4th of July

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

This is Jack's second 4th of July, obviously, but he was just shy of 3 months old for the first one so we treated this one as if it was his first. It's so different now that he's walking and sorta talking.

Every year we have a tradition of going to our friend Matt's house with the Thursday crew. We watch Independence Day with the usual drinking game and eat some really good BBQ. But since the holiday was on Monday we decided to get together on Sunday so everyone had a day with family, and let's be honest a day to recover, before heading back to work. This meant we got to celebrate with family and friends this year and make a big splash out of it all. Literally.

Sunday was a lot of fun. We had the usual crowd plus a few new faces; including a little 6 month old who was just too adorable for words. I forgot how small new babies can be. I barely remember Jack being that little :'( . Well we were all standing around in the kitchen anxiously awaiting the delicious BBQ food when I turn around to see that Jack has snagged a cookie from the platter! Now I did have him perched on the counter with my arm around him but apparently my "eyes in the back of my head" sense failed again. But who could stay mad at that for too long?

We topped off the evening with card games and some more drinks. I'm so glad Jack has solidified his place as an honorary Thursday Crew Member. But I think the jury is still out on whether or not it's better than a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Member? I think Mickey might be winning.

Yesterday we went over to Max's parent's house and met up with the Great Grandparents. Jack and I were the only ones to dress up for the occasion but that's not surprising as I am secretly a toddler myself.

We ate more super delicious BBQ and then took a dip in the pool. No we didn't wait an hour, we're rebels. Dare to be different! But nothing beats an evening swim in Phoenix. The sun is down far enough not to burn, the temp is still in the 90s, and the pool is just right. Since we have been doing swim lessons for a year now he has learned to LOVE the water. He's getting so good and he really listens to what I'm saying. He waits until I tell him to jump in and he even floats if he makes it back to the surface before I grab him.

He isn't always gentle with his jumps though. And one got me pretty good :)

He always makes up for it though with a great smile and some kisses....sorta ;)

After drying off and lounging around the house a little it was time for fireworks. We usually never get to do them so I made sure this year we did a few. Jack isn't big enough / Mom isn't brave enough to have Jack hold his own sparkler but I think he got a kick out of seeing them. I also forgot that they kind burn! My arms are still a little burny and singed lol :)

It was such a fun holiday and a great long weekend. I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!

Grandma's 80th Birthday!

A few weekends ago Max and I made the long drive to San Jose, CA for my Grandma's 80th Birthday! She has been talking about the "big" birthday for months so I knew we had to make it special.

I put myself in charge of the decorations and my mom made up the menu. I had everything ordered and delivered to my parents house days before so we didn't have to do any last minute running around. I went with a pink, gold, and white theme. My Grandma loves pink and who doesn't love a little gold sparkle ;).

As you know from our other adventures and trips we like to leave for the voyage in the evening/night. That way we skip a lot of traffic and Jack can sleep the whole time. With Jack being a bit older and really stuck in his routine we decided to leave super close to his usual 8:00 bed time so we ended up leaving around 7.

Jack surprisingly didn't do so well. Now of course it could of gone worse, he wasn't screaming, he wasn't crying, he didn't even really whimper. He just sorta stayed awake. He would whine a little but he mostly just talked and stared out the window quietly. I felt bad because I knew he must have been exhausted but what can you do? During one of our gas stops I decided to get him out and stretch his legs. I stood him up in the driver seat and he just collapsed he was shaking and his head was darting all around. We think he was just too stressed by his new surroundings that he seemed to get the shiver shakes and that's why he wasn't sleeping. I felt terrible. All my first-time-mommy thoughts were settling in. But eventually around 2AM he fell asleep and we got to my parents house around 5AM. He even stayed asleep as we carried him in and he didn't get up that morning until around 9.

It was a very weird and difficult drive this time. I think next time we'll go back to our old method and hope for the best :).

Our first few days there were just days to relax and spend with the family. No one has seen Jack walk yet so that was the big show stopper. He's so little and so cute who wouldn't want to just sit around and watch him?! The weather was so nice why we were there, especially compared to Phoenix, so we spent almost all day every day outside on the patio.

Being Grandparents my parents went out and bought a toy for Jack to play with while he was there. They had gotten rid of most of our toys and the only ones they kept weren't really for Jack's age group. So they bought this really cool race track that Jack fell in love with. It was so simple for him to use and he picked it up right away. But more importantly it was actually a lot of fun the adults too ;). We may have played with it more than he did, but o'well.

That Saturday was the big day! I spent all morning decorating the house. I put out a pink flower table cloth with a gold sequin runner, strung up 80 pictures, hung a gold sparkly birthday banner, stuck up a "What happened in 1936" poster from Etsy, and sent my sister out to fill up the white and gold polka dot balloons and pick up a giant gold 80 balloon.

It all came together perfectly. Except when my mom "eyes in the back of my head" sense failed and Jack took all the baggies out of the box and put them on the floor :)

Even my Aunt and Uncle from Oregon got to come down for the special occasion. We all missed my cousins and especially my new little 4 month old second cousin? Cousin once removed? Whatever. My cousin's baby! But my aunt and uncle brought plenty of pictures and videos. The day was so special for my grandma. We had all her favorite foods including the infamous homemade ice cream and hot fudge.

I can't express my love for my grandma enough. She was always there for me even though she lived 10 hrs away in Oregon. She always made it a point to listen to anything and everything I had to say as if it was the absolute most important thing she had ever heard. She never doubted me and always thought my best was good enough. She beamed with pride and excitement whenever I showed her a new gymnastic trick or new dance move ;). And when she called to say hello she never rushed me off the phone or asked for my mother. She always made it seem as if I was the only one she called to talk to. She never dismissed me or pushed me aside. She always made me feel special. She is my grandmother and I hope I did her big birthday proud.

Here's to the next one Grandma!!

Edible Finger Paint

Jack is finally at the age where he loves to explore and touch everything! There are no more super secret adult hiding places. The DVDs will never be the same again.

All that being said I wanted to let him explore and create without chasing after him. I wanted him to be able to get messy and let his inner, and in his case outer, child free. So I scoured the internet for way to make edible finger paint. The top two most common ways was either 1) flour, salt, baking soda and water heated on the stove and then cooled or 2) yogurt.

Can you tell which one I went with? Yes the one ingredient wonder! I wanted something smooth and easily squished but that was also thick enough to play in without being runny. And since this was our first attempt the easier the better.

I used plain yogurt. Not even vanilla. How RUDE, right?! Wrong! This paint is obviously still edible but if you have ever tried plain yogurt you might question that fact. It's not very tasty and a little tart. That way Jack could eat it if that's what he wanted but it would at least discourage such behavior so he will eventually learn not to eat it. Which apparently only worked so-so.

Well our experiment started out rocky. I went to the store and got everything that morning, poor planning. We got home and I started prepping. I got the yogurt out and began mixing in the food coloring. I wanted it to be really vibrant so I added two drops instead of the recommended one drop. Really we're recommending drops?! Well I recommend 2 drops. Take that internet!

By the time I was done stirring and almost ready to go Jack started to get hangry. Yes angry and hungry, of course, perfect timing. So I scooped him up and plopped him in the high chair with a snack.

But my mom-brain was still turning; "you can't leave yogurt out on the counter! And who knows how long Jack will take eating. Better put that in the fridge." Mistake #1.

While Jack was eating I laid out the paper on the back patio and duck taped it down. I was planning on basically putting enough paper to cover the majority of the patio. But that was difficult and I figured probably over kill. So I kept it to about a 5'x4' section. Mistake #2

After Jack was done eating I undressed him, because duh, and put on my own swim suit. Because messy kids gravitate towards a clean mother like stink on...well you know.

This what you look like when you think your husband is taking pictures of the baby. Ignore my baby belly.

Then I grabbed all the "paint" from the fridge and headed out. Mistake #3

How mistake #3 played out : Well trying to hold onto a squirmy almost naked toddler, opening a sliding glass door, and balancing 4 tupperwares full of yogurt is not easy. Of course I dropped them and yogurt went everywhere! By the way isn't that the point of Tupperware?! To be able to survive dropping! Well this one wasn't obviously. Luckily only one exploded so we still had the other three and most of the last one. Note paper towels in above photo. Fail. But this made Jack cry because I was yelling at the dogs because they came running to lick up the mess which then made them messy and my screaming only made them run around with yogurt paws. It was a hot mess and not the cute baby mess I was looking for.

How  mistake #1 played out : So I plopped Jack down on the paper, wiped the dogs off with a paper towel and pushed them back inside to deal with later. In my attempts to calm Jack down I put some of the colors in piles in front of him and dipped his hand in so he could get a feel for it. He did not like it. "Why? Babies love messes." Well maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were freezing. In my attempts to not have spoiled yogurt I had forgotten that the fridge also makes things cold. And as we all know from generally being alive getting cold things smooshed all over your hands, feet and belly is not fun. Remember that ultra sound jelly? Think that but in super fun colors...he didn't think that made it better either.

How mistake #2 played out : After a little while it warmed up and he got more into it; but never fully. He of course came over to pull up on my shoulders and legs and got me covered which was my one triumph since I had appropriate attire on. I will say though it was mighty cold and I felt so bad that I didn't just leave it out on the counter. This activity was "planned" to last 30ish minutes. It was more like 5-10. He was over the cold mess pretty fast and wanted off that stupid paper and onto the dusty dirty patio. Speckled dirty yogurt hands, every mom's worst nightmare was coming true.

Keeping him on the tiny paper section was not easy.

He still had some fun, especially getting a handful and then clapping so it splattered everywhere. It was so adorable. And that goofy smile made all of the shenanigans worth it.

All in all it was mostly a failure sprinkled with giggles and learning, which I guess isn't all bad. I will definitely try it again but with a few changes ;).

Toddler Busy Board

While my parents were in town I thought it would be the perfect time to get crackin' on Jack's busy board.

I planned and bought everything for this project months ago but never "found" the time. Which basically means I was lazy. But with reinforcements in town it helped kick my butt into gear.

I bought this pre-cut MDF board at Home Depot for something like $15. I didn't want to spend a whole ton of money so I knew I wasn't going to stain, paint, or do anything else to the board before hand. So I spent the time picking the right piece. One that wasn't scratched, marked, chipped, etc. I also noticed that some were kind of a reddy color which would lessen the cheap MDF look, so that's what I got.Then I just roamed the isles until I found all the other add on pieces. That was actually a lot of fun. I took Jack with me and we touched all different kinds of things before I decided on what I really wanted.

Then everything sat in a bag under my bed for a month. Because obviously :)

But once the reinforcements showed up I figured my excuses weren't going to cut it anymore. So my dad and I took over the back yard while my mom was on baby duty, she was so disappointed haha ;)

First I laid out all the pieces so I knew where I wanted them to go. Then I traced all the screw holes and drilled pilot holes. Then I screwed everything in! I left matching pieces; like the other side of the bathroom stall lock or chain lock till the end so I knew they would match up.

The eye hooks were a little more tricky since I was fully convinced I only had one drill bit which wasn't quite big enough. Later I obviously found out that I had a whole set like an adult but o'well. We just drilled our pilot hole and used pliers to twist the hook in. It worked fine but was slightly more work than it would have been otherwise. Thanks dad!

But everything actually came together quite nicely and it was super easy! Picking out what I wanted on the board was the hardest part. We don't have a super prominent place to put it so sometimes he forgets that it's there but when he does notice it he seems to like it. I think he'll like it more and more as he gets older and can really start playing with the combination lock and working all the different pieces. Right now the light and wheel are his favorites.

See below for details on each activity; maybe you can get some inspiration!

TOP LEFT :

• Push Light : I bought this at Home Depot as part of a two pack. On the back there is a hole for a nail head. I used a screw since all of our nails were too long and I didn't want it pointing out the back. This means though that it's not 100% secure. It shifts and moves. You could use adhesive (see details for the egg timer) but then you wouldn't be able to change the batteries once it was dead, which I really wanted to be able to do.
• Egg Timer : It was actually really difficult to find one! I wanted an old school one with large numbers and a front face dial. Most of the ones now are "modern" and twist all the way around or are funny shapes, etc. I ultimately found this one at Walmart in the clearance section. I used adhesive to bond it to the board. This one didn't have a back so I just put the adhesive on the edges and went for it. So far it's stayed in place! Jack uses it to pull up to get to the light so it's pretty strong!
• Door Knocker : I think this is technically a drawer pull. I wanted a old school ornate knocker but they are expensive! Over $20! So I found this which serves the same purpose. And since the board was a reddy color I wanted all the metals to be silver so they would pop and stand out. Most old knockers are gold or black. But this works great. It makes quite a loud bang but who cares!

BOTTOM LEFT :

• Bathroom Lock : I think there's a real name for this but let's be honest the only place you see these really is the bathroom stalls. This is probably the least used since he doesn't really understand it yet but he'll learn. I attached one side first and then "locked" it and marked the holes on the other side. That way I knew I got it lined up right.
• Telephone : This was also really hard to find now-a-days. I wanted a phone with push buttons and a cord, that way it wouldn't get lost around our house. I found this one at GoodWill for a few bucks. It even has caller ID! I attached this the same way I attached the light. I used screws that had large enough heads to fit the nail holes. There is one at the top and the bottom so it's more secure than the push light which only has one. He doesn't really use it too much, which is surprising because he loves his purple play phone but it is a tad heavy. He does love to play with the cord though :)
• Zipper : I had this zipper around from an old sewing project so it was free but you can get one from your local fabric/craft store for under $10. Make sure to get a large one like for coats, jeans, jackets, etc. so it's easy to pull. You could use an invisible zipper but really? I just used a staple gun and attached both ends to the board.

TOP RIGHT :

• Combination Lock : I got this at Home Depot and used an eye hook (think that's what it's called) to attach it. You could also put adhesive on the back but then it wouldn't come off if they got it right. I know this might be dangerous one day but it seems more satisfying when you can take it off :). I drilled a pilot hole (as you already know it was too small) and used pliers to twist it in. I also plan to write the combination above the lock so help Jack learn numbers.
• Hook Latch : There are actually two of these. One vertical and one horizontal. This was attached the same way the combo lock was but since they are smaller the pilot holes worked fine.
• Chain, Drawer pull, Claw Clasp : This one was probably the most complicated but it turned out just how I wanted it to in the end. I wanted something that made some great noise but that also taught Jack some motor skills. I came up with this chain idea. I was originally going to attach the chain to the hook at the top but I didn't plan correctly and I bought chain with no openings and I don't have cutters. So I bought two carabiner type things and attached one to either end. Well one exploded and I lost the spring. So that left me with one. So I looped the chain through the hook and used my one remaining carabiner to attach the claw clasp. Then I drilled holes for the drawer pull and attached it. Now Jack can clang the chain or use the clasp and hook it onto the drawer pull.

BOTTOM RIGHT :

• Chain Lock : I attached this the same way as the bathroom lock. I marked and screwed in one side then "locked" it and marked and screwed in the other side so I knew it would work. I also placed it high enough that the chain doesn't it the floor, because that seemed annoying.
• Hook Latch : same as the other one except horizontal. Also high enough not to hit the ground.
• Caster : Jack loves to smack things to make them move so I knew wheels were going to be vital. This one is vertical so he can smack it down or up. It's also pretty small so it doesn't take up much room or take much effort to spin.
• Door Stop : The reason for this seems pretty obvious ;). I put it at the bottom because that seemed most natural and it's in easy reach no matter how he gets there.

MIDDLE :

• WHEEL : OMG this took forever to narrow down. I really wanted a steering wheel. Kind like this one. But it was just too big for the board. So I landed on a lawn mower wheel. Who knew they even sold those?! It was the perfect size and thick enough for Jack to grab hold of and spin since it didn't have any holes in the center like a steering wheel. I used a bolt a large screw and a few washers to attach it. Basically I drilled a hole, added a few washers, then the wheel, then a few more washers then put the screw threw the middle of it all. That way it can spin without rubbing against the wood.

All in all it came out PERFECTLY! I can't wait for Jack to really get into it and start maneuvering all the different locks. Right now he loves the light more than anything. And watching him play with the door stop is hilarious! Instead of giving it a good smack he every so gingerly pokes it and it doesn't even make a sound. I never thought I'd be on my hands and knees teaching my baby how to properly smack a door stop :).