Root Beer Floats and Tents

You know those things in life that remind you of a memory, and then that memory leads you to others, related, but not in any specific order, kind of like dropping an envelope of photos on the floor.  These are some of the things that do that to me.

When I think of Root Beer Floats I think of when the ice storm hit and we lost power at Crowder and had to go to MSSU, they have a late dinner time when the dinning hall is open and the whole crowder group would gather, a bunch of us making root beer floats.

That makes me think of escaping with a group of friends and ending up a few random places one of which being the tattoo parlor, and watching my then boyfriends roommate Kevin, who is now my husband get his first tattoo.

A trip to Taco Bell, Swinging on the swings outside the cafeteria at the college, and about 20 other things.  Kevin was out of town for a work thing the beginning of this week and when he got back we made root beer floats.

Tents always remind me of the camp outs I have gone to in the past, small things like being terrified of the cows wondering around in the dark when I was younger, running around the campfire playing keep away with Uncle Bob's hat, glow sticks, rainy days, pixy stix, and spook walks.  In a word, family.

There are so many other things,  but right now I am tired, my sick and clingy baby is finally asleep and I should really start cleaning the kitchen and working on laundry now.  I hope you have an amazing weekend.

Activity!

I am so excited that it is supposed to be in the 50's tomorrow, we may go to the park.  I never really thought about how hard it is to entertain a toddler until I had one but oh my gosh, her attention span is shorter than mine and trust me that is saying something.

Last weekend, Dravyn had Christmas number two, because we hadn't seen my side of the family since before Christmas, so of course she was playing with some of her new toys, her favorites are the helicopter her Grummy got her, and the tunnel tent her grandparents got her.

But anyone with a toddler knows, toys only keep attention for so long. So what do you do when you don't have shiny new toys for them to play with?

Getting outside is always a hit, but not always the most practical, depending on how cold/hot/wet/snowy the weather is.  Dravyn loves playing in her sand box, chasing the cats, playing in gravel/pebbles, or just roaming the yard until finding a seemingly random place and flopping down on her back for a few seconds to look at the sky.

Anyway, coloring is great and she loves it.  She however looses interest quickly in crayons, but throwing in the occasional closely monitored pen drawing session, or colored pencil time is a huge hit.  The other day it lasted thirty minutes before she started drawing on things other than the paper! That is a huge improvement over the 5 minutes it usually takes.

Last week we played in bubbles.  I got two bowls one slightly larger than the other, put just a little soap in the smaller bowl with water, and gave her a couple measuring cups to play with.  This was a huge hit, and if you put some towels under the whole area, it basically is self cleaning, just rinse everything and pick up the towels when you are done.

 

 

Another hit is self contained painting in plastic baggies.  Just put a little paint of a couple different colors in a plastic bag and tape it to the window (use tape on all sides if your child is anything like mine and likes to pull on things a lot).

 

A really good thing about the Internet is the ability to make friends with other people all over the country and even the world.  One of those people that I am lucky to now call a friend posted a blog post over this same topic this week, and has some other really great ideas.  A bunch of us all did the window paint activity, and that is the first one on her post, but keep reading, because there are several other activities she covers.  I can't wait to find some play-doh.

 

Please check out her blog post here http://mycrazyamericandream.blogspot.com/2013/01/sensory-play-for-toddlers.html

 

I hope to have a wonderful weekend with my family, and hope you do the same.

What mothers are....

Mothers are shoulders to cry on and a pillow all rolled into one.

Mothers are unpaid housekeepers,

turning this....

into this over and over and over.

Mothers are rule enforcers,

They are friends to play with,

And personal hygiene assistance (aka: we change diapers, wipe buggers, and other nasty things).

Mothers are costume designers,

And chefs, (OK maybe I personally should go with the title cook, nothing fancy around here)

Mothers are photographers on special days, and all the days in between,

They are nurses,

and helpers,

Mothers are cheerleaders,

they are teachers,

and they are students, because being a mother teaches you so much.

Mothers are......   pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.

Christmas 2012

The last couple of weeks have flown by and as I was looking through pictures and getting ready to write this post one thing kept coming to mind.  I just can't believe how much difference a year can make.


Last year, well I guess year before last now, December 2011.

This years Christmas photo. Yes I know I put it in the last post also, but seeing the two pictures together really shows the difference.


Christmas was a lot of fun this year.  It included all the classic holiday situations the house was crowded, children were running everywhere, we ate too much, someone ended up at the ER, along with going to Christmas church service, Christmas P.J.'s, opening gifts, laughing and togetherness.  It was all as it should be.

Dravyn's favorite Christmas gift was a vacuum the same color as mine.  She loves the thing and "helps" all the time now.

The day after Christmas we took family pictures, and said goodbye as family members went back home.

She is really into sticking her tongue out lately.

The whole gang.

The fur babies wanted in on the camera love too.

That day we also took down the tree and re-arranged the furniture while Dravyn slept, I like keeping the tree up longer, but I feared for the ornaments, the days of Dravyn staying out of the tree are over.  We hung out the next few days, had a Home Improvement marathon, and we Dravyn played with our her new stuff.  Of course I got sick, and was sick for about a week just starting to feel better yesterday
and I think I am back to normal today.

It snowed right around the New Year, and it made me so happy, I just love snow, plus Kevin stayed up with me until midnight New Years Eve, so I got a kiss, and drank some sparkling grape juice.

I am so lucky to have a husband and a daughter that I love so much.  I truly feel blessed, and am so excited to start a new year with them.  In this calendar year I will be celebrating my 5 year wedding anniversary, I suppose I will be trying to potty train Dravyn, hopefully Kevin and I will get to go to another NASCAR race, I really want to take Dravyn to the zoo for the first time, and work on my business.  But more importantly I hope this year is full of laughter, smiles, and hugs, and I hope to recognize, appreciate, and remember those moments.

I hope your holiday season was wonderful.