Beautiful

I must admit, I don't like having pictures of myself. For a while, I found myself avoiding the camera. I was always with my kiddo, but I was always behind the camera. 

 Then I realized, that it didn't matter if I didn't feel beautiful, my little guy deserved to have lots of pictures with his mom.

 He thinks I'm beautiful just the way I am.

 I think he is completely great too. Our relationship is beautiful.

.And that is what I want to remember.

Gift Guide Advice from a Four Year Old

These next couple of weeks, just for fun, I am going to share a couple of different gift guides. It is a departure of sorts from the usual business around here, but since we are busy writing letters to Santa, I figured I would share. 

First up this week, here are just some of the things my kiddo requested from the man in the red suit. 

1. Music! Logan has a wide variety of likes when it comes to music. He loves everything from Katy Perry to Bob Marley. He also adores all sorts of kids music. One album I won't mind playing during car rides is The Fresh Beat Band, Volume 2. We have seen them in concert twice. The tunes are catchy, and you might find yourself humming their songs!

2. Playmobil- The kiddo is on a horse kick. He adores anything pony, horse, or unicorn related. I really like how detailed Playmobil toys are and they can provide for hours of pretend play. There is a gigantic selection of toys and you are very likely to find a toy that sparks your child's interest. 

3. Squishy Baff- Any type of sensory play is always a win with the kiddo. He's hoping for the pink version, since it's his favorite color and pink makes everything better times a thousand. 

4. Horses, horses and more horses! As I mentioned before, Logan adores horses. If he had his way, Santa would be bringing him a real horse, but I'm afraid that might be too big for Santa's sleigh and our yard. Instead, he is requesting the Melissa and Doug horse stable, and to add to his collection of My Little Ponies. 

5. New building stuff. My little guy loves to build with blocks. I love the versatility of the toy as they can truly be anything you want, but he doesn't have enough for his elaborate building plans these days.

6. Hot Wheels- My kiddo developed a very sudden interest in Hot Wheels. He has a couple of wall tracks that he received for his birthday, but he would like to have some that he could build himself and bring to places when we visit. 

7. Littlest Pet Shop- My little guy adores animals, and he can play all day long with his Littlest Pet Shop toys. He is always adding these to his sensory bins and play dough play. These little toys make a great stocking stuffer. 

Other things that are still hot ticket items for my guy are anything Smurf or Minnie related, books, and art supplies.

 What toys are your kids wishing for these days?

Spaghetti Painting

Do you ever have plain left over spaghetti? I always over estimate how much uncooked spaghetti I will need and I end up with a pasta explosion. Rather than chuck the spaghetti or let it sit in my fridge for a couple of days, and then throw it away, I decided to set up a painting experience for Logan. I simply used the squeeze bottles of paint and squished some into the bowls and swirled it around. 

I thought Logan would be timid at first, but he dug right in and placed the spaghetti on the paper. At first he carefully placed a few strands here or there, but by the end he was grabbing handfuls and squishing the pasta down onto the paper.

He made numerous prints and each one was unique. Next time I think we will use this technique to make our own wrapping paper. 

Stuff my kid says #23

Logan: Mom, when you come back in from taking Teddy outside, we can talk about how much I love you!

Pumpkin Face Game

Halloween's over, but we can still talk about pumpkins, right? On Halloween, Logan had a friend over and they played a game to create these jack-o-lanterns. They simply grabbed an eye, nose, or mouth out of the bucket and then glued it onto their pumpkin. 

For some reason they each chose a pumpkin and stuck with it. You could also play the game so that they can stick a feature on any pumpkin or complete one pumpkin at a time.

Some came out quite silly, and the kids loved the game!