How we played: DIY bubbles, son!

Easiest thing ever. I wish I had looked it up sooner, but I guess it's one of those things you pin and never look back on? But once Whit became a bubble addict, I had to do something 'cause the store bought stuff ain't cheap, sister!

1/2 c Dawn
2 c water
2 tsp sugar

Combine and boom! you're done. So far it's worked great and keeps easy in a mason jar in the closet.

And works in every bubble thing we own: big bubble wands, little bubble wands, and bubble guns. Except the big Fubbles pot we bought, it's just as annoying with this as anything else. Don't waste your money! Bite the bullet, be a lazy mom and buy a decent bubble gun. Your lungs will thank you!

Also:

Just don't do it. That sucker gave us two bubbles and was done. I knew better. I had read reviews, but fell into the "but it's so cute" and "surely a Fisher-Price thing would work" traps. Trust me, it's crap, don't buy it! 

Spend that money on a bubble bazooka! :-)

Seriously

A week? It's been a week since I've written?! That's crazy, but I guess time flies when you're having fun. And this past week has definitely been fun. So let's see...

A certain someone in our house has inherited his mother's love of water, sun and dirt:

This look is as I'm telling him to not eat dirt. 

And below was right before I took him in yesterday. He had thrown dirt all over himself and the water table and played in the water so he was filthy, wet and thoroughly pleased. I, on the other hand, was trying all day to get dirt off his privates thanks to the event.

No joke, this kid does something every day to crack me up. When we were playing with the hose, I was trying to figure out why the thing leaks like crazy. I had taken the trigger off and Whit found it, took it to the hose end, tried to put it on and when he couldn't, he just stood there yelling "hey!" and pointing at the pieces. 

Let's see... then I shot a commercial for my old job. Which meant I found my new glasses, dagnabit!

Cute, right?! 

Then this past weekend was just chill and nice. We ate out Friday night with Ben's mom and stepdad. Saturday was spent getting Whit some new shoes, which he LOVED. (PS- double check the folks at Stride Rite. We normally go to a local place, and when this lady measured Whit's feet she got 6.5. Wellll, he was growing out of some 7.5's. I had to convince her to give us 8's! I think poor kid might have my flat, wide feet.) Then we went to Whole Foods for some Kind bars, which we're kind of addicted to right now. See what I did there? ;-) Anyhoo, they were having tons of samples and crafts for older kids. And I found what my Mother's Day breakfast was going to be...

Strawberry cream scones with lemon-lavender glaze. Oh sweet baby Jesus it was delicious! It's got me thinking about starting to bake again. I've always loved it, but I don't do it much since most of the things I make are terrible for you. Maybe I should work on my late-night bakery idea...

Oh and remember that plant I'm glad I didn't pull out?

Uh yeah, look at the gorgeousness!

And here's a gratuitous shot of my fuchsia...

Mother's Day was nice and exciting and interesting. But that's another post for sure!

Then yesterday I went to a flower arranging workshop at Whole Foods. It was too awesome a deal. For $10, you get snacks, glass of wine and take home your bouquet. It was fun and I enjoyed the fellow teaching it, James. He talked about his passion for flowers and I totally understood what he meant. The other ladies I was with seemed to not get it, but we creative folks understand each other, ya know?

Me, my bouquet, and James

My friend Kim's bouquet, her MIL and flowers and MIL's friend with hers

The other ladies I was with got a little frustrated with their bouquets and the "no rules" philosophy, but I rather liked mine and it was the first try. Maybe I need to look into floral arrangements? Ha!

Not bad, right?

So it's been an exciting week! And this one is shaping up to be similar. We had gym this morning, a playdate tomorrow and Franklin's Touch-a-Truck is Friday. Plus I have to be off book for rehearsals tonight (yeah, right). I'll just go and work on those lines now...

Gardening and Shopping (sort of)

Today was spent going to our first gymnastics class and it was... interesting. Whit loved it and I guess that's what matters. I thought there would be some structure to it or none at all, but it was a weird mix of the two and no explanation of what we were supposed to do where. But one thing Whit and I both understood well was the foam pit. He frickin' loved it and I was trying really hard to not climb up the inflatable mountain and swan dive into the sucker. Alas, I have no pictures from this morning. I'll try to sneak some in next week. Instead here's what we've been up to lately...

Finally got to clean up the front flower bed a little and add the hostas I got for $1 a piece. Here's the before (and this is after I had already weeded about ten minutes)...

And after... 

I'm hoping to come across some cheap or free edging on Craigslist. Since we aren't planning on staying in this house for very long, I've become a cheapskate about upgrades.

Here's the view from the sidewalk, before:

And after...

The tough thing about landscaping at a new house is not knowing what in the world is in your flower beds. About a month ago I wasn't sure what this was and thought it might be a huge weed. But at the last house I made that mistake with a cute phlox and decided to wait. And am I glad! Not only is it not a weed, but I'm pretty sure it's a peony that's going to bloom any day now. I love the smell of peonies, but have never managed to keep one alive, so I'm thrilled!

Still not sure about whatever is growing to its right, though...

And yesterday we visited the local Wal-Mart (wah wah wah). Normally I don't give them money, but I needed something that I could only get there or 20 minutes away. Since it was only one thing we were after I let little man do whatever he wanted and wander the store.

Of course the Jeeps were a big hit. He owns a mini four wheeler at home and will barely touch the thing, but he hopped into every. one. of. these. cars. All twelve of them. He would turn the wheel, say "vroom vroom" and when nothing happened he'd crawl into the next one. 

Of course we also had to try on rolls of tape and call them hats. I really didn't understand that one, but it was hilarious. I'm sure people think I'm nuts letting my kid do whatever while I'm laughing at him. 

And we visited with the fish. Which ended with Whit pulling down that bottom part of the display on himself. Thankfully he was more shocked than scared and didn't care. And what's a visit to the twuck department without a ride in a princess jeep? I seriously think his favorite color will be pink, he's always gravitating to it. 

Oh I'm dreading school getting out. It occurred to me the other day that then we'll be sharing these places with a bunch of older, more rambunctious kids. And we might even have to share the adoring looks we get from older customers with other children! Outrageous! 

It's amazing how a trip to the store is so much more interesting with a toddler. The world really is their playground and they don't even need that much to be entertained. For instance, we also talked about the different color spray paints, spun wheels on the bikes, felt fabric, looked in mirrors, sniffed plants and waved at most every smiling face we came across.

Today

We went to a new yoga studio. That offers child care--hallelujah! They also have kiddo classes for when Whit gets a tad older. Which I'm excited about! He already copies me in a few poses, mostly downward dog. So last night I was looking on YouTube for toddler yoga and found this: http://youtu.be/bUqk5l8_sz8

I absolutely love this chick for posting this. I get it. All of it and I want to hug her. 

Anyway, Whit was not so interested in the real yoga and instead made our ottoman a car track. Complete with vroom's and go's. So stinkin' adorable. 

Oh and remember I said those chores were working out? Today we refilled the bird feeder. What up, fine motor skills! 

Ketchup

If you're not a fan of Prairie Home Companion, just ignore that title. 

Anyhoo, in the past month or so we've...

Children = free labor.

Well, at least cheap labor. This wasn't funny when I was a teenager and my mom was making us mow the lawn or wash dishes, but I have seen the light. Yesterday at our mom's group Mimosa Monday (Which, by the way, included my first mimosa and my God, they're delicious. How do we not wake up every morning with mimosas?!) one of the moms was talking about chores little kids can do. Whit was one of the youngest there, but she said to google chores and his age and she guaranteed something would come up. So here's some of the options for a 19-month-old

Water plants. Okay, I'm down once we start planting things. I plan on us spending a lot of time outside anyway, since it's more my natural habitat.

Put books on shelf. Hardy har har! I've been trying for a while, but it just turns into a game of him pulling them out and me putting them back. Until I give up and we have books all over the floor for a week.

Put toys in toy bins. Whit is kinda into this. Although last week when my friend Amanda and her son Pierce visited, Whit took a bunch of toys out and promptly put them all back without being asked. Whoa, who are you and what have you done with my toddler?

Place groceries on conveyor belt. Hmmm, this seems feasible and like it would keep him calm in the buggy. Whit loves pushing the buggy himself, which I'm cool with, but most other shoppers aren't thrilled with a mysteriously self-propelled cart running them over.... while I try not to laugh. 

Put away clothes. Um, no. I'm too OCD for this, sorry.

Put wet laundry in the dryer. Done and done.

Though occasionally we get distracted with that nifty light button...

Feed dog. Tried this for the first time this morning. First bowl of food was fine, the dogs even gave him some space. Bowl #2 wasn't even close. So the dogs and Whit spent a few minutes picking up/tasting/eating what fell. I let you imagine who did what.

Pull weeds. Oh yeah, this is also happening once we can go outside.

Put dirty clothes in laundry basket. Okay. No problema.

Put dirty dishes in the sink. Uhm, not sure how. Sink is way taller than him and only he owns plastic dishes.

Help cook and prepare simple meals. Whoa, let's slow our roll here a bit. The original blogger was talking about making pizza together and that sounds doable. But I'm not sure what other meals he could help make.

And let me just add my own:

Resident Artist. In the past month Whit has started to enjoy coloring with having to eat the crayons and boy have I put that to use! First we made Valentine's for some of the family.

I borrowed Whit's notebook and cut out some heart shapes and popped them in an envelope. Boom! Valentines for the relatives that don't see him often. And bonus, I can use his drawings instead of feeling guilty that I'm not keeping. every. single. one.

And today I used a sheet to make a dry erase board for the kitchen:

Originally I was just going to put some scrapbook paper in there, but thought why not use some of Whit's art? So when we're not using it for notes, it will still make me smile. And I love he tried a new technique for the first time and it just happened to be on the sheet I was going to use!

Any chores that you suggest a young toddler try?

Saw this at a children's clothing store...

?!?!?!?!

Just when I was thinking about having another child, the cutesy children's store in town taunts every woman's worst nightmare. WTF?!