The Farm...Revisited...Again

A few weeks ago we headed back to 'the Farm', a local petting zoo park/farmstead. When I ask James what he feels like doing, he usually responds with three of his favorite locations: Home Depot ('to see the forklift'), the pumpkin patch, and this park, which he refers to as 'the Barn' or 'the Farm'. We'd been waiting for a little sun to peek through to make our second trip of the year.

My mom came along and we met up with Elizabeth and Annie, too.

Clara along for the ride. Since she's still napping twice a day, she had a mid-morning snooze in the stroller.

Annie loved the baby ducklings. The barked at them.

We've fed the small goats enough times that James really looks forward to it.

And we found a few fish food pellets on the ground to feed the fishies, too.

This was Annie's first shot at walking the majority of the park. I think she loved the independence!

Cheers, Buddy!

Mark took James outside Saturday afternoon to build a snowman. James was most excited about the carrot nose. My favorite part was that he was wearing trash bags on his feet. So cute! Needless to say, he doesn't have any snow boots.

Our snowman is a "Cowboy" Snowman.

Whenever Mark and James come in from playing in the snow (twice now) Mark makes them hot chocolate, or in James' case "lukewarm" chocolate. This time James lifted his glass and initiated a 'cheers' by saying, "Cheers, Buddy!" It was pretty sweet.

And just because she's 13 weeks today, I'll throw in a picture of Clara! Sometimes James calls her 'precious', which is also pretty sweet. Can't believe how quickly she's growing! Look at those little rolls! :)

Indoor Snow Play

I can't take credit for this activity...but just had to share it because we had so much fun! I was blog-surfing during naptime trying to come up with a fun 'project' when I came across this idea; bring the snow inside! Because I have an infant, I haven't been willing to bundle all three of us up to head outdoors but had been sad that James couldn't play in the snow. So I got out a thick beach towel, a few bowls, some of his toys, and went outside to scoop snow.

first thing, James began dumping every single toy into the snow pile

I made a snowman which he immediately claimed...and attempted to eat

his little fingers were absolutely freezing but he never complained once!

I used a small tupperware to make snow 'bricks' we could stack

James thought they were the perfect pedestals for his cars...of course!
I also packed a few of his figurines in the middle of his snow bricks to dig out and then got out the hair dryer to watch snow melt.

I saved the snow ice cream for last. (don't worry, I used 'clean' snow :) I used a bowl of un-played-with snow and added milk, sugar, and vanilla. James was in love! I thought it tasted pretty good, too, until he began to add chunks of played-with snow. I stopped eating it after that...but James slurped it all down! At one point he exclaimed, "Jackson, Sarah, Levi, Jason like this special!" He was wishing he could share this "special" activity with some of his cousins! If the snow lingers a few more days, we might have to do this again. We spent ONE HOUR playing with snow and it was FREE and clean up consisted of picking up a saturated beach towel. Can't beat that! I'd recommend this one for anybody with a toddler! :)
P.S. I have no idea what happened to his pants in that last picture...seriously!

'Projects' for Active Little Boys

I've been trying lately to brainstorm and research ideas of 'crafty' projects and creative activities to do with James. First off, I'm expecting that both cooler weather and a newborn will soon be keeping us indoors in the coming months. I also want him to learn to express himself creatively and enjoy 'art'. But I have really struggled coming up with ideas of things that are age appropriate and James-appropriate. James puts e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in his mouth. He never grew out of that phase and it nearly drives me crazy. We've tried crayons, colored pencils, and even markers (I was feeling brave)--he puts them ALL in his mouth and even bites into crayons...it's completely irresistible for him! Here are two activities we've done lately that James has enjoyed.

Ice Cube "Ball"

This one is best suited for hot weather and the outdoors, but I might try it out in the bathtub sometime, too, and add food coloring for fun. I froze a water balloon, peeled off the balloon after it was solid through, and let him play with it. He carried it around, sucked on it, and threw it at things for about 45 minutes. It helps that I already knew he loves ice.

Playing in the sprinkler didn't hurt either...a great activity for a hot day!

Edible Playdough

I used a recipe found in The Toddler's Busy Book but there are several online, too. Basically just peanut butter, powdered milk and honey. Sounds totally sticky, right? It actually was surprisingly NOT sticky! Greasy, yes, but not sticky. I hesitated attempting this, afraid that James will now assume that all playdough is edible, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. He LOVED this activity. I rummaged through the utensil drawer and pulled out several things for him to play with.

After sampling a good amount of the playdough, he did get to playing with it. He was really excited about using my kitchen 'hammer', my meat mallet.

I also offered him some small cookie cutters and an old fashioned can opener (because he's obsessed with it). Here he is putting it to work in his own little way!

P.S. I'd love any suggestions you may have of activities or crafts that are do-able with a very active two year old!