Playdough

As promised, pictures of our playdough! I got the recipe from here. In fact, we got many of our summer activities from The Idea Room.

I wasn't sure that David would enjoy the playdough. He only half helped me make it. I have to tell you though, this playdough smells so good! Who knew that flavored fruit drink could make things smell so good! We made ours with grape mix, and have fruit punch to make another batch. David loves it! He and Nate will sit for ever at the kitchen counter building and making things. Nate helps David make train like things, and then he builds. Here are some pictures of the fun. Ignore the drawing on David. He saw Nate accidently mark on himself, so he wanted some "ink" too.



My resourceful side

In case you were wondering, it is hot in Indiana. Like really hot. I don't like the heat. It makes my hair frizzy and me cranky. Alas, I still have a 2 year old to entertain. What to do, what to do...
I should be able to do something with shaving cream and cars, right? Why, yes I can, and it was a HUGE hit! (And David smelled like rasberries for a while after too.)

First, you must cover your arms in the shaving cream...

 

 

Then cover all of your cars...



 

Cheesey smile for mom

 

 

So, there was an activity for one day. Now, since we are on day a million of 90+ degrees, we needed another activity. Surely mommy can do something with some shampoo, cornstarch, and food coloring. Again, why yes she can. Another hit! We have done this a few times since. So easy and entertaining.

 

Our colors. David helped pick what colors we made. (I finally found a use for my ice cube tray!)

 

 

 

The masterpiece, although the brown just looks like poop.

 

 

Tha paints float in the water.

 

 

So happy!

 

 

This is what you get when you dump all of your paints in the water. Brown poo looking water - gross. But look at that cute butt!

 

 

So easy and clean up was a snap! Next post will be playdough! It smells like grape koolaid - yummy!

Firsts

Last night was David's 1st night in his transitional bed. He was a rock star and slept in the bed the whole night and didn't even get out of it this morning until I came in to his room. It sits low to the ground, so he very easily could have gotten out. I was so impressed to find him in his bed when I walked in this morning and this afternoon after his nap. Let's hope the trend continues.

Since we had accomplished the big boy bed, we decided that it was time for a real haircut. We had done some trims, but nothing major. Today we went to Cookie Cutters to do the first haircut. It was pretty cool, and they do kids cuts well.

Here are the before pics:



Some action shots. He did so well! They put in a movie (Bob the Builder) and let him pick his car. He thought it was so cool. I thought it was amazing at how still he sat while she cut his hair!

And the after shots. He is not amused that we took a zillion pictures. He just wanted his balloon and sucker.

It was a good day for David, and a hard day for mommy. He is getting so big and has such a personality. This summer his speech has come so far! I can actually understand what he wants most of the time. Tonight at dinner he spilled some of his juice and said "Awe man!" Cracked me up because that was a new phrase for him. He is such a big boy!

Outtings

I am off for the summer, and I love spending time with David. However, if we don't get out of the house at least 4 of 5 days, I tend to get grouchy. I am not a stay-at-home mom, although sometimes I wish I was.

Anyway, since we (I) need to get out of the house, we have become creative on what we do so that we are not always spending money, or at least not very much. We go to the library, $1 movies, the zoo (we have a membership), the other zoo (aka PetCo), the playground (when it's not 90 degrees), and our latest outing, our local thrift store (read Goodwill, but doesn't thrift store sound better?). I wasn't looking for specific, just looking. I'm tired of my decor, so I'm slowly replacing things. Nate says its okay, but to remember our ultimate goal of getting out of debt. Free is great (like this) but cheap is the next best thing. I've been keeping my eyes open for things I can rework to fit into our space.

Back to my outing. It was 90+ degrees on the day we went. It was an outting with AC all in one. While walking through the isles (killing time before nap time), I picked up books for David (you can't beat 0.69 each for Dr. Seuss books), and a pair of shoes. On our way out, we headed down the last isle, when my heart skipped a beat. I found the perfect piece of art for my wall. I didn't care the price, I was buying it. Much to me delight, it was only $13! Even Nate agreed that it was worth $13.

Here is what we had before. Nice, and it was only $10 at Big Lots 4 years ago. It just doesn't scream that a boy (two actually) live here now.

And my new purchase. L.O.V.E.

 

I'll reuse the old canvas. We'll be re-doing the guest bedroom into David's big boy room soon, so I may do something for his room. Best part of redoing it is that if I do like it, I can paint over it and start again. 

Mini Vacation : Day 2

David had a rough night on Day 1. He woke up at 3:00 am scared. I awoke to "mom, ru (where are you), mom, momma, ru? Dad, ru, dad, dad, daddy, daddy, ru? This went on for a few minutes, and then became more desperate, so I went to get him. He snuggled down with me, for about 2 minutes, and then he was ready to go for the day. Since he was up, and we were all in 1 hotel room, we were all up. We finally got him to sit still watching a few movies, so Nate and I could get a little more sleep. By the time we left the hotel room at 7 am, he was a sleepy, crabby boy.  3 hours in the car to go.
It was a smooth car ride until we were 4 miles from the park. I tried to go to the hotel where my family was - it wasn't on the rode I thought it was, and in turning around - flat tire. Awesome. Thankfully Nate was able to get it changed (and later he and my dad went to get it patched) and we were back on our way.
Once at the park, David was ready to have fun. We were spending the majority of the day in the water park, and that boy loves water! He was cranky after his nap for a while, but he perked back up after a while.

Mom, did you know there was WATER here?

 

After several hours in the water park, we left my family and went to take David on some rides. We heard a lot of  "WEEEE" and "OH WOW!)



We're done?

We had a great day, and hope to go back again in the fall and do more rides. We weren't sure he would like them, but he did! It's a great park and very family friendly. Free soft drinks and suncreen too!
Totally worth visiting if you live close!

Mini Vacation : Day 1

We recently took a mini vacation with my family (Nate was a trooper!). My family spent 2 days at Holiday World, but we decided to just go for 1 day. Before meeting up with my family, we spent a day at Abe Martin Lodge. We went for Spring Break, and David had a blast.
The lodge has an indoor pool, and David loves it. There is a water slide that they let parents go down with kiddos. I don't think I have heard "WEEEEE" so often in such a short period of time.

After a few hours of swimming, we ate dinner and then went on a bug hunt. They must spray around the lodge, because it took a long time to find a bug, and all we found was a moth. David still had fun though.

So ended day 1 of our mini vacation. Up soon, day 2 at Holiday World!

4th of July Celebration

My parents neighborhood has a parade every year. I can remember doing it every year as a kid. You decorate your bike, wagon, or yourself and meet at the clubhouse. There is a fire truck there to lead the parade around the block and back. Then you get popsicles. It's a family friendly hour filled with giggles and smiles.

This year, my sister and I decided to take the boys. Justin has "big truck" (a Jeep Power Wheels). We decided to deck it out and let Justin drive David through the parade. HUGE hit. The boys had a blast! They didn't even care that it was raining a little and it was hot. the popsicles must have made up for that.



It was a great morning, and I know that we will do it again next year!