the mom to a toddler boy (and another boy that is all too quickly heading towards the toddler years) I am surrounded by very different types of play.

Sure, I saw it before, after all there were a lot of boys in my preschool classes. But they always had each other to play with, and even though I know they liked me, I was, after all, still a girl. So they only rarely asked me to play on the playground with them. That and the fact that somehow my classes always had way less girls than boys, so I always felt the need to make sure they got to play what they wanted to (Elizabeth and McKenzie LOVED tea time) while the others all ran around like humingbirds (including the third girl in my class, Kendall) Thus most of my rough and tumble boy play experience comes from observation.

And so, my son introduced me to the fun filled world of turning the bed into a trash truck today. And then diving either off the bed, er trash truck, onto the the floor while screaming and laughing loudly OR flying onto the bed, somehow not killing yourself on all the toys, er trash, now piled on it, and driving the bed, er truck, all over town to find more trash.

We filled up little baskets (which is where everything is supposed to be organized into), dumped the baskets on the bed, commented on how stinky the trash was, how the baby must have pooped a "good pooming", and how trash trucks are sweet, er "feet".

All while bouncing around, laughing and screaming like a banshee.

Oh yea, I have been welcomed to the world of boys and it sure is awesome. Today is trash day too, so I think we will be playing more trash truck later. I am off to bed now so I will have the energy to keep up with all the toys, er garbage, we will be moving around.

Washable Poster Paint

Since I have two little kids that get up at the crack of dawn AND I stayed up all night trying to get caught up at work, I am re-sharing (is that a word? My brain stopped working around midnight...) one of my favorite WFMW suggestions. Enjoy!



It is another Works for Me Wednesday! Yay!

As you may not know, I have been a daycare provider for babies-toddlers and preschool ages 4-5, so I have a few tricks up my sleeves to share! Here is one of my favoirite, cost effecitive, easy clean, paint recipes:

Detergent Poster Paint

You will need:
small jars or plastic containers
1 tablespoon clear liquid detergent per container
2 teaspoons powdered tempera paint per container

In each small container, mix together 1 tablespoon liquid detergent and 2 teaspoons powered tempera paint. This recipe makes enough for one painting session.

For even every young toddlers and older babies (those that can sit up), this recipe is great AND EASY TO WASH OUT OF CLOTHES!!! Children usually love feeling different textures, and the intorduction to new textures is a GREAT sensory learning experience for kids of all ages.

I would undress the younger kids down to diapers, and the older kids I would request the day before that they being some old clothes to school along with wearing one of my kid oil cloth aprons while painting to keep the clean up as easy as possible. However, it never failed someone would get paint on someone else, on me, or the carpet.

This recipe has always been super easy for me to get out of my clothes, even after drying and staining all day long at the preschool before I could even think about washing it out. FANTASTIC! Also it is great because you can just make the amount you need, instead of storing jars and jars of different colors of wet paint just waiting to dry out or tip over.

The Tempera paint and some really great, sturdy paint jars you can get at Michaels Crafts and though the jars are a little pricey, for the fact they are so hard to knock over and stackable, they are well worth the extra money. Besides, you will save a lot buying the tempera powder colors as apposed to getting new Crayola paint all the time.

Keep in mind the age of your child, younger ones need thicker paint and brushes, and you can thicken this recipe up by adding a little cornstarch (melt it in some hot water first, like you would for gravy, and then, of course, don't let you kid paint until it has cooled).

Not all kids love sensory experiences, like painting, the first time (or even five) that they try it. However, keep trying, and perhaps, if you have been undressing the child for the painting session, try keeping old clothes on, or even just putting one of your husbands old t shirts over him/her because part of what may be upsetting your child is being cold. If your child still doesn't like it, keep trying to make it fun by getting in there and painting yourself, but certainly don't make your child do the project if they are super upset, just put it away for another day and try again, or move on to another sensory activity, like playing in a sensory box.

Well, that is what Works for Me! Head on over to Rocks in my Dryer for other great tips!

Imagine, If You Will...

So we have a new member to welcome to our family! Yes, my hysterical toddler, Little Dude, has met an imaginary friend, who as of a few weeks ago begain making small apperances around our home.

Last night though, Little Dude's imaginary friend needed a cup of water though. And not an imaginary one, a real one. Because, as I was informed, he was thirsty.

So what do I know about this new friend of Little Dude's? Not much, but here is what I have learned so far:

*He is Orange
*His Mom is Orange
*His Dad is Purple
*His Baby is Orange
*He likes garbage trucks and trash(which is probably how my son and he bonded)
*He likes baths
*He likes Nemo, Clifford and Elmo
*He poops
*He does not like gross stuff (That does not include anything I would call gross. Gross is relative, apparently)
*He plays the drum
*He has a computer and a phone
*He is a water monster

Yes, I am one of the lucky few to have a rather talented, orange water monster living at my house. I am thinking next week will we invite his parents and baby brother over for dinner. I wonder what water monsters eat? I better go ask Little Dude...

Holgate Blocks

Blocks are the greatest learning toys for young children-they inspire imagination, develop gross motor skills, improve language skills, and teach our children about spacial relations in the world around them. Yes, simple blocks are really super toys, and I have discovered Holgate Blocks that are simple, super and full of fun learning opportunities. Want to know where to get some learning blocks for your little one? Read the rest of my review to learn why Holgate Baby Blocks are the best!