My Little Faux Hipster Guy

Arden is a lot of things: cute, stubborn, adorable, adventurous, handsome... you get it, the list goes on and on.  He's also good for being willing to do anything that I want.  Who wants to go to Target?  Arden does.  Who wants to play outside?  Arden does.  Who wants to water the plants?  Arden does.  He's my "go to" guy, for better or worse, so when he agrees to do things with me, I try to make it as fun as possible.

During our Target trip the other day, Arden and I played the modeling game, he was the male model and I was the older-Mom model.  I have to say, he was workin' it; these faux Warby Parker's are looking fly, right?  I quickly snapped some pictures, because a) it was ducking adorable and b) why the duck not? and sent them off to his Godfather, Dan whom he looks like and has similar glasses himself.  This has given birth to the possibility of trying to do some sort of Tumblr and blog period about Arden and Dan having "pose offs", because how cute would that be?  Totally cute.

So, the next time one of your littles is willing to do something you find enjoyable, remember to make it as enjoyable as possible for them, because you never know how cute that enjoyment may turn out to be.

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A Messy Little Project On A Snowy Afternoon

For those of you who don't live on the East Coast, let me tell you how the weather's been: crappy.  Cold, rainy, snowy and icy are just a few of the weather elements that have crossed our paths recently.  One of the things that's the opposite of crappy is that I've been able to have quite a few "home days" with the boys.  No work for me, no day care for them.

I am determined to make these days fun, whether they like it or not.  And let me tell you, most times it's a not.  They are pretty skeptical about what I want them to do with me and the majority of the time some outright refuses to do anything, opting to just play with Ninja Turtles or something...

But sometimes, after they realize that they're missing out, they will come around and start to inspect.  Once the activity looks good, which is really code for not completely educational, they pull up a seat and join us (or sometimes just myself, because I will still do the craft or activity without them; there's no point in all of sitting around playing with Ninja Turtles, right?).

One of the more successful projects that we've done together was the dough for Dad that we made the other day.  As me and Arden would say, it was a messy-mess, but well worth it.  I got out the flower and let them pour as much water as they wanted- we made "pizza" with gross, imaginary toppings and then saved it for Jim to eat  inspect when he came home.

Needless to say, he didn't eat it, but he did appreciate the thought...

We Totally Made This Christmas Garland

It's not everyday that I can think of a pretty inexpensive craft that my kids can help with; usually inexpensive stuff equals not toddler friendly.  But this, this is different.  As I was flipping through the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens (don't knock it, that magazine is cheap and has some good ideas in it), I spotted this garland; it may not be the prettiest, but it sure looked easy.  I tried to find a link to the actual garland that was pictured, but gave up after searching various things, so if you click on the link, it's just gonna take to the plain old main page, feel free to 'search it up'!

Here's all that you will need to make a pretty spectacular, easy, keepsake Christmas garland.

Paper Straws (I got mine in the dollar bin at Target a while ago)
String of any kind
Scissors
Wooden beads

Approximate cost (if everything is bought new)- $10.
Difficulty Level- Easy

Start by laying everything out and then telling your kids not to touch anything so that you can snap a picture for your blog, that will go over well:

Next cut each straw into small pieces, I cut each of my straws into thirds.

Then I approximated how much string I would need to fill, knotted one end and let the kids go to town; alternating between a bead and a green and red straw. Of course, I had to assist to the point that they could actually help, which really means pulling the string though the bead or straw.  That lasted for a few minutes, evenutally they both decided that they'd had enough and quit half way through, but it was fun while it lasted.

Once you reach the end of the string, and may or may not still have kids helping, tie off the other end and snap another picture, 'cause look at y'all, you just made something pretty awesome.

Hang it up.

Everyday We're Walkin'

One of the best, and I mean very best things about moving into our new house is that the neighborhood is warm and friendly; absolutely perfect for walking.  Our new motto and routine has become thinking of ways to make sure that the boys are completely tired, as I believe that it helps Arden to fall asleep, which has been an issue, since the transition to the big boy bed has been difficult... to say the least.  Every night after dinner, we high-tail it out of the house and go walkin' and searching for things to keep the boys occupied.

Who can see a dog first?  

Who hears the first bird?  

Are we going to see the chickens?  

So far cooperation with both walking and the on-the-spot competitions have been fair-to-partly-cloudy, but that's okay, because usually by the end of the walk, Jim and I are tired and the boys are happy to talk about all of the things that they saw- never mind the fact that there were half a dozen meltdowns, 'cause we can see our new house and none of that matters.

As I tend to do, I can't help myself when I get an opportunity to snap a few pictures, so our walks have been documented, but later in life, I'm sure I will be happy that I took these pictures; for now, I just look like a suburban paparazzi, minus the entourage.

It's Good To Be An American

There are pretty much blillions upon blillions of reasons that I'm grateful and thankful to be and live in America.  Here's just a few and also some pictures of our 4th of July 2013 festivities.

1. Grocery stores that sell cheap-oh fireworks.
2. Little kids begging to watch and set off the fireworks all day.

 3. Crappy lawn chairs that only get thrown away when they start to rust or the handles break off in jagged edges.

 4. Little boy shirts with capes on them.

5. Children goofing around on a hot summer afternoon.

 6. Boys stomping on things and thinking it's hilarious.

 7. The right to think something is scary.  All day the boys were hyped about the fireworks, but 10 seconds into the spectacular, spectacular, they were done.  Cullen spent the rest of the night inside watching an Extremely Goofy Movie and Arden spent the rest of the night either hanging out with Poppy or in our neighbors' yard.  It's a good thing that we all have the right to form our beliefs and act on them independently of others.  We are very lucky.

 8. We're also bounce back pretty quick as a nation.  So after we're scared or down, we get right back up and put a smile on and get back to enjoying other things.

 9. Like little wolverine popper thingies.

10. Traditions.  I think that's what I love the most about being an American, we're rooted in traditions that start of as nothing and then all of the sudden become something.  We have made this little lawn-chaired front row (only row really) fireworks extravaganza our something.  It's meaningful for us to eat Bubba burgers and deviled eggs and then sit around clapping as little kids brave their fears to watch the finale of the fountain fireworks.  There's something magical about that and this is what keeps us as an American family going, the magic of it all.