Exploring watercolors with a 2.5 year old

In through the course of his life (you know, all 2.5 years of it...) little man has explored making art projects with finger paint, paint with brushes, and other things like stickers, using glue to stick different things to paper etc.  Up until now he's never used watercolors that I'm aware of so I thought it might be nice to give him something new to explore.  I found a Melissa & Doug jumbo watercolor set at Tuesday Morning for $3.99 on an outing the other day so I snatched them up.

Now, I have a slight obsession with Melissa & Doug and absolutely adore their products so it pains me to say that I'm not too thrilled with their watercolors.  The texture of them isn't anything like I remember watercolors being like.  I looked on Amazon to see what other people thought and it turns out they didn't really like these either.  For $3.99 I wasn't out much money and E had fun with them though so it's all good as far as I'm concerned.  Next time we'll just get a different brand.

Anyone who has had a 2.5 year old, worked with them, or played with them knows that their attention span is usually pretty short and they love to explore and manipulate just about everything they can get into.  Since this was his first time with watercolors today was no exception.  The watercolors didn't "melt" in the pod when touched by a brush.  I had to wet the brush and swirl each color quite a bit for them to become more soft and liquidy.  E saw me doing this and rinsing the brush in between so to him this is what he was supposed to do.  He would dip it into the color then swish it in the water bowl!

Concentrating very hard on coloring the water with his paint.

I told him he could use the paint on his paper too, so he did...

Finger painting with watercolors!

Of course, if Brother is doing something Shortcake simply must be in on the action...

Shortcake simply must see what Brother is up to!

So very happy with her tape!

The watercolors held his attention for maybe 10 minutes.  Not bad for a tot his age!

Meal Plan for Nov 28-Dec 4th

I've been trying to make and actually *stick to* to the meal plans I've been doing the past few weeks.  Not only do they provide some order and make make dinner easier to prep for, but it also results in less spending.  Less spending because we're not eating out, less spending because I have all the ingredients I need for the week since grocery shopping gets done on Sunday's after I make the meal plan, and less spending on impulse buys at the grocery store.  It's easier to go with a specific list and stick to it instead of just winging it.

Mon- Coconut chicken salad with warm honey mustard vinaigrette.  I adore Skinnytaste and have been relying heavily on her recipes lately.

Tues- Gyros.  The Husband requested these this week.  Central Cali has a plethora of farms and ranches and there is a HUGE, wonderful farmer's market every week in our city.  In addition to the many, many tables with fresh fruits, vegetables there are also many vendors selling just about anything else you can imagine.  So...we'll be having farmer's market gyros.

Wed- Asian flank steak skewers with oven roasted vegetables.

Thurs-  Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Fri- Chicken rollatini stuffed with zucchini and mozzarella .  I'm actually switching out the zucchini for broccoli.  Last time I made this I used the zucchini and it was very good, but I love broccoli and want to see how it turns out using broccoli.


Sat- Skinny baked broccoli macaroni and cheese.  


Holy cow.  Almost an entire week using Skinnytaste recipes!  See?!  I told you I liked her recipes!  (No, I'm not affiliated with this site in any way and there are no "perks" for me by linking to it...well, other than enjoying meals that taste really good and are low in fat!).

Meal Plan for Nov 20-27

Well...when I say meal plan I really mean dinner plans for this week.  Maybe at some point I'll get really organized and do breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks but for now I'll just be satisfied if I can make a meal plan for dinner and stick to it!

Tonight we're having grilled BBQ chicken, green beans and grilled pineapple.

Mon-- Teriyaki chicken in the crock pot with fresh pineapple chunks, served over rice.

This has quickly become a staple in our house.  There aren't many ingredients, I can dump it in the crock pot and not do anything with it until I shred it a few hours before dinner, and of course it tastes good!  It's a little on the salty side (which doesn't bother me...) and I tried using reduced sodium teriyaki sauce and it just wasn't the same.  I didn't like it so I'm sticking with this recipe as is!


Tues-- Spaghetti with [all beef] meatballs, green beans and garlic bread.

Another really easy dinner.  I make the meatballs and brown them just a bit in a skillet and then toss them into a crock pot of [store bought] spaghetti sauce that I make modifications to.  The meatballs finish cooking in the spaghetti sauce and take on a really nice flavor as the sauce soaks into them.


Wed-- Homemade calzones and a salad.


Thurs-- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  We're having turkey with mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and homemade cranberry sauce.


Fri-- Gilled marinated flank steak with grilled zucchini.


Sat -- Leftovers


Sun--Leftovers

Depending on how much food we have leftover after Sunday, the leftovers may or may not take over Monday's dinner as well!

Bath Time Fun

For the most part we bathe the kids together.  It's easier to get them both done at once and usually The Husband is the one to give them baths while I'm either cooking dinner or cleaning up after dinner.  I know it doesn't make too much sense to bathe them before dinner but sometimes the timing just works out better that way...and sometimes I just need a little peace and quiet while cooking dinner.  That's especially helpful on those hard days, especially since I don't really like to cook.

I have a major slight obsession with Pinterest and have pinned plenty of fun things for the kids.  Many of the ideas I've seen pinned leave me thinking "How did I not think of that?!" because they're so simple yet the kids love them!

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Rainbow Ice

A few days ago E and I made some rainbow ice (fill an ice cube tray with water then add in a drop or 2 of food coloring and give it a gentle stir).  We bathed the kids separately last night since E likes to have his own space in the tub every once in a while....and Shortcake does too!  I tossed some in a bowl and E picked out whatever colors he wanted and tossed them right in.  They immediately make a color cloud when they hit the water.  I tried to get a picture of it but it turned out horribly.  They melted VERY quickly since the water was warm so I threw in the 2nd row of rainbow ice from the ice cube tray...and those didn't last long either.  He had plenty of fun with them while they lasted though!

I also gave him a little more water than normal and he had a lot of fun "swimming" and trying to grab the ice.  As you can see it makes the bath water a little nasty looking but that's just part of the fun!  One of the other ideas I saw on Pinterest was to make your own bath paint.  You get a muffin tin and put some shaving cream (not gel) in each cup, add some food coloring and mix it in well.  The shaving cream sucks up the color pretty quickly and I think it took maybe 2-3 drops to get it to the color I wanted.  If you don't mind more light, pastel colors 1 drop would be fine.  We tried the paint a few weeks ago and it was a HUGE (and cheap) hit!

About All of the Homeschool Blogs I'm following...

I just wanted to make a quick note to explain why I have so many of them--especially when I'm not even a homeschooler.

The truth is...I'm thinking about it.  What started off as an innocent night cruising around Pinterest looking for activities to do with my toddler ended up leading me to MANY homeschooling blogs.  I started pinning the activities that I liked and found myself staying on the blog and looking around and finding even more things I liked.  This happened several times with several blogs and many of these awesome blogs are either linked to, or have buttons for other awesome blogs.  Before I knew it my Google Reader was full of loads of new posts for all these new blogs I had added.

Most people seem to have an opinion on homeschooling.  While some remain neutral or indifferent, most either have a strong positive or negative reaction on the matter.  E is only 2.5 so I have plenty of time before any formal decisions need to be made, but as of right now it's something I'm seriously considering.  I do have some reservations about it (am I patient enough?  Am I organized enough?...) and I don't have rose colored glasses on.  I wasn't a classroom teacher for very long but my experience has left me a bit jaded.  I have several friends still "in the system" and the stories I hear from them are horrifying.  I *KNOW* there are still some amazing public schools out there who are doing some astounding things, but as far as the system in general?  I'm not sure how much faith I have left in it.  One thing I noticed as I've looked at more and more of these blogs is that the work these mothers are doing with their children is educational AND fun and it's very hands on.  Also?  It doesn't seem to take 6 hours a day and there isn't boat loads of homework for little kids.  I really love a lot of the methods I see being used.

All that being said, if you're looking for great ideas to do with your kid(s) you will not be disappointed, and trust me--there won't be a shortage of ideas any time soon!

Breaking the Ice

"Today was good.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one"

The more I read to my son, the more I find myself grabbing Dr. Seuss books. Sure, there are plenty of other children's books that are fantastic (and we likely have those in our home library as well!), but there is just something about the messages in the Dr. Seuss books that are presented in such a silly, fun way that makes me grab them first. I find that the messages in the books are good for me as an adult as well--as a reminder to be a little silly, or accept who I am for what I am, that even the littlest people matter...or even to try new foods because I may end up liking them! I've always loved children's books, and in many ways I tend to enjoy them more than adult books. I don't know if that makes me immature or not (if it does--oh well!). Sometimes simplicity is profound...or, to quote the fabulous Dr. Seuss "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple". Yet another good thing for me to remember as I tend to over think things! Well, now that you're now well aware of my love for Dr. Seuss and children's books I'll allow me to properly introduce myself. I'm Jess, a Navy wife and stay at home mom to a 2.5 year old and a 9 month old. I'm currently working on reclaiming my sanity. Don't get me wrong, my munchkins are absolutely a blessing and they're both wonderful kids but at the ages they are right now, let's just say things have been....challenging lately! The little one is mobile which now apparently makes her a threat to her brother and "his" toys. I say "his" because at 2.5 he feels as though *everything* is his.

Now, without further ado I bring you my Thing 1 and Thing 2! (Oh yes.  I did.  I know,  I'm lame! haha)

                                                                                                                                             

Thing 1  ("E", 2.5), enjoying a few sips of my short, non-fat, pumpkin spice latte.   I had to wrestle the cup back!

My baby girl, "Shortcake" (9mos).  

In my effort to reclaim my sanity I'm starting this blog in hopes that it will be a useful tool to help me accomplish what I aim to do. It's a week before Thanksgiving and there are a multitude of Facebook statuses from people saying what they are thankful for each day as a countdown to Thanksgiving. Never one to be a joiner, I haven't been doing that (ha!). Really though, it's not because I don't like it and I think it's nice that other people are doing it. I'm a planner. To the point of being annoying, and an overachieving perfectionist (though you've NEVER think that if you looked at my house right now and see what I *haven't* accomplished lately...). So, never one to disappoint, I'm working on my New Year's resolutions. In November.

I would like to not sweat the small stuff so much anymore, and enjoy the great life that I have.

I need to be more grateful and remember the person I wanted to be. I would like to be more patient and more disciplined. It's WAY too easy for me to get sucked into the TV or playing around online.

 I do have more but I'll stop there for now so I won't make your eyes glaze over.