Sometimes not a lot

I have recently returned to stay-at-home mommyhood! Hooray! I love it! Today Ashton and I just hung around the house and played a little playdoh and read a few books and I watched him play with legos and took his picture. Some times those days are the ones we cherish most. So for my first contribution to this blog that's what I've done. Here are some pictures of the little man concentrating his heart out on building his legos!

Bounce!!

We had a lot of fun at Bounce yesterday.  It is a place with a bunch of blow up bounce toys.  It’s a lot of fun and the kids really enjoy it!  Most of the pictures can be found on my other blog:  http://crazymomsarethebest.blogspot.com

Here are a couple that are a little blurry but you get the picture.

Discovery Center of Idaho

Friday we took the kids to the Discovery Center of Idaho.  There were TONS of exhibits and it was all hands on stuff.  The kids really enjoyed it.  I think they will like it more when they can do the things themselves rather than having mommy and daddy do it for them, but it was a good time out with the kids having fun with each other.  Of course like a dork, I forgot my camera, but next time hopefully I’ll remember.

Blocks

I found these really great blocks online and decided that it would be a fun way to get the kids to help out with dishes and also to get them to do things besides watching TV.

These are the chore dice.

These were called the I’m Bored dice.

I’m really excited about these.  I painted them myself and attached the vinyl.  It was actually a lot of fun and I think kids will actually enjoy doing this.

To the Library we Go

Yesterday I had decided to take the kids to the library.  Usually this brings a lot of stress to me, because the kids are never really that good at the library.  They pull a bunch of books off the shelves and try to check out every movie they see.  I was prepared for the worst, and just told myself to relax.  After I finally did relax, I enjoyed reading a bunch of books to the kids and helping them pick out a few to read.  I was able to find some books on tape to put on my iPod so that I can listen to them while I’m cleaning.  They were able to use the stencils that they had and play with some other toys.  We spent over an hour at the library (our personal record) and came home feeling really good about getting out of the house and doing something together that we were all able to enjoy.

Music and Jam

We actually did some music stuff one day.  I have a nice piano that has a recorder on it and it plays on it's own.  The kids are always asking me to play certain songs for them over and over again, so I recorder those and then let them dance away.  It's fun to watch them dance rather than playing the piano, but that part is fun too.  That way they are right by me and having fun rather than watching TV or playing video games.

I also had them help me make jam.  Not really help.  They just watched, but that was because I didn't want a huge sticky mess.  They did help me make pumpkin rolls yesterday and they really enjoy that when I let them help.  It's fun for me as well, but I very rarely let them help because for some reason I'm always in a hurry.  A lot of the problems that I'm having are because of that.  I just need to slow down and spend time with them.

Singing!

Yay! I’m so excited about this blog! My awesome sister, Christena, started it and I’m excited to read it and write in it. I don’t really feel like I’m going to have very much good input because I only have one child and he’s only 8 months old. BUT I guess I have a couple things to share.

I absolutely love music! Especially singing and playing the piano. I got a degree in music education and love teaching music and being involved in it so it seems like I would naturally just sing to my kids right?

Wrong.

When my baby boy was first born he was having trouble eating so the at-home care nurse told me to sing to him to help him to relax while he was eating and it just felt awkward at first. I think part of it was that she was there and I didn’t want to sing in front of her.

But as time went on I realized I was making up a lot of silly little songs just perfect for diaper changes, feedings, and bedtime but I was singing in a silly voice and the words were equally silly but the baby seemed to respond and he’d quiet down, listen, and smile when I’d sing.

So now I sing to him regularly, especially while I’m trying to shovel bites of veggies down his throat and at bedtime. Tonight he was in an especially hyper mood after his bath so I started using my “trained” singing voice and sang real life songs (you know, ones that someone else already came up with) that were soothing and more low-key. He stopped wriggling and just looked at me as I sang and got little smiles on his face. It was such a special moment and I felt so close to my little guy.