Summer Fun Part 2: Snake Bubbles

Thanks to Pinterest, and this pin, I found some really EASY things to do with Colin this summer. It helps our day go a little faster when we do just something different every day. I hope to document more of these fun activities and share them with you!

First up...snake bubbles.

Step 1: Cut the bottom off of an empty water bottle, put an old washcloth around it and secure it with a rubber band.

Step 2: Mix up a batch of homemade bubbles (squirt of dishsoap and some water).

Step 3: Dip the bottom of the bottle into the bubble solution and blow into the water bottle.

Step 4: Keep blowing! You get a snake of bubbles!

It's also fun to hold the bubbles in your hand, of course.

Colin loved this enough to keep him occupied for about 15 minutes. That's kind of substantial in 3 year old terms.

Summer Fun Part 1: Bowling

Despite the lack of posts, we've been having some fun this summer! Our air conditioning was on the fritz for a week and a half during one of the hottest parts of the summer this far. One way to beat the heat was taking Colin bowling! The website kidsbowlfree.com has coupons that kids can use to bowl 2 free games every day of the summer. You know I'm all over anything free! So, we strapped on a pair of cute little bowling shoes on Colin and let him have at the pins. It's hard to take pictures of the front of him when there's an alley in the way, so this is what you get:

And a video. Loved hearing "Yeah!" after he knocked pins down :)

 

Note to other parents of young children: 2 games of bowling is perfect if it's just them doing the bowling. If you want to take turns, stick to 1 game.

After bowling, we ate dinner at the bowling alley, where the condiment bottles always turn into cars, trains, and other varying vehicles.

Ben's too little to bowl, but he had fun tagging along!

(Summer) School's out for Summer!

^A spin on Alice in Chains :)

After 3 weeks that crept along yet flew by so fast, I'm now officially done teaching summer school. It was a fun experience. My co-teacher and I (who also teaches 1st) got to meet a few of our next years' students (unbeknownst to them!), and we got to "practice" some intervention and progress monitoring stuff we're implementing next year. It was academic, but it was easy to teach and it was laid-back. I even liked teaching this type of summer school better than teaching what I did in the past (knitting, play dough, tye-die, etc.) And best of all, we got a nice little check yesterday which, I hope you know by now, when straight to our credit cards. I'm hoping our first credit card in our snowball can be paid off in September or October!

I almost regret not teaching the entire 6 weeks. Had I done that, that credit card would be completely paid off. But I know this sounds funny, it wasn't even a choice for me this year. So it's fine.

Now I need to make up a rest-of-summer bucket list!

Ben: 7 months

Ben's 7 monthday was marked by a diagnosis of a double ear infection. Poor little guy. The pediatrician who saw him was impressed that this is his first sickness though, being in daycare and all (although only for 3 months and now only a few times a week).

Ben is starting to be on the move! He rolls around to get to where he wants to go. Mostly he goes for Colin's toys and the wall. He can sit up like a pro, and is even stretching himself to try to get onto his belly from a sitting position. He can scoot backwards, spin in a circle on his belly, and I swear he moved from one spot to another while sitting yesterday. He wants to start pulling up now as well. He'll even try to pull up onto a wall which doesn't work so well :) We've been swimming quite a few times and he seems to really like being in the water.

Ben is eating a bunch of solid table foods now. We're doing Baby Lead Weaning (aka Baby Self Feeding) so we skipped purees. He eats oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, avocados, bananas, peaches, pears, apples, carrots, peas, carrots, sweet potato fries, mango, spaghetti noodles, some hot dishes, chicken, puffs, yogurt, rice, and I'm sure there's more he's had that I just can't think of. He's using a sippy cup with a straw and loving it. For now he gets water in it and he not only loves to drink, he also likes to spit the water out and bang the cup on his high chair tray.

At his appointment for his ear infection on Tuesday, he weighed in at 28 lbs 11 oz. He's gaining a pound a month now instead of a pound a week! Reassuring. I did pack away all of the 12 month clothes recently. He's definitely in 18 months and moving quickly to 24 months (I refuse to get out the 2Ts. A 7 month old should not be wearing clothes that end with a T!).

Ben wakes up at night about 1-2 times. He usually goes to bed by 8:00, wakes up between 11-1 and then again at about 5 and goes back to sleep for another hour.

Ben communicates using a high-pitched screams. He makes other "talking" sounds too, of course, but no real "babbles" yet. And he blows raspberries like it's his job.

 

He's working on his front teeth (still). Some days he wears 3 different shirts because he gets them so sopping wet with drool.

I have a feeling this month we'll be seeing Benny become more mobile and then WATCH OUT, big bro! I can('t) wait. I'm not exaggerating when I say he's a little on the heavy side to carry around. ;) All the more of little Benny Boy to love.

Technology: A Personal Struggle

I'm not talking about how I don't know how to run technology. For the most part, with some time, I can figure it out.

I'm talking about using it too much. All the time, and especially as a teacher, I see kids neglected because their parents are always plugged in. Furthermore, kids see their parents plugged in and believe they should be, too. I'm not talking about the occasional iPad use or watching TV or checking your email. But because it's so convenient, some people (me included w/my laptop) feel the need to "check" stuff all the time. On a daily basis when I'm home with the boys just hanging out, I admit to checking facebook, email, my blog (wondering if anybody commented or if someone else updated their blog), the freaking TEMPERATURE for Heaven's Sake, even though as I sit here on the couch I can see the thermometer on the side of the house says 88 degrees. I check these often. Too often. I don't want to be that parent.

I need to find a place to put this goshbedarned laptop. Somewhere inconvenient. Back when I had a desktop,  it wasn't convenient. I spent more time with Colin playing than I do with Ben. Because now I can sit on my butt on the couch while he plays on the floor. And that makes me sad. But I can fix that!

So...if you need to reach me via computer, I can only be reached at nap time and after the boys have gone to bed.

I'm busy reffing wrestling matches

 

and making sure Ben's not eating grass and talking about bugs with Colin

 

 and being a lifeguard.

New swingset

Our backyard typically has a bit of a....problem. A mosquito problem. So bad that you can't even spend any time back there without getting bitten immediately.

So what did we decide to do? Put a swingset up back there, of course!

(No...actually, the mosquitoes haven't been too bad yet this year. And if they do come, we're armed with some yard spray we're hoping works.)

Anyway, so I braved my way over to the neighbor's house. He had a wooden structure, what we could call a ghost swingset (similar to a ghost town). He moved in a year ago or so and his kids are in high school and are too cool for a swing set, so I thought I'd mosey on over there and ask him if we could take it off his hands. He said yes, and when I offered him payment, he said we could have it, and the sooner the better because he's hosting a graduation party and wants the room.

Well alrighty then :)

So Kevin's dad came over one day and hauled it to our house.

Colin found an inchworm on it.

We cut off the rope ladder that lead to nowhere but trouble but kept the climbing rope and the slide.

 

We took the baby swing off of the tree and put it on.

Kevin added a longer beam and we bought a swing for Colin, and Kevin's dad bought a steering wheel. (I asked Colin to steer his steering wheel for this picture, and he said, "But it doesn't go anywhere!")

We put some rocks underneath so Colin could play with his trucks (sand = kitty litter box for the neighborhood felines = yuck).

The boys really enjoy using it!

So thanks, neighbor! Not bad for the cost of a couple of swings! Oh, and that loaf of beer bread I've intended on baking for our generous neighbor.

Future expansion ideas: replace the baby swing with a two-seater seesaw, perhaps add some rings or a trapeze bar to the beam behind Ben's swing...the possibilities are endless.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We kind of hung low today. We inflated our pool and it took an hour and a half to fill up. By the time it was ready, it was nap time, and then it rained. So we didn't get to enjoy it like Kevin wanted to do today. Here are some new shots I got of the boys for Kevin's 3-hole frame that sits on his desk at work. Yup, they're wearing matching "Dad's Lil' Firecracker" shirts. Dual purpose Father's Day/4th of July t-shirts.

 

And Colin "wrote" a poem:

ALL ABOUT MY DADDY

BY Colin Jacob AGE 3

My daddy’s name is Daddy.

He is really tall.

His hair color is brown.

He likes to go to work.

His favorite food is pizza.

His favorite color is red.

His favorite drink is pop.

Tickling makes daddy happy.

I love it when my daddy goes to work.

My favorite thing about my daddy is he plays outside with me.

 I LOVE MY DADDY

My goal is to remember to do this every year and see how is responses change as he (they) get older.

Kevin doesn't read my blog, but Happy Father's Day to him anyway, and to any dads that are readers :)