Activity Time

I have been trying to find a new and fun activity for the boys (Sullivan 1 and Benjamin 3) to do every morning. Sometimes it is playing legos, going to the park, playing with the water table, making a craft or even helping me clean  (which for the record they think is super fun). I thought I would try to do a post every once in a while of the most successful activities....I know I get in ruts all the time when it comes to finding things to do with toddlers, so I am hoping to meet new people through blogging so we can give each other ideas to do Whit kiddos.

#1: Pipe cleaners, playdough and beads!!
Who would have thought that this activity would have a: lasted so long and b: been so much fun! The boys loved it. I bought the pipe cleaners at target in the dollar spot (score!) we had playdough, and I just bought Ben some large beads for his birthday. I set all of them out on their Little table and they went to town. Ben made "bugs" and Sully copied Ben..... So fun! I even got in on the action and I had fun too! The boys stayed busy with this for 45 minutes to 1 hour! I call that a success.

#2 Dino Eggs

You will need flour, water, cotton balls, and food coloring....all you do is mix 2 cups of flour with 2 cups of water, separate into different bowls and add food coloring. Then dip the cotton balls in the mixture completely. Lay them on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour....I did mine for an hour. They come out hard. I let my boys use their play hammers to break them, but to be honest Benjamin preferred sorting them by colors and carrying them around in a basket. Sullivan liked placing them in a bowl, dumping them out, then starting all over.

#3: Baking sugar cookies

We do this OFTEN. It is super easy and you can do so much with sugar cookies! We make them from scratch, but it would be the same concepts if you bought the dough and just rolled it out. Make ANY shape....make letters....ANYTHING! Of course eating them is fun too!

So....what do you do with your little one for fun???? What is your little one in to????

The Plan

Derek and I have been talking A LOT about what "the plan" is....meaning what are we going to do with our lives in the future. Do we want to buy another house, do we want more children (yes, but when), would it be better for me to stay home and not work, or do I want to look for full time work (I currently work as a teacher but I am in a job share contract so I only work 4 days a week)...all questions that have been discussed a lot at the Scott household over the last few months. So where are we at right now....we will not be moving anytime soon, in fact we are going to refinance our house. We are not upside down or anything like that, thankfully, but our interest is a lot higher then what is being offered right now. We bought our house right when houses in our are became affordable about 3 years ago. We have a very nice house...it was a fixer upper which we fixed up, but then our house caught on fire and our insurance company was amazing and we were able to rebuild from the frame up and now we have a beautiful home. The only problem is that eventually we will outgrow it....it is 1650 sq. ft. has a great layout, but once this kids are older and want their own space it will get tricky. Our house has three bedrooms and the bedrooms are actually a very good size, so once we have the third baby we will just have the boys share the bigger room. So...moving...not right now, and we are both really at peace with that. So baby.....probably soon.....then the whole working/not working plans will fall into place (not going to really talk about that on here).
Three kids....my brain, at times, has a super hard time comprehending life with 3 kids...I mean life with two kids...especially BOYS is crazy. They are always on the move always wanting to Go Go Go...which I LOVE but adding another little one into that mix seems overwhelming at times. But....we for sure want another baby, and we want the next baby to also be close in age to our other 2. I am sure we are going to get our fair share of people thinking we are NUTS...to have 3 kids 4 and under...I can understand why they may think that....but hey we are NUTS and we are ok with that. ha!
I am sure that we are going to get a lot of "are you wanting a girl" and a few months ago I would have answered "yes!!!" but to be honest I have really come to terms with the fact that we are probably going to have three boys....and I am really excited about that. I am excited to be the team mom for soccer, t-ball, baseball, chess, choir...lol or whatever else the boys want to be apart of! I am excited for vacations spent camping and getting dirty! And, let's face it not dealing with the whole "mean girl" phase of life sounds pretty sweet!!!!
So that's the plan....it will be interesting to see if our plan matches with what actually happens in our lives!!! Whatever does happen I know we will be happy and ready, as a family, to tackle anything that comes out way!

And here are some pictures because this post was a lot of writing...and I never like to read blogs that don't have pictures (sorry, but the truth)

Sully had pudding for the first time....I think he liked it!

What boys do best...playing outside!

We made Dino Eggs!!! (flour, water and cotton balls...then bake) They kept them busy for HOURS!

Benjamin's 3rd birthday

It's true! Our first born, Ben, turned three yesterday! I just cannot believe he is three already, where did the time go. Benjamin is just such a wonderful blessing and has added so much joy to our lives. We love our baby big boy so much!

All about Ben

Likes: anything sweet, playdough, bugs, playing outside, Cars, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, his guys, cheese, Sully (brother), his cousins, Max, Jax, reading books, trains table, puzzles, coloring, magnets, Ella (dog), Mini pancakes, painting, park...the list really could go on and on, he is one happy boy!

Dislikes: flies, hand being dirty (except if he is outside), meat (unless it is chicken), time outs, going up high.

(I asked him these)
Favorite color: White
Favorite food: Grilled Cheese
Best friend: Max and Jax
Favorite song: Twinkle little star and Jesus loves me
Favorite book: Animal book
What he wants to be: Police man like daddy
Favorite show: Puss in Boots
Favorite toy: Playdough

Here are some pictures from his Birthday party...candy themed!

                                                           Benjamin and his friends!

                                                        Looking for bugs in the "jungle"

                                                              "I see you, mommy"

                                                   Frosting and skittles, part of his cake!

                                                             My happy little family!

                                                                             Candy!

                                                                          Yummy!!!

                                                                      Every kids dream!

                                                                             Suckers!!!

Day 4: Hobbies

   Both of my boys take good naps at the same time, so I am left with about 3 hours a day to do what I want! Which is pretty amazinI do enjoy reading, but I do not read as much as I would like. The last series I read was The Hunger Games, I actually went and saw the movie before I had read the books....needless to say I started the first book when we got home and I finished the third book by the end of that week. I was in love!
   I do love music too. In my house it is not uncommon for us to turn the music up and all dance around like crazies! I like everything from country to hip hop! Let's face it hip hop is the best for shaking your booty!
   I love being outside whether it is going for walks or just laying a blanket out and taking a nap....let's face it sleeping is my favorite hobby ;)....only kidding, kind of! I also love reality T.V. so I do catch up on my shows when the kids are sleeping...I am usually cleaning while doing this but I love it! My current favorite are any of the Real Housewives, SYTYCD, and the Next Food Network Star.
    I also LOVE crafts and decorating my home.My sister owns a store in our downtown and I make a couple of things to sell in her store, pillowcase dresses and tag blankets for babies. DIY projects are my favorite though. I love taking an old piece of furniture and making it my own! I also like coming up with new and creative activities for my boys to do. So fun.
So those are my hobbies....nothing to exciting but they keep me busy!!!!

Day 3 comment challenge

 Today's topic is social media. I do not link my facebook with my blog...I have a personal facebook I use to keep in contact with my friends and family. I don't tweet either...gasp...I know, I just never really got into it. I do check pinterest daily...you can follow me HERE. I love pinterest and get many ideas from there! I also check Totsy and Zulily daily, those are discount websites that offer different promotions on a daily basis. I check groupon daily as well. I also check this amazing blog by a mom who has the most amazing play/activity ideas to do with all ages of children every couple of days. Seriously you have to check out that blog, its quite impressive.

On a side note I am getting ready for Benjamin's 3rd birthday. I am getting super excited for his big day! Any of you with three year olds...what is your kiddos favorite toy???? We are thinking of getting him a bike with training wheels....or a scooter (he says he really wants a scooter) but I thought I would ask what your little ones like to play with!

What my blog is all about

Today's blog topic...why I have my blog. Good question! I started out blogging to document my pregnancy. My mom and dad lived in Seattle while we were in California and I wanted them to be able to see weekly progress of my growing belly. It turns out that I was pregnant at the same time as a friend from jr. high and she had a blog as well. We would read each others blogs and now she is one of my best friends. Having a blog to look back on with my first pregnancy is very special to me. I love reading about my pregnancy experience. After I gave birth I updated for  several months about our little one's growth and milestones, but I eventually set my blog on the back burner (our house burned down 5 days before Christmas 2009 and it was stressful to say the least) Then we got back into our rebuilt house (from the ground up) and I got pregnant again I started up another blog. I blog at least once a month during the school year, but during the summer I blog frequently. I blog about everything...my life, my kids, my hubby, being the wife of a police officer, I love decorating and crafting so I blog about that, life as a working mom...really anything that comes to mind, but mostly topics about my family.

Me....

        Hi everyone! My name is Mary and I am a wife to my super awesome hubby Derek and a mom to the two coolest boys in town, Benjamin (3 in 5 days) and Sullivan (just turned one in April). My boys are 22 months apart and I LOVE them being so close in age. They are best friends and I love watching them play with each other. We plan to have one more child in the near future (like get preggers within a year), and while I would love to have a girl and pray that I do have one some day...my boys are so fun that I just can't help but think it would be super fun, and crazy, to have 3 boys. I like the idea of being the only lady in the house...lol!
         I am a teacher for the local public school district here. I love teaching and I feel as though it is God's calling on my life. I teach at a title 1 school, which means the school I teach at is majority low income. I love where I teach and I am super excited for the upcoming school year. Teaching is the BEST job to have when you are a mom. You get all holidays off, all weekends off and all summer off, plus the teaching community is very understanding and supportive when you need to take days off to do mommy stuff! Being a teacher has been such a blessing. My husband is a police officer. He LOVES his job...it is hard being a wife of a police officer. I know every time my husband leaves for work he is at risk of being hurt, and that is not fun to deal with and I am home every night by myself, which is also not fun to deal with. But, I trust him and his decision making and we pray for him every night that he will be safe and come home to us in the morning.

                                   We are BIG Giants (baseball) fans, and try to go to a couple games a year!

                     My husband's family has a beach house so we are there quite a bit throughout the year.

      We both love where we live, in the Central Valley of California, and we want to make a difference in our community. I can't imagine living anywhere else. This is where we were raised, this is where our families are, this is where our friends are and this is where we want to raise our family. It is a great place to raise kids and we are lucky that we both have jobs here and can stay here. I hope you leave a comment and I will make sure to visit your blog too!