Full of It

Life has been full of it lately and so are my boys.  Literally and figuratively we've all been up to a bunch of nonsense.  But the fun, this is what life should be full of nonsense. 

Happy meal toys, pajama days, dinosaur capes and escaping about sums up our weekend.  Of course I've got to add in a few good lines from my little buddies:

Cyrus enlightened me in several ways:
Did you know cats from Ohio eat hay?  Me neither, according to Cy this is fact because well, he just knows.  
During a trip to Joann fabrics Sunday we came across the Crayola aisle, Cyrus, " Mommy you should have known better than to take me by this aisle.  You know I can't control myself I love it. "

Sage is non stop and trying out his new extended vocabulary.  We now get dada, mama, nana, papa, b (my mom), dooie (depending on the context my sister or scooby doo)..... and bumpa (great grandpa) taught him this new one: "How Dooo"

My biggest one Sean has been up to it too.  Whatever it might be.  This is what he came home with tonight.  Yes seriously a stack of coffee filters.  The lady at Wilson Farms gave them to him.  

It's a weird phenomenon that boggles both him and me, if you get to know Sean you'll learn people like to give him things and tell him everything.  Yes, again seriously.  He came home with fifty million free coffee filters and way too much information about the cashier who use to live in Detroit and made a bad joke about Sean getting lucky on lotto tickets.  Enough said.   

On another note I ate too many chocolate chip cookies tonight.  In hindsight you remember while cookies might be forgiving your pants aren't.  Pretty sure that's all the wisdom I have for tonight, not that it's going to stop me from eating some more cookies at Jones Bakery tomorrow!

Friday FInds: Painted Stones

I keep seeing these all over pinterest, blogs and othe sites in general.  Painted Stones, whether it's craft store river rocks or ones you've picked up on a long summer walk.... wouldn't these be fun:

 hearts to hide around the house from colormekatie.blogspot.com

story stones from ohdeedoh.com

Monster pet rocks from cocoa bean

Too cute, something to make you smile for the weekend!

Parenting Thursday: Where to Put the Kid's Stuff??

So I am going to assume if you have children sooner than later your house becomes over run with their stuff.  Ours has.  A long time ago the kid's stuff began to out number our stuff and it's slowly but quickly taking over the place!!

When you open the coat closet and things are falling out at you or so jammed packed in there you can't get a thing out, well then you've reached enough.  Here's a look at how I unburied our coat closet that well still holds more kids stuff than coats.  It's a start.

Of course Sage my assistant was in rare form to "help" as usual. 

We picked up this rubbermade organizer at Big Lots I think for around $20.  It needed to house puzzles, coloring books and lots more.

 First up were puzzles.  Cy has a gazillion of them, there must have been 3 dozen little 24 piece puzzles thrown in there.  To save room I cut the picture on the box so he could see the puzzle picture and put it in a ziplock bag with all the pieces.  I saw this idea awhile back somewhere out there in blog land, great way to save room and help keep pieces all in one place.

The rest of the drawers went to house coloring books, worksheets, sticker sheets and  flashcards/ educational toys.

An afternoon, rubbermade container, alot of ziplock bags and.....

 the closet is organized!  The only down side the vacuum cleaner now has to be lifted up over the rubbermade container to get it out.  I will admit to Sean's contentment that yes it is a pain, but I never said I had all the answers.  Nor do I know where you think I am always putting your shoes.  Sorry had to go there!

Snowy Sunday

This post might be a little bit late, as most of the snow outside has turned to green grass over the past two days.  But Sunday we got all bundled up for a beautiful sunny, Sunday in the snow. 

Sage was a trooper and actually left all his snow stuff, gloves, hat ect. on.  Poor kid got a new nick name, Humpy Dumpty, courtesy of big brother.  His snow suit was so puffy he looked like he might just fall over and keep rolling.

And what's the best part of coming in from outside in the snow....

 Hot chocolate with marshmallows of course!

A Weekend of Firsts

We enjoyed a weekend of firsts......
Over 3 months ago I posted:

I have to admit I am one of those parents, moms, that waits and waits to get their baby's 1st haircut. (to my husband: yes you read that right, I said it myself)  There is something so sweet and innocent about those soft little baby locks that you just don't want to give up. 

We (I) finally gave in...

 Sage got his first haircut!  That little stinker sat there good as gold.  He hardly wiggled, was having too much fun in the little car seat they put him in.  He only cried once he was out and Cy's turn came, he wanted back in the seat!

 Cy the old pro (aka he knows he'll get a sucker and a trip next door to the dollar store if he's good)

My big Jones Boy, Sean also got his haircut but this once I will spare him public humiliation on my blog. 

Our other first was for Cy-- First trip to the MOVIES!

With Aunt Dooie and Mommy to see Beauty in the Beast in 3D.

Before the movie: Cy informed my sister she could have some of the M & Ms we got because they are the big bag and they say share on them.  (sharing size M & Ms)

As the movie started, lights went out:

Cy,"Okay now what's going on, oh it's okay I think we are getting started". 

Followed by: "It's Alive!"

About  the middle of the movie: "Mommy..... mommy I'm done now with the movie.  Can we go get a stuffed animal?" (the claw machines at the entrance)

Me, "No Cy I don't have anymore money, watch the movie".

Cy (after about 2 minutes) " Mommy I really don't like it when you are out of money".

And so goes Cy's first trip the movie theatre.  The 3D glasses were a big hit he wore them all the way home, at 6:30 p.m. in the dark.

A good weekend of firsts.......

 

Friday Finds: Top Pinterest Favs

I've been spending way too much time on pinterest.com lately but I figured I'd make use of all those countless hours.... So today's Friday Finds are:

My Top Pinterest Finds this week

Number Concept Bags from Mrs.T First Grade Class Blog

 Alphabet Rocks from Delia Creates Blog

 Huge Play Box Center from Imagination Tree Blog

It's not a Glitter Wand from Pink Pistachio Blog

If you didn't notice I shared two favs for Cy, two favs for Sage..... It's friday just making sure you're paying attention.

One last one for Mom:

etsy.com

Happy weekend!

Parenting Thursday: Organizing the Playroom

I hate to inform you that tonight's post is going to be short and sweet my friends.  I just got my book for book club and I've got to try and get caught up on what's happening on Project Runway Allstars.  Priorities people, tonight has quite the line up.

Their bookshelf that is in between their beds, their growing number of books is taking the place of some of the canvas totes.

So getting to it, this is the second installment of organizing, the boys' room.  After last week's closet organizing post this week we have the playroom, the place all toys are suppose to go (but never actually do).

I've told you I like baskets and things to put things in, and their playroom is prime example of this.  My kids have ALOT of toys, and with the two of them 3 1/2 years apart we have quite the range of items. While Cy might have outgrown something we've left it out or kept it because Sage will be able to play with it soon.

I think it's important to keep things, their toys, organized so they know what they have and actually use it- play with it.  Here's a glimpse into the play room/ place that could be a toy store:

  Love canvas totes and organization racks/shelves you can put them in- like the boy's bookshelf in their room.  We use to have a middle rack but I think the blocks broke it.  Each tote is a different type of toy- potato heads, duplo blocks, super heros ect.

I love these stackable racks I got at Big Lots in the fall when all the college kids were off to school, about $4 for pack of two.  Great to keep toys separated and at eye level.

I already told you I love baskets and I guess we'll add buckets to the list too.  Great for blocks and play food!

And last but not least the good old toy chest and this hanging organizer that we stuff, stuffed animals into to keep off the floor.  The toy chest is stacked with animals to keep my little animal off of it, someone who uses it like a diving board.....

Speaking of Sage, there he is my little organizing assistant!

So that's it the playroom and I do have to say I am a bit embarrassed to show off publicly how many toys my kids have!   We are lucky enough though to have a spare 1/2 room off the boys' bedroom that we can designate as toy land. We're working on Cy to remember something can come downstairs to play with as long as something else goes up.  Usually whatever he can fit in a canvas bag, which I leave on their playroom doorknob.   

Next week is a more recent project, my down stairs coat closet that houses more things that are not coats than coats. 

Toddler Art without the Mess

I came across this on pinterest: no mess toddler painting.  And since we've been trying to include Sage in our art making but we're still trying to get past the fact he puts everything in his mouth- well this was worth a try.

Now if my Art with Baby post was a little too messy for your taste, this is the perfect project for you.  It contains and controls the mess while still letting your baby or toddler explore the art and what paint is. 

Toddler Art Painting in a Bag.  That's right keep the mess of paints and your toddler using the paints all inside a ziplock bag, that you can after throw away or rinse out to use again. 

Cy helped me out with this experiment and even made his own to help show Sage what we were doing.  You'll need:

• Ziplock Sandwich bag
• Paper, I used notecards but would suggest thick paper
• Paint
• Curious toddler

They each got to pick out a couple of colors, crayola washable paints, which I poured onto the notecard.  I then slide it into the ziplock bag.  You could probably put it in the bag and then put the paint in doesn't really matter as long as it's on the paper/notecard.

Zip up the baggie and hand it over to your child.  Sage was pretty excited he got to participate and have his own art materials.  He grabbed right a hold of it and took some time looking at the colors and figuring out how to smoosh them around.

Let your toddler explore and experience things at their own pace with a little guidance if they seem to be getting bored.  We showed Sage how to take your finger and drag the paint around in the baggie.

 Did I mention Sage really liked this project?!

Both kids enjoyed this project and the best thing there was no clean up!  A great, easy art activity that can be done within 10 minutes.  The perfect way to squeeze a little art into your everyday.  When they finished we were all set for lunch! 

 Definitely fridge worthy art!