Just because.......

I love my Sugar Bear soo soo much!!!

Dinner for 3

When Ryan works, I dread having to cook dinner. By the end of the day both kids are running out of patience and energy. I am lucky if I step two inches without a kids under my feet. It definitely does not make cooking easy. So I try to plan simple, easy dinner ideas that will make my life easier, but give the kids a good meal as well. One of my favorite go to meals is pizza!! Homemade pizza that is. It is easy, fast, and oh so good. I even have the kids help me put the toppings on. I designate my own corner of the pizza since I like a little more items on mine. The kids just like cheese and pepperoni. They at least "think" that is all they are getting. You can't notice but underneath all the cheese, are cut up zucchini piece. Muuahahahah!!! They are eating their veggi's and they don't even notice.

I use whole wheat dough from Henry's, it's delicious! There is never a piece leftover, and the kids are happy, their bellies are full, and mama still has a smile on her face!

Little Diva

Kailyn had some birthday money and gift cards left from her birthday so we decided to make a trip to the mall for a little bit of shopping. She wanted new clothes, and she was in desperate need of new warm stuff, so it worked out perfect! She got tired very quickly of trying all the clothes on. I use to be able to just grab things off the shelves and knew they would fit. But now I have to try everything on her. Everything fits so differently on her now that she is growing and growing. In the end she bought a bunch of fabulous clothes to add to her wardrobe. Many skirts of course, can't get this girl away from them. Plus mama had fun teaching her about sales, and coupons, and how to get the most for your money. Once I showed her that she could get 1 shirt not on sale, or 5 other items on sale for the same price, she was hooked!! Whoohoo teaching her the importance of wise money decisions already. This picture about sums up our day of fun, shopping, learning, and success!! Although I have to admit she enjoyed the shopping a little more than I expected, am I in for it when she is a teenager?

Housekeeping

I vacuum(ok TRY) to vacuum our house everyday. Between 3 dogs, 2 kids and 2 adults, the dirt can get ridiculous. However, a certain little person in the house began making this process very difficult. He took such an interest in the vacuum that I could not finish without him in my arms helping, or just giving up and handing the vacuum over to him.

I knew I had to get him his own vacuum. So I searched and searched until I found the perfect one! A blue and green dirt devil with a dust buster that actually works!! Are you kidding me? I can keep him entertained AND he can really help mama? Score! He loves it! He played with it for about an hour straight the first day. He still loves the real thing, but he will at least let me vacuum for about 5 min now before he starts asking for it.

Water Play X2

When I say Colton is obsessed with water, I am not exaggerating. He will play with water any chance that he can get. He doesn't even mind being rinsed off after a meal because I do it in the sink and he gets to play with the water. I was cleaning up the kitchen one day after dinner, I had my back turned wiping down the counters. In a matter of 30 seconds Colton had pushed a chair up to the sink and was playing in the faucet. He was having so much fun, I didn't want to stop him. So I filled up the sink, threw in a few new sponges and let him have a ball. This kept him busy for 20 minutes while I finished up cleaning. I am telling you, any time any place, this child will play with water.

Don't you love his little fluffy butt in his cute owl cloth diaper?LOVE IT!

Clay Impressions

When Kailyn was a little over 1, we got her hand impressions done. We loved how it turned out, and have it up in our house still to this day. It's fun to have her compare it to the size of her hand now. So I of course wanted to do the same for Colton. We have a local ceramic/pottery painting studio here that does clay impressions. I organize a local moms group, so I set up a private appointment at the studio and a group of us took our kiddos to get hand impressions done. It was a lot of fun and the kids did so well. Now the moms get to have fun when we go back in a few days for a moms night out to paint the impressions. I highly recommend doing this for your kids. It's a great way  to "freeze" a memory of them being so little. They make great Granparent gifts as well!!Here are a few pics of Kailyn and Colton getting their hands done.

Spaghetti Sensory Play

We had some friends over the other day and I wanted to do something with the little ones that would be fun, entertaining, and educational as well. Colton is at the perfect age to really start increasing his sensory play. He is experimenting with more of the different ideas I offer to him. He is also developing more of his independent play. More and more he is going off on his own to play with his toys. I am not suggesting toys to play with as often as I use to. Even with his sensory play, I am beginning to be able to set it up as an invitation and let him go to town. Before I would set it up and let him play, but of course was right next to him for guidance, and making sure certain items were not going into his mouth etc. It's been so fun watching this progression take place. He is growing up too fast.
 His cutie pie friend Jordan is a few month older than Colton, so I knew the spaghetti would be perfect for the two of them to experiment with. All I did was boil and cook two boxes of spaghetti noodles. I used food coloring to give them a little bit of color. Next time I think we will skip the food coloring. I put all of the spaghetti in a plastic tub, put out some kitchen utensils such as spoons, spatulas, ladles etc, and an extra large tub and let them go to town. They LOVED it!! They ate it, squished it, stepped on it, sat on it, put it in hair, put it on each other, used the empty tub to transfer the spaghetti. They used the spoons to mix it, and move it to different locations. It was so much fun watching them. They played with it the entire playdate. Jordan was so cute, she could not get enough of the noodles. She constantly had a mouth full of them the whole time. She left with a big green mouth. Colton loved stepping on it and the bottom of his feet had an entire layed of spaghetti on them.This sensory activity is so easy, yet such a hit with the kiddos.
Benefits of Spaghetti Sensory Play:
*Use of imagination and creativity
*Good for motor skills- gripping, squeezing, transferring, grabbing
*Helps guide independent play when doing the activity alone
*Helps guide interactive play when doing the activity with more than one child
*Explores senses-Touch the spaghetti find out what it feels like, Taste a little bit of it, how does it taste?, Smell can you describe the smell, See what it looks like or what color it is, Hear the sound it makes when you squish it in your hands
Here are the kiddos having a blast!!