Chronicles of Summertime: Day 21

This weekend, we visited with cousins galore! First, we met Aunt T and her 2 kids at Dawes Arboretum. Snugglepuppy had fun running around with them and exploring in the kids area of the main building. He did puzzles, drew pictures and dressed up as a bumblebee.

Then we ate at the world famous Tom's Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville. After a downpour, we ended up going to grandparents' and seeing more cousins. They ran around and had a great time. We also headed back to grandparents' house the following day, Sunday. He played with all 4 cousins, 3 boys and 1 girl. We had a picnic outside. Snugglepuppy launched his little rocket, played on the swingset and watched the cousins play some video games. Ladybug was held by all and entertained greatly. It was Aunt K and Uncle A's first time meeting her and Aunt K could barely put her down! It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

Day 21:
We headed down to my parents house to visit with them and Aunt M. Snugglepuppy played outside a lot with grandpa. He also got a bank from grandma and grandpa that counts money as you put it in. He put in all the change we could gather up and then walked around asking everyone for "more money." Hilarious!

Then, we went to my sister's Thirty One party at her friend's house and there were 4 kids there for Snugglepuppy to play with. ALL GIRLS! He had fun and it was interesting to watch him interact (or not interact so much) with so many girls. After some ice cream, it was time for bed.

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 10

Day 10:
Today, we had a picnic of McDonald's at the park. I know it's not the healthiest choice, but Snugglepuppy has been good all week and plus I didn't really feel like making anything. So Snugglepuppy made some friends at the park as usual. He played on the swings and the playground with his happy meal toy, a matchbox car.

We also planted some seeds in small pots. Snugglepuppy picked out Aster flower seeds at the store, so that what we planted. I tend to be very bad at growing plants, so I am not sure if these will even grow. We left them out on the deck in the sun, so I guess we will see what happens.

We had our pizza pizza party in the basement.

Before bed, I introduced some new books to Snugglepuppy, the "How Do Dinosaurs...?" series by Jane Yolen. I have 5 of them and we read How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? Snugglepuppy loved them and I hope he learns something from them!

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 2

Day 2:

Today we played outside in the little swimming pool and sand box. Snugglepuppy liked exchanging the contents of each one, putting sand in the pool and water in the sand box. We made nothing in particular and Snugglepuppy decided shortly after we went out that he was ready to come back in.

We ran some errands and I decided to take Snugglepuppy to a nearby park with a playground. At which, Squeaker promptly decided she was hungry and I realized I didn't have the cover I use to nurse with us, so I went to the car and got the only blanket I could find, a thick, soft, fuzzy one. Even though it was hot, it wasn't long before Snugglepuppy was ready to come home anyway. (Maybe this kid has ADHD, jeez)

Snugglepuppy got a chance to work on his fine motor skills as well with an activity from a blog I recalled seeing long ago. I can't remember exactly which blog. We stacked cheerios on skewers stuck in a lump of playdough.

(Sorry about the quality, it's a photo of a photo.)

Not a very exciting day, but I did end up finishing up my baking projects, cake pops, candy coated pretzels and M&M rice krispie treats. Wow, my house is full of too much sugar!

Oh yeah, we also played with a few new apps we found for the iPad: Team Umizoomi Zoom into Numbers, PBS Kids, Crayon Hello, Balloons, and ABC Magic. Pretty sure Snugglepuppy is going to know how to use this thing better than me!

Hope everyone's summer is starting off great or will be starting soon.

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 1

Hello Friends! I know I have been away a LOT recently. I feel I have been so busy that I haven't done anything worthy of blogging about. But, I have decided to chronicle all the things we do this Summer and hopefully somewhere in there will be something that is useful to someone or at least you may enjoy following along with our journey. So, here goes. Me trying to entertain the 2 1/2 year old (Snugglepuppy) and the 2 month old (Squeaker) by myself with a little learning along the way.

Day 1:
Today we went to a local metro park. We decided to play on the playground and visit the nature center. Snugglepuppy had lots of fun looking at the animals and playing with the interactive nature board (see photo below). We also worked a floor puzzle of butterflies and insects. We had to leave there pretty fast as Squeaker had a poop-splosion of epic proportions. It leaked out into the car seat and down through the car seat onto the wagon and everything in it including the umbrella and Snugglepuppy's feet! Ughh, it was pretty gross. Needless to say, that ended our trip.

After cleaning all that mess up, we ate lunch and I put Snugglepuppy down for his nap (which he actually took!) Meanwhile, the free iPad arrived in the mail! We are currently searching for awesome free apps for kids. Leave a comment if you know of any. We took a walk later on that evening. Snugglepuppy made another attempt at riding his tricycle, but once he got started pedaling, he forgot to steer and ended up in the grass. Oh well, just needs more practice.

We made it through day 1, thank goodness! Mommy was exhausted after putting the kids to bed and then working on my cake pops and chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. Finally got to bed after 1 am. Hope tomorrow's more relaxing.

Our Summer Bucket List

So, I happened to be visiting over at Little Wonders' Days and found this cool linky of Summer Bucket Lists. I just knew I had to come up with one for me and L since we will both be off for the Summer and I have been trying to come up with so many things for us to do. Here is what I've got so far, but I'm sure I will add more as the Summer gets nearer.

1. Join the library's Summer Reading Program
2. Go to the lake (Lakeside)
3. Visit the zoo
4. Visit parks with gardens (Inniswood, Whetstone Park of Roses)
5. Hiking
6. Kiddie pool/Sprinkler
7. Find a frog at the creek
8. Go to the Scioto Mile fountains downtown
9. Watch fireworks for the 4th of July
10. Make a sea animal sensory bin
11. Watch the Summer Olympics
12. Visit Slate Run Metro Park with a living farm
13. Visit Buckeye Lake
14. Visit to NC
15. Toddler programs at the Metro Parks
16. Visit an aquarium
17. Play at a natural play area
18. Do at least one community service with L
19. Swimming lessons
20. GET PREGNANT!