Toddler Boy Entertainment

Jack has been staying busy with lots of fun projects lately. Some I planned for him and others he came up with on his own. Either way it's fun to see his creativity shine through.  Most days he is happy to play with his ever growing collection of vehicles, read books or follow me around and try to do what I'm doing.  Sometimes though a project of some sort is in order.  Here are some of the things that he has enjoyed...

Water Play

Digging

Oh, how he loves to dig!

He will also spend so much time transferring grain, fuzzy pom poms, googly eyes etc. from one bowl to the next.

Googly Eyes

Yes, they get their own category! He loves them and will find multiple uses for them.  I bought pool noodles to put under our couches to help eliminate the toys that need fishing out. They didn't quite serve their purpose so I returned them but not before Jack sent every one of his plastic eyes down the hole! He also gave his metal cars a ride down them too. He had a blast!

(Yes, we are still wearing Christmas pj's. I'm working on that!)

Ironically, I'm pretty sure we had some under the couch after this activity.

Homemade Play Dough

We both really enjoyed this one.  Though, I think he liked the actual making of the play dough more than playing with it.  

He dumped all the ingredients in.

Here he is correcting himself after a little spill.  All of his transferring back and forth has resulted in quite good hand-eye coordination.

He picked blue.  I must say this dough is far superior to store bought. So soft and pliable.  So fun!

We got out his play dough kit and he played away...for awhile.

I guess the Legos in the other room were much more exciting.

Until next time, play dough!

What activities have your toddlers enjoyed?

4 Months

Ella turned 4 months last week and I'm now just getting to posting about it! She is still her happy self as long as she gets enough sleep and if she doesn't, watch out! She watches everything we do especially Jack. She gets so excited when he stops what he is doing to love on her. She giggles at our funny expressions and sounds. She even has started to enjoy being outside. We love our sweet Ella Bear!

This is a little out of focus because I forgot I still had the camera in manual mode.
I was hurrying because her happy window was closing quickly!

There was a lot of hand chewing or grumpy faces going on.
Did you know that kids aren't always in sync with our timetable? True.

I did manage to catch a joyful smile!

Jack got in on the action.

After I laid Ella down, I took a few more of Jack.  I think he was happy for some one on one time with me.

He smiled nicely. I think I said something about trucks...or bobcats.

I LOVE this!
He wanted to sing "Jesus Loves Me" for me.

Oh Jack, you are growing up so quickly. {tear}

This Moment ~ Cousin Photo Shoot

This was a moment alright!

Everyone knows it takes multiple shots to get a decent one of a group of kids.

I love Audree's happy motherly look while sporting 10 layers of chapstick!

Ella's "Um, a little help here, Aunt Kari" look!

Jack just being his happy self but trying to make a break for it!

It's the little moments. ♥

Spring Travels Part 2

The rest of the trip was spent at my parent's house. Here are some of the highlights, at least the ones I took pictures of...

Jack spent a lot of time searching for the cats so he could terrorize pet and play with them.

Sweet Ella

Jack and Grandpa waiting for the lawnmower to come into view.

What was even more exciting was that Dad gave him a ride!

A crafting session with my Mom where we made lots of adorable hair things for Ella.

Ella's 1st Easter

Cousins on Easter

We had the bright idea to feed the ducks some bread.

Sadly, the geese scared the ducks away.

I wanted the kids to be able to at least feed something.

I tried to lure the geese over to them but the only birds that wanted the bread were seagulls, yuck.

I guess my screeching and running away from the swooping beasts made an impression on Audree. Kari told me that during her night time prayers she thanked God "that Aunt Bethany can run fast"! 

Oh well, at least someone enjoyed a piece!

We also enjoyed celebrating our Lord's Resurrection at my parent's church, having a girl's lunch outing one day and Seth and I even got to have our 1st date since Ella was born! We look forward to seeing all of you again soon. Thanks for a great time!

Spring Travels

We just got home from a visit with family in NY. We had lots of fun seeing cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents...it was a full week! This was everyone's first time meeting Ella (except for my parents) and she was quick to share her smiles with them. The week flew by like it always does but we are thankful for the time that we did have with family. Hopefully, next time we can see Aunt Megan and Uncle Jeremy too. ;-)

We took a day to go visit Seth's Papa and Gramma's farm. The last time they saw Jack he was 6 weeks old! We thought it was time to see them again especially since we had another one in tow. :-) Jack had a blast playing with the same tractors and toys that his dad used to play with and Ella mostly slept.

In his world, this is extreme happiness!

Gramma used her skills to get Ella to fall asleep while the rest of us went out to the barn.

Our 1st stop was to see the chickens.

Seth was telling us how when he was a boy he used to sit on that blue bucket just waiting for a chicken to lay an egg. Sometimes not so patiently!

We visited the new calves next. 

Jack wasn't interested in touching them. :-)

I couldn't resist taking a picture of a red Holstein named Ovaltine!

I was impressed that every cow has a name.

Jack showed quite a bit of excitement at the wood pile. 

Papa with his grandson and great grandchildren.

Gramma made her famous pancakes, eggs, bacon and gravy.

We couldn't be more happy for this yummy meal.

Even Jack ate one of everything!

This last picture is one of my favorites because of the memories associated with it.

#1- Jack was enthralled with all of their chiming clocks. I asked them how many they have but they couldn't quite put a figure on it. :-) Every time one chimed he would stop playing and tell us "I back" and go running to find it!

#2- Jack came to tell me that he saw Jesus. I curiously followed him and had to laugh when he pointed at the little Dutch boy in this photo. Don't ask...I don't know why!

To be continued...