Kumquats and such

As you know, I'm a huge fan of the Play-At-Home-Mom blog . My friend, Katie, sent me a recipe from their site for puffy paint and suggested that I do the activity with Reagan. Katie is one heck of an awesome mom to 2 fabulous little girls and she pushes me to be a more interactive mom. I'm definitely going to miss her! The recipe was simple: 4 Tbsp Self-Rising Flour 4 Tbsp Salt Water Food Coloring From each batch (I made 2) I got made two separate colors. You just mix the dry ingredients, add water and stir until it's smooth then add a few drops of food coloring. Once your kiddo "paints" on cardboard or paper plates (we used both), you pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it becomes dry and puffy. We had a blast doing this and Grandma even helped! What kid wouldn't LOVE playing with this stuff?! After it's microwaved. Grandma helping Reagan make a smiley face. Showing off the "puffy" smiley face! Papa helpe...

For her birthday, Reagan got some awesome toys to play with in the sand from Great Aunt Sheri and Great Uncle Scott. She's not a huge fan of the beach, but she adores Play-Doh, so while I was out running, Uncle Geoffrey and Papa broke out the new toys along with a few tubs of Play-Doh. She had a blast "cooking" with her new toys and played for almost an hour! So grateful to have such a wonderful family that will watch Reagan while I'm out running! She didn't even notice me when I came in the door:)

As you saw in the previous post, Reagan got a glider bike from Grandma & Grandpa for her birthday. Here's the story behind the bike for a 2-year old: Several months ago, I was running on base and I passed the tiniest little boy riding a 2-wheeler without training wheels. My interest was peaked, so I asked his grandma how old he was. She told me he was almost 3! I was absolutely astonished that such a young kid could be riding a bike already. She explained to me that in Germany, kids start with these glider bikes that don't have pedals. They have a place to rest your feet eventually, but the idea is that kids start out by just resting on the seat and using their feet on the ground to propel them forward. Once they get used to that feeling, they can prop their feet up and glide. Eventually, you just transition them to a bike with pedals and they already understand balance. Neat, huh?! So back to Reagan and her new bike. The day after her real birthday, Grandpa (or Papa as...

On July 23rd, Reagan's real birthday, we celebrated as a family with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Geoffrey. We started with our regular gymnastics class where they sang "Happy Birthday" to Reagan twice! She loved showing off her new skills for everyone. After that, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some pizza and games. Jason surprised Reagan by showing up early and he surprised the rest of us by telling us he was done for the day! We all headed home and relaxed for a bit while Reagan napped. Then we started dinner and let Reagan open some presents. She had a blast tearing into the paper and seeing all her new toys! Aunt Sheri and Uncle Scott - Reagan LOVES her new sand toys!! She actually spent the following morning playing with them using Play-Doh:) New outfit from Grandma & Grandpa Daddy had the biggest hit with Chuggington toys! What on earth could be in this big bag?!  Reagan's very first bike! Reagan also got a new step stool s...

Reagan absolutely loves to "cook" with us. About once or twice a week, I let her pull a kitchen chair over to the counter and we break out a bowl, cup measures, spoons, and lots of random ingredients for her to play with. On Sunday, we did some "cooking" for Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a look at how it typically goes: She's not using sour cream, just the container! Yeah, that's Ginger Ale:)

MIL and FIL are down in Jacksonville to celebrate Reagan's birthday and visit for a bit. Naturally, before they even arrived, we had a "to do" list for FIL. The primary project on the list was to pack his pressure washer and then clean our deck and fence. I had no idea what the results would be, but I was floored when I saw the difference!! It's like we have a brand new fence! Check it out for yourselves: BEFORE MID-WASHING AFTER I don't think I even realized just how grey our fence had gotten over time. I did a few of the fence panels just to see what it was all about. At first it was kind of fun. After 5 minutes, I was ready to pass the hose back to FIL:) The mix of smells (water, gasoline, mildew, etc) makes you think you're on a boat in the lake...sadly, that was definitely NOT the case. And here's the guy who did ALL the work: Thanks FIL!!!