Sunday, July 29, 2012

Fun with Cameras

Pillow Talk
On our walk to the playground the other day, Liam and I took some photos of his guys with my phone. I will admit I was more into this than he was. At first, he thought it was great. But after 8 takes of the same pose while he and Livi waited in the 100 degree sun.. it got a little old. I can't help it if I'm still a kid at heart. And it's way easier to get away with this kinda thing when you have a four year old around so I figure I'll take advantage of it while I can.

Let's do this



King of the world

My favorite one that Liam took


Supa Crafty


Fun with toilet paper rolls. Ok, so you have to get creative with toddlers on the weekend. They are non stop. They actually loved this little craft. Livi got to paint and do her googley eyes and Liam got to make a  car for his "guys". He's already asking me when we can make more. Well, get to peeing kid cause we need more rolls for that to happen.





Awesome Things Liam Says


Liam: I love you more than Fruit Punch
Me: I love you more than Jello
Liam: I love you more than Fruit Punch Jello

He beats me every time.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

It's like "A Beautiful Mind" around here


Many trees have had their lives claimed by the little boy that lives in my house and insists on using paper upon paper to practice his numbers. Even for someone who fancies herself an environmentalist, I can't help but oblige. There is nothing I hold higher than spawning a love for knowledge. I think the majority of my family has a thing for learning. We all generally love learning about new things and understanding the way things work. Unfortunately, I think there is a negative stigma that comes along with learning and school once kids get into elementary and even more so when they get into high school. So my goal is to get him excited while I can and hopefully that carries over.

So far it's working. He loves to learn and I can actually use homework as a bit of a bribe. "If you clean up your toys, I'll let you do one of your pages from your workbook." The next thing I know, the toys will be put away. He recently learned to write his numbers up to 100 and that's what this latest obsession is about. He finally has the order down. For the longest time, 90 came after 29, 39, 49, etc... but now he knows them all and he gets the biggest grin and sense of accomplishment from it all. He is also learning subtraction and addition and it's just amazing to me how fast these little minds can grasp new concepts.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Instagram Dump

I noticed that lately I have a lot less time to do things like blog so I tend to take quick snapshots that end up on Instagram and Facebook. But these quick snapshots are just as important as events where many pics are taken and documented. So I decided I would start occasionally "dumping" them on here for prosterity's sake. The whole point of this is to remember and have some reference of what times were like. So this will probably be recurring. In the meantime, here a few pics from the last month.

My Bday dinner with my girls

We like to dine in style around these parts

See, we can be girly too

What heaven looks like to a two year old (and four year old for that matter)

My most favorite girl in the whole wide world

He saves all the marshmallows until the end and then shoves the big ball in his mouth.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Finally, a garden


It must have been 2 months ago that we attempted to start our own vegetable garden. Between the weather and life, it just hasn't happened until now. The whole point of this garden is obviously to get fresh veggies and herbs. But more than that, I want my kids to understand where food comes from. If all goes well, we will have green beans, spring mix, blackberries, dill, rosemary, basil, sunflowers and marigolds.





Friday, July 6, 2012

SO two


Having a child that is almost two and a half can be a challenging thing. This is the time that kids test everything to see what they can get away with. It's also the time they decide it is their duty to tattle on their older brother at ALL times. Even if said brother is doing completely normal things like picking up a toy or using the bathroom. "Liam using the pottttyyyyyy" "Liam holding his toyyyy" (read in ridiculously whiny and disconcerting toddler voice).


Add to this that my two year old already has a particularly stubborn and independent way about her and you get some frustrating and sometimes entertaining evenings. Liam is also at the perfect age to bother. As much as the two of them love each other, they can fill whole evenings with bothering, pestering, tattling and aggravation. Then there are those random times where they forget to annoy and retreat into their own corners where they find their imaginations and Mommy and Daddy get to remember why we keep them around. Liam will set up intricate armies and Livi will lovingly take her baby "to the gym real quick. I'll be back in a minute, ok?" I could drink these moments up and get drunk on them. They are so fantastic, it wipes all the other aggravations out of memory.. until the next night...

This is what Liv does when she can see herself on my phone as I tape her.


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Swimming


 We don't have a pool, but we do live in South Florida. And from what I hear, the earlier a kid can learn how to swim the easier it will be for them. Liam had lessons when he was 2, but obviously none of that stuck. So here we are again. Another summer and another round of swim lessons. This time for two. We all thought Livi would be a natural and Liam would take forever to brave the deep. But Liam has really taken to it and loves going to his lessons. I have noticed that when the teacher is gone and it's just us, he seems to revert back to pretending he can't while Livi backs away from the instructor and jumps right in when she isn't around. I really just can't wait until the day I don't have to frantically keep one eye on each child while we are in the pool. That will really be great.