I Want This!!

I just had to show you this kids play kitchen!  It is made by one of my new favorite companies, Guidecraft.  They have great, great toys and kids furniture.  I found out the blog Thanks, Mail Carrier was giving away one of these kitchens to one lucky winner and I had to enter.  I just know Jadon would have a blast with this!  I get three extra entries if I blog about the giveaway so....here I am!!  I can't help myself....I really, really would love to win this!

And.....if there are any Aunts or Uncles out there (cough,...Emily) who would like to enter on our behalf we would really LOVE it!!  Just click on the button below and find the Guidecraft All In One Kitchen Giveaway!!  Or you can just cross your fingers that I win it!! 

The Cowboys New Ride

Jadon is going to be a cowboy for Halloween.  I thought it was perfect since he loves to wear his cowboy boots.  We rounded up a hat, bandana, vest, flannel shirt.  A friend of mine made Jadon a belt for his little buckle.  It even has his name on it.  However this cowboy was without his trusty partner until Grandma came to the rescue!  Thanks to Grandma, Jadon has a new ride!  He just loves his new pony and it is a pony....the song it sings says so.  Oh...this is not just a pony head on a stick.  If you press one ear it says "I like my hair brushed", makes horse sounds, and clomping sounds.  Press the other ear and you get this song which I keep finding myself singing- 

"I'm a pretty pony, clippity clop, clippity clop.

Such a pretty pony, clippity clop, clippity clop.

I like to have my coat brushed underneath the old oak tree. 

Let's run and jump, we'll have lots of fun.

So come along with me"  

I think this is to the tune of Frosty.  It is definitely a Christmas tune.  Lord help me!!

Obviously Jadon loves it.  Just look at that smile!

I am just wondering one thing.....How long do you think those store batteries are gonna last?  LOL!

Toddler Talk Thursday

I know, I know....Thursdays I usually write all about how therapy went but I came across another topic that kinda goes along with therapy.  It is an important component of our therapy.  Let me explain....I was looking through some of the blogs I frequent when I saw a post reminding me that it was Toddler Talk Thursday.  Three of the blogs I follow (who all have toddlers) get together each Thursday and talk about a specific topic related to life with a toddler.  Every week they invite other mom's of toddlers to join in on the discussion and I really liked this weeks topic so I thought I would.


This weeks topic is EXTENDED FAMILY. 

I have always loved and appreciated our extended family.  We are so blessed to have a rather large amount of family living very close to us.  However,  in the last year, since Jadon's birth, I have felt that blessing fill my heart so much.  The time following Jadon's birth was such a roller coaster ride for us.  There was the joy of having this precious baby in our lives mixed with the sadness, anger, and confusion of dealing with his birth injury.  In case you are reading my blog for the first time our youngest son, Jadon, suffered a birth injury called a Brachial Plexus Injury.  He was a very large baby and during delivery his shoulder got stuck behind my pelvic bones.  The doctor pulled very hard on my sweet baby's head tearing some of the nerves in a bundle at the neck called the Brachial Plexus.  This left our sweet boy with a completely paralzyed right arm.  It has been a very long road for us and if you would like to read more about this preventable injury please visit - Jadon's Journey

During this emotional and exhausting time our family was here.  Bringing us dinner, watching our older children so we could travel to get Jadon the expert Dr.'s he needs.  Sending us cards with notes telling us how much they cared.  I am so proud of the people I get to call family.  They truly have huge hearts!  It is amazing!


Therapy and extended family for us go hand in hand.  Jadon has been in some form of therapy (physical and occupational) since he was only days old.   I would not be able to attend therapy sessions without Jadon's Grandma Cindy who comes over every week to play with the two boys I watch.  Each week she shows up ready to read, color, and entertain for two hours while Jadon, Daddy, and I go to therapy.  We have so much going on in therapy lately that it has been soooo nice for both Daddy and I to be at therapy so we are both in the loop.

We see Grandma Cindy at least three times of week outside of when she comes to play on therapy days.  We try to have her over for dinner a couple of nights a week.  Since Shelby has been in art lessons in Stanford on Tuesdays we have been taking dinner to her those nights.  I feel that it is very important for my kids to have a good relationship with their grandparents so I am very thankful we get to see her so often.

We try to stop in to visit Grandma Jan and Grandpa Brad on Friday nights when we are in town getting groceries.  Jadon loves to entertain them.  He knows just how to get them to laugh.

 Jadon and Grandpa Brad

 Jadon and Grandma Jan. 

Then there is Grandma Betty who just loves to have little Jadon come to visit.  She loves to watch him play.  She loves his hugs and kisses but he has been very stingy with them lately.  Little stinker!

 Jadon and Grandma Betty

Then there are aunt and uncles and cousins galore who just love to shower Jadon with love!  I am so thankful that we have all these people to help and support us as we raise this amazing little boy and his big brother and sister!  It truly has been a blessing! I am thankful for them all!

Thanks for Grandma Cindy I got to see Jadon do this in person today!!  

 Look at that pull!  Righty was hanging on so tight that Lefty had to let go!!

Thank you to the three mom bloggers (Life of A Sippy Cup Mom, Family and Life in Las Vegas, and Crazy About My Baybah) who host Toddler Talk Thursdays for this weeks great topic! 

Until tomorrow.......

Tot School Fun and Pumpkin Carving

Today we did a new color sorting activity using this sorting tray and jacks.  I got this activity with the Early Learners Kit from Time For Tots.  I really like these kits!  The boys just love sorting activities. 

Then we did some counting and number recognition with candy corn. 

Go Away Big Green Monster is a favorite this week.  We read it twice today.

We also dot art today.  That was a big hit.

Playing and pretending with sticks is the favorite outdoor activity.  They just walk through the woods with sticks.  I am no idea.....

After supper tonight we brought all the pumpkins we picked out yesterday in to the house for carving.  I thought that Jadon would have fun with this.  Well.....this is how it went......

You want me to do what?  Why?

You guys have lost your minds.

Yeah....that is disgusting and I am done.  My pony Grandma found me to finish off my cowboy costume is waiting for me.

 

Shelby had fun.  This year she picked out a tiny pumpkin to carve. 

Jacob was really getting into it.

Jacob made a double sided pumpkin.  It had to different designs on it.

Here is the final product.  Daddy finished Jadon's for him since he was off riding he new pony.

From L to R:  Jadon's, Matt's, Shelby's cyclopse, Mine, Jacob's side 1.

Had to take two picks to show you Jacob's pumpkins side 2.

Until tomorrow....

An Unexpected Day

Thanks to some mighty and ferocious winds sweeping through our area in the wee hours of morning I ended up with all three of my kids home with me, and a day off myself.  I guess the winds swept off with a few of our power lines because at about 5:40 this morning, 5 minutes before the coffee maker was supposed to start brewing my husband's daily wake up call, we lost power.  Then right after my kids finished getting ready for school in the dark the school's automated message system called our cell phones to inform us that school was canceled because there was no power in the entire area.  Matt said it was weird going through town this morning.  Even the Casey's was dark.  Usually a pretty hopping place at that time of morning.  Within another hour all the parents I babysit for had called to say they were staying home!  Woohoo! 

We kept ourselves occupied all morning playing and having fun.  The power outage did not really affect Jadon much since he does not watch TV.  I think he was wondering why I was not watching my morning news though.  He kept handing me the remotes and trying to push the buttons.  He was looking at the TV.  I think he was a little confused.  By Noon we were all going a little stir crazy though.  The kids and I decided we needed to get out of the house.  We packed up and went to McDonalds for lunch then to Ackerman Farms to pick up our pumpkins.  As usual we are waiting until the last possible minute to carve our pumpkins.  We really need to get better about that.  We tried to get pumpkins at Walmart last night but they were completely out.  So weird.  However....it ended up working out perfectly though.  The kids are I got to go pick out pumpkins at a pumpkin patch and I got what all scrapbookers need.....PICTURES!!!!!  Here is our afternoon in pics.

Wow!  Look at all these pumpkins!

 Um...this one is heavy!

 Sissy will help.

 Jadon loves wagons!  I tried to explain that the wagons were for the pumpkins but he was not buying it.

 He might be making that face because his pants got soaked from the water in the wagon.

 Having fun!

 Is this the one Jadon?

I tried to get a pic of all three kids but Jadon was not cooperating.  That is okay. Nice to see these two getting along.

 Jadon loved the chickens and roosters.

 For some reason he kept growling at the turkeys.  We spent a lot of time here.  He was fascinated with them.

 He thought the goats were pretty cute!

 Shelby fell in love with a pony named Bucky.

 Jacob and Jadon watching the goats.

 But this was hands down Jadon's favorite.  I little wheel barrow full of kitties!!  All curled up together sleeping in this cute wheel barrow in the store.  Jadon just loves kitties!

I love unexpected days off.  It just happens spontaneously before you have time to put anything on the calendar.  It is a completely free day to choose between what perhaps needs to be done and just having fun.  Today we choose to do a little of both.  It was a nice day hanging out with my kids with any other distractions (electronics).  Perhaps we should do that on purpose once in awhile......Hmm.....Electronics free days?  I might be onto something.  Wonder if I could stick with it.  I am just as bad as the kids sometimes! 

Until tomorrow....

Naptime? What's That?

Why am I posting the above pic?  I will explain....I have heard stories of this phenomena.  I have witnessed the exhausted, look of desperation it causes on faces.  I have thanked my lucky stars that I have never had one of these.  What am I talking about?  I am talking about the non-napping toddler.  In the picture above my dear sweet toddler was supposed to be fast asleep dreaming of climbing to the top of the couch and jumping off ,or whatever it is that crazy, dare devil toddlers dream about.  He was supposed to be sleeping but he was not.  It started two weeks ago.  One day after Jadon fell asleep on the way home from therapy he would not nap.  Then the following day he did not nap either.  I wrote it off as a fluke because he napped for the next couple of days.  Then last week I started to get concerned when it happened three afternoons.  Today I just threw my hands up.  I don't know what to do but kiss my "free" time goodbye.  I use this term loosely because a lot of the time I am mopping floors or folding laundry.  I just don't know where the child gets his energy. 

I should have been worried when I had to wake him up this morning at 9.  He can't sleep any later than that.  We have tot school to do! 

 However, I thought burning off a little energy outside would counteract the sleeping in.  He is still obsessed with ride on toys.  Here he is putting rocks in the compartment under the seat.

 Loaded up.....time to roll!

 Pushing trucks burns a lot of energy right?

 Here all the boys are zooming past each other.  The other two were worn out.  Not Jadon!

I guess there has been a change for the better.  Mr. I am not going to sleep through the night EVER...is now sleeping through the night.  He drinks his milk, happily goes with Daddy to get his teeth brushed, and goes off to dreamland for the WHOLE night.  Hmmm.......is this work giving up naptime???  I must admit I am a little torn. 

Until tomorrow......