An interview with Z Step

Today is Z Step's half birthday.  In honor of that, I decided to snap a few photos and give him a mini interview.  I had seen the idea on pinterest numerous times, but always felt like he was a bit too young for them.  Today I learned that he is absolutely old enough now.  I hope to continue these every 6 months.  We had a ton of fun with these questions.  He was laughing and telling me funny things about each question.  I can't wait to see how they change in the years to come.  

While doing this interview, I learned so much about my child.  I already knew that he loved grapes, and he has been telling me his favorite color is green for 2 months now.  I wonder how many times that will change before he turns 4?  

I am pretty sure that the only reason he said that Mommy was the coolest person on earth was because I was asking the questions.  Usually when I ask who he loves he answers with all of our names.  He doesn't choose favorites.  Though if I am asking him to do something he usually runs to Daddy, and visa versa.  

I was fascinated that he said firetrucks are his favorite toy.  He has this huge firetruck that he chases the dog around the house with.  It was packed with our things in May, and he hasn't seen it since.  We haven't talked about it either.  I can't believe he still remembers.  I hope I didn't get rid of it during the move.  I really hate when he chases the dog around the house with that thing.  He usually runs my feet over in the process.  

When he answered that he made messes as a baby I couldn't stop laughing.  For one, he was never much of a messy boy.  He must see his brother making messes and think he did that too.  Now, when his brother makes a mess (dumping all the legos out) Z Step gets mad and yells at him.  It is quite funny.  He usually cleans up after him, and then when he does it again he cries.  

Z Step is obsessed with his space book right now.  It is an advanced book for his age, but he loves learning about the planets.  His favorite is Saturn because it has rings that are icy.  He also loves learning about Neptune, which is the windiest planet.  He opens the book and points to all the planets and tells me about them.  I will teach him more about space in the future.  

When I asked what he wanted to be when he got bigger, I thought he would give me an occupation.  I was happy to hear he said bigger, because how cute is that?  I am sure he will be bigger when he grows up.  

We have been singing Herman the Worm for a week now.  He loves it.  His brother laughs the entire time, and they both lose it when I tell them that the worm burped.  It was one of my favorite songs at camp.  We have been talking about camping a lot lately.  We look forward to camping at Joshua Tree in the fall when he cools down.  

Both boys have always loved trains.  E Step is constantly saying "choo choo" even when he sees trucks.  I really hope to get them on a train soon.  Even if it is just 10 minutes.  

Finally, Z Step's favorite quote always cracks me up.  When you ask him how his day was?  "So Good!" How's your dinner Z Step?  "So Good!"  He really drags out the "So" part, which always cracks me up.  

I loved doing this, and snapping these photos.  I can't wait to do this again.  I think some of the questions will change as he gets older.  Now I just have to remember to do this!  

strawberry fields forever

One of the biggest things I missed being in Japan was strawberries.  They are my favorite fruit, and the strawberries in Japan were always moldy and very expensive.  So when we got to America, we were excited for strawberry season.  Luckily, strawberry season was already upon us in Virginia.  The weather has been a bit odd in Virginia this season, so we were concerned about the picking conditions, however I think we choose the perfect morning.

We headed down the the beautiful countryside of Fredericksburg and arrived at a tiny little farm.  It was not nearly as big as the farm we were used to Connecticut, but it had a wonderful southern charm to it.  Along with some wonderful goodies in their country store.

We grabbed a basket that held 10 pounds of strawberries, and a smaller one to hold 5 pounds.  I don't think we actually picked 15 pounds, but we most likely picked 12 pounds of beautiful strawberries.  Not to mention all the ones we ate along the way!

My sister in law, Liza ready to pick some strawberries!

Beautiful strawberries

Love

He ate more then he helped

picking while holding an infant was not easy

Zach's happy face

he wouldn't stop eating!

Yum!

 After picking and buying some yummy farm fresh items (milk, pumpkin butter, local honey, and some wonderful vinaigrettes) we headed to the store to pick up some things to make preserves.  I've never done this before, but I was dying to try to make a healthier version.  Most jams and preserves are loaded with added sugars.  Turns out the pectin required for them works with sugar.  But after a bit of research, I learned that there is a pectin sold that doesn't require sugar.  Wonderful.  We headed to the nearest healthy grocery store and found it right away.
Making jam turned out to be quite easy, however I did make the mistake of following one recipe from the internet that came out as more of a sauce (which was still good!) and the other came out exactly how we wanted!  It was not fun making it, only because our AC was out and it was 90 degrees.  We also don't have all of our things still, so we were using small pots and pans!  It was worth the effort because our fresh made jam taste wonderful.

Mason jars and strawberries

ready to be "jammed"

Did you know a straw perfectly cores a strawberry? 

The Thanksgiving Tree

Thanksgiving is a beautiful time of year.  The weather is starting to cool down (well, as cool as it gets in Okinawa!) and we are filled with some of my favorite fall foods.  It's very unfortunate then that turkey day seems to be skipped these days.  It seems that the stores go straight from halloween to christmas decor, skipping such a wonderful holiday over.  Thanksgiving has become a day for people to stuff their faces with unhealthy, fat and carb loaded foods to the point of stretchy pants!  Not for us.  As much as we do enjoy our healthier alternative on the thanksgiving feast, there is so much more to this holiday.  It's an important holiday to me because it's a time for us to reflect on just how lucky we are to be living the life we've been given.  Instead of worrying about the calorie rich foods that we could consume this thanksgiving, I instead chose to focus on the true meaning of thanksgiving- giving thanks!

It started with a bare tree hung in our kitchen.  Each day, someone in the family got to put a leaf up with what they are thankful on it.  We all got to give thanks for many of the things in our lives.  They could be anything, with a simple or deeper meaning.  It really made us all realize just how lucky we are.  Though my life came out very different then I envisioned, it takes looking at our beautiful fall tree to realize just how lucky I am.  Though it's not on our tree, I am very thankful for this holiday to get me to realize that.  

Here are the things we are thankful for, in no particular order:

Elijah: Today I'm thankful for walks in my Ergo carrier.

Zach: I'm thankful for all of my wonderful friends.

Daddy:  I'm thankful for the Marine Corps- past and present who fight for our country's freedom and values.  Semper Fi! (written on the Marine Corps birthday)

Mommy:  I'm thankful for sweet little boys who know how to make someone's day.  (A random little boy at the grocery told me I was beautiful that day)

Elijah: I'm thankful that my mommy feeds me so I can grow!

Zach: I'm thankful for my new squeaky shoes and my matchbox car!
Daddy:  I'm thankful for grilled turkey, friends, and my beautiful family on this holiday.  

Mommy: I'm thankful that my boys got to spend 4 wonderful days with their grandpa Steve!

Elijah: I'm thankful for being able to meet my grandpa Steve!

Zach:I'm thankful for Tylenol, Barney, and blankets to snuggle into when I'm sick.

Daddy:I'm thankful for my wife saying yes 4 years ago today.  (This was written on the anniversary of his proposal)

Mommy: I'm thankful for days I can workout.  I am a far better Mommy and Wife when I can workout!

Elijah: I'm thankful for generous friends who help soothe me!

Zach: I'm thankful for playtime at the park with Mommy and Eli

Daddy:I'm thankful for my friends turned family in Okinawa

Mommy: I'm thankful for long walks with my boys.

Elijah: I'm thankful for velcro swaddles

Zach: I'm thankful for Disney movies!

Mommy:  I'm thankful for the beautiful life I've been given.  It may not be what I expected it to be, but it's so much better!

Elijah: I'm thankful for my mommy, daddy, and big brother!

Zach: I'm thankful for the love that my family and friends give me

Daddy: I'm thankful for my healthy, happy, and wonderful family.  Even the Fur-ball!

As you can see, we have a lot to be thankful for this year.  We are truly a blessed family.  This crosses off the final thing on my fall five list- A thankful tree!  

What are you all thankful for?  I'd love to hear!  Spread some thanksgiving cheer!

soda pop cars

We've all seen and heard of the science experiment involving soda and mentos.  Put some mentos into a 2 liter bottle of coke and it'll explode.  While this further proves how awful it is to consume beverages like soda (Drinking a science experiment is not my idea of healthy) I'm glad soda is around so we can watch this kind of reaction.  

Our neighbor turned 7 this weekend.  For his birthday, he had a small football party.  We were able to stop by for a little bit, and brought this neat gift we found.  It was a soda bottle car in which to do this mentos experiment with.  It was perfect.  Educational, and fun for any boy to watch.  Heck, it was fun for me to watch!  

Unfortunately, they do not sell 2 liter sodas here.  They have tried to ship them here from America, but they exploded in the trip over.  The experiment works best with this size bottle.  Instead, we used 1 liter bottles, which still gave us somewhat of a neat experiment.  It would have been cool to see it with the bigger bottle, but you gotta do what you gotta do here.  We had fun anyway.  I learned that doing the experiment with a diet soda produces a bigger explosion because there is artificial sugars in them! 

The boys setting it up

Adding the mentos

Goofy Joe face

Joey drinking the soda after the explosion

This one fizzed the most

Homemade Play Doh!

In an effort to keep us busy the past week, I've been scouring the internet for ideas to keep Zach learning.  The amount of knowledge that a toddler can pick up in one day is incredible and I don't want one moment of that to slip from our fingers.  About 80% of my days are spent feeding Eli (yes, he eats that much!) so having a moment to get things together for Zach is not easy.  Luckily, Eli napped for a full hour and a half today, which gave me just enough time to get an activity together.

I've seen quite a few recipes for homemade play doh these days but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Zach yet.  Luckily, most of the recipes were things that weren't going to kill him if he ate it, so I decided it was time for him to try playing with play doh.  I did a quick search for a simple recipe (you wouldn't believe how many really unique ones there are out there- gingerbread, glitter, slime green, rainbow, even chocolate!).  I settled upon a simple one with three ingredients I had in the pantry- flour, water, and salt!  

Homemade play doh (warning- this recipe dries out fairly quickly)

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/2 cup water dyed color of choice

Have your child mix the salt and flour

Slowly add water until the desired consistency is achieved!

*This teaches cause and effect.  Child will learn that when you add liquids to the dry mixture you will get a new texture!*

Ready to help make play doh!

Right after stirring

And then came time to play!  Zach was very confused at first, and of course put it right into his mouth right away.  He quickly learned that it was very salty and didn't try to eat it again.  The dog on the other hand ate a small ball!  He wasn't sure what to do with it, so I showed him how he can mold it in his hands.  I made a snowman, a heart, and a Z.  He had fun watching me, but still wasn't to crazy into it.  Finally I began breaking pieces apart and counting them.  He's really fascinated in counting lately so he had fun pretending to count the balls that Mommy laid out in front of him.  I'd like to think that he was learning some fractions as I distributed smaller pieces from the big ball.  I also showed him how I could take 2 balls away from the 5 that he had so that there were only three left now.  He seemed really interested in this activity!  Eventually he got bored and play time was over.  I will do this activity again, when he's a bit older and can actually mold and play with the play doh!  

I <3 td="td" z="z">

Play time!

Love that face!

I was begging him "not" to smile!

One happy toddler!

Until next time- happy learning!

How to keep a big brother busy

Most, if not all, of my time these days is spent with a certain special boy.  He's small, bald, and handsome, and I call him my baby.  With that said, Zach doesn't get as much fun Mommy time as he used to.  We don't get out of the house nearly as often as before, and some days we don't even get out of our pajamas.  I'm not complaining, as I knew this was going to happen after the birth of Elijah.  The downside of this though is that Zach is not getting nearly enough fun time, and I am trying my hardest to get him out of the house or doing something fun as often as I can.  Many days I head down to the park so we can play for a few hours.  But on days that I cant even get the kids together and in the stroller I try to initiate some kind of home activity to foster his learning.  

Today I decided to set up a sensory activity for him in the front yard.  I have learned over the years that most of the time toys aren't worth your money.  The best toys are everyday things in your home.  And perfect timing for this, as I'm currently digging through my house in preparations for our possible move in a few weeks.  As I've dug through my pantry, I discovered a bag of old beans and some rice that we don't eat.  I immediately knew what I was going to do!  

Our sensory learning experience today involved two tupperware containers, a measuring cup, rice, and beans of all colors and sizes.  As many moms know, toddlers- especially boys, love to put things in and out of containers.  And that's exactly what Zach did.  

We began by touching the different beans and rice.  I explained to him that they were all smooth, and showed him that some were bigger then others.  I also showed him the contrast in colors in some of the beans.  We even counted the beans.  I showed him how to count to four lima beans, and he mimicked my counting.  Though it wasn't full words, he got the point that we were counting something and was laying beans aside while counting.  Eventually I just sat back and let him play without my guidance.  He loved every moment of it.  He dug his hands into the beans, he picked fists full up and put it in the other container, and of course- he made a mess!  But a mess that was easy enough to clean up!  

Digging into one container

Mom, I'm playing!

Love that boy!

He tried to eat one.  Apparently it wasn't tasty! 

And the mess begins

OK mom, i'm ready to just dump everything!

The end result.  A quick clean up for so much fun!

We had a ball playing and it kept him busy for a whole 2 hours!  What mom doesn't love that?  Since, we've pulled this out again and he's played again.  We'll keep this activity on the back burner for future use!  

Another activity I created this week to keep Zach busy was this paper magnet pumpkin on our fridge.  I simply cut out a pumpkin from old scrapbook paper, then cut out eyes and a few mouths to try on.  I glued magnets to the back of them and Zach was able to make different Jack o Lanterns!  He played for awhile, but unfortunately the magnets I used weren't very good.  I'll be heading to the store this week to buy better ones for better pumpkin faces!  What an easy and fun activity.  It took me all of 5 minutes to make.  

Our pumpkin on our fridge!

And that my friends is how you entertain a bored toddler.  It doesn't have to cost much, sometimes the best toys are those you have laying around your house already.  I'll be trying to work in some more crafts and activities in the next few weeks to make life with a newborn and a toddler a bit easier.