Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sprinkler Time

This last week has been gorgeous here in Southern Oregon. It's so pretty and it's barely raining. It makes me nervous though that this summer will have rain. Usually, we don't get any rain in the summer. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a drought. 

We had a blast together playing in the sprinkler. Jewell absolutely loved it. Jefferson really wasn't a fan. I'm sure he'll like it by the end of the summer. I bought these suits last year for 1 dollar. I'm so glad they fit! By the way, you can see Jefferson's little hernia in these pictures. The doctors said they won't do anything until he's at least 2 if it doesn't heal itself. Enjoy the pictures.

Introducing the sprinkler

Jewell is excited. Jefferson...not so much.

Looking cute, even though he refuses to go in. You can also see his umbilical hernia really well here. 


Still not too sure about this.

Jewell begging Jeffers to come in.

Loving the sprinkler

Jewell trying to help Jeffers get close to it.




Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Food Coloring Crafts

We have been having fun doing a lot of crafts during Jefferson's first nap (that will soon be dropped). Last week we did a fun shaving cream creation. You just put a bunch of shaving cream on a pan, add some food coloring, mix it around, and then put some type of paper material on top. After you let it dry for a few minutes, you can wipe the shaving cream off of the paper. We used paper plates :). Jewell had a lot of fun with this project.






I saw this next activity on pinterest. Or at least another friend did. We painted with chalk paint. You just mix one part water with one part cornstarch. Then you add a few drops of food coloring. Jewell LOVED this. All of this came out of her clothes easily.




It didn't take her long to ask for her hat and sunglasses :). 


We are starting to have a ton of fun now that it's so close to summer :). I just love spending time with my girl!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Wednesday: Sensory Day

I have officially named Wednesday's "Sensory Day" in our house. Jewell either has PT or OT coming to our house first thing each Wednesday. And she just loves it. So here is my confession: I don't do Jewell's hair on Wednesday. I mean, I pull it to the side. I don't use a brush, comb, or anything. It's just too much sensory stimulation for one day. OT and PT exhaust my little girl! And then after it's over, she watches TV. Yes, I said it, I let my daughter watch a non-educational program for fun. It hasn't damaged her brain in any way either! 

After PT today Jewell watched her regular program of Dora the Explorer. After I finished unloading the dishwasher I convinced her to play with rainbow rice. Since she did so well I introduced a new texture, Garbanzo Beans. She did so well with this transition too! I just dumped them in a container and she played and played with them. 

Jefferson had fun with the OT last week. 

Garbanzo Bean fun



The rice and bean fun was pretty short lived today. Jewell was on her typical 2 yo timeline. So we moved on to painting. I used some cheap paper plates. I found that they are thicker than paper and they don't bleed through as easily. Jewell had a blast. She even finger painted today :). She's making great progress.





First finger painting without screaming.


Jewell had a difficult time leaving the paints today. In fact, we had a few timeout sessions :(. But once I got her distracted we worked on dressing herself. That didn't go so well. I finally decided that she had done enough PT and sensory work today. So I changed her and got her ready for the store.

We went to the store and the kids were very good. I bought a ton of craft projects to work with Jewell during Jefferson's morning nap. By the end they were getting irritated though. I went to buy my supplies and I realized I didn't have my debit card. I left all my stuff in the cart, got the kids in the car, drove home to grab the debit card, went back to the store, got the kids out again, and went to buy my things. They weren't in the most grand mood by that point. Poor kids! Such is the life of being a Mommy!

Overall, we had a pretty good day. I'm really proud of Jewell. She's starting to let me push her more and more and I'm' so proud of her.

The Pear Blossom

This last weekend Medford held the annual Pear Blossom. Medford is famous for their pears. Hence the name... I decided in February that I should go for the 10 mile race. I was pretty much trained until I got sick for about 2 weeks. I was really nervous I wouldn't be able to finish the race because I had only made it to 8.5 miles before the event. I ended up finishing all 10 miles without stopping. I was really proud of myself. I averaged a 9:15 mile finishing at 1:32:44. After the race I had pretty much decided no more big runs. I had trained for half marathons a few times, and something always came up to keep me from running it. But then on Sunday, all I wanted to do was run! So of course, Meridith and I decided to do a half on April 28th. We'll see how it goes! 


This isn't the best picture of me...a little out of focus. But it was right after I crossed the finish line.


Celebrating with my girl!

Sarah and Emily came to cheer for us!

After the run we went to the parade. Jewell loved the horses and tractors.





The entire event was just a blast. I did learn a major lesson though. After doing a long race like that. ALWAYS eat after. Even if you think you might be sick. Always eat. Drink gatorade or something other than water. Yes...I pretty much skipped that and went to the parade. I was out of it all afternoon. Not a good idea. I will be taking my own gatorade to the half!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Easter Sunday

I think this was one of the best Easter Sunday's I've ever had. It was so special seeing our kids get excited about it! But not only that, our worship service was amazing. I loved everything about this Easter.

Jewell loves picking out dresses at the store now. So I made a special trip with her to Costco to pick out her dress. She fell in love with this one. She wanted to wear it all week! When I put it on her she immediately said, "A princess dress" over and over again. She then wanted princess hair bows. It was so cute.









Family pictures are always exciting now that we have 2 kids. It's amazing just how many times you try to get a good one :). Jewell and I were able to get a Mother/Daughter picture this year in what she likes to call our Princess Dresses.


After our morning worship service we went to the Johnson's Home. They invited us over for Thanksgiving as well and our kids just love them now. I especially love it because they are both teachers :). We had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids in their beautiful backyard. The kids had a blast! And Jewell actually didn't mind the grass too much.



















We had a wonderful Easter as a family. We went on a long drive to end the day together. It was a wonderful way to celebrate that Christ is Risen!