Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Water Fireworks

I like pinterest.
I like it for several reasons....one of them is it gives me ideas for fun things to do with Christian I wouldn't have thought of on my own..and then I try them out.

He often will ask for a "project". 
So, today we made water fireworks. Water, oil, and food coloring. Doesn't get much easier than that.

I let him drop in the food coloring.


And then they just sat there...on top of the oil...for what seemed like quite awhile. Perhaps I added to much oil..I don't know.


Then, just as I was going to poke one of the drops with a toothpick....BOOM, a color explosion in the water. And it continued...it was pretty.


I had read to save the blue ones for last, because it makes the water really dark and it kind of puts an end to seeing much. Turns out...they are right about that.





So I dumped the top coat of oil into a mason jar to see if I could "recycle" my oil and do it again.
Sure enough it worked, I just added more water.








Anyways. That was our water fireworks. 


Christian

This guy is quite the fella.
Meal times are SO unpredictable, it gets slightly frustrating to say the least some days.
One day a sandwich and carrots is gobbled up with no problems, the next day you would've thought I had asked him to eat cooked peas (which I made him try with his eyes shut recently...and sure enough he truly does not like them...he gagged). Oh well, anyways, we bring alot of creativity to the table to get him to eat...anything somedays. 
On this particular day he was doing alright with a leftover hamburger and fries...with a side of 3 year old personality.

Quite determined. Downside= bossiness. Upside= he tries new things (this is good and bad I suppose)
He knows all about consequences from being bossy...unfortunately, that does not stop him from testing that out very often some days.

He has an imagination. How he talks to his toys in different voices and carries on full conversations for a long time on his own is simply hilarious. His favorite lately is his "excavator arm" (this helps him eat or hand me things when I ask for help). I know in the picture above he was talking to the french fry with his excavator arm.

He has a laugh that is SO contagious. When its an all out laugh...it gets me everytime. Making silly faces or saying things with a funny voice...or no words, just humming it. That is a new favorite thing, "mmm.mmmm.mmm.mmm" and he'll say, "what's that mean?" SIMPLE game...but he could do it for a LONG time.



When he has an idea about how things should be...it is VERY difficult to change his mind sometimes, and other times...not even worth trying to change it. Such as wearing a mitten as a sock. It was a must...ALL day long!

He got a soccer ball for Christmas from Aunt Carissa and Uncle Tim. Almost everyday he asks, "Can I play soccer when Daddy comes home?" And when the weather cooperates...they do. I am kind of impressed that he can run and kick the ball at the same time. Maybe that's basic, but it looks like it would be hard for little legs to do.


Playing at the park.
 We took Grandma with us one day almost a month ago..it was such a nice day to get out and enjoy the sunshine! Its good to run around and get rid of that excess energy. It's no wonder after too many days of staying inside that all sorts of attitudes show up. I'm glad we're able to enjoy these days outdoors :)




 This picture was taken before church on Wednesday night...it was "pajama night". He was decked out from head to toe. However, I feel like we have random theme's throughout our day anyway. He is hilarious about putting on either actual clothing type wear....or making up something to create a new look and call it clothing. One night he asked to go to bed with his nail apron on. Other days he wears his sunglasses with his pajamas. Often, there are slippers involved. And thanks to Grandma...we have these ridiculous dinosaur ones to show off now :)

He has been very curious and inquisitive for quite awhile now....and that side of him doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Anytime he hears a new word of phrase, he needs it to be repeated...and then further explained to know what it means...so then he will reuse it, and reuse it FREQUENTLY or at a random moment. Some of these topics include, "silver teeth", also known as fillings..but to him they are silver teeth and they are in people's mouth when they had too much candy to eat. It's tricky to explain even this though, because then he will later see a complete stranger with a "silver tooth" and tell me, "that person ate too much candy, he has silver teeth." But really it can be ANYTHING, the exhaust on the car, meteor showers, the lagoon....you get the idea. His vocabulary continues to grow, and he is not a shy person in general...so the combo makes for very lengthy conversations with most anybody that will give him the time of day. And if they won't...he will TRY very hard to get them to talk to him. The other night we went to a basketball game, and the man sitting next to us talked briefly to Ben. Christian desperately wanted to tell him about his toy and how it worked, etc etc. The man had no interest, or maybe just didn't hear him. I tried telling him he was talking to daddy, or he was busy, or I acted that he was just telling me..so I responded to his explanation. Nope, not good enough, "No, I am trying to talk to that man. I want to tell him about it." Oh mercy. I'm thinking he may be headed in the direction of a few other male figures in this family.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

A whole lotta love

Its Valentine's Day...
Today we went over to Mom's house to do a few crafty things....it was a good day.

My two favorite little valentines...



Love from cousin Ava...the three of them joined us at Mom and Dad's house for valentine fun from Grandma.


These are recent pictures that show love...

Christian laying down for a nap...Noah keeping him company



Noah sharing his giggles and smiles with Grandpa



Brothers...Christian wanted to hold Noah. They are both in their undies.



Building and playing with trains "with" Noah


Just sharing a chair...


 I have a whole lotta love for these two, and my bigger valentine too!
I get to have an evening with him by myself tonight. 
Pizza brought home...and no other mouths to feed but our own.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

little love 'projects'

Christian enjoys a good simple project...anything with paint is usually considered an exciting thing!
I had him paint four small canvases.

Then we took the glitter part outside. It's fun, but it sure does make a mess. It was a nice day, so after the glitter was on the glue, we left it outside for the Kansas wind to take care of the loose stuff.




I made some pizza...heart shaped, with heart shaped pepperoni. 
Ahh...it doesn't take much to impress Christian. Because that's really who I do this for...Ben isn't exactly a fan of this "made up holiday".  He's come a long way on acknowledging it though :) 


And my littlest love..just as sweet as can be. The "love" canvases found their home on the window frame. We hung up hearts in various places that "we" (he doesn't remember watching) made in the past. And this year I made a mini valentine bunting at Mom's house...those are fun to make...I think we'll have to make more!


And last...Christian and I made some valentine cupcakes...complete with sprinkles. 
He had made lots of valentine hearts, that he would cut out and then color the inside. A couple of our neighbors got some cinnamon rolls and apple butter..and a sweet homemade valentine from Christian.


We had fun doing our very simple little projects...
love him.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A visit from Gpa & Gma H

Ben's parents and Sam came up for a visit. We have a fast growing baby...so a few weeks without seeing him and he will change very fast!

Grandma H. and Noah

We introduced the game Jenga to Christian last night....he liked it..and he was actually pretty good. 
So they all played Jenga during the visit...several games of it!

Grandpa H. and Christian playing a round



Friday, February 1, 2013

Big Brother. Little Brother.

I'm so glad that Christian loves his brother. 
It's so sweet and funny to hear him talk to Noah...usually its something like this,
"Hiiii Noah. Hiiii. Hiiiii." Over and over again. Or, 
"You gonna talk to me Noah? Good morning." Or the random ones, when he doesn't realize someone is listening, 
"Heeyyy buddy." or "Ohhh, honeey." "It's alright Noah, its alright. We didn't leave you."

Christian wants to be wherever Noah is. It's kinda of funny, because I'm sure this will be the reverse situation in a matter of months. When I gave Noah a bath with my little observer...he said,
"I like Noah. (pause) I LOVE Noah. And he loves me."