camera hospital

my poor little ol' 20d is sick. he had to go to the camera hospital. luckily i have camera health insurance so in case the nice camera doctors can't fix him they'll just send me a new one. i love camera health insurance.

i guess it's like when you're a kid and your goldfish dies and your parents just get you a new one instead of telling you kermit went to heaven. not that that ever happened to me... but i've seen it on tv.

in the meantime since i just can't be without a camera (both professionally and personally) for over 2 weeks, i'm taking this opportunity to pick up my much needed backup camera. or in the this case a new camera that will make trusty ol' 20d my backup camera. i just purchased a 40d and it should be here in the next day or two. just in time for a real estate agent head shot session i just booked for later on this week. phew!

i think this just might be the first post i've ever done without a photo. i guess that's what happens when your camera gets sick.

no, i just can't do it. here's a picture from back in june that i don't think i've posted on here. i thought it's perfect for this topic... it's jonah with his camera. say "cheese!"

stuff to do with toddlers: pudding painting

alright! round 2! this activity gets 2 messy thumbs way up!

this week jonah had his friend jackson over for some good ol' yummy messy fun! we busted out a couple cups of chocolate/vanilla pudding and a couple of pages from a big desk calendar (which i picked up for like $2 at the office supply store a couple months ago) and let the boys go to town. i don't know how much actual painting happened once the boys figured out they were allowed to eat the pudding, but nevertheless it was quite fun.

sadly my camera broke last week (i'm sending it in for repairs or replacement... looove the 4 year warranty!) so these pics were taken with my kodak point and shoot. it's good. events like this keep me grateful for having my slr.

we set up the project on the deck (which we figured we could hose off later) and filled the kiddie pool for some easy clean up.

yum!

i am the canvas!

i call this one "pudding is yummy in my tummy"

now for a quick dip. ahhh... all clean!

little fishies


nope, not done "painting" just quite yet

i call this one "5 o'clock chocolate"

jonah would not look at the camera and smile the whole morning until this... what a little cheeseball! (there's little lily chillin' in the background).

hmmm... what shall i paint next?

i took some video too. i'll try to get that uploaded and added here some time soon.

peace, love & chocolate!

stuff to do with toddlers: homemade orange scented edible play dough

tuesday we went over to jonah's friend jackson's house to play. lara and i were talking the week before about how we should try to do some educational stuff with the boys when we get together. so i started looking for some craft projects. i found tons of crafts for kids, but i really had to search for stuff to do with toddlers. so i decided i'm going to keep track of some of the fun stuff we find to do with the boys in hopes that it will give other mama's some good ideas for (inexpensive and easy) stuff to do with their crazy toddlers.

so here's the first official installment of my new themed posts: stuff to do with toddlers.

when i read the intro to this project i knew it was for us...

"If your children are at the age of preferring to eat their art supplies while you are trying to teach them to expand their creative skills, you'll enjoy these perfect projects!"

Kool-Aid Play Dough (recipe from familycorner.com)

* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 cup salt
* 3 teaspoons Cream of Tartar (i forgot the cream of tartar so we used baking powder and it seemed to work fine)
* 1 package Kool-Aid Mix (any flavor of unsweetened)
* 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Slowly add water mixed with oil and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens to dough. Turn out onto a heatproof bread board or counter top and knead until cool enough for children to handle. Dough will be the color of the Kool-Aid mix and will smell like the Kool-Aid mix. (Can be stored in a tightly covered container for up to six months).

cost: less than $1 if you have most of these ingredients in your pantry
prep time: 5 minutes to gather ingredients
cook time: less than 5 minutes to prepare; 5 minutes to cool
play time: 30 to 60 minutes (depending on attention span)


and now for the photos...

i think jonah had more fun with lara's wheely cutter than with the actual play dough.

jackson started out with the potato masher... sweet!

jonah did decide to give it a taste (of course!) it's probably my own fault giving him orange play dough shaped like a carrot.

we pulled the play dough apart, rolled it into balls, cut out circles with baby bottle lids, rolled it into snake shapes... it was a good 45 minutes of fun at least! look at that concentration...

we wondered before we started if the kool-aid would rub off and stain clothes or hands. it didn't, so that was great!

so that's about it. the cost was minimal. lara had everything in her kitchen except for the unsweetened kool-aid packets. it didn't take long to get ready and it kept the boys occupied until lunch time. i definitely give this project 5 stars!


i'm playing along with works for me wednesdays over at rocks in my dryer. check it out!

valentine's day cards

i was working on a photo project today and came across these pictures which i realized i never put online with my other valentine's day pics because i didn't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who might be receiving them. so now i can share!

in case you're looking for a crafty (and inexpensive) idea for valentine's day next year (hey, i saw they've got christmas decorations out at hobby lobby now... it's never too early to start planning these things) here's an idea for valentine's day cards for your loved ones.

i had photos with lovey heart borders printed through shutterfly.

then i just filled them out like postcards, added some stickers for pizazz and dropped them in the mail.

when i walked into the post office to find out if i could do this (if i couldn't mail them as postcards i was just going to put them in envelopes, but they'd still look like postcards) the person behind the counter said (with a lot of attitude) "well you can... but i don't know if you'd want to."

as far as i know they all made it.

so there you go. cards with a personal touch printed and shipped for less than $.45 each!

stickers, pipe cleaner curlies & an ipod shuffle

aka. how to kill time with a 2 year old.

first a picture of one of jonah's very first household craft projects. i picked up some cars stickers (jonah's all time favorite movie) and he helped me decorate his booster chair.

look how proud he is. "see daddy!"

i took this pic with my camera phone and sent it to daddy since he was traveling last week.

let's see? what do they have in the $1 section at target today? ah ha! pipe cleaners! that sounds like fun!

no! i couldn't possibly hold still long enough for you to get a picture mama!!! ahhh! it's torture!

boy, these things are almost as much fun as black olives.

now. how to get them off?

i decided to give myself a pedicure and then lay down and take a picture. guess who wanted his pipe cleaners back? btw, do you like my flip flop tan line?

so guess who needed to get the other camera and lay down and take a picture of his own feet. how did he even get that camera that was up on the desk? tall little monkey!

later it was time for some tuneage. check out how my shuffle is just his size... and clipped to his little pocket.

jonah was lovin' it!

psalm 34 ate cookies

our women's ministry had received a request from the prison ministry for homemade cookies, so lara asked if i wanted to come over and bake while we let the boys play. what a great idea! you mean we get to eat chocolate chip cookie dough and serve God at the same time?! is there a down side here?

this was such a cool service project! i mean aside from getting to eat cookie dough, i really did feel like we were making a difference in the lives of others. as instructed, lara and i prayed over the cookies while we were mixing and scooping and baking. at first we both thought it seemed a little weird... "God, please stir in the hearts of the prisoners who receive these cookies... let them taste and see the goodness of the Lord".

we even named our cookies psalm 34:8 cookies, although on my way home I decided we should have spelled it ps 34 ate cookies - i've got a copyright on that! don't you try to steal it! (psalm 34:8 taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.)

lara came up with lots of other clever prayers that had to do with the mixing and the baking. i tell ya, the Holy Spirit was in that kitchen! =)

and the more we prayed i think our hearts began to change... or mine did at least, which is exactly the purpose of prayer!!! so cool how this ties right in to the book we're both reading right now (celebration of discipline by richard foster).

in his chapter about prayer, foster says that prayer is the central avenue God uses to change us. in real prayer we begin to think God's thoughts after him, to desire what he desires, to love what he loves, to will what he wills. a big part of prayer is listening... something i still have a lot to learn about.

here's my favorite quote from the chapter: "if we genuinely love people, we desire for them far more than it is within our power to give, and that will cause us to pray." foster says that the inner sense of compassion is one of the clearest indications from the Lord that this is a prayer project for you. it's also a good sign that we're praying in His will.

so as we prayed for the cookies and in turn for the prisoners and other men who would get to eat them, my heart became more and more compassionate and i felt honored that God allowed me to serve them in this small way.

i plan on continuing to pray for mike and the other volunteers as they head into the prison on thursday to work with, listen to and minister to this group of men. if you'd like, please join me in praying that the prisoner's hearts would be open and that the volunteers would have the right words to say to them.

this was an awesome service project! the boys entertained each other (for the most part) while lara and i baked. and they even helped with stirring the batter a little! jonah liked using the beaters... and he didn't even make too big of a mess! it was really great as moms to be able to serve the prison ministry in this way without even leaving the house!

lunch time shenanigans...

study: most children strongly opposed to children’s healthcare

jonah said he's sign the petition


Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children's Healthcare

jonah's 1st baseball game :: the round rock express

we went to jonah's 1st baseball game on july 2nd to see the round rock express at the dell diamond. for you illinois folks, it's just like the kane county cougars.

it was pretty sweet because they were having a special deal where they "paid for your gas", so if you brought in this coupon from their website you got $4 off per ticket. which made lawn seats only $2! who could pass that up! so we only paid $4 to get in (jonah was free)...

but then we paid $20 for two hotdogs, a large lemonade and a chicken finger kids meal. does this seem like highway robbery or is it just me?

at least jonah enjoyed his curly fries. and he shared nicely with mommy and dada.

after grabbing some dinner we headed in to find our friends. here's a picture of where we sat. we were in the grassy area behind the blue sign.

and here's the view from our seats

here are the friends we met up with. i originally met kimberly and her boys through my wednesday morning bible study at church. we had a lunch play date earlier in the day, and that's when she told me about the great deal on the tickets. luckily dave was in town, so we decided we'd be spontaneous and take jonah to his first game. hmmm... i wonder what was so interesting on the ground?

here's mason with a mouthful of crackers...

and here's jonah with a mouthful of crackers. hmmm... i'm seeing a theme here.

must have been some good crackers.

oh, here's what mason looks like without a mouthful. cute, huh?

ah... here we are. jonah just needed a good tickle.

jonah was his usual self and didn't really want to sit still much. when we first got there he was really into sitting on the blanket, but once he got a little more accustomed to his surroundings he got the explorer bug. i managed to capture this rare moment where he was sitting down for a water break with one of our free handout water bottles. we must have been one of the first 2,500 through the door. thanks allstate.

on our way out we stopped by the big inflatable slide. here's tucker showing jonah how it's done.

we all waited anxiously, not knowing if jonah would actually make it to the top. luckily the line wasn't too long when he started.
and then we wondered if he'd ever come down.

phew! daddy talked him into it. weeeeeee!

what! we have to go?! nooooooooooo!!! sooooo sad...

despite the sad face at the end there (it was past our bedtime) we really did have a great time at jonah's 1st ballgame! go rr express! choo-choo!