A is for Apple... and other recent Adventures

Well I found some motivation and energy and have been busy creating with Jaxon again... and I remember why I do it- because I LOVE spending time with him while being creative! I decided to put a bit of thought into what I do with him too as he is a little sponge right now absorbing any information thrown his way. So we have started learning the alphabet, and by started I mean we are still on the letter A. A is for Apple. I have been doing crafts with him that are mostly apple related, a few that aren't just to keep things interesting.

We started with a simple craft, printing an apple off the computer, I cut it out and Jaxon helped me glue it to the paper. He then painted it red and I wrote on the bottom 'A is for Apple', a phrase that I probably repeated 20 times while working on this one, however every time I asked him what letter apple starts with he would say B. Obviously he's only 2 1/2 so I don't expect him to get it or feel he needs to get it right away.

We also did Apple printing, cutting an apple in half and dipping it in green or red paint and stamping it onto the paper. This one didn't work as good as I remember it working as a kid, going for the star shape in the middle of the apple. But we added stems and it still looks like apples.

Today we made a 3D Apple Tree, I got this idea from the Frugal family Fun Blog, and it turned out really good. We traced Jaxon's hand/arm and coloured in brown then cut it out. I cut out a green tree top and we glued it on the paper. Putting dabs of white glue on the tree Jaxon then put red pompoms on top for the apples.

http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2010/09/3-d-apple-tree.html

We also did 'Leaf Printing' this week, which was a bit hard for Jaxon as he colours very heavy still, but he definitely enjoyed going outside to find leaves to use. We tried to find as many different kinds as possible and were very successful! We then took them inside and put them under a piece of white paper and lightly coloured over the leaf, taking another one placing it under the paper and colouring it. With help from mommy they turned out pretty good.

Another super fun activity we did was Splatter Painting. Using some almost empty paint bottles and adding a bit of water, we taped 2 poster board paper together, then went crazy! It was very messy as we got paint all over the floor and fridge, we dripped and dropped and swirled and swished the paint all over the paper. After it was dry we then traced Jaxon's body and cut it out, it is now proudly displayed in his bedroom door! He loves looking at it and saying... That ME?!

One last project we did this past week was Outdoor Streamers, which we actually have hanging in our kitchen window because they're so pretty. Super simple- packing tape, bits of tissue paper and glitter. Here's to link on how to do it and here's our results. http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2010/08/outdoor-streamers.html

I've finally finished a project that I started probably 2 months ago, I saw the idea loved it and bought most of the materials to make it. Putting it together took some motivation as I had to sew together the "game board" (which really is simple as it is all squares), but now that is it done and in use I'm so happy with the results and have even made one for Jaxon's little buddy for a birthday present. It is a colour matching game- which I loved so much because Jaxon gets his colours VERY confused and I just love the colours of it. I got the idea again from the Frugal Family Fun Blog and she got the idea from Etsy. Here are the links to both:

http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2010/08/quilted-color-match-game-for-tots.html

http://www.etsy.com/listing/81997334/sensory-color-sorting-play-set

One reason I made this myself was because it seemed relatively easy, but the main reason was that I thought it was outrageous to pay $44US for this exact thing that I could probably make 4 games for if not more! Anyways, here are some pictures, basically there are coloured squares and coloured objects, match the object to the correct square. It was quite hard for Jaxon at first to even match the same colours, after a couple times he figured it out and now does very well- he wants to do it at least 2 times a day if not more.

Other than keeping busy with crafts it has been very busy around our place. My in-laws got possession of this place at the end of August while we were camping. (They stayed at our place for the week since their house isn't liveable at the moment). They are now staying with Grace's parents while work is done on the house, they've already got a new roof, and done major demos inside in order to get it fixed up. Jordan's uncle knows a guy who is letting us borrow his 'Skid Steer' which I alwasy thought was called a bobcat until I found out that is just the name brand. It has been a busy weeks since the 'CHINE' as Jaxon calls it, has been here. Making the parking space by Bill & Grace's house bigger by moving HUGE rocks and mounds of dirt, making a retaining wall with the huge rocks and clearing scragly ugly trees from in front of our place to put in a nice hedge. On Saturday we had a big fire going, and more clearing/cleaning outside. Jaxon loves every minute of it, being outside, helping Daddy and driving the chine- he seems much older than 2 and a half, driving the machine around with Jordan for 4 hours at a time- the other day though he fell asleep while Jordan and him were driving it around, I couldn't believe it. There's also been people here for the well/ septic system and there's plenty more work to still be done, including an addition to our place of hopefully 2 more bedrooms in order to accomodate our growing family.

Jaxon also started swimming lessons on Monday, seeing as he is a little fish and LOVES the water I thought it would be a great idea... and it was. He goes on Mondays and Wednesdays for half an hour, and there is one other girl in his class. He is so confidant in the water and pretty fearless as he tries to sneak off by himself when he thinks the teacher isn't looking. He has lots of fun though and as we are waiting at the pool just before his class starts he says about 3 times, "Mommy I so EXCITED!"

Our Baby, A Garden Update and other fun things

We bought a new mini van a couple weeks ago, only paid $500 for a 2000 Mazda MPV. However, it is not running at the moment- which is where my super handy mechanical husband comes in! Him and Jaxon have yet another project for the next few months as we will need the car by March 21 (but probably sooner) when baby #3 arrives! It is hard to believe we will soon be a family of 5, but amazingly exciting!

Speaking of baby number 3, since I haven't officially announced it on my blog- We are expecting our third baby!! We didn't find out until I was about 8 weeks pregnant, I had been feeling nauseous for 2 weeks straight, and had been getting really bad headaches. After scouring the internet trying to figure out what it could be... I took a pregnancy test and sure enough it was POSITIVE! You'd think this being my 3rd pregnancy I would have known right away, I think I was in denial as Alivia was only 7 months old. I have been feeling nauseous ever since, it let up a couple weeks ago and I thought I was at the end of it, however, I am not and still experience nausea most days, all day. I try to stay busy with the kids and go out as I don't have time to think about how I'm feeling then and generally feel much better. Some nights I'm in bed as early as the kids as I have no energy either. I had an ultrasound yesterday to determine how far along I actually was... 13 weeks and 2 days (as of today) which changes my dates by a week to the 21 instead of the 14 of March. If this baby is anything like it's older siblings that date won't mean much. It was so amazing to see even at 13 weeks that this baby was already perfectly formed, you could see it's arms/ hands and legs/feet. It was moving like crazy too, so many twists and turns- which was really cool to see because I can't feel it yet so it was funny to think of that going on inside of me. I don't have any pictures this time as I will be going for another ultrasound in about a months time. Today I had my second appointment with my midwife, it went really well, everything pretty routine and we got to hear baby's heartbeat. It was nice and strong at 150 bpm, and Jaxon was so excited when he heard the wooshing sound and said in the sweetest voice with a little smirk while holding a baby doll on his lap... "That my Baby?". It made my heart smile, and it's moments like that i feel amazingly blessed to be caring for these beautiful children I have been blessed with!

It seems as though I have not done an update on my garden it quite some time, life seems to have gotten busier and it obviously doesn't take priority. I do love looking out my kitchen window and seeing my over 12ft tall sunflowers and their beautiful sunshineness shining back at me even on a cloudy drab day, as for the rest of it... it was a big success, lots of lettuce, yummy peas and carrots, and our pumpkins are still growing. The only thing that didn't seem to take was my corn, I think next year it needs it's own space, not a tiny little corner of my garden.

I haven't been doing many (if any) crafts with Jaxon lately. My lack of energy is definitely to blame and I feel horrible because of it. Today though we did a little "photoshoot" with a blanket and some star shaped sticky notes. It was super easy and the results were CUTE, Alivia just liked to eat the stars. Hoping to find some energy and motivation to get back into the groove and try new things!

My Big Boy!

As I was adding the post about Alivia I thought I should write one about Jaxon too as he is becoming so grown up and doing so many things I am so proud of.

Just on Tuesday Jaxon started Tot Soccer through the township. A friend of mine put her little guy into it and so I thought Jaxon would enjoy it too. It's lots of fun to watch him run around with other kids and kick the soccer ball around, it's also fun (but somewhat frustrating) to see how well he listens to someone who isn't Mommy! It's a nice time for me too as I get to chat with other mommies while we watch our boys.

Jaxon has been a wonderful big brother lately (for the most part) he loves to give Alivia her bottle now and sits and holds it for her. If she's upset or crying he tries to make her laugh by playing "peek a boo" and they do giggle together a lot! He does however also like to pester her or push her over, put toys on her head, take toys away... you know the usual 2 year old behaviours.

One thing I find quite funny is how much he copies Alivia and her behaviours, I never suspected it to go this way, always assuming the younger one would just copy the older one. I guess he sees our reaction to her new accomplishments or funny noises and he wants to copy her to get the same reaction. When she first started standing at the couch we would be so excited and smile and praise her, Jaxon would stand holding on to the couch too, which was funny because obviously he can. That being said though for the most part he thinks he's WAY older than he actually is and wants to also do EVERTHING Daddy does. He loves to work outside with Daddy, yard work, working on the cars, anything. He took Jordans keys the other day, climbed into the pathfinder put the keys into the ignition and started the car- Jordan was outside, and our car is standard, but it was still quite shocking (he was very proud of himself). If Mommy and Daddy use a knife at dinnertime he needs a knife too and has to cut his own food.

He's become much more independant in his playing and getting very imaginitive which is so fun to watch. He LOVES his cars and motorcycles and drives them around the house, going to Daddy's work, Oma's house or the zoo.

His vocabulary is so fun to hear as well, as he tries to talk all the time and put together really loooooong sentences that sometimes don't make sense. He has just started to call Alivia "Veevee" which is so sweet but it sounds so similiar to "baby" what he used to call her just up until about a week ago, sometimes it's hard to know what he is saying.

That's all I can think about right now, it's so fun to watch him grow up and learn and take everything in.

My Baby Girl

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago, when Alivia was 8 months old- I guess I started it and forgot that I did and I just noticed it wasn't published yet, so this is a little late but here as an update on our beautiful little girl!

It's hard to believe 8 months can go by in the blink of an eye, but it seems to go faster everyday. Alivia was 8 months on Wednesday (August 24), and she is just becoming the funniest little girl, always smiling at people and playing a little shy at first though. Her lastest endeavours have been crawling on her hands and knees instead of the "army crawl". She basically started on Wednesday and 2 days later she almost has in mastered, yesterday she pulled herself up at the couch for the fist time and was standing so proud of herself, until she fell over on her face! It didn't deter her though as she keeps trying. She also is very much attached to Mommy, if I leave the room she will cry until I come back and she sees me, it's nice with her new mobility though as she tries to follow me wherever I go. She is such a sweetie and we all love her sooooo much... especially Jaxon. They always laugh together, and have started playing together now.

To add to this update now that a couple weeks have passed... she seems to be working on a couple teeth now, her gums a bit swollen and white, constantly gnawing on toys and a bit more fussy than normal! She has completely mastered her crawling and is soooo quick, she follows Jaxon around and the Kitty too. She's gotten quite vocal, making Dadadada sounds and Mamama it's so sweet to hear her little voice. That's all I can think about right now as my little darling has decided to wake up between 5:30 and 6 in the morning lately, so It's getting close to my bedtime too.

Camping!!

We got home Saturday from a week of camping in Westbank (West Kelowna), it was for the most part a huge success, but of course there were exhausting and frustrating times too.

We found out about this campsite from Jordan's friend (Robbie) who goes there every year with his family, and they were up there on their last of 3 weeks. It was great to have people you know to camp with, mostly because they (Robbie and his 2 sisters Laura and Michelle) all loved the kids and would play with them and keep them entertained.
We had beautiful hot weather the first 3 days, spent LOTS of time at the beach and in the water.
We had a big wind storm and a bit of rain on Tuesday so we went to Scandia in Kelowna which would be comparable to Castle Fun Park, lots of games. Then the Stokers took us up to Armstrong where their relatives own a HUGE dairy farm, Jaxon was excited to see all the cows, but I thought it was pretty cool too. They had a baby calf that was just born 2 hours before we got there, and a set of twins that were born earlier that morning, not to mention the other 100+ calves in other pens.

Wednesday was a nice day again spending it at the beach, Jordan's other friend Chris came up with his girlfriend for a couple days on Wednesday evening, Thursday turned gross on us, the guys had all gone to play a round of golf so us ladies (and my kids) packed up and went to the mall to get out of the rain- it felt very odd to go to a mall while camping! Friday was quite sunny but still chilly, we did spend it at the beach but with sweaters on. Jordan got to go on the banana boat on Friday and had fun, Jaxon was pretty upset he wasn't allowed.

Saturday was again HOT and sunny, just as we get ready to leave.

Jaxon did amazing and was totally in his element living outside for a week. He always asked to go to the park, and with all the people there someone was always willing to take him. They also had arcade games he liked to pretend to play. The little store had candy so he would stand on the little stairs they had and peek over the counter to see if anyone would give him some! He spent a lot of special time with Daddy who always played in the water with him, they would swim out to the dock and sit out there Jordan would jump off, and Jaxon never wanted to, but by the 5th day Jaxon was jumping off the dock too. They played in the sand and made LOTS of sandcastles, all Jaxon would ask was to stomp them- he was usually allowed.

Jaxon also loved to lie on the air mattress with Robbie or Laura or Michelle, and share his snacks with them. Jaxon rode his bike around quite a bit and has become so confidant, he's starting to be able to balance and lifts up both his feet. We played tennis a few times which Jaxon thought was pretty fun and kept asking to play it again. He loved to go in the Stoker's trailer, usually following somebody in there and making himself at home. He stayed up pretty late the first few nights watching everyone play Rummy or Black Eye, but I had to lie with him in the tent till he fell alseep otherwise he would just get out, this meant though that most nights I was falling alseep at 8:30 too!

Alivia was alot more challenging as I knew she would be. About 2 days before we left for camping she starting crawling, for about a month she was doing the "army crawl" so she was already mobile but she just gets up on her hands and knees and off she goes. I was thrilled with her new milestone- however, not so thrilled with the timing. She also pulled herself up at the couch to stand just a couple days before we left. For the most part she was pretty happy and content, but always crawled off the blanket to put leaves or grass in her mouth or at the beach it was sand going in her mouth. She liked the water though and Jaxon liked to push her around in the floaty toy. It was pretty amazing though because I knew exactly what time it was by how fussy Alivia was getting, I could tell when it was 7am noon and 5pm, her body has a pretty good hunger clock. She went to sleep well but woke up at about 6:30 every morning, and her naps were only about 20 minutes in length. She always had someone who would come hold her or amuse her though if she got a little fussy. Friday was the worst day for her, nothing would satisfy her or make her happy, which is just hard normally but when your camping and you don't have the comforts of home it became a very exhausting day. I think it must be her teeth bothering her though as she is gnawing on everything and her gums are looking very white, hopefully these teeth come through to help ease this fussiness.
All in all we had a lot of fun and lots of memories made!