We Will Survive!

We survived the first week of Seminary! 

It's actually been a great week! Going to bed at midnight and then getting up at 7 and having to entertain a toddler was killing me. Now that we are back on our schedules and in bed by 10 things are much better. 

Collin and I also started his "school program" it's like a pre pre-school. Prep school? Pre-school Squared? Oh heck, it's a program to ensure our sanity throughout the day. I was noticing he was watching way too much t.v. and I felt like I was neglecting him. I wanted to spend more time with him but you can only play blocks or cars for so long. So, with the help of the internet and some of my own limited creativity I planned out a whole year of toddler appropriate activities to not only keep us entertained, but to help him learn colors, shapes, numbers and the alphabet. The first week went great! Collin really got into it. I won't be introducing the alphabet until after Memorial Day since I bummed the ideas off of someone else and they don't start till then, but this is what we did this week:

All this week we studied the color blue, the circle, and the number 1. Some of the activities were just coloring and boring stuff that didn't warrant pictures but I made sure he was introduced to those three things everyday.

Tuesday:

For the color blue I used blue painters tape and made a road throughout our living room. Thank you Pinterest!!! Collin really liked it so it was totally worth the discomfort of scooting my big pregnant self around the room to make it :)

Then to study circles, we made a Fruit Loop necklace and I let him snack on it while he watched one of his shows.

 Wednesday:
 Wednesday we had a circle hunt! I just cut 5 circles out of construction paper and then hid them around the house. Every time he found one we would shout "Circle!"

 

 For the color blue I poured a bag of M&M's into a bowl and had Collin take out all of the blue ones. Then I let him eat them. It was hilarious to watch him because he was sneaking them out of the bowl and eating them while we were sorting but as I watched him I noticed that he was only taking the blue ones :)

 Thursday:

For the number one we made a cereal number out of cheerios. Confession: I did most of the gluing because a certain someone doesn't like to get his hands dirty and didn't appreciate the glue squirting up through the holes in the cheerios.

 Then we went outside and hit "blue" balls off his tee.

 For the circle activity that day I found this cool craft that you can find here. We cut the circles out, glued them together, and then colored them to make a man holding balloons.

 Friday:
Friday is our extremely loooong day. Michael doesn't get home until after 8:30 so it usually drags. Our activities really helped the day go faster.
We played "Red light, Green Light" for our circle activity. Collin really got into this one which surprised me. I let him have the green circle and we would run around the house until I said, "red light" and we'd freeze until Collin said green light.
Oh and if you want to know where I got my stylish clothes (you know, just in case you want to copy my look) Sweat pants- Walmart 7 years ago. And T-shirt comes from a place called "Michael's drawer. Yeah, I am totally bringing sexy back with this attire :) In all fairness to myself, we had just gotten back from the pool.

 For the color we played with blue play dough. One of Collin's all time favorite things.

 Saturday:

Michael works Saturdays so we did stuff today and will take Monday off instead.

Collin took a blue ball bath. Which he thought was pretty neat.

 And then he helped me make peach cobbler which ended up being delicious!
This was a very lax day as you can tell.

We had tons of fun and really really enjoyed our time together this week which was my goal.

In other news, Collin has decided that the floor is a better place for naps then his bed. I find him like this every single day. Head buried under his bear and legs under the bed. What a nut :)

 Collin decided to play quietly by himself for a few minutes so I have time to add another post! 

Our awesome cousin Darby came to visit last month and was sweet enough to do a quick photo shoot with Collin. He was not the most cooperative child, but Darby was so good with him and really captured his personality. Check her out on facebook! She really is amazing. 

https://www.facebook.com/darbymphotography

 I LOVED all the pictures but here are my favorites.

 This one cracks me up Every. Single. Time. Crazy hair and mischievous smile.

If someone asked me to use a picture to describe Collin this would be it.

I love my little man and am so excited to add another one to the craziness.

Thanks for the fun time and the beautiful pics Darby!

It's About Time!

I was just teasing some friends the other day for not updating their blogs in months and then I see that it's almost been a month since I blogged myself! I'm such a hypocrite!

And unfortunately I only have until Go Diego Go ends to catch up so this will have to be a quick post.
(Especially since I'm hiding out in the office eating cheese puffs :) 

 

Last night as I was making dinner I heard a little voice yelling "Ming Ming!"

Translation: Help me!

Please don't ask how that translates, it just does.

I went searching and found Collin stuck in his little potty. I don't even want to know what he was attempting to do. 

He looked up with these pitiful eyes and I burst out laughing and ran to get my camera. I think he was a bit miffed that I wasn't taking the situation more seriously but come on! This is perfect payback to show when he brings his girlfriends over. It will be right alongside the naked tushy picture. 

We've also introduced Collin to "The Cape"

I thought he would wear it for like 30 sec. and then yank it off put he stayed in it for over an hour! 

I don't know what I find more adorable in the picture above, the fact that my 2 yr. old thinks he's an actual super hero, or his uncontrollable hair?

And if you ask him what his weapon of choice is, it'll be the frying pan.

Apparently these are HOT items this season.

(No pun intended)

I can't remember why, but for some reason Collin's car seat ended up inside. He begged me to buckle him in. Go figure! When I go to put him in his seat to go some where it's like pulling teeth without laughing gas, but bring the seat inside and he's dying to get in. 

Add this to the list of reasoning only toddlers understand.

(I don't like how big he looks in this picture...)

And now for my cheesy moment of the week.

(Yes, I actually took a picture of a play dough bucket)

But this has been pretty life changing for us! Collin finally learned NOT to eat play dough, yay!

So I bought this $5 dollar bucket at Target to see if it would keep him entertained. It turned out to be the cutest thing!

Every time I get this out it buys me about 20 min.

(That's like an hour in Toddler time)

And check out all the cool tools it came with!

It came with three colors and a special container of "sand Play dough" Let me just say it's pretty dang awesome! It feels just like sand and even smells like the beach! The only disclaimer is, it leaves a little sand residue behind so if Collin wants to play with a different color I have to wipe his hands off, but it's totally worth it.

And I can't get over the adorable little bucket and shovel! To top it off, the back of the shovel has a footprint stamp! Cute right!?

Ok, now I'm starting to sound pathetic even to myself!

I love Collin's stink face in this picture. 

It's his, "I give up, you do it" face.