A Word in Pictures:: Winter

A new year, a new photo project! Last year the friends in our blog circle did the "10 on 10" project where we posted 10 photos on the 10th of every month... This year we are giving something else a shot! It will be monthly, on the last day of every month, and called "A Word in Pictures." This month's word is WINTER! The beauty of this project is each one of us can interpret and portray the same word in our own unique way! (Disclaimer: Usually the Word in Picture posts won't have these many words-ha!)

 Well you think winter would entail pictures of snowy fun: sledding, snow men, snowballs, tiny snow boots....but not for me! We actually have NOT gotten outside to play in the snow yet! When there was a good amount of snow on the ground it was either below zero with the windchill or we were busy and not able to get out...BUMMER! I really hope to get out and play with Ev next time it does snow!

That being said, my take on "Winter" will be a bit different.... With the weather being yucky here in Northeastern Ohio, it feels like we've basically been stuck inside for months with no end in sight! Yikes! So I am trying to be really creative with mixing things up at home...so here is a sneak peak at some things that we do to keep entertained while cooped up inside!

 Playing with, sorting, and scooping dry pasta

 One of her favorite (not mine!!) things to do... "Wash dishes"... aka make a watery mess everywhere!

Reading books. Lots & lots of books.

 Playing with play dough (which I blogged about here)

 Playing grocery store...

 And Evelyn LOVES to paint... LOVE LOVE LOVES it.

 We like to make music....

 And just having fun being together!!
And if you haven't noticed...another perk to being stuck inside is that all day bedhead it totally acceptable!
 ;-)

Let's see what "WINTER" looks like for the Boone's!

Homemade Play Dough Fun!

Well it is barely into January and the kids and I are pretty much stir-crazy! It was in the 40's yesterday so I took them on a walk to the library just for some fresh air... I have had multiple conversations with friends recently about different fun activities to entertain our toddlers and I have decided that I need to plan some fun and different activities fairly frequently to beat the winter blues and to mix things up a bit! So this week I decided to make some homemade play dough! It was really very easy and I had almost all of the ingredients on hand... I used the recipe on this site! Since I wasn't sure if it would end up in a certain someone's mouth or not, I felt better about knowing everything in it is edible and like the site suggests, I used a packet of Kool Aid to color it rather than food coloring so BONUS it smelled like grape!  Ev loved it and I did too!

Here it is! I just decided to make one color to see if I liked this recipe. And it's a keeper!

Not sure yet...She just kept pinching it at first.

Getting a little more excited about the idea... (Hunter is excited, too ) ;-)

 Then we decided we LOVE it!

 

I got out some plastic shapes to play with.

She liked when I took all of the shaped holes out and she put them where they belonged like a puzzle!

Then we worked on letter recognition, which is is very good at it and loves to do. And I will admit, it was fun rolling it out and making all the letters haha!

 Sweet little chubby fingers :-)

And we can't leave out the little guy!

Being cute and reading a book!

Monthly Kiddo Update

Evelyn is now 23 months!

(I cannot believe in a month my baby girl will be 2 years old! That is just unreal.)
-Evelyn has a handful of new toys from Christmas that are keeping her busy... She asks often to "play castle!" (her Little People Disney Princess Castle), and is often found sitting and drawing on her Magnadoodle, which she loves. She also has had fun feeding, caring for, and taking Joelle (her Cabbage Patch Doll) on walks around the house. ( You have to hear her say Joelle..it is so cute!)
- A new phrase heard very often around here is "May I have a cookie please?" or "May I have some milk please" And if you don't respond in a timely fashion she will reply to herself with "Yes, you may!".
-Another thing that is funny is ONE time I had a glass of chocolate milk and I let her have a sip... so sometimes she asks if she can please have some "brown milk". ha :-)
-Not a whole lot new with her besides the fact that it seem her language skills and understanding of things improve every single day!
Here is my sweet girl all prettied up for church!

And this is her natural smile...which I just LOVE!

Hunter is now 5 months!

-I feel like this boy changes and grows every single day!
-We have discovered that he prefers to sleep on his side- which is fine, I am a side sleeper, too- but lately he has been waking at night because he rolls over onto his back and cannot get back onto his side on his own (at least the way he wants!) so we need to go in there and roll him back and he will conk right back out... So easy enough fix--still kind of a pain ;-) Hoping he learns to get comfy on his own soon, or just learns to sleep on his back!
-He has started to eat solids and is finally getting the hang of eating off of a spoon. I am excited to start making baby food for him as I loved doing that with Evelyn!
-At about 4.5 months he had a doctor's appointment and weighed 15 1/2 pounds and is is 6-9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper at night.
-He is becoming more and more fun as he is awake for longer periods during the day and is getting good at grabbing (and biting and drooling all over) toys and is seeming enjoy being more active! He has also discovered what a fun and convenient toy his feet are!
-He is still the sweetest little thing and loves to be held and cuddled! Love my little boy!

 Haha! Goofball...