an update on life

We are not very eventful around here. It is the end of July and we are enjoying okra and tomatoes from our little garden.

Mother's Day Out has ended for the summer and Owen won't start back again until September. 

So we are having to get creative around here to fill our days or nights...depending on how long Daddy is working.

We went to the doctor to check on baby today. Baby sounded good with a heartbeat of 155 and all is well. I will be 16 weeks tomorrow.

Owen says the baby may be a boy. "Just like me, big and strong," he says. 

We will find out in a couple of weeks if Owen is right ; )

Meanwhile we are just doing life, trying to keep ourselves entertained

and excited that we may have some company come to visit soon!

leprechaun trap

We were inspired by the book, The Night before St. Patrick's Day, to build our very own trap to catch a leprechaun. 

We know leprechauns are always in search of shiny gold things, so we had a great plan. 

He would climb up the fireman's ladder, see the gold, fall through the tissue and be caught in the container for us to find the next morning. 

But you know that sneaky leprechaun got away. 

He took the gold but left Owen some rainbow candy in our trap.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

making hearts

We are getting into the Valentine's spirit around here,

especially when it involves paint.

He has diligently worked hard at making cards for some special people in his life,

naming the recipients of his cards by name.

  I think the results were just lovely,

and I am pretty sure those receiving them will have a full heart as well.

drip pumpkins

I few weeks ago, I saw this post about making drip art with pumpkins and I thought...that is right up Owen's alley.

We went to Hobby Lobby Monday and picked out our paints...the metallic ones really worked well.

I told Owen that we were going to squeeze paint on the pumpkins and let it drip down the sides.

He was a little tentative and squirted just a little paint to start. When I replied, squeeze the tube hard and get alot of paint out...he looked at me like "really? are you sure?"

But he caught on quickly!

I got him to ask me for a the paint color he wanted...to have a little control over the paint ; )

I would ask, "What color do you want next?"...he would take his finger and put it against his cheek (like he was thinking) and say silver. etc....pretty funny. Of course he would change his mind...blue.

But it didn't matter. You can bet that every last ounce of paint in those little bottles was used on this pumpkin : ) 

And it didn't matter what kind of mess it made. I think the result was beautiful.

But the best part of the project, was just seeing him enjoy making it.

Pretty cool pumpkin...even if I do know the artist personally.

rainstick

I have fallen behind with my blogging, but I am back. I plan to play catch up now that our little world has gotten back to normal and all of our house guests have returned home. Little Bit is napping so here we go:

While Meme was here, she and Owen decided to make a rainstick one afternoon. 

After Meme got the nail started, Owen could hammer it on in.

Then they poured some dried beans inside and covered the big tube (like you would mail a poster in) with constructions paper.

After a little decorating, more glue

and paint

and crayons...

this was the end result. It makes a wonderful sound when you turn in from one end to the other.

And I must say, I think the rainstick must have worked. We had great weather the entire week. We had more rain and cooler temps than we have had all summer. Thanks for crafting with us Meme!

Olympic Medalist

We have all really enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer and supporting Team USA.

My personal favorite event is the gymnastics, but we also get into swimming and some of the track and field events too.

I feel like there have been some great athletes highlighted this year, as well as some great examples of sportsmanship.

I appreciate when the athletes win and turn around and give all the glory to God. They are great examples for future athletes to look up to as well as those of us watching.

 In the spirit of the Olympic games we made these medals last week. They are made from salt dough, inspiration here.

If you could get a medal for climbing out of the pool completely by yourself and jumping in...this little guy would be on the winners' podium. 

 but we will also accept a certificate from the YMCA for our future Olympian completing swimming lessons with the shrimp class.

Opening Ceremonies

Are you ready to kick off the Olympic Games?

We sure are.

Go Team USA!

getting our craft on

So Owen is getting older, not a little baby anymore (obviously). We share a lot of time together and I have been feeling like I should be doing more with him. After all there is a speech-pathologist looming deep inside me that loves some stimulating activities. 

(for the caterpillar, Owen glued some torn pieces of green tissue paper on big sheets of green paper. I cut circles out of the green paper and glued them together to make the caterpillar. He glued the pieces for eyes and mouth)

There are so many opportunities to encourage language, teach colors, count, practice fine motor skills, encourage new vocabulary...I could go on.  

And it is FUN. 

Owen loved this cloud dough we made: 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. Perfect for tractors : ) We put it in a large tupperware box and close the lid when we're finished playing.

 We tried card board tube painting. Owen made "O's" or circles. Then I turned around and suddenly our o's were made into a beautiful finger painting. I love it!

Today we made a stop light with shredded paper. When we drive and come to lights I usually ask Owen what color the light is and tell him when it turns green, say "Go."

I was really impressed with him keeping the correct color in coordinating circle. He really did this one all by himself.

The last one, he had a little help with. I had an orange juice carton that we had just emptied, and thought surely we could make something out of this.

Enter...boat!

I will say, the paper napkin sail did not last very long.

So during nap time, the boat went to the shop for a repair. He came back strong with a duck tape sail.

Toddlers are busy little people, but they sure are fun.