Sunny and Raining

No lightning in sight, so out we went to play in the rain

Jaden surprised me and ACTUALLY ran out into the rain.

Apparently it's really funny to stand where the water drips (errrr...pours)

off of our roof and let it splash you.

Splashing in puddles

Really mommy! It's the BEST!

ahhh....I have the best job ever!

Drumming with Daddy

Enough said.

About 5 Seconds

We went outside for a few minutes before dinner the other night.

I sat Alivia down on the patio and in about 5 seconds had THIS messy of a girl

Apparently the dog's water dish combined with the dirt they had dug up and flung onto the patio that day was just too much for a little girl to resist. Over went the water and into the mud she went!

Beans

Turns out Alivia likes beans just like her brother!

Dinner Success

Sorry, no pictures for this one - I was on my way out the door. But, I HAD to share

because it was EASY, DELICIOUS, and HEALTHY! Can you believe it!?!?!?

- Easy Italian Chicken (Recipe from "Fix it and Forget It")

Place 4 frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.

Sprinkle 1 packet Italian dressing seasonings on top.

Pour in 2 cups warm water with 2 teaspoons Knorr Chicken Bouillon dissolved.

Cook on low 8 hours.

I was so surprised how tasty this chicken was. It is rare you can find a chicken dish where the flavor is all the way through the meat.

This had it. It was the sort of slow cooker chicken texture - but it was good.

-Black Bean, Corn, Tomato Salad (Recipe from "The Spectrum")

1 can black beans, drained

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp ground cumin

juice of 3 limes

zest of 1 lime

Mix all ingredients and chill.

This had such a yummy flavor and was so fresh. I thought it was going to be good when I saw the recipe and it exceeded my expectations.

- Savory Simple White Rice

Boil 2 c. water with 2 tsp. Knorr Chicken Bouillon dissolved

Add 1 c. white long grain rice.

Cover. Reduce heat.

Simmer 20 minutes

Basic but with a little flavor.

YUMMY!!!!!

The Letter O

I've been working on doing learning activities with Jaden again. This week we started again with the letter O. Of course, after I planned all of the activities and printed a bunch of things, I learned that he already KNOWS the letter O! Oh well....onward we go!

Here is what we did

Glued Cheerios on Uppercase and Lowercase O outlines

Painted O shaped rings for a ring toss game (via pinterest)

basically you cut the middles out of paper plates and paint the rings. I cut some slits in a paper towel roll tube and taped it onto another paper plate for the target.

Alivia thought it was quite fun as well

Turns out, the rings also make good hats!

See!?!?

We'd yell "YEAH!!!" every time Jaden made it on the ring

Dot painted another letter O outline and then on to the next craft.

and coloring page

this one was an octopus (via pinterest)

You cut 4 cm of toilet paper roll tube, measure the same at the top of 1/2 sheet of construction paper and mark, divide the width of the paper into 8 strips for the kids to cut, glue around paper towel tube, curl tentacles around a pencil.

playing with the fridge letter game. Jaden loves this but was losing interest so I whipped up a list of 10 three letter words that have "o" in them and he set about spelling them. He only made it through about 6 but he is still going back to it days later.

Alivia enjoys the fridge game too!

Stamp painting "o"s with cut toilet paper rolls

which quickly turned into a color mixing art lesson

cool things happen when you dump paint colors together

at least until it all turns brown!

All in all, I'd say it was a successful week!

Blocks, Buckets and Brushes

We did a little open ended play outside yesterday.

I filled some tubs with water and foam blocks

and gave Jaden a paintbrush. He quickly set about "washing" the garage windows. (Don't mind the mess INSIDE the window!)
So, I got him a spray bottle too.

What and easy, open ended, entertaining activity! Both kids were entertained for over 45 minutes and NOT fighting!

Happy Birthday Grandpa H

Monday was Grandpa H's birthday. We had a pretty low-key celebration - just out for dinner. There were no stacks of wrapped birthday presents, no big cake, no balloons, no pinata....

I think Jaden thought, "What kind of a birthday is THIS!?!?!??!?!" But, we had a lovely dinner and a piece of cake for dessert!

AND, a cute picture with the grandkids!

A Little Fun

Playing in the sandbox is still one of our favorite activities - especially now that it's not 105 outside!

This was Jaden making "chocolate milk" of which we all had to have a taste!

Alivia enjoys the sandbox too. Although, it takes her approximately 2.2 seconds to get a mouthful of sand. I think it bothers me more than it bothers her!
And, I just had to include this picture with the "new" toy brought into the house after the jumper lost it's hold on the prime real estate of the living room!

Alivia is growing TOO fast!

Since I haven't been blogging frequently (WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT!?!?!?) Alivia has changed so much so fast. Here's my BIG little girl and some of her favorite things.

playing with balls (and with her signature crazy hair)

walking around exploring everything (assisted of course)

pulling herself up to play with fun toys like her favorite, the piano

a budding musician!

cruising around wherever she is

and officially beginning to crawl - in a modified silly sort of way

Getting Along

So, since Alivia was born Jaden has wanted her to play with him. He often talks about how when she is bigger she will be able to do different things.

Now that she is more interested in toys and is able to move a bit to get to them, I think he is changing his tune!

The other day he got creative in trying to keep his toys away from her.

He stuffed them all in his shirt!!!!

Jaden the Comedian

Jaden hardly EVER lets me take pictures of him but yesterday he seemed willing to show me his funny faces

Grumpy Face

Silly Face

Fish Face

Turtle Face

HOW? do you do an Elephant Face

Sad Face

Surprised Face

Also, Jaden has been starting to enjoy jokes. Sometimes he doesn't really understand them at first but once you explain it he'll tell the same ones over and over.

Grandma K started teaching him some knock knock jokes when she was here last.

Yesterday I taught him a new one she sent by email.

It goes like this:

Knock Knock.

Who's There?

Dinosaur Says.

Dinosaur Says Who?

Dinosaurs don't say who! They say ROAR!!!

So, we're driving in the car and I get Jaden started telling that joke. After Daddy and I laugh the following begins...

J: Knock Knock.

Daddy: Who's there?

J: Bear Says.

D: Bear Says Who?

J: (pausing to think) Bears don't say Who. They say Grrrrr!!!!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

J: Knock Knock.

D: Who's there?

J: (looking out window) Cloud says.

D: Cloud says who?

J: (thinking)....awwww.....cloud's don't say who. They are just up in the sky and they don't talk!!

I can't believe my 3 year old is making up his own jokes! I'm thinking we're in for a LOT of laughs!