As you can tell from recent posts, fire engines have been VERY popular with James at this age. A month ago, when my brother and his family were visiting, we happened upon a firetruck in the parking lot of a grocery store! Uncle Joel followed James around and let him check out everything.
This fireman was so kind, patiently showing James everything, letting him touch things, and even invited us to visit the local firehouse for a tour sometime!
As they pulled away, they gave James a big 'HONK!' He loved it.
Then, on James' actual birthday, we visited Uncle Chad at work. Chad is a firefighter at a different local station. James had never visited a fire station, but was pretty familiar with the concept from a video that we picked up at the library.
The ambulance has been newly intriguing to him....
fireman James
Chad helped Mark suit up in his own gear. Mark just couldn't believe how heavy, thick and hot it was!
James was a little nervous when Mark had the mask on, but felt better after it came off....
Thanks, Chad, for the tour!
This little boy is 2! I made James his little '2' shirt using a freezer-paper stencil method. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. This is still the best 'smile' I can get out of him when I ask for it....a rather squinty, pained look, isn't it? What a turkey! The afternoon of his party started with grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles arriving. James was racing around, so excited about the balloons, snacks, presents, and firetruck decorations.
The party started at 5:00pm and the pizza party menu included pizza, corn dip with chips, salad, yellow and red fruit (pineapple and strawberries), dipped pretzel sticks with sprinkles, red/white/yellow cupcakes and party favors where little baggies of homemade gourmet popcorn.
We ended up with about 22 guests.
The cupcake toppers and banner were such fun to create. I'm glad I'd made them weeks in advance, because I definitely ran out of steam the week of the party!
My brother Jeff and his darling girlfriend Anna helped to pick up the pizzas!
The tradition continues! We skyped with Joel and Elizabeth so they could have a glimpse of the gift-opening excitement.
So many gifts! James was a tad overwhelmed with everything but loved all his presents. The firetruck we got him was a definite big hit!!
James blew out his candle twice...the first time he was too quick for the photographers! :) Funny thing is, he didn't actually eat any cake that night because he was SO PUMPED to play with his new toys!
I tried hard to to get a good family picture before it got too dark...the weather and lighting was so weird that evening, stormy and greenish skies. We sure love our James and had such fun celebrating two years of life with him!! The next day (his actual birthday) we got to visit Uncle Chad at work....he's a firefighter!! More pictures to follow....
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!
Seems like I just can't keep up with blogging lately! It turns out that James has transitioned much better than I had expected to his toddler bed. I guess I was really expecting the worst! He sleeps just fine and we haven't caught him monkey-ing around for over a week (but what an escapade he had one afternoon in the beginning!...he moved his bed around, dumped laundry everywhere, flipped the lights on...what a busy boy). While he's staying in bed, he hasn't been sleeping quite as long...nap times have been shorter, and nap times are generally the only time I have to blog....thus, fewer blog posts! But I have several posts I'd love to share. We're in disbelief at how quickly these weeks are flying by as we approach my due date! We've still got about six weeks go to but know it's going to fly...so hard to believe!
Here are a few crafting projects I've wanted to share....
First some birthday party "accessories". We've decided to go with a firetruck theme for James' second birthday party:
First, some cupcake toppers. I've seen these on multiple party/entertaining blogs and was excited to give it a try. If you search for them on Et*sy, you can buy them decorated for about ANY occasion. I was determined to give them a try on my own and think James will really like them--especially the one with a firetruck! I had to buy a scallop-edged punch for the project, so if anybody wants help with a similar project sometime, let me know! I had a lot of fun designing and gluing them together!
And a banner in the works...nothing too fancy, but something to add to the ambiance. :)
I'm throwing this one in there because it's a project I've wanted to try for a long time. A girlfriend of mine just had a birthday and I thought it was the perfect occasion to give it a whirl. I already had some paper doilies but think that buying some higher quality ones might be worth the extra flair it would add. Click here for a tutorial, if you'd like to try it on your own!
And now for some girly nursery items. The infamous fabric pom-pom project. (Strategically photographed to appear finished, but not really finished....I have over half of the circles to glue on still!) I put this one off for a reallllly long time but finally got around to cutting circles a few weeks ago. I've cut approximately 200 circles and will come up a little short and need to buy more pink fabric. For an 8-inch paper lantern! I really like the 'look' of the fabric pom-pom, but am thinking that if I made two accompanying pom-poms, they will be smaller. (Whereas originally I was thinking THIS one would be the smaller size---HA!)
Before picture: Here's a mirror I bought on Craigs*List. I snapped the picture just after covering the mirror with paper in order to paint it...It had some standard hooks along the bottom and a few of them were bent. The ducks were cute, but not at all what I was going for for the nursery....
After picture: I'll have to re-photograph this during the day for you to get a better idea of the colors...the frame is now ivory with a little bit of pink trim...and with pink knobs! I was really excited to find them at H*bby Lobby (thanks for the tip, Jenny!). I'm pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to hang cute girly things on a few of the knobs/hooks!
As you can tell from recent posts, fire engines have been VERY popular with James at this age. A month ago, when my brother and his family were visiting, we happened upon a firetruck in the parking lot of a grocery store! Uncle Joel followed James around and let him check out everything.
This fireman was so kind, patiently showing James everything, letting him touch things, and even invited us to visit the local firehouse for a tour sometime!
As they pulled away, they gave James a big 'HONK!' He loved it.
Then, on James' actual birthday, we visited Uncle Chad at work. Chad is a firefighter at a different local station. James had never visited a fire station, but was pretty familiar with the concept from a video that we picked up at the library.
The ambulance has been newly intriguing to him....
fireman James
Chad helped Mark suit up in his own gear. Mark just couldn't believe how heavy, thick and hot it was!
James was a little nervous when Mark had the mask on, but felt better after it came off....
