Pathetic!

I am getting the feeling that a lot of Blogger blogs are often neglected for long periods of time. I am very lame for being part of these blogs, so here is my looooong and often thought about revival!

I actually had two close friends move away this summer (and another friend who was murdered), so I am thinking a lot about closeness and the way people stay connected. This blog may be a Facebook rejects only chance at staying in touch with relatives and friends across the country.

I felt like we were super active this summer, but in retrospect I wish we had done so much more. Anyway, here is our summer report!

MAY
Ran to Snake Lake Nature Center and Discovery Pond. We got there around 9:30 AM and stayed till 1. C fell asleep on the walk / jog home. I just parked the stroller in the front yard and read on the porch till he woke up. Bliss!

We also caught the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo w/ galpal Eva.

Future prom date?

In June C and Daddy made a daybed library that we painted and now use as Connor's big boy bed.

We hunted out ducks at the lake across the street.

We played at the beach with our best friend River.

We wine tasted in Yakima and played on the porch at our newest (and last for some time, we hope) digs.

July was a great month. We'd had such mild weather all summer it was nice to see the sun and get into the 70s. We made special 4th of July pancakes before heading out for a hike and then a picnic on the beach.

We hit up the aquarium, saw the Seattle Storm whoop Atlanta, attended Day Out With Thomas and played at an awesome playground called St. Edwards State Park.

Asleep after the Storm game

We finished out the summer with lots of wading pool dates, picnics on the beach, and finally hit 85! Hoping to get back on track with my posts this month.

Preschool has started and I am sure to come up with more resolutions that need attention! Whew!

Off Topic Saturday

I doubt I will actually keep a day of the week for off-topic posts, but this family activity is so awesome I had to share!

http://www.education.com/activity/article/set-giant-building-blocks/

We just had a big move (see last post), so those boxes will be easy to come by for us! I may use ads / newspaper in place of construction paper, since several of our boxes will be VERY giant. ;)

Will update with pictures once we've constructed something!

P.S. This comes from a list of awesome activities, crafts, and games to play with your child during "Screen-Free Week," which is officially April 18-24. There are a lot of great ideas, so if I get a lot of interest, I'll post that link as well.

Education.com has a lot of great resources for all kinds of parenting ages / topics.

Frugal AND Fun (Part 2)

We spent the morning building sculptures out of mini marshmallows, jumbo marshmallows, and toothpicks. This worked out a lot better than it had in the past with the pink heart shaped marshmallows. For some reason even the littlest of these barrel shaped snacks just work better as a support. Connor seemed much more interested in spearing them into his mouth after the first or second of our creations. I was able to snap this before he moved the sculpture into his stomach.

Connor is not a huge fan of drawing. He much preferrs messy painting, which I can only tolerate so often. I love this form of building because it is easier and cleaner than blocks or leggos can be, stimulates small muscle development, and works as a snack, too!
We then headed off to the library, where we checked out a variety of transportation-related books and Blueberries for Sal, which Connor loved despite the monochromatic pictures. I owned this book as a child, and it made me so happy to see him enjoy it.

After reading every single one of our 4 books, Superhero ABCs, and two other books he nabbed from a display shelf, I finally hearded him out. We ran over to the beach for some of our other favorite activities-- throwing rocks:

Watching trains:

and playing at playgrounds:

If it looks much to cold, cloudy, and windy to be at the beach, well, you're probably right. But being wrong never stopped Connor and I from enjoying a rare dry day!

We had an awesome time, all for the price tag of $0.

Frugal AND Fun!

I think I may have been missing out on the chance to post free or low-cost activities for the child and I.

This morning we built marshmallow and toothpick sculptures.

We're headed off to the library now. Hopefully there will be some preschool packs available. Will post pictures and recap of our library adventure later today!

Keeping Up

Although the posting has been a bit infrequent, we have been doing (surprisingly) well without TV! For the next 2-3 days after the last post I stuck with the single 30 minute episodes of “Sesame Street” while we were getting ready in the mornings before school / playgroup.

I was really worried about weekends, since I work at a locally owned real estate brokerage and Aaron watches Connor all day, but they also stuck to my resolutions! It was actually with his father that Connor had a full day without television! I should actually give more credit where credit is due—Aaron stepped up in a big way when I first explained my resolution regarding TV / media and trying to limit it in Connor’s world. He began playing much more actively with Connor while I made dinner every night, offered activities and got him playing on his own in his room with train tracks, toy cars, stuffed animal worlds, etc. I could not have had as much success if it weren’t for Aaron being completely on board with wanting to reduce Connor’s time in front of the TV and computer.

Today in particular was a success for me, because I also didn’t resort to putting “Sesame Street” or any other show on in front of Connor so I could get things done. We watched NO TV today! I still picked up the master bedroom, got us both ready for a playdate, did a load of laundry, made dinner, and blogged while Connor PLAYED.

I think a big surprise for me in keeping this goal was Connor’s insistence on TV. When we weaned him off a bottle, got him sleeping in his own bed, and other milestones of babyhood, the longest he asked for something was 3 days. It has been weeks with the reduced TV schedule, and he will still randomly ask for a show throughout the day.

Connor is a very active boy—preschool teachers, other parents in co-op, and everyone we come into contact with lets me know this very frequently, so I imagine this is a factor in his desire for the boob tube. His mind and body are so active; he needs something to stimulate him most of the day.

The pictures from this blog have occurred over the last 2 weeks. I probably will go into depth on each activity later this week.

Enjoy!