Painting with Trucks and Trains

Usually, DJ is home from work by the time Karson wakes up from his nap.  But his schedule is unpredectable, and sometimes I get a call at the last minute saying he has to work late.  The hours between when Karson wakes up and DJ gets home are usually the hardest.  Karson KNOWS when Daddy is supposed to be home.  And Molly KNOWS when Daddy is supposed to be home...and barks constantly at every single noise she hears until he gets home.  On the days when DJ works late, we usually do a craft when Karson wakes up.

I saw this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and it reminded me how much fun it is!  

I used to do this all the time with my 2 year olds when I taught day care.  

I let him pick out a few trucks, and tractors.

And of course, a few 'choo-choos.'

Put some paint on a piece of card stock, and showed him how to drive his trucks over the paint.

He had so much fun, and painted for almost an hour!

We ended up having to just keep the 'choo-choos' next to him. 

He was less than thrilled about getting paint on them.

My table ended up being covered with paint.

I want to find some butcher paper to cover the table with for this activity.

I don't mind cleaning up a paint mess, but I don't want him to think it is ok to paint the table. :)

 His paintings are hanging on our slider, and every time he seems them, he reminds me he painted them with his trucks.

We will definitely be doing this activity again!!

...and of course...he had to line up all of his trucks like a 'choo-choo.'

InstaFriday

Happy Friday!

Joining in with Jeannett to share my cell phone pictures from this week!

Karson, usually, always helps me make dinner.

Last week, we made stromboli.

YUM!

I gave him a jar of parmesan cheese, which is difficult to get out of the jar, and let him shake shake shake all he wanted.

Parmesan cheese isn't even in the recipe, but it kept him busy, and he had fun!

 See his little lips-he is making truck noises. :) 

Karson loves to paint.

I saw this idea on pinterest, and used to do it with my kids when I taught day care all the time.

I squirted some paint on a piece of paper and got him some trucks to paint with.

Karson never sits still for longer than a few minutes.

He didn't get up for an hour.

He painted 3 pieces of paper.

He has asked to do it again every day since.

How did he get this big?!

I never put him in jeans, which I think is why he look so big to me in this picture.

I was getting ready to take him to Costco for some zuppy, and he grabbed one of my Mommy Necklaces to wear.

{zuppy = pizza-he came up with that one on his own}

I love Costco's fresh pressed apple juice.

Except I can't drink it right now because it makes me sick.

Karson LOVES it too, and so does DJ.

Needless to say, running out of apple juice is one of those things that immediately sends me to Costco.

And for the second time in a row, the apple juice fell out of my car, when I got home.

My garage now smells like apples, and I am 1 jug of apple juice short. 

It could be a hint for me to clean out my trunk...

We have a hard time getting Karson to sit for meals.

He always wants to sit on our laps. 

Since my lab is rapidly shrinking, thanks to baby sister, we are working with him on sitting in his own chair.

Usually halfway though dinner, we pull his chair from the other side of the table, and put it in between us.

While I was making breakfast yesterday, he moved his chair on his own.

Putting it right between Mommy & Daddy's chairs.

He was so proud of himself!

A few weeks ago I counted how many newborn outfits we had for Sister-we had 4.

With a newborn, that could get you through maybe 4 hours if your lucky.

I have been on the look out for the cheapest Carter's sleepers I could find.

Kohls was having a huge sale a few weeks ago, and I scored 9 sleepers for a little over $4 each.

I LOVE all the pink!!

Linking up with Life.Rearranged for Insta Friday!

29 Weeks...2 Days

I counted how many weeks I have left before baby sister arrives...11 weeks until my due date...8 weeks if she comes when Karson did.  Oh my...so much to do before then!  A few pregnancy highlights...

*I have been feeling pretty well.  I still have problems with reflux & heartburn, and am figuring out what I can and can't eat.  Peanut butter is BAD...made that mistake one morning.  My doctor has switched my medicine a few times, but ended up being back on my original prescription.  It is working, as long as I am careful about what I eat.  Aside from that...I just have normal 3rd trimester aches and pains. 

*I finally went and did my glucose tolerance test.  The order has been in for...um...5 weeks, but I have been putting it off.  Bad roads...sick munchkin...dreading drinking that orange drink...blach! 

*At times, I feel huge.  Other times, I feel so much smaller than I was with Karson.  I'm sure it is just because I remember being at the very end with him, and I gained a lot of weight. 

*I have no idea how much weight I have gained, but I am thinking it is less than with Karson.  I was paying attention for a while, but I stopped.   I am not one to worry about weight gain, especially while pregnant. :)

*I told my Mom the other day that I am actually, kind of, enjoying this pregnancy.  Karson's pregnancy was not so much fun, and although I still have days when I don't feel well, I still feel 100% better than when I was pregnant with him.  On nights that I am not feeling well, I usually have DJ take over Karson duty for an hour, and go take a bath.

*I have started talking with my doctor a little about my birth plan.  We are requesting they delay cutting the umbilical cord.  We donated Karson's cord blood.  After doing some research and talking with my doctor, we decided to delay cutting it.  I have also asked that she is to be put on my chest immediately, and DJ and I be given time to snuggle her, before any exams.  But I also made it clear that in an event of an emergency, they ignore my requests and do what is best for Sister and I. :)  I absolutely love my dr, and trust her judgement.  I also told her they could just hook up my epidural as soon as I walked in the door.  ...so I'm not the poster Mama for natural child birth. :)

*I still get Charley horses at night...and they hurt.  :)

*Sister's room is almost done, I will post pictures soon.

*Karson knows where his sister is, he knows where her room is, and where she will sleep.  He will say her name if we ask him to.  I love hearing him say it.  Although, if you ask him "What is Baby Sister's name?" he says "nooooooooooo."  Daddy may or may not have taught him that, after people started asking him what we were going to name her. :)

*I have been craving peanut butter pie, and would like to have words with whoever decided to close all of our Perkins!

*Sister has started moving a little more.   She starts moving as soon as I try to go to sleep, and gets the hiccups all the time!  Lately I have been able to feel and see baby parts pushing out on my belly. :)

Winter

Winter has finally showed up in Michigan.

At least, it showed up and stuck around for about a week.

Then a few nights ago, we had 40 degree weather overnight, and a rain storm.  The snow is gone now.

But we enjoyed it while it lasted.

When we had our first big snow storm, we headed to the hill I used to sled on when I was little.

Luckily it is a small hill, and I could yell from the bottom.  Putting a stop to my husband's plan to send the {almost} 2 year old down the hill by himself.

Karson loved every second, I could hear him giggling from the top of the hill.

And this is the exact reason why the {almost} 2 year old wasn't allowed to go down the hill by himself...

 Sometimes I don't know who is having more fun...

Daddy or Karson...

We go sledding at the local elementary school, that I went to when I was little.

Karson spotted the slides, and decided they were more fun than sledding.

He talked about playing on the 'side' in the 'noooowwww' all weekend!

The next day it was absolutely gorgeous!  We spent all afternoon outside in the snow!  It was sunny, and relatively warm, with no wind.  It was beautiful!

Karson helped Daddy shovel the driveway...

...and laughed and laughed when Moll chased after the snow.

We played outside for a few hours, then put Karson in his sled and took a walk to Nana's.

I love that we live so close.

InstaFriday

Happy Friday.

And although it has been MONTHS since I did an InstaFriday post...I am linking up with Jeannett from Life.Rearranged today.

 

Baby Sister's room is almost done.

This picture makes it look like everything is pink... it isn't.

The top of the wall is really light pink

Benjamin Moore: Pink Cadillac to be exact.

The paneling we DJ painted tan, and all the bedding is going to be white.

Super simple!

 He loves bubble baths...loves them!

Occasionally, he gets more than 1 a day.

Just because.

He has had a cold this week.

He is also cutting all four iteeth.

Sad Munchkin.

Sad Munchkin that takes medicine HORRIBLY.

As in...you have to pin him down and pry his mouth open...and hope he doesn't spit all of it out.

After this process...he took the dropper, laid down, and started sucking on it.

Really?!?

Karson is obsessed with Thomas the Train. 

We don't have cable.

I don't know where this obsession came from.

I don't like Thomas the Train, but in an attempt to be a good Mom, and encourage his interests, he got a Thomas movie for Christmas.

He is now more obsessed.

He spotted this book...that came with trains..from 3 isles over at Costco and was so excited.

He had some Christmas money...so I got it for him.

Have I mentioned I really don't like Thomas the Train movies?!

A plate full of strawberries and yogurt....his favorite snack!

Ps...I took this picture right after he woke up one morning.

at 10:45

He skipped his nap the day before, and went to bed at his normal time.

This is exactly why we are so strict about his naps!

I love my new house.

It was extremely well taken care of.

However...the appliances are old.

Our hot water heater is super finicky...it can heat up the water, but it can't keep it hot.

So every morning, we have to drain the hot water heater (that is  full of kind of warm water) and let it heat back up, if we want to take a hot shower.

And if you want a semi long hot shower, you have to use the first tank...or you get a 2 second hot shower.

So when this pregnant Mama wants to take a bath in the evening to relax, I have to boil pots of water to use.

Because otherwise I have to take a cold bath.

And that defeats the purpose.

 We took his crib down in December...when he was 20 months old.

When we put it up in Sister's room last week, we caught him climbing in it.

Busted!

Nothing better than snuggle time!

If he would let me, I would still rock him to sleep.

But he won't.

So I take advantage of as much snuggle time as I can!!

He spiked a 102 fever on Sunday night.

I thought he was being fussy because of his 4 teeth trying to come in.

I was wrong.

The good news...he had it for a few hours Sunday night...then it went away and never came back!!

When Munchkin is sick all he will eat is smoothies.

I am super anti fast food, but he hadn't eaten all day, and I knew a smoothie would taste good to him.

So I sent DJ to McDonalds to get him a strawberry banana smoothie.

He downed the whole thing!

ignore the super gross nose

Karson's cousin came to play with us this week.

The two of them completely melted me!

It was just the three of us.

Karson LOVED playing with Gavin, and has asked about him all week!

Two of Karson's very favorite things....his 'B' and 'Mowee.'

I can't count how many times a day he yells at 'Mowee' for being too close to his 'B.'

He would have absolutely flipped if he saw Molly laying ON his 'B!!'

But it also melts me...because Moll and Karson are best buddies.

Karson was sleeping...and Molly missed him...so she slept on his blanket.

My Mom made Molly, and Maggie (her dog...but we basically share dogs) some toys for Christmas.

My weird dog, that doesn't understand she is really a dog, sucks on hers.

Then falls asleep...and continues sucking on it.

 

Do you know how hard it is to find plain white crib bedding?!!!

Seriously...it doesn't exist.  Unless I want to pay a WHOLE LOT of money...which I don't.

I wanted simple

I found the white bumper at Berlington Coat Factory....which I think is funny.

The crib skirt...my Mama made it for me this week.

I LOVE it!!

It is absolutely perfect!!

Linking up with Jeannet from Life.Rearranged.