Pictures! Pictures!

Some pictures of things we have done this month.

Painting pumpkins on a really windy day= an activity that did not last long at all! And using washable paint means that the rain will wash it off too.



Princess in training-- although I think her training phase is complete! :)

I took out this old floor mat I used to have around when they were rolling and cruising around. They loved it! They loved pulling the pieces out and putting them back in. It was a new found toy.

Crib visit by Kaylie. She loves when I let her put all the stuffed animals they own in Ryan's crib. Ryan not so much. He was like, "What are you doing to MY crib?"

Picking pinecones in our backyard. Yeah, this was a mess. Who would have thought? Turns out the pinecones were sticky, sticky, sticky! BTW, baby oil helps get it off of skin and hand sanitizer helped get it out of their fleece jackets. Some good tips to remember there!

We've been going to the library for story time. They have it two days a week and have been making crafts. This made me realize that we need more practice using glue. I suppose learning to cut with (VERY DULL) scissors is in the near future for them too. Ryan has a hard time sitting at story time and this story time is interspersed with songs and movement too. It's not like they have to sit the whole time. He would rather wander around. Thankfully it is an enclosed room. We are working on it. Some days are better than others. Kaylie is the shyest girl you have ever seen. She takes a long time to warm up. I'm actually beginning to worry about what she will be like when it is time to leave me for preschool. It will just break my heart.

Mommy has gotten brave and started taking them to playgrounds that aren't fenced in! Can you believe it? The ones we have gone to have been very far from the road and lots of space to run around and next to no one there. That helps a lot! They pretty much just climb the play structure anyway. Now getting them back in the car when it is time to go is another whole issue.

In one of my posts I was hoping to take them on the carousel myself. Well, I did that too! No pictures of it but I did it and it went just fine. They did give me a frequent carousel rider card so I guess that means I have to do it again.

Well that's all I can think of for now. Looking forward to Halloween.

Weekend In Review

Saturday we attended The Laurie Berkner Band concert in Toms River, NJ with their cousins. The kids (and me & I think Daddy too) LOVE Laurie's music. She can often be seen on their favorite show, Jack's Big Music Show (which unfortunately is not in production anymore but you can still DVR it. It's on at 11:00 PM EST.)

I didn't get great pictures at all. Sadly, this is the best one. The concert was about an hour and twenty minutes long and the kids did great! I was so worried about Ryan wanting to run everywhere and not wanting to sit still. I brought some snacks and that seemed to be all they needed. They listened to the music, tuning out every now and then, but a favorite song would bring back their interest. We'd ask them, "Where's Laurie?" and they would point up to the stage. By the end, they were tired and ready to go.

After a nap, we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. My sister gave me my nephew's Little Tikes Cozy Coupe car. Well, WWIII broked out over it. Needless to say, we headed over to Toys R Us to purchase another car. It was not pretty. Kaylie couldn't wait to get in it while Daddy put it together.


They dined outside on their picnic table (another hand me down).
Sunday, we just hung around at home and got to get outside again.
Do I look like some crazy driver to you?


This is a car jacking in progress, before it turned ugly. Despite getting the new car, we still can't seem to make up our minds about which car we want.

I'm ONE.

Keeping the Kids Entertained

Winter is around the corner. Here are a few ideas to keep your kiddos occupied that I happened to discover by chance.

1. MITTENS--K & R don't want to wear their mittens outside. Instead they would rather wear them inside for about 20 minutes. I don't know what the obsession was but they wanted them on. Novelty I suppose.

2. PAPER---A paper towel can be a fascinating object to a 17 month old and the ripping develops fine motor skills. Only requires a few minutes of clean up time.

3. See how many kids can fit into a box and don't forget to time how long it takes before one gets mad. (I still don't know how they both managed to get in there.)

4. Play Peek a Boo with oven mitts.

Oh and I saw bubbles used indoors on another blog I read so I will be busting them out soon. I remember R & K loved them last winter.

I sort of started out this post as a joke, but then thought about how the activities were really all things that kept my kids busy and they liked. I know you are going to try these ideas out today aren't you? M.O.M.s have to stay sane somehow. Got any tips for me???