Story Time With Conductor Bob

Our local mall has a train that runs around inside it. Every time we go to the mall, Little Man HAS to ride the train. He LOVES that train. We ride it so often, we became friends with the main conductor, Conductor Bob.

Imagine our happiness when the mall announced that every other Wednesday is "Story Time With Conductor Bob"! Needless to say, Little Man was excited!

The first one was this last Wednesday. We woke up and got dressed. The whole time we were getting dressed Little Man was talking about the train. "We go to mall ride train Bob" he says. I was telling him that today, Conductor Bob was going to read him a story! Oh- Little Man LOVES his books, so that made his day!

We got to the mall a little early so Little Man could play on the indoor playground they have there. When story time was about to start, we headed over to the train.



We picked a good spot on the floor to sit, and waited for the story to begin. Conductor Bob read "The Little Engine That Could" (one of Little Mans favorite books!)



After the book was read, there were activities for the kids to do. The art project was sand art. Little Man had never done this before, and he likes to throw sand in the sand box (even thought I tell him no several times, and take him away from the sand box) so I was kinda nervous.

I showed him how to get the sand out of the container with the spoon and pour it into the elephant necklace that he picked out. He was instantly a pro! He picked all the colors and poured all the sand.



After our art project was complete, we went and spun the prize wheel. Little Man picked out a toy car. We then went to, of course, ride the train!

We had SO much fun with Story Time! I can't wait to see what the next one will bring!

Thankful Thursday- Doctor

I had EVERY intention of doing Thankful Thursday on time this week!! We made this card on Monday, and I just forgot to post! So here it is!

Little Miracle had a well check this week, and Little Man was sick a few weeks back, so we have been seeing a lot of our pediatrician lately. We decided to say Thank You to him for keeping Little Miracle well, and for making Little Man feel better when he is sick.

We have THE BEST pediatrician. He doesn't question my decisions to delay some vaccines, he actually has his own schedule of ones he thinks are important, and we talked it over and decided on the best schedule for my kids! He doesn't push solids early, doesn't push formula (I have NEVER been offered formula with this pediatrician, Little Mans pediatrician offered me formula at EVERY appointment..."It would be so much easier to just give him formula" when I was having problems nursing... but that is another post for another day!), and actually supports extended rear-facing. They are great at not pushing antibiotics unless they are truly needed and basically just lets the parent be the parent! I love them.

The main doctor we see there goes out of his way to make both kids feel welcome. It was an appointment for Little Miracle, but he read a book to Little Man when he came in. He always has stickers or little toys to make the kids feel better, and the waiting room has trains EVERYWHERE (even one that goes around the ceiling). Needless to say, Little Man never wants to leave!





Little Miracle even helped!



Our pediatrician was very grateful for the card. Little Man basically threw it at him, but he caught it, and talked to Little Man about his card for a few minutes. He was impressed at Little Mans artwork.

Are you teaching your kids to say Thank You?

Sweet Brother

Little Man was just getting up from taking a "quiet time" on the floor while we are on vacation. Stephen put Little Miracle down on the floor for a second also. Little Man figured Little Miracle needed a "quiet time... aka nap" also. So he proceeded to tuck him in with his blanket, then he brought over his pillow and dog. Lastly his "choc milk" cup. Now Little Miracle was set to take a nap! Too bad it didn't work!

Sometimes You Just Can't Hide

We are on vacation!! Having a great time in (usually, but not right now) sunny Florida! We come to Florida every year.

Today we decided to do a little shopping. We went to the super Target across from our timeshare and then to one of the billion souvenir shops. Then we went down the street to a clothing store that we visit every year. On the way back, there was road construction that had traffic stopped for miles. I pulled off trying to find a back road back to our condo (but someone took the GPS out of my car). Little Miracle was hungry too, so I decided to just stop and feed him. I pulled into a gas station, and into a parking spot that was near a mechanic shop. Stephen got Little Miracle out of his car seat and handed him to me in the drivers seat, and I proceeded to nurse him. A few seconds later, a man knocked on the passenger door. My mom who was sitting there rolled down the window and the man asked if we could move the car because he needed to put a car that was being towed in that spot. I jumped out and let Stephen move the car (easier than putting Little Miracle back into the car seat still hungry!). Stephen moved the car near the gas pumps. I walked over and got back in the car, while still nursing. Another minute later, a different man knocked on the window. This time the driver window. I was wearing a spaghetti strap dress so was not very discreet, but I was in the car so I did not think anyone would be seeing me! The man that knocked noticed what I was doing right after he knocked and jumped back to the passenger door, kinda unsure what to do. I rolled down the window, and he asked me to move the car again, because we were blocking the gas pumps (we were blocking one... but there was 4 of them that were still open). I told him I would move the car in a minute, when the baby was done. He said OK and moved on. I don't think he expected to see a mom nursing in the car when he set out to make us move.

Little Miracle finished nursing and I handed him back to Stephen to go back to his car seat and moved the car. It was quite an adventure. I had pulled out of the traffic to feed Little Miracle very quickly and not be noticed while doing so, and ended up being noticed and asked to move the car twice in 10 minutes! We did finally get back in the traffic and an hour after we started heading home, we made it back, just before the rain came.

Thankful Thursday - Farmer

Farmers work very hard! They are up before the sun to milk cows, gather eggs
and pick the harvest of grown fruit/veggies. We support our local farmer by buying eggs and milk from him. We will be joining the fruit/veggie group next year (we were too late to sign up this year) and we will be getting our meat from him soon. (For now it comes from Whole Foods, but it is still a local farmer that supplies it there). We decided to do Thankful Thursday today for the farmer.

We were VERY busy today (getting ready for vacation and such) so Little Man colored his card in the car on the way to bible study. Then he finished coloring it on the way to the farmer. We meet the farmer locally since his farm is about an hour away. They deliver to us!





Little Man proudly said "thank you!" as he handed the card to the farmer.

The farmer had a huge smile on his face as he read his card.

When Stephen got home tonight, Little Man ran up to him and said "I thank farmer!" I think Little Man is starting to understand this Thankful Thursday thing!

"I Draw Chalk Outside"

Ah. Summer. The time for Popsicles and driveway chalk. I found the latter when looking for Little Man a new float at Walmart. As soon as we got home Little Man attacked the box of chalk and started to try to "draw paper" (draw ON paper) with them. I then told him that chalk colors outside. He was VERY impressed, and immediately wanted to go outside to draw. We went out into our driveway and opened them up.



If you have read this blog for more than, oh 20 minutes, then you know Little Man has an obsession with trains. He always wants me to draw him a train, and I usually do. Then he colors his train.



We didn't stay outside for long because we have lots of shade and mosquitoes... and dirty socks.



After we colored the train, he even tried to color my camera. Still working on that "chalk draws on the ground" thing.



Silly man.

Thankful Thursday- Waitress

We went out to eat last night. Something we have not done in a while. It was very nice to just relax and let someone else cook and clean up for us! When you go out to eat, the wait staff usually works very hard. When you have children, they work harder. They bring highchairs, crayons, and refill your child's drink. They also clean up the mess your child makes. We try hard to not make a huge mess, but kids will be kids, and Little Man does occasionally drop a fry, some rice, or his entire plate on the floor. Waiters and waitresses deserve a special thanks every now and then too! While we were there, we made our card for the waitress.



Little Man had fun making the card at the restaurant. He also colored a pretty train.

Usually, your tip is your way of saying thank you to the waitress for their hard work. We made sure to tip extra well last night!

Thankful Thursday- Well Shoot

Well shoot. Another Thursday went by. This one snuck up on me and passed me by with out notice. We are doing the card tomorrow for this weeks, so tune in!!

Remember THAT Dog?

Remember this post? We have been on many walks since then, and that dog has not been outside or run thru his front door since. Until a few days ago. We were walking back home and saw the dog outside. He was as friendly as could be this time. Little Man was in the Ergo carrier on my back though. I finally got a picture of the dog. He looks smaller in this picture than he did when he was charging at my child, but here he is.



(cell phone pic... sorry!)