Unplugged Play

Today we spent the entire morning attempting unplugged (or semi-unplugged) play.


I've really been struggling with giving Jonas my undivided attention. At home it seems like there is always something to get done (laundry, sweeping, mopping, fun craft stuff, etc...) I feel like I've been pretty distracted. I try to carve out a lot of quality time for Jonas, but to be honest, he has SO much more energy than I do, and he wants me to be his personal playmate 24/7. Sometimes I need to take a break. Today however, I attempted to have an entire unplugged, active play morning with him. We read several books, Did some morning preschool aerobics to a fun kids cd, played soccer in the hallway into a laundry basket goal, swept together, played in our mini-sandbox, and swam in a pool from Papa Mark.

When the afternoon gets here, I may be too tired to get up and go....but we'll see. We had such a great time, and I really just love my little guy. I'm so glad he loves spending time with me. I just wish I had all the energy I needed to keep up.
(For those of you wondering what he's playing in...I attempted to make homemade "Moon Sand". Real Moon Sand is incredible stuff. It's moldable, soft, doesn't stick too much to clothing. It's not gritty, and doesn't get in hair, etc... It's also VERY expensive. I found a recipe to make something similar with corn starch & play sand. It's actually nothing like the real thing, but it is soft & not grimy....so we like it! ;) It also washes off REALLY easily. Let me know if you want the recipe & I can dig it up for you.

What does everyone else do for "unplugged play"? What's a typical day consist of? Do your kiddos play on their own, or do they want you to play with them?

Wish List - for my toddler for next year

We went on a roadtrip to Tulsa & visited my best friend, Becky, & her daughter, Taylor. Jonas & Taylor had so much fun together. They live a little bit in the country (sorry Beck) and Jonas loved the freedom to roam, visiting the horses & playing with all of Taylor's cool toys.


This reminded me that I need to make a list of possible gift ideas for the next birthday, etc... for my little man. I always get asked what he might like, and come up dry, so hopefully if I just add things to this a little at a time, it will make a good list for those times.

If you have a toddler & they absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE something that keeps them occupied and helps them develop, please drop me a line & let me know!

Leap Frog - Fridge DJ - Magnetic Learning Radio

Radio Flyer - Steel & Wood wagon with sun shade

Fold & Go Tricycle

Piano (Keyboard)

Jeep car for kids (electric car for kids)

Pack & Go Tricycle

Bean Bags

Edible colored macaroni - Rainy day play!

Today Jonas & I had a blast creating edible colored macaroni. I made macaroni necklaces when I was young, and thought it might be a fun rainy day activity for us today. I came across this edible method online, here, and decided to give it a go.

It's SOOOOO Easy.
1. Get some small plastic baggies
2. Macaroni or other small noodles
3. Food coloring
4. White Vinegar

First, get your kiddo helper situated & give them a teaspoon and a small bowl of white vinegar. Fill the bag with desired amount of pasta, add 1 Teaspoon of white vinegar, add 5-6 drops of food coloring, then seal the bag. Shake shake shake it up, until pasta is well-coated with color & evenly distributed. Then, (carefully) pour out the pasta to dry. ( I used a cookie sheet, covered with foil & papertowels. )

We had a great time, although now my hands are a lovely shade of green. Note for the future....wear gloves. (lol)


What a great helper I have! Can't wait to display our necklaces. But our art has to dry first!

Jonas' Big Boy room inspiration board

Idea board for Jonas' Big Boy room: Still collecting ideas!

First - Some ideas from a room found on Apartment Therapy:

This goes along with antique bed frame we picked up at a garage sale for $5! Still needs a frame, but it will do!
Find some inspiring artwork - maybe from an old storybook.


Storage & Mobiles!

Then some great finds on Etsy:

Stores I love: boygirlparty by Susie Ghrahremani





Her prints are just perfect. Whimsical, but rooted. Jonas loves music & animals & being outdoors. I think he'd like these as much as I do. Then again, he also loves cars, trucks & robots, so we'll see where all of that takes us. :)

Here's some artwork from Guardian of the Night's Etsy Shop:





That's about it for now....more to come later!

Potty Training - YIKES!

Well,

I officially don't know how to do this. My little guy goes about 2 drops in the potty, wants to celebrate, then tells me he's done. 5 minutes later he is crying & begging for a diaper. We've tried everything - potty timer's, potty dances, candy rewards, lots of praise, new books for the potty, etc...
Today we went naked on the bottom half, and he did the usual. He doesn't mind sitting on the potty, but once he starts peeing, he just locks up & kind of freaks out.

What do we do? Does this just mean he's not ready? Help!!! Has anyone been there?

Jonas post...

Jonas desperately wants to post a message, so who am I to say no?

jjjjljlhhhhhu8 hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh222222222222222222222222222222222
bbbbbb bbb bb b bb-bbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Garage Sale Success....sort of

Well, after much stress...we finally got all of our possessions outside for a much-needed, much-anticipated, GARAGE SALE!

I wish I had a picture of it. So wonderful to get rid of so much STUFF!!!!

We had some wonderful friends who brought us some "big stuff" to sell, i/e tables & chairs, a headboard, double stroller, etc., and we advertised diligently on Craigslist. We were busy all morning, and opted to stay open until close to 3:30pm, because people kept coming. We also picked the most beautiful day. It's been over 100 deg. every day this month, but for some reason, a "cold" front came in that day, and we relished the 88 deg. high. Great weather for our shoppers.

We were preparing to close up shop when, we noticed a strange puddle of water snaking it's way through our garage sale, and down to the driveway. We watched with horror as it grew, and realized that our water heater was suddenly...leaking. This was particularly strange, because we had had absolutely no trouble with it at all, the entire 4 years we've lived here.

Ironically (or not, depending on how you look at it) we made roughly $20 less than we had to pay for our brand new water heater. Thankfully Clint was able to stifle the leak until Monday, and temporarily patch us up so that we still had hot water and A/C through the rest of the weekend, allowing us t skip the $158/hour plumbing fee.

Now, thanks to his ability to do pretty much anything he puts his mind to, the leak behind our bathroom toilet is fixed, our sink is no longer dripping & we have a brand new water heater up and running. I have an amazing husband. ;)

In the end, the sale ended up providing the exact amount we needed to repair our water heater (Thanks God!) and we sent 20 trash bags, 6 boxes, a TV & filing cabinet to Salvation Army. We've lost approximately 2 tons of weight from our house & are still in the mood to trim down.

Thanks friends for your tips & support. Thanks Sarah for helping man the garage sale.

This feels so good & we're excited about simplifying our lives even more!

Nautilus

Something I like...too bad it's almost $500

I think this Nautilus lamp is so pretty & whimsical, but it won't be hanging in our home anytime soon. ;)

So Thankful - God's Unexpected Provision for School

As you know, C & I are expecting #2 in January, and I am currently enrolled as a Full-time Master's student in OU's SLP program, with 16 hours (including clinic) both in the Spring & Fall semesters of the first year. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about school & the new baby & everything. We had been praying through our options and although I felt that I could probably handle the Fall semester without trouble, I wasn't sure if the 4 days I would have between having our little one and class resuming would be enough for me or the baby. I was nervous about trying to even "think" about class that soon after having the baby. Clint & I have been praying through our options and yesterday I scheduled an appointment with OU to discuss our situation. I hadn't told them yet that I was pregnant.

The conversation was amazing. The head of the department was completely understanding of my situation and so much more flexible than I expected would even be possible. It hasn't been finalized, but it looks like I'll take about 1/2 of the classes this Fall, then only 1 class in the Spring (because I'll be about a month behind before I am able to return to class and that's too much of a gap to catch up on 16 hours). Then I'll basically be on track to start again with class the next year. Basically, it extends my program to 3 years, instead of 2, but I think it's a BIG answer to prayer.

I was prepared for him to tell me that I would just have to re-apply in the Fall, and I was not looking forward to sitting out an entire year. Now I'll be able to stay with J and manage a few classes, and have plenty of time for recovery and the new baby. I'm so excited. It makes me LOVE the program even more. I'm so thankful & excited. I don't think there are many places that this would have been a possibility. Just wanted to share.

I'm taking a free online photo editing class from Jessica Sprague at jessicasprague.com.

I'm working on a Mac and have Pixelmator rather than Photoshop, which the class is geared for, but I've still found it really interesting so far.

Here's my first attempt at a framed photo with some word art. It's not perfect, but it's a start. ;)

Photo fun

So, I am embarrassed to say this, but the main reason my blog is without many pics, is because I haven't quite figured out an "easy" way to load them. Compared to my Facebook app in iPhoto, which lets me select a few pics and then automatically uploads them, this is a much more laborious process.

Can you share your tips and tricks for making your layout look snazzy? How do you guys upload your pics?