Since School Started...

Maddox has been keeping busy. He was sad the first few days Macen got out of the car at school but he quickly got over it. Now he gets the tv to himself and he loves that. I ask him almost daily if he wants to go for a walk (he loves going) and now I get a stern NO. So I had to start withholding his morning juice to get him out of the house, lol.

 

He got to help make cookies for the 1st time...and reap the benefits.

 

Got in some shopping which means throwing a penny in the fountain and getting wet.

 

He only has to share the vacuum with mom now instead of mom and Macen. And yes he is wearing snow boots - he loves shoes, any kind.

 

 

Fun projects like breaking eggshells

 

And of course, the choo choos. He is great at playing it by himself but if the light isn't on in the room he runs back to me and whispers "darks".

2 years old

So our baby has outgrown that term. He is a loud, onry, adventure seeking toddler on the go. Maddox is now 27 lbs (50th percentile) and 35 inches (75th percentile). He still thinks he can do anything Macen does and is our little daredevil when it comes to most things.

Maddox knows what he likes and doesn't and has a can do attitude about anything. He has started talking a lot this summer and its fun to hear him say new words all the time and ask questions about things. His favorite word right now is "no" and its used for everything. He also says "awwww" when he is disappointed. He loves being outside and has found a new love for trains. Its all about the choo choo's now. Actually he has an amazement for all big transportation - trash trucks, semis, airplanes, buses.

Potty training is hit or miss right now but he does wear underwear at home. I just never know from one day to the next, how much the laundry will build up :) Mostly, I have to remind him to go though. He loves going to hourly care once a week and playing with the other kids. It took him 3 months to get use the routine of me dropping him off and coming back but he is eager to go now.

He sleeps with all of these and a pillow pet. Most of the time, I can convince him to leave them in the crib but some days he needs them all with him.

The Mystery Machine

As we were leaving town Saturday morning, Macen spotted the Mystery Machine at a car show. He now completely believes Scooby Doo and the gang are real. I'm not about to squish his enthusiasm :)

First Day of 1st Grade

 

Macen headed off to 1st grade this morning. He found out yesterday there were a couple of kids from his kindergarten class in his class so he was pretty happy about that. He hasn't been overly excited about getting back to school and it was because someone told him they only got 1 recess in the 1st grade. When we met the teacher yesterday, she said there were 2, sometimes even 3 so he was pretty happy about that. I told him school wasn't about getting recess and his response was a shocked "Oh". He might as well learn that now, right?!

 

And he was even more excited to ride the bus home. He said it was cool.

 

I asked him several times how he liked school today and each time I got "I more than love it". He has  such enthusiasm about most things and I hope he keeps it through life.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

 

So excited to finally get to one of these!

 

I was a little disappointed the balloons didn't have a constant glow but it was amazing to watch them nonetheless.

 

Chillin' and being silly while watching the shaped balloons inflate.

 

And of course the carnival. Maddox even got to go down this one later in the evening and boy did he love it! After he got off Mariah's lap, he went to the side and mimicked what he had just done with his finger and then threw both arms into the air in excitement. So funny!

Macen won a goldfish and was extremely proud of it. Fortunately for me, grandma took permanent custody of it, lol. Macen knew before playing that if he won one, grandma would take it home and he was perfectly fine with it.

Little Picasso's

Something I've been waiting all summer to do. A lot of prep work went into and I'm not entirely sure the boys enjoyed it as much as I thought they would. Haha!

First they threw those jelly, stretchy toys at the shower curtain.

 

Then I had filled water balloons with paint. They wouldn't pop when thrown against the shower curtain. I don't think they were heavy enough to pop so next time I will have to add water. I didn't want the color faded too much but they clearly need to be heavy. The boys stomped on them and threw them in the poky grass instead. So back to throwing toys and using their hands.

Silly Maddox asked for a high 5, lol.

 

The finished project!

This wasn't as messy as I thought it would be and while cleaning up I was able to spray the shower curtain clean. We have a clean "canvas" to work with again :)

 

Not too bad for throwing paint.

Fun with Ice

 

We've been enjoying some much needed down time. We're killin' time with fun projects around the house. I froze a bunch of small toys in water for them to dig out.

 

 

After awhile, Macen had it with the digging and picked his up and threw to the ground. Maddox then copied, lol. The beads held it together nicely.

And of course, the 2 yr old puts it in his mouth.

 

 

 Next we froze a block of water and then added salt and food coloring to it.

They loved it! We'd add salt and once the food coloring completely covered it, we'd scoop it off and added more to help it melt even more. The last one is where the ice had melted and the food coloring fell into the groves on the inside. Pretty cool!