Picnic time!

We have been making great progress on our spring time list of things to do! The other day after Logan's tumbling class, we arrived home and decided to have a picnic. The weather was just right, so I quickly whipped up lunch and grabbed a blanket and to the front yard we went.

There is something so peaceful about a picnic in spring. I don't know why I hadn't tried this sooner. It went over wonderfully.

After lunch we watered our new flowers, and Logan spent a huge amount of time picking dandelions and making them into a "bouquet." His words, not mine. But he was in luck, because we don't spray pesticides in our yard and we have an abundance of these "flowers."

The fact that he called these weeds, flowers, really reminds me again that in life, everything is about the perspective you have. Looking at these flowers that I had previously considered a nuisance, I could see how bright and pretty they were. Although, the flowers were certainly eclipsed by my amazing little lunch date.

Summer Bucket List

I know we are just starting to get involved in our spring activity list, but I can't help but think ahead to summer. Little Wonders' Days is hosting a summer bucket list link up. And I'm a sucker for a great list. (The ones in italics have been completed, so have been blogged about)!

Here is my bucket list for the summer!

1. Go to the beach
2. Make Popsicles
3. Go to the movies
4. Paint using our feet
5. Tie dye shirts
6. Take a picture everyday
7. Roast marshmallows
8. Go for a boat ride
9. Go to an outdoor concert
10. Make homemade soap
11. Play with water balloons
12. Play with squirt bottles outside
13. Whip up some edible sand
14. Play with colored bubbles
15. Pick vegetables from our garden
16. Make and play with homemade face paint
17. Have an ice cream sundae party
18. Try lots of different sunglasses on and take pictures
19. Build a sandcastle
20. Make frozen bananas
21. See fireworks
22. Celebrate the fourth of July
23. Go to a parade
24. Visit a farmer's market
25. Visit new playgrounds (in progress)
26. Play at a splash park
27. Go swimming at Grandma's house
28. Have a late night movie night
29. Go berry picking
30. Visit a fair
31. Make fizzing sidewalk chalk
32. Make smores
33. Visit a sunflower field
34. Make moon sand
35. Plant sunflowers
36. Go blueberry picking
37. Walk around by the water
38. Make our own strawberry freezer jam
39. Go to an outdoor movie
40. Fly a kite
41. Make our own bouncy balls
42. Make our own gak

What are your plans for the summer?

I'm linking up to:






Check out Little Wonders' Days for more summer ideas!

Squishy, squashy, shaving cream

Sometimes what my little guy considers a great idea are the things that I don't plan. They are not connected to anything and sometimes are just brought to fruition in a matter of minutes.

Sensory bins are something that we have ALWAYS done since he was a teeny tiny guy. They started out purely edible (rolled oats or baby food flakes)and have gradually become less so. He did insist he was a bird and try to eat the birdseed out of the last one though.

Some days we keep it relatively low key and easy around these parts. This was one of these days. This bin was nothing fancy. Just a massive amount of shaving cream, some glass stones, and a couple of plastic animals.

It started off relatively harmless enough. Most activities do. Just transferring shaving cream out of the tub to coat his animals.

From there, he transferred them into the tub to "walk around in the squishy, squashy, shaving cream."

 Unfortunately, the novelty of that wore off pretty quick. I was starting to chalk it up to one of those thing to

try again at a later date, and hope for better results.

But then, things took a turn for the interesting. Logan asked for a bowl of water to wash his hands off. My last big bowl had just been taken to hold our new grapes, so I grabbed our massive measuring cup. As he plunged his hands into the clean water, he noticed how it changed colors to a cloudy white. It took him mere seconds and he was dumping the cup or water into the tub. He promptly asked for more.

And repeated it again and again.  Once the tub was filled enough, he rinsed his animals off and dried them. By this point, he was soaking wet, and completely happy. So he removed (with assistance) his clothing too. For my new followers, (hello all!!!) I swear the kiddo wears clothes most of the time! He has lots of nice ones too!

From that point on, he used just the glass stones in the cloudy water. "I'm looking for treasure!" he would exclaim as he would search through the water to find the "treasure." He went on a treasure hunt again and again. Of course, I got in there to hunt for treasure too, and by the end we were both laughing. Sure it was messy, but sometimes messy activities are the most fun. 

I'm linking up to:

Life's a beach

Proximity to the ocean or any body of water is what I love about living here. In a matter of less than five minutes I am near some sort of body of water. Now today is one of those gray, cold rainy days. But yesterday? Was gorgeous by New England springtime standards. For sure. My younger sis had the day off, so we got to pack up one little boy and one little chihuahua and head for the beach. Our spontaneous trip was made even better due to the fact that it has been ages since I completely cleaned out my car and I still had our beach toys in my trunk. When we got there, we basically had the whole beach to ourselves save for a lone television company guy who was "working", an elderly couple going for a stroll, and a bunch of seagulls.


So there was lots of time for exploring,

being silly,

digging

looking for seashells,

and trying to cover my sister's dog with sand.

All this hard work worked up an appetite in the little guy. So we all went out for ice cream afterwards. It was a simply fantastic day!

Sharing at:

Ten Years

Ten years ago today, I was 18. I was in my first year of college. I was driving a Dodge Neon. Ten years ago today, I was living in my childhood home. I would say things like, "One day when I have kids, I'll....." That was clearly obnoxious, but I didn't have kids so I didn't know any better. Ten years ago today, my best friend had a baby that was just a week old.  I would drive around wasting gas and not minding, because it only cost $15 to fill up my gas tank. Ten years ago today, I was working as a cashier at a grocery store. I was making minimum wage, but I didn't mind because I had no bills and could spend it on whatever I wanted anyway. Ten years ago today, I was skipping my statistics class to hang out at the beach with a guy. That guy was almost finished with high school. Ten years ago today, that guy and I started dating. "That guy" became my husband. 

Spring activity: Coloring Easter Eggs

Our Easter was a wonderful one full of family, laughter, and candy. One of the most special moments was coloring Easter eggs as a family. While Logan sat across from me at the table anxiously waiting for the eggs to cool, I couldn't help but think about his very first Easter when he was only five months old. It seemed so long ago, but yesterday at the very same time.

He insisted we remove his shirt before coloring eggs because he didn't want to get it dirty. It took a long time for the eggs to cool.

So we talked about what colors we could pick.....

and drew Easter related pictures on our newspaper lined table.

When it was finally time, he jumped right in. He insisted on helping with all of them and he picked what color each egg should be. He was one happy bunny.

He colored his own egg his most favorite color: PINK.

Easter egg hunts and pictures with the bunny

To celebrate Easter, we went to an Easter egg hunt. Last year we were able to go to one outside, but that Saturday was rainy so we went to the one at my sister's job.



Logan waiting for the hunt to begin

Once he was able to get in there he really got into it. Soon enough, his basket was full!

Later on, he had to chance to get a picture with the Easter Bunny. He was terrified! I don't really blame him. The bunny had seen better days..... This was the best picture I could get.

Logan with my gorgeous cousin