Life captured on my phone.

Sick Days and no TV

isn't he a peach!

Okay, the day after I started our no TV during the week plan (experiment) Jane had a 102.2 fever associated with (of course!) and ear infection.  Unlike N, Jane's temperament is very fussy when she is sick especially with ear issues which meant I was holding her from Thursday till Saturday.  My productivity was very limited (let me also add that because of the ear Jane couldn't lay flat which meant I was holding her for naps too...good cuddle time though.  Gosh I love that girl!).

I say all that to humbly admit that while Jane was sick we did watch TV.  Yep, N and I really couldn't go anywhere or do much, especially when she was sleeping, so we alternated watching Chuck & Friends and Rachel Ray.  At one point I found N in the kitchen with a pot and whisk obviously RR was getting to him. LOL!

But since Saturday we haven't watched TV and I can tell that N is benefiting from the lack of TV.  He isn't nearly as hyper, he's a better listener, speaker and is better at playing with his toys.  I enjoy him more bottom line. I love my kids but when you are constantly telling them to stop that or don't do something it's wearing.

So, far so good.  We are headed to the library to get more books (and I'm very tempted to head to Savers Thrift Store and buy some).  Books have been our friends and so have movie sound tracks (although I'm looking into actually recording just the audio of some of Nolan's fav movies.  Something I had when I was a kids for long car trips).

Do you have any no TV suggestions?

Fireworks and the new deck

I know it's been a least a week since fourth of July but I thought I share some of the pictures from our festivities.  I hope you enjoy. :)

Looking through our pictures I noticed that Nolan makes with face a lot when playing with sparklers.

SEE!  Don't worry it is more joy than fear. probably a good thing.

I know this one is blurry but ISN'T CORA (my niece) A DOLL!!! I never thought being an aunt would be soo fun.

The new deck, in all its glory.

My Brother Joel is a very serious person but every once in a while you can catch his crazy funny side, and here it is!

My Dad (aka Papa Bear) was teaching Cora or maybe he just didn't want to be lit on fire...++

I remember this being incredibly loud, almost like a bomb.  I don't know the name of those things and if I try to I'll just butcher the name like only I can.  ;)

To TV or Not To TV

There is a big hub bub in blog world (or maybe in the whole world) about kids watching tv, playing with electrical devices, etc.  For the longest time I was very wishy washy about it.  I grew up watching TV and I'm fine.  Plus, I am very protective when it comes to what N watches even down to commercials. So, I thought I was doing pretty good, except I can't get the boy to concentrate anymore. And all he wants to do is watch a screen of some sort.  He doesn't want to play with his toys or go outside or READ! 

So, today is the first day of our TV fast and it went pretty good.  Some of his actions I expected: He nagged about wanting to watch TV, play games or even play on my phone.  He also wanted to snack a lot and in our house there is no eating in between meals. But other than that he did well and by the end of the day he only asked once to watch TV.  

I'm really fascinated to see what changes will occur if any in my handsome three & an half year old.  He will be allowed to watch TV on the weekend (Saturday, Sunday),  but during the week no TV.   I'm also quite scared, he is very capable little guy and gets into mischief rather frequently, we'll see if my home survives this.  What I'm going for is a two pronged approach: 1. I'm going to read a lot  (might even write a story about him, if so I'll post it here) & 2. I'm going to help him start imaginary play at times but also leave him to his imagination.   I don't want to get into the trap of trying to entertain him all the time.  I know that he is capable of doing that himself, he just needs to re-learn it.   I keep repeating that in my head, "He is capable of entertaining himself...man I hope he's not drawing on the wall." Ah, pray for us!

Just life

Happy Summer everyone!  We have been enjoying (or avoiding) the warm/ hot weather by going to beach (in Lees Summit), having lots of family get togethers, gardening, picking berries and going to the aquarium.  I'm actually amazed at how busy we have been.  Steve has two long days at work every week and sometimes even works on Saturdays but I've always seemed to find something to do or some one to hang out with; which if you are a stay at home mom you know that is SUCH a blessing and a sanity keeper.    Here are some pictures of what we have been up to.

It rained the other day and since it wasn't thundering any more Nolan got to go out and play.  The words echoing in my head at the time were, "Let him live." hince the pj's

Those super tall plants are Sunflowers, which I am using as trellises for my peas and beans.  N calls them his Jungle.

we planted Purple carrots in the garden this year, so cool! (BTW the inside color is orange)

Our new deck at night, and full of people!  It was finished just in time for the 4th

Look at Baby girl standing, and look at her rolls!!! They are everywhere!

Off to the zoo.

You can barely see him but there is a tiger hiding behind the wall.  When we first started walking towards the exhibit that tiger ran and hid, in the kind of "I'm going to eat you way" not the "Ah I'm scared".  Scared the crap out of Steve and I.  We both stopped in our tracks and thought,"does he know something we don't know?"

But we survived