It’s sure been quiet in here lately, huh?  Am I the only one that’s been neglecting their blog for extra time in the sunshine with the kiddo’s?  Every nice day so far, we’ve spent about 75% of the day outside, either in the yard or at the park or on walks.  And then I have to drag them inside to eat and nap!  The biggest benefit of all?  They go straight to sleep at night, no fussing!

I remember not being sure what to do with the kids outside during the last few summers, but this year they’re showing me!  They lead our outdoor play now and it’s such a relief!  If your kids aren’t quite to that stage yet, here’s what we like doing outside:

1. Playing catch or frisbee.
2. Blowing bubbles.  Luckily they’re non-toxic because Kelvin still hasn’t figured out that you don’t touch the bubble wand with your mouth!
3. Playing with the water table.  We haven’t pulled the pool out yet because it hasn’t gotten quite that warm, but the kids still have fun and get a little wet with the water table.
4. “Helping” with the weeding.  We’re anxiously anticipating my grandparents’ visit in a few weeks….not just because we miss them, but also because they’re bringing Ava a pair of Dora gardening gloves.  Up until now, she wants to use mine so we each end up using only one.
5. Riding the tricycle, sit n spin or various riding toys.
6. Fingerpainting!  Sometimes the outside of the house gets painted too, so luckily we don’t live in Outer Banks homes!  Just be sure to always use washable paint!
7. Looking for and talking to birdies.  Never would have thought of this one myself!
8. Sidewalk chalk
9. Having picnics.  Sometimes I just can’t drag them inside to eat, so I bring the food to them!

What do you enjoy doing outside with your little ones?

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This week, we tried Crayola 8 ct. Washable Window Markers for the first time. After hearing about them for months, I finally found them at Walmart and decided to give them a go.

I was a little bit worried about the mess factor…would it come off the window sill if they got a little too wild? What about clothes? And how hard would it be to clean it off the window? I also wasn’t sure if the kids were even old enough to enjoy using them.

I shouldn’t have worried. These markers were a blast to play with and a snap to clean up! Both kids thought it was awesome to be able to color on the windows and they had all three of our living room windows decorated by the time we put them away. We had their names, smiley faces, fish, and scribble masterpieces! I may be useless when it comes to annuity explanations, but the kids think I have the best ideas ever when it comes to art! LOL

I’m happy to report that both kids got the markers on the window sill and on their clothes, but they were completely washable. And they came off the windows with no trouble.

Even Chad liked them because it meant I finally got around to washing the windows!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, but I did not receive free products or compensation to review this product.

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I’ve now been staring at this blank post for about ten minutes and can’t think of a single thing to write. No, scratch that. I can’t think of a single thing I want to write right now. I’ve got plenty of ideas for awesome posts, but they all require thought and research and my brain is just too tired tonight. That’s what three years of sleep deprivation will do to you. Chad proved tonight that my brain is too tired to even do grade-school-level subtraction, so it’s definitely too worn out to write a well-thought-out post (especially about stuff like rv financing). Which is why I’m rambling right now instead of telling you about what we did yesterday.

A few weeks ago, I found out that our MOMS Club was going to have a swimming “field trip” and I instantly wrote it off as something I wasn’t crazy enough to do. But cabin fever does strange things to your head and a few days ago I actually started considering it. After much debate back and forth in my head, I finally decided to suck it up and just go. I’m not saying I wasn’t nervous though…trying to watch a two-year-old and one-year-old in a pool and keep everyone’s head above water? Not for the weak or faint-of-heart!

It turned out way better than I thought it would, though. Even without a nap, Ava behaved really well and didn’t have any meltdowns. Kelvin wanted me to hold him for the first 45 minutes or so, but after that he had a blast and even walked out in the water until he was neck-deep (it started at zero-depth). They both had a lot of fun on the slides and luckily, I only had to go down one slide to get Kelvin to see how much fun they were! And since we were with friends, if I couldn’t see Ava behind a slide or something, someone was always there to tell me that they could see her and she was fine.

We all ended up being really glad we went and it was a huge boost to my mom-confidence to realize that I can take both kids swimming by myself!

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This week, we had the opportunity to go on a “field trip” to Cici’s to let the kids make their own pizza. We got to go before they opened and they set all the kids up with their own crusts, sauce and cheese.

Ava had a blast, but Kelvin was not thrilled with me wanting him to stay at the table. Here’s the only picture I got with both of them in it. You can see the level of not-thrilled-ness!

Here is Ava with her crust:

Enjoying the final product:

It was a really fun field trip for Ava and it was even more fun because the mess was made in someone else’s kitchen and not mine!! Plus, who needs weight gain supplements when you get to bring a box full of pizza home with you afterwards?

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A couple of weeks ago, Ava all of a sudden decided that she absolutely had to build a birdhouse. I have no idea where that idea came from, but she went on and on about it for days, telling us that she needed wood and glue and paint.

I looked for a birdhouse-making kit at Walmart but didn’t have any luck. I looked at a couple other stores (talk about a natural fat burner! Shopping burns lots of calories! LOL) and was planning on going to Michael’s to see if I could find anything when my mom emailed me, telling me to watch the mail for a package for Ava.

When the package arrived, we opened it and it was a Melissa & Doug Build-Your-Own Wooden Birdhouse! Ava was beside herself with excitement and couldn’t wait for Daddy to come home and help her build it. She got out her little toolbox and set it and the birdhouse up on the dining room table.

They spent about an hour building it and then came the fun part…painting!! That took another hour, but it turned out really nice and I’ll take a picture of it once they get it hung up outside

Big thanks to “Mema” for finding this and making Ava’s day (actually more like week, or even month!).

Disclaimer: The link to the birdhouse is an affiliate link and I will get a small percentage back, should you decide to buy it through that link. However, I was not paid anything to put that link in this post.

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Last time our Parents as Teachers educator visited, she brought us this homemade game that Ava absolutely loves. She’s really good at it and I love that it teaches her to match items just by touching them.

All you need is a clean sock and some small objects with interesting textures (you need two of each object). You can see in the picture that we have a crayon, a clothespin, a small pingpong ball, a little pom-pom, a button, a ribbon, a foam shape, a cotton ball, etc. Disregard the cup of coffee in the picture. It’s not necessary, but it sure does help! LOL

Set one of each object in front of the child and keep the matching objects for yourself. Have the child close their eyes while you put one of your objects in the sock. The child can then put their hand in the sock and try to guess which object it is. Then start again with a different object. I was surprised at how quickly Ava picked this up and got good at it!

Have fun! And who knows? Maybe keeping their fingers active will keep them from needing arthritis relief treatments later on! LOL

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This week, one of our MOMS Club events was a craft day.  We made snow globes and the kids had such a blast that I thought I’d share it with you, too.  It’s so easy and cheap (you won’t have to dip into your health savings account for this one!).  Sorry I don’t have any pictures.  It’s been a bad day and I’m feeling super-lazy and it’s my blog so I don’t have to if I don’t want to!  LOL

What you’ll need:

1. Clean, empty baby food jars (with the labels peeled off)
2. Waterproof super glue
3. Distilled water
4. Fun items to put in the snow globe (we used foam shapes, buttons, and glitter)

First, we had the kids fill the jars about half-full with whichever items they wanted.

Then we poured enough water in to fill the jar.

Finally, we glued the lid to the jar.

Voila….a snow globe!  We also let the kids paint the lids, put foam stickers on them and tie ribbons around it if they wanted to.

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This morning was one of those mornings where I have a hard time motivating myself to do anything but lay on the couch.  It was pouring rain outside, I only got to sleep about five hours, and the kids were bouncing off the walls.

And then our Parents As Teachers educator showed up!  With shaving cream!

We let Ava play with it on a mat for awhile while Kelvin played with toys in his highchair next to her, but then it became obvious that Kelvin wanted in on it.  So we wiped up the shaving cream and broke out the whipped cream!

Seriously, you guys…we went through TWO cans!!

They were rubbing it in their hair, on their bellies, in their mouths (of course), all over the table…it was everywhere!!  Aside from Ava being concerned about her hands being dirty, we all had a blast.

This is a great activity to let the kids go crazy with on a day when they can’t play outside.  And it would be even better to do outside where you can just hose everything off when you’re done!  If you do it inside, though, I have one pointer: Have a clear path to the bathtub!

For more great ideas, visit this week’s Works For Me Wednesday!

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Chad’s birthday was Saturday and now that Ava is old enough to understand the concept of birthdays, I wanted to help her make a gift for him.  I wanted it to be something that would be meaningful to him, that could capture this moment in the kids’ lives, in a way.

My first thought was that I wanted to do something with the kids’ handprints.  I considered putting their handprints in stepping stones, but that’s a little more than I could handle by myself.  My next thought was to put their handprints on paper and frame it.

With that general idea, we headed to Walmart to look for a frame.  I ended up finding a frame with four sections that each would hold a 4×6 picture.  I decided that would be perfect, because I could put each of their handprints in a slot, and then put their picture in another slot and a cute quote about Daddies in the final slot.

When it came down to making it, I decided to use Crayola Color Wonder fingerpaint on Color Wonder paper.  That cut down on the mess immensely!!  In fact, there really wasn’t any mess.  And you would be able to see that with your own eyes if my camera didn’t hate me.  I took pictures and videos throughout the whole process so I could share them with you and it turned out I didn’t have the memory card in the camera.  And I have no way to get the pictures off of the camera’s “internal memory”.  It’s all the camera’s fault.

So I only have pictures of the final product.

And this.  I have no idea how Kelvin’s first attempt at a handprint ended up with 5 fingers and a thumb.

And here are the kids with Daddy after they gave him their gift.  He said he really liked it and he’d been wanting something with their handprints on it.

This makes a great gift, not only for Daddies, but for grandparents or anyone else who is close to your children (you would want to pick a different quote though, obviously).

Do you have an idea for a gift for children to make and give?  Please leave it in a comment!

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