Ten on Ten - August

I cannot believe that it is August!   Where did the time go!?  I'm happy to report that my 10 on 10 is late being posted because THIS mommy actually got out of the house for a girl's night!   And I didn't get home until after 1am!  HoOrAy!!!    On another note -- a Happy Birthday shout out to Kaylee and Ethan! 

Ace helped with this edit - he really likes the heat map edits, but I reigned him in some for this one. :)

Mae requested I do her hair and then promptly pulls it out to look at it.  Rinse and repeat all day long. :)



With kids fully engaged into totally educationally mind stimulating activities ::cough a movie:: 
mommy continued to edit the first birthday shoot that I did.  

4pm mommy finally gets a shower!

back from berry picking with dad the children play (?) outside.

Last  shot of the day before mommy gets outta dodge and goes free!!!

Ten on Ten over at A Bit of Sunshine!

Summer Time with Toddlers!

I love that my kids are at an age to enjoy an activity - sometimes for great stretches of time even!   So while my blog has been pretty dern quiet this summer - don't fret lots of fun is going on!  Need a sampling?   Lots of ideas for you to enjoy with kids of all ages coming up!

SLIME

This activity from creation until it was time to eat lunch kept him in one place, entertained and fully engaged for over 90 minutes.  He probably could have gone longer, but his father had brought home lunch and so he reluctantly put it all away.   I got the recipe from our slime at Tot Treasures.  I got my liquid starch online at Walmart with shipping of only $0.97!

It was more sticky in the beginning but eventually worked itself together into almost rubber ball texture. 
Stored in a ziplock, the next day it was a bit stickier, but after working it again was back to 'normal' :)

ROADWORK 

Yes, playing with oatmeal is a huge hit in our house!  Break out the splat mat and go to town.  This time I dropped in a set of Cat trucks (they sell them at Target/Walmart/BRU for about $6) and while they played I had Ace attempt to follow the 'directions' in the book Roadwork.  The book is chalk full of onomatopoeia that are fun to listen to.  Ace was very patient when his sister was anything but a helper on the building part - she did great with demolition though!
 

On a different day we broke out the black beans and playdough to read through the same book and build different roads.

PAINTING

I recently invested in Colorations Liquid Watercolors and some blotter bottles (bingo markers?) and I absolutely LOVE these paints.   It doesn't take much paint to go far and even if gets all over them and they look like they'll be permanently stained - give them a bucket of water (or a bath) and they're squeaky clean without any scrubbing.    We've made several signs for birthdays, welcome homes, and the one below was the one they worked on for the 4th of July!

FIREWORKS!

Yes, what summer is complete without them!  This year Ace was super excited to be able to light some of his own.  Mae enjoyed a little action with her father, but for the most part was a sideline observer.   Overall it was a nice quiet 4th of July and while it was chilly - Ace's coat is a bit overkill, but he seemed happy enough. 

GARDENING

Breaking out the black beans again and this time they're building a garden.  Using some 'clay pots' that are actually silicone cupcake holders I found on clearance somewhere they played with some silk flowers, garden tools, some seeds (acorns) and some other garden friends.  They had a great 45 minutes spent with all this sensory fun!

BUBBLE BLOWING

Big bubbles, make your own bubbles, no spill bubble buckets!   They are a favorite and they are endless and pretty clean fun. 

MANIPULATIVES

Ace didn't have school this summer and so we still wanted to keep him busy, but not always requiring an elaborate project that requires a ton of prep or clean up work and so I invested in a few types of manipulatives for the kids.    Ace and his fancy headgear are working on tangrams.  I got the pattern cards and then foam magnetic shapes from Amazon, the white board I got at Target - it's back to school season so they're everywhere - I recommend 11x17 or somewhere around there... an 8x10 is too small to really make the pictures.  Mae is playing with some dominos, which she matches colors, stacks, and generally throws around.  :)  Ace uses them to count, set up and knock down (old skool, hehe) and match.

He REALLY likes that red/white shirt... these pictures aren't taken all on the same day. :)

 RAINBOW RICE

I was really excited about this one! :)  Just so much fun.  First after much pricing the Dollar Store is by far the best price to buy rice. I was a bit skeptical at first since they are 1.5lb bags, I though surely a giant bag at the grocery store would be cheaper - nope.  I used about 3 bags so about 4lbs of rice to accomplish this project.  I used the above mentioned watercolors to dye the rice - simply tossed in a bunch of rice into a sandwich bag, dumped in some watercolor (less than a teaspoon at first) and mixed until it was all mixed.  If the color wasn't vibrant enough I dumped in more and so on until the right color was achieved.  If I managed to put just the right amount of color in I was able to reuse the same ziplock over and over to complete the dying process.  I stored them individually in a ziplock tupperware.  I'm told you can use food dye also but then you have to use alcohol (or hand sanitizer) to 'lock in' the color.  We had no color transfer with mine - and some of my rice was dyed within an hour of play.   The tub is a '32 quart' tub that I simply used a piece of cardboard to divide it off so I didn't need MORE rice.

Before the kids started to dig into the rice they sat with great anticipation and read through Planting a Rainbow and pointing to all of the colors that matched.  Ace correctly pointed out that the "red" wasn't red at all but rather pink... I know, bud... sorry the red just was NOT happening.  It would have been ready to eat rice if I had added TOO much 'water'color! After initial presentation and mixing occurred we 'tore down' the fence (I saved it for another project.) 

GEOGRAPHY

When Loving Husband is away on a mission Ace typically is allowed one sleepover night in our bed.   This past mission I saved it for a particularly exciting and important night.  The Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics!   I broke out the fabric panel that I have of the world map along with his placemat of the world and he watched the Opening Ceremonies eagerly awaiting the country of Russia to walk in - it was the biggest! As the countries walked in we looked for them on the map.  I would find it on my map and point to it and then he would try to find it on his.  :)  He did a pretty good job considering the size discrepancy between the two maps! 

Alas in the Opening Ceremonies the countries walk in at the end and it was nearly 10:30 when the M-Countries were parading in and he was fading fast.   He was out by the end of the Ms and I shook him awake (he sleeps like the dead once he's out!) and he acknowledged it - but the thrill was gone.   He still enjoyed popcorn, candy, and lemonade in bed WAY past his bedtime though! :)  Looking forward to doing it again with him for the Closing Ceremonies when the Olympians walking in FIRST! :)

SPLISH SPLASH!

What's more fun that water!   Sprinklers, pools, you can't go wrong!  Got a little play slide, throw it in at the edge of the pool and you have a water slide!  The kids had a great time with theirs!  Happy summer, everyone!

Pixel

Our family has converted!  We are now dog people!   After putting together a 30 slide power point presentation for Loving Husband (no lie)  we got him on board to the idea of getting a dog.   Because every kid needs a dog!  

Loving Husband wanted a puppy and I wanted a cairn terrier and a dog from a shelter.     It seemed to be fate that right after LH got on board we found a litter that was ready to go home with two pups still unclaimed from the litter.   So we went to have a look!  

Having studied up we went through several 'tests' with the dog to ensure that it wasn't a dog that was overly nervous, skiddish, aggressive, etc..  He passed all the tests and I think best of all he was raised in a foster home with small kids that loved and smothered them excessively and so our pup was more than happy.    Yes, our little guy was on the smaller size from the litter.   He was one of five puppies to be born to a cairn terrier mix who was found wandering in a park.  His mama delivered the next day in the shelter and then all of them went to live at their foster home until adoption day.   

Our little guy weighed in at 2.2lbs at 8 weeks and was neutered!  Eep!  Sad day for the tiny guy... but coming from a shelter it's their policy so that they prevent future unwanted litters.  It makes sense but it is still a little sad.   I digress!   So he was neutered on a Friday and that Sunday we went to have a look-see!   As I mentioned above he was perfect for us and although smaller than our desired dog, he stole our hearts and we took him home.  On our ride home we began to go through names and after going through several options we moved onto photography terms and came across Pixel!  It was perfect.  So by the time we headed to the pet store to buy his food we knew his name and so we got his tag! :)

In his foster home he had been in a pin with his brothers and sisters and adults in the home said 'good night' at 8pm and then good morning at 5am.   This was a bit of a transition for us all the first week.   We crate trained Pixel and the first two nights we had him in a pin with his crate inside and the door open.  He happily slept in his crate from the start with no issue.   Night three we closed the crate and eliminated the pin and he slept through the night our 9 week old puppy slept all night and was even starting to stretch out his sleep pushing past 6am.   After a week or two he was finally on track with the rest of the family with a more reasonable 7am(ish) start.  :)

Pixel loves to play fetch and aside from not wanting to drop whatever he retrieved he's pretty good at it! He has recently learned to 'speak' - which is good - now we can concentrate on 'quiet' :) but to be fair he's a pretty good dog and isn't a yapper. He barks when he's excited and playing, when he needs to go potty, or is trying to get our attention. He is still uber hyper when meeting new people and is very much a puppy. 

Pixel the first few weeks of his life with us were full of medicine!  Poor dog needed some ear drops twice a day and he caught kennel cough somewhere along the way and required a 2 week round of 2x a day oral antibiotics.  Thankfully he and I got into a routine and he actually was very good at taking the antibiotic meds... The ear drops depended on the day and his level of angst - but we got through it and he's a happy and good to go puppy!   

I have to give this puppy props because on the 4th of July (his first holiday!)  He did not care one bit about the war zone that was going on in our neighborhood... and when I say war zone I am talking about 7-10 different neighbors within visible distance from one another lighting off professional sized mortars over and over and over.  He didn't budge and went to sleep no problem.

He's a great dog and a happy new addition to our family - even if logistically he does take a little extra planning as a result. :) The kids love him and Morgan only took a few days to warm up to him. Pixel does jump and bite on them (playfully in his mind) and so there is still more work to be done, but overall they all get along great!

 Pixel is a typical puppy that requires training to break habits of biting, jumping, etc.  :)   I am happy to report that just in the last week - Week 14 - so 5 weeks after having Pixel in our home I am feeling more confident that he's finally "getting" potty training.  I think a large hurdle for that is that he finally has learned that he CAN in fact get down off the deck and go in the yard.  Silly dog.  He's tiny, but he's not THAT tiny.  :) 
 
Now the BIGGEST question - what IS he?   His mama was a carin terrier mix.  But his papa??  Originally it was guessed that he was a chihuahua, but that is less and less likely - next guess was a toy or mini Australian Shepard because of his general look and the natural bobtail that he has.   Most recently yorkie or sheltie has been tossed around.  Anyone else care to weigh in?   :) 

9.5 weeks old

14 weeks old

He's gotten a bit longer, taller, and his snout has elongated some.  He weighs in at 3.6lbs now.

Year One of Triumph!

A year ago today my friend Katie was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer.   She's had a few bumps along her road to recovery but she has not let colon cancer define her or most importantly take her smile.   Here are Katie's thoughts on her journey this past year.  Continue with me to Pray in Purple! 

Eighteen Months Old

My little girl is a year and a half old! She's growing up so much and it's so adorable to see her expand her world, vocabulary, humor, and joy on a seemingly daily basis!  

In just a month not much has changed, but when you look back at the last six months SO much has changed!

New firsts for Month 18: first chipped tooth, first full day away from mommy, a new puppy, another tooth finally breaking through, her first Popsicle and more words!

Yes, Mae has had an explosion of words including: shows, Pix (Pixel), coak (coat), hep (help), cap (clap), shoe (often said 'SHOOOOES!' very excited), cheese (the food this time, not just to take a picture), eat, poop, sheesh (fish), car, Pop Pop, Brrrr (bird, which has evolved from 'Bah'), wah (water), boo/book (she alters), cook, hiiiiii (she has become far more enthused saying hello), mar/more, uh oh,  ball, rock, owww (owl), cheek, ear, eye, mouw (mouth), aff (off), cam (come), wak (walk), liiin (lion), chair, two, teat (treat), bed, nigh-nigh, doll, piggy, wee-wees (this little went wee wee wee all the way home!), hawt/hot (everything is hot even things that are cold) ... and I know there is more but that's all I've got for the moment.  :)

In the teeth department we've had quite the excitement as well.  She already was born with her front tooth fused with another one - causing a super giant front tooth that was misshapen.  One evening when both her and her brother were sick and out of sorts - Ace was already in bed trying to sleep and Mae climbed up on him - he rejected this by pushing her off the bed and thus her overly sized malformed tooth became chipped - it now has a canine tooth look to it but isn't overly sharp.  Here's hoping her adult tooth is normal up there!   Mae also this past week FINALLY had a fifth tooth break through on the bottom.  Hooray!  Her brother by 18 months already had 12 teeth including his first set of molars.   This has drastically limited Mae's ability to chew foods...

In the eating department - when she's not sick - she does pretty darn well.   She loves chicken nuggets, fries, english muffins with peanut butter, cheese sticks (often if I ask if she's hungry she asks for "cheeeeeese" which is super adorable) she loves to suck on goldfish crackers and suck off all the salt (she is her mama's daughter!) and occasionally she'll consume them.   She happily eats cookies of several variations.  Yogurt is often consumed and where we hide her liquid vitamins! :)  She enjoyed her first popsicle the other day at a BBQ and she did pretty good consuming some of it before it melted away.   Mae for the most part will eat a little bit of anything but quantities are really sparse.  So we try to entertain high fat/calorie concentrated foods.

Health wise we continue down a similar course of cold catching and continue to hope for the virus season to leave our home!   She never truly gets out of sorts whenever she is sick and is so happy in spite of it all!   She's such a sweetheart!  We're hoping that the summer months will give us a break in colds. 

Mae and her brother (and the parents) recently got a new puppy and he's tiny.  Which is good because he loves to jump on Mae and although she is tiny, he's smaller and that's good.  Mae has really warmed to him.  Loves to pet him, bring him his toys, and recently wanting to give him his 'teat' (treat) which she does very well to let the dog lick out of her hand.   It's pretty cute.  

In the play department she wants to do everything her brother does. :)  She does pretty good climbing up on things at the playground, at the lake she wants to wade in despite the consequence of going face first when the water gets too deep, and she loves to go on walks.   On her own she loves to play with her dolls, be flipped upside down by her dad, and play 'wee-wees' which she'll ask for by name while wiggling her fingers over her toes.  Yes, the timeless 'game' of 'This Little Piggy Went to Market'   :)  She is adorable and will do it to me too.   She still loves her piglet but she's not as exclusive anymore with him.  At bedtime she often wants multiple friends to hug and fall asleep with.  She loves to read books at bedtime and her favorite still remains Goodnight Gorilla.

Mae this month also finally started to let me do her hair and leave it in longer than three seconds!   If I just put a clip in on the side she'll still yank it pretty fast but pony tails of various heights and location seem to remain all the time with some varied results when she's in her car seat.

Mae is such a joy and we love her.  She loves to jump (bounce up and down) and go for walks, and she knows almost all of her 'pieces' (head, nose, etc..)  Every day she surprises us and always is smiling!   We can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings us!

Ten on Ten - July

This month marks one year that I've been participating in Ten on Ten - officially June would have marked a year, but I didn't get around to participating in June's because I was busy doing my first newborn photo shoot!   Which was sooo fun!  :)   I'll eventually blog about it.  Maybe.  

Today was a typical Tuesday.   Ace is no longer in preschool for the summer so we're doing school at home.   We got a new puppy a few weeks ago (yah I need to blog about that too!) so life keeps us busy and on our toes!  Today also in Mae's half birthday! Our little girl is 1.5 years old!  Impossible! (and of course there will be a blog about that too!)   Our days start early and time escapes me so my 10 on 10 is throughout the day as I remembered so within the 13 hours I was taking pictures, I managed 10 of those hours to get at least one shot.  :)  Not too shabby!   Happy 10 on 10 everyone!

Ace decided he was still tired so he went and climbed into our bed... he was shocked to find me photographing him.

Awake and joining the rest of the family downstairs, Ace was less than thrilled to share his blanket with his sister.

Yay our second Boon arrived (we have a LOT of stuffed animals!) Time to stuff it!

School time!  Sight word fun!

A little reading application of those newly learned sight words with some pen action!
Also I was really impressed that both kids sat in one place for over 90 minutes without needing wiggle time.

Mae Mae is 18 months old and time to take her traditional (or as this picture depicts) not so traditional photo in her chair.

Blogging World meet Pixel our little cairn terrier and tea cup (or mini) Australian Shepard mix.  More on him in another post.

It's 80 degrees!  This is so much fun!!!

Bliss: eating cantaloupe with salt in the backyard on a warm summer day... really makes me miss my dad.

Bath time after dinner!   This picture was snapped and then one 'page' was read before Ace bellowed
"Moooom, sister pooped in the tub!"   No rest for the mommy... I needed to clean the tub anyway.

To see more visit A Bit of Sunshine...

Our Graduate!

Last Day of School!  Ace decided he wanted to be a fireman...
although the day before it was a policeman.

Ace had a great first 'year' of preschool!  Yes, our time has drawn to a close on our first school experience!   He loved it!  There were many MANY theme days and he enjoyed participating in almost all of them.  

The big day arrived and it was just as big of a production as his mother's day program.  Loving Husband echoed the sentiment stated by the dad in The Incredibles about celebrating mediocrity and merely moving from one grade to another - and while yes, it's true, it's still something to be proud of.  It was his first (half) year of school completed and he is fully done with preschool (technically!)   Next year he begins Pre-K at the same school site. 

The ceremony began with them all walking in to graduation pomp and circumstance.  It was cute as they all filed in with their teacher and their borrowed hats on.  

After class pictures were taken, the hats were collected and the program of 10 songs began.   Ace was less enthused to participate in these as he was the Mother's Day program but he still enjoyed some of them.    Particularly he loved "Apples and Bananas"  song (you know the one where you change the vowels)   and especially enjoyed the props.  :)

Ace and his friend ... and other kid who I didn't get permission to put his face on the interwebs, so I won't. :)

After the program was over they received their diplomas and buckets.  Pictures were taken with his teacher and then we enjoyed some cookies and chatting with his teacher and classmates.  

 Ace will really miss his favorite friend from school. They no longer will be in the same class come the fall. Ace is moving on to Pre-K and his friend who won't start kindergarten in 2013 will remain in the preschool class for an extra year. Ultimately they'll still see each other for playdates, but it won't be the same and I know Ace is a little sad.

Mae wanted in on the picture action as well. :)

We are so proud of our boy!  It was a great first year of school for Ace.   Can't wait to see the adventures he has in the fall!

Our graduate!