Random Acts of Kindness

A friend of ours has a new blog called A Little Slice of Happy where she is making a point to perform, and record random acts of kindness - doing something that can be very simple, but with the intention of brightening someone else's day

With her inspiration in mind, we participated today.

Our street was being repaved today. All morning there were work trucks outside our house. The boys loved watching them.
Kevin noticed they were about done and suggested we offer them sodas.

So we took out two kinds of soda and offered it to all of them. Kevin and I were a little embarrassed to ask but they were soooo excited and grateful... you would have thought that we handed them each $20 or something.

I look forward to getting the boys involved in more of these, and encourage others to do so too!

Here's there work truck as they were driving away... drinks in hand

Lego Bridges

I'm sure there are lots of people who make much cooler things with their Legos but I never played with Legos as a child and I have no natural abilities for stuff like this.
Westley asked for a bridge and I was proud of myself for being able to make one. He then joined in and is probably just as good at making them as me.
We got out our cars and guessed which ones would fit under the bridge.
The littlest ones here fit no problem

Dancing to the Drums

There are some neighborhood boys who have a drum set in their garage. When they aren't at school, they drum all the time.
I bet some neighbors might get annoyed by it, but Westley and Will love it.
Tonight we ran some errands and then we were going to come home to do an activity, but they didn't want to come in the door. So instead we danced in the front yard to the drum music.
I got video of it, we'll see if I can figure out how to post it

Swings and Slides

This morning, one of my friend Jessica and her son came over to visit. We took the boys to the playgrounds and swings in our neighborhood.

Westley pushed Will on the swing for the first time

Later in the day, Kevin and I took the boys to the playground at the new Vista Sports Park. The play structures were really nice, and had fun (fast!) slides
This picture cracks me up

And here's Will scared to go down

And I guess I can post this one of me. Kevin was trying to get a picture of me and Will (Will was on my lap)

In the evening we went to Legoland for a few hours and actually had more fun on the slides there in their playtown. I didn't bring my camera there though

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A Show for the Dogs

Friday, Kevin went to a movie with Grandma and Uncle Keith, while the boys and I, and grandma's dog Buck stayed home. Westley felt sorry for Buck that he could not go to the movie, so I told him we could put on a show for him here.
Westley and Will go there microphones and stood on the step of our entryway. Buck layed unenthusiastically but looked like he was paying attention the whole time.

Our cat sat on the stairs and watched as well.

What do I know? Maybe the animals did enjoy watching the 3 of us talk, dance, and sing. (We sang BINGO and Old McDonald, and did skit with animal sounds)

Zingo

This evening we went to Grandma Kathy's house for dinner.

Westley has a game their called Zingo (similar to Bingo, with a Zing!)

Westley, Will and I sat down to play. Will was a little young and cooperated for a bit before he was just getting in the way. Westley was happy when he moved on to something else and Westley and I could play two more games.

This is a fun little game Westley likes operating the little box that puts out the game pieces that are pictures of an object and the written word on it. The first one who calls out the one they need gets it and then, you put it to your Bingo card.

Box says ages 4 and up. 3 year olds who like games could probably play with an adult who can guide them through it.

It's fun little game :)

Shoe Game

Today I introduced the boys to a new game using our shoes. I pulled out a couple of different pairs of each family members shoes, trying to get different colors/styles.

I lined them all up in a row

Then I told the boys to go outside, and I was going to hide one of each shoe. Then, they would come in and find the shoes and put them back with their mate to rematch up all the pairs.

It took Will a few minutes to catch on to where he needed to put a shoe after he found it, but then he caught on and him and Westley both were great at finding the shoes and returning them to match back up the pairs.

We played this many times in a row. I hid shoes, then Grandma, then Westley, then Dad.

Westley still wanted to play more!

I promised we would play again another day

High Five

Westley has a subscription to High Five magazine. It has little stories, poems, hidden picture activities, and some kind of game you can tear out. It gets excited each time a new one comes in a mail, and enjoys reading old ones over again.

After a good, but tiring first day of preschool, Westley enjoyed some calm time on the couch with Dad and a High Five

Just had to include their first day of school picture

Photo Color Scavenger Hunt

Westley has adopted my old digital camera. Today when he asked to use it, I asked him if he could take pictures of everything that was red in our back yard (then we repeated with other colors)
He did a great job finding more things of each color than I even knew we had!

Washing Dishes

The boys got a new thing they like to do... wash the dishes! They actually do a pretty good job!

Do you think they will still be excited to help out when they are 14?

Football with Dad

Saturday we went to a family baby shower at my cousin's house. The kids had a great time playing at the clubhouse pool and large green grassy area.

Kevin was on his game with the kids

Here's the huddle, as he's explaining the play

the passing play

Westley as the kicker!

Swimming at the YMCA

It has finally turned hot enough to truly enjoy going in the cool pool water!
I couldn't get any great pictures as in the big pool it takes us both adults to be in with the two kids.
Westley is able to swim a bit under water and love it.
Will liked to jump in from the side and have us catch him. He doesn't mind going under the water either

Lemon Curd

The boys have helped me juice lemons (which they did again today) and make muffins out of the lemon curd, but for the first time today they helped me make the actual lemon curd.
They helped add the ingredients, turn on the mixer, and Westley helped me keep track of how many minutes it had been in the microwave (as you put in in one minute at a time)

It turned out pretty good. Westley was very excited. He ate some for dinner mixed in with plain yogurt.

Will wasn't as excited, but he didn't make a good judge because he was already super grouchy

In his prayer tonight Westley  said "Dear God, bless me that I will get a lot more lemon curd because I love it" :)

Here's the recipe:

         1 cup white sugar
         3 eggs

         1 cup fresh lemon juice (around 8 lemons)

          zest of 3 lemons

         1/2 cup butter, melted

Makes about 2 ½ jars

Directions

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Then beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in, on low speed, the lemon juice and lemon zest. Trasnfer to a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick - around 8-10 minutes. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars.

Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Will with the Waterhose

Today Will got the hose out, and it was turned on low.
I was going to stop him as I figured him with the hose would equal in everything soaked and with Westley upset.
But, look at his face... I couldn't deprive him of the utter joy he experienced.

So I sat back (as far as I could so I wouldn't get wet... but he did get me at one point)
He did get everything wet... but mainly he got Westley.
Westley was such a sweet big brother! He just smiled and let Will have the hose... never asking for a turn. Will would squirt him and he would just laugh, telling him not to squirt him.

My lesson learned today:
sometimes you find peace where you least expect it

Straw Blowing Bubbles

While drinking a smoothie (which we make at home almost daily) Will discovered that blowing into the cup would make it bubble. I let both boys experiment more with this outside.
I was hesitant on giving them water with dishsoap as I was scared they would drink it. So I first gave them watered down milk, with their choice of food coloring.

 Sure enough first thing Will took a few long drinks through the straw. But then he listened to me on what to do and what we were doing. Westley also drank some as he would try to breathe in with the straw still in the liquid, so I was glad we did this practice round.
Once they both got the hang of it, I gave them water with dish soap. Westley got some big bubbles going!

Cattail Creations

Today at the park they had bushes of cattail plants with the blooming "cattails" Westley was interested in so I explained how they got their name and asked him if he thought they looked like animal tails.

We took some home and the boys made their own creaturish creations with the cattails and some googly eyes.

                       Westley titled this one "1,2,3,4 eyes, 2 tails"

We will not be repeating this activity though as I think the cattails irritated Westley's allergies :(

Lifeguard Play Scene

Today Westley and Dad started building with blocks. Westley called the structure a lifeguard tower. From there, Kevin and I helped him develop a whole play scene.
We had yellow sand and blue water. I searched and found a boat and some figurines (which we don't have many of so I got firefighters to be on the boat and in an inner tube... they were on vacation {but still in their uniforms}) The policeman was on beach patrol, and you can't really see him but there is a lifeguard in the lifeguard tower

Here's a view of the sunset :)

Acting Out A Book

At the parent-teacher conference I had at the end of last school year with Westley's preschool teacher, she asked me if we acted out the story line of books at home.
I looked at Kevin blankly, and had to answer no.
She didn't ask me  if I made up two personalized stories at naptime and bedtime each day, if I provided open ended art activities, If I involved him in cooking almost on a daily basis, if we performed science experiments and engaged in sensory experiments, or if we explored the outdoors and visited different places regularly.
She didn't ask about any of that... she only asked if we acted out books, pretending to be the characters and acting out the story.
So I left with guilt, that I had been depriving him of such experience.
I kinda forgot about it this summer, but school is starting in about 10 days, so when I remembered, I acted on it fast to make sure that this year, I can say, yes, we've done that!

Will was being grouchy so this was just Westley and I. We acted out the story The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

It is about a spider who begins to spin a web. Other animals come by and ask her if she wants to run in the meadow or play with them, but she doesn't answer... she is very busy spinning her web. At the end she catches a fly and then falls asleep- worn out by a day full of spinning the web.

First Westley was the spider, and I was the animals asking her to hang out.
Then we traded roles.

While playing, I found a real dead fly in our window seal, so when I was the spider that caught the fly I got to present a real fly. Westley was amazed by this, and couldn't believe it was a REAL fly.
Gross to be touching it, but I knew he'd get a kick out of that. We washed our hands when we were done

Concert in the Park

This evening I took the boys to the annual concert in the park that is very close to our house.
The boys relaxed, listened to the music and played on the grassy hill. We enjoyed ourselves, even though the music was not that impressive

They especially enjoyed rolling down the hill as they did this morning with Aunt Lisa while we were at Sea World. I didn't get good pictures at the park concert, but here they are at Sea World

This last one shows what they called a double

Traffic Jam

Westley came home today! The first day Will was happy alone, after that, I could tell he missed his big brother! Westley said he missed Will too, even though he was at his neck 5 minutes after he got home.

Westley likes to create what he calls a traffic jam. Usually he shows it to me as a surprise he's made while I was cooking or doing dishes. It usually is a surprise to see.

Today he wanted to make it high, so I agreed to participate. I'm not sure if I'm proud to admit it, but I helped him make this traffic jam

Our favorite part was when he got stuck in his own traffic jam

Dinner Date

Today it was still just Will and I.
We planned to bring dinner to our friend Natalie who just had a baby.
Will helped me cook

(as you can see in the photo things got a little messy)

Will had the chance to play with Katharine who is just a few months older than him. I played with the kids outside so Natalie had 5 minutes to eat her dinner with just one child in her hands.

This was Will's first time on a hammock swing.

This picture cracks me up :)