Try and Tell

I know, two posts in one day after I had been very bad about posting and very very bad about posting pictures (finally cleared a camera card...got inspired by Our Family Circus). If you want to read the other post I did today with lots of pictures of "Mono"...scroll down or click here.

So my friend Cop Mama has done a couple of Try and Tell postings, and I thought today I had something to share. Mom Tried It hosts this meme and explains it as grown up "show and tell". I kinda like that...isn't that what blogging is all about?

First off I'd like to say that I did NOT NOT NOT think or make this idea up...I saw it in a magazine, as did The Mommy Diaries. I was at a doctor's office...not sure where to cite this project, but NOT ME. I just tried it and it worked great. So I give to you....

Rainbow Ice/Sun Catcher Project

This is a picture of the one Snug made...at dusk. It is really much prettier in the sunlight, but I wanted an up close shot, and here it is.

Now Little M (during preschool) will demonstrate how to make it! He poured water into an ice cube tray. We found that 7 colored cubes was enough, so both boys got to make a sun catcher. We have been talking in preschool about colors, so this was a great project. He put red food coloring in the first one, made orange for the second, did yellow in the third, created green for the fourth, did blue for the fifth, created purple for the sixth, and then I let him put whatever in the seventh...kinda turned a weird purple in the end.

When the cubes are frozen (we let it sit overnight, but morning till after nap would have worked) pop them out and put them in a round *COLD* water filled dish. All I have here at the rental house was a pie plate, but I think a round cake pan would have been better (deeper). I also placed a small cup/dish with water in the bottom so that a hole would not freeze and we could hang it up.

The water must be *COLD* because the cubes will start to melt right away. Our dish is not completely full of water, but 1/2 full is easier to get into the freezer. After it is mostly frozen you can add more and then freeze again.

Here is what it looked like right before I added more water to his. We've gotten quite a bit of snow (nothing compared to All Things Family, but still a good amount) so my Draycare kids were not here today...he hasn't seen his done yet.

But this is what Snug's looks like (pre-snowstorm) done and in the sunlight. That hole is from where the cup was. If it gets a little water under the cup and doesn't quite have a hole, use a medicine dropper filled with hot water to melt enough to get a ribbon through. Hang up and enjoy!

Click here to see what other moms have discovered!

The Proof is in the Pictures

This is a book we received in a bag of hand-me-downs. This isn't our exact copy, because ours is in English and Spanish. Mono Y Yo is what it is titled in Spanish. My husband calls Little Monkey Man "Mono". And yes, we really call Snug, Snug. As he grows bigger we call him it less and less, but if you ask him who Snug is, he knows.

This fast growing toddler grows into his daddy's nickname of "Mono" more and more everyday. He will be a jungle gym champ. We're pretty sure he'll ride a tricycle before his brother (Poor Snug...riding a bike is THE most frustrating thing for him). Yesterday our Little Monkey Man was in a particularly interesting mood so I kept a camera handy to share some of his antics with you...and so when he grows up and isn't my little boy anymore I can remember just how much mischief he could get into.

Here are some couch acrobatics.

Here he is standing on a chair during our preschool session. A folding chair. I've tried putting him in his high chair and giving him things to keep him "busy" but he chucks them at the kids who are trying to work and gets great pleasure out of screeching and seeing who is bothered by it. We now just let him run around and I remove him when he gets himself into dangerous situations (ex. standing on folding chairs). Homeschool moms, how do you deal with little ones while you are teaching bigger ones????

Ah, the motorcycle. He mounts it from the front...lays on top...spins around...and then sits down to ride like the wind. It looks painful, but not as painful of posting how nice our computer desk is organized at the moment.

While playing with the vintage Little Tykes party kitchen that I picked up for next to nothing at a garage sale a couple of years ago (come on, someone else out there remembers this relic) it is very necessary to be on top of it, hang over the edge, and then stick things into the cupboard on the other side...upside down. I didn't get the upside down picture because I was afraid he would (and he did) fall off and bump his head. I was on the other side to catch him. I'm not good with catching.

This may be one of my favorites. This is a built in china hutch (1 of 2) that we are not using in the rental. Monkey Man likes to open the door, climb up/in, and take a little break.

This last picture I had to snap while he was not looking because it is a BIG no-no. Anyone want dinner at my house? I won't tell you how many things he has "sampled" from this perch without me realizing it.

And to end, I have to tell you a funny from him. We've been teaching him that things are hot for quite a few months. He particularly enjoys blowing on hot food...with gusto. The other day I was opening the oven door to take dinner out (or put it in, don't remember). I told him to "get back, it is hot". He instead took a step forward and began blowing as hard as he could into the oven. I had to laugh. And then I had to make him step back. I know I am so tired right now, but I will miss these days when they grow up.

Superbowl "Party"

As I mentioned yesterday, we don't exactly party for the Superbowl. With my husband working and two kids who have to go to bed should be in bed before halftime...it isn't exactly excitement city.
My kids don't watch hardly any "regular" T.V. Snug does watch Wheel of Fortune probably 3 nights a week. Having commercials on is always entertaining. I'm not big on the media advertising to my kids, but during Wheel or Fortune the ads are pretty safe. Aspercreme, Cialis (he has NO clue), Boniva, denture cleaners, and electronic wheelchair commercials haven't seemed to increased his "gimmes" at the store :o)

Monkey Man rarely sits still for any kind of T.V. but he does enjoy watching football. He sat himself (half dressed) right in front of the T.V. to watch last night. Apparently he is watching a commercial in this picture because the person appears to have a hospital gown on...I don't remember any of the players being that seriously injured during last night's festivities.

Snug on the other hand not only watched the game, but the commercials as well. Luckily he is pretty distractable because the Doritos one with the 3 year old slapping his mother's date after he touched the bowl of chips was a "no-no" with me. I can usually just talk to him during the commercials and he doesn't pay that much attention. However, there was a funny incident last night. After Monkey Man went to bed, I told Snug he could stay up till half-time. There was a commercial for___________? and all the men at the office were in their underpants. They were making copies, doing deskwork, etc. Something about casual Fridays. Not sure. What I do remember is Snug looking at me and declaring "Thems needs to put their CLOTHES on!!!" I had to laugh. This was coming from the boy who has no qualms about running around in his birthday suit even with company here. We have been trying to teach modesty, and apparently it is sinking in.

One commercial I really appreciated was the one by Tim Tebow and his mom about supporting life. They then directed people to http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ where you can watch the commercial if you missed it. I know CBS got lots of flak for airing the commercial from lesbian and abortion causes, but YEAH FOR YOU CBS. I guess I can forgive the underwear men and slapping preschooler.

So back to the "party". I had decided to order pizza for my husband's dinner to make him feel a but more Superbowl-y. Papa John's pizza had a deal that you could get a large any topping pizza for $10. WOW! So I got online to order at about 5:00ish. I could NOT get the website to load...and when it did and I put in my order, it would kick me back to a "cannot find the page" thing. Either I ordered a half cheese half all meats pizza 12 times, or it never went through...probably the latter. So I decided to call them. I had to dial our local branch 27 times (I went back on my cell and counted) before it even would pick up. Papa John's has this annoying policy that you have to listen to their entire commercial spiel on the phone before they even answer. I listened to it for 15 minutes and hung up. I did find out during that lovely listening experience that the $10 deal was only for people who order online (and apparently whom the website works for).

At approximately 6:00 I gave up on Papa John's and decided to go with our old stand-by. I dialed Little Ceasar's and immediately got a REAL person, ordered twice the pizza (but #1 will point out not twice the quality) for the same price and they said it would be ready in 12 minutes. Now that is customer service. But it gets better. #1 was going to pick up the pizza/had the money and he wasn't able to get it until after 7pm. Those poor people held our pizza F O R E V E R on their busiest night of the year. Thanks Little Ceasar's!

So, what did YOU do for the Superbowl?

Stuff and Nonsense

I haven't posted in a couple of days because I really have nothing to say. Nothing. Unless you call me on the phone and then I'd probably talk your ear off. But I have nothing interesting to blog about.

Snug and I did make this really neat sun catcher thing out of ice that I'd love to post about, but I don't have any space left on my camera cards...and I stole the idea from a magazine I was reading in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

We went to the doctor two times last week. I had my glucose blood test. That is always a good time. I had to wait an hour after drinking sickly sweet flat orange pop tasting stuff. And the TV I was planning on watching (always health news, but better than nothing) shut off about 15 minutes into my wait. Apparently they have no control over it. I was missing my book I almost brought with me.

The second doctor appt. was for Snug who couldn't hear a thing last week. He was seriously all but deaf. I was getting pretty sick of shouting at him and telling him things ten times. I finally broke down and took him to the doctor. He had fluid on his ears, but it wasn't infected and there was evidence there had been much more and it was draining. I almost didn't take him...probably shouldn't have.

I have been watching "Emma" on PBS on Sunday nights. Tonight is the third installment, and probably the last. I got the book from the library and was glad I was also watching it because the language was very wordy and I would have been lost. I think I might try "Sense and Sensibility" next. Who knows.

We were up from 3am-4:30 am with Snug because he had a vomiting spree. I love cleaning up bedding and such in the dark in the middle of the night. Poor #1 had to do much of the work because every time Snug threw up, so did I. Pregnancy and my kids sick doesn't usually mix really well. I took Monkey Man to church with me today so that #1 could rest. Instead, he got to hear Snug singing the "Wonder Pets" theme loudly the entire time. So much for being sick, he's been pretty wound up today.

Last night #1 got to drag a man (dressed as a woman) out from under a kitchen table. He was seeing things coming to get him (little men, etc.) and freaking out. He kept telling #1 to keep a watch out. This happened at a apartment complex we can see from our rental house. I think #1 will be glad when we move to the new town. He prefers not to be taking calls within a stone's throw of where his family is staying.

I plan on watching the Superbowl (until Emma comes on that is!) for the commercials. I do like football, but could care less about either team this year. We don't normally do anything fun for the Superbowl because #1 is always working. I think I am going to order a pizza with our "blow fund" money* to make it more special for him though. He does get to come home for dinner (one perk of working in the town where you live). Neither of the boys will be able to eat it (Little Monkey is lactose intolerant and Snug was puking less than 24 hours ago...nope) so #1 will get as much of it as he wants...that is rare!

See, nothing too terribly interesting. Just lots of stuff. Everyday, boring stuff. And no pictures. So sorry.

*"blow fund" money is our monthly allowance for fun stuff. We adhere very strictly to the envelope system we learned in Financial Peace University. It works for us!

New House

This is a (very old) picture of our new house. I don't think the big tree in the front yard is still there, but I won't swear by that. It still needs to be landscaped, but it does look a bit better at present then in this picture. I personally think it resembles our old house somewhat. #1 says they are both brick ranches built in the 50's...and that is the only reason why I might think that because he thinks they look really different.

I so wanted to show you the inside pictures from the realty site, but by the time I got internet, the listing had been taken down. I'll take pictures when we are working on the house.

So! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a full basement. It sits on a 1/2 acre lot. We would have loved to have had more land/been out a bit farther but that wasn't financially happening. The actual living space (kitchen, living room, dining room) isn't lots bigger than what we had, but another bedroom and bathroom was our main objective. The house overall is bigger so the basement is too. Both the basement and the living room have a fireplace. Love that!

Two car garage, nice deck, and a flat driveway are perks of the house. Our other house had an almost one car garage, o.k. deck, and sloping driveway. Flat driveways are nice for boys to play basketball on. Also, our new road is such that only people who live on it will be using it-hardly any traffic. Our old road was the main route to the hospital (6 houses down)...very busy.

Although I will miss my old house (and haven't even driven by since I picked up the dogs because I don't want to see it different than how I left it) this one really will be a blessing for us.

Thanks for all your prayers. Thanks to everyone who has helped us move, watched our kids, brought us meals, and been an encouragement. We couldn't have done it without you.

In about two months we'll have to bug you again...cause we still won't be able to do it alone!