Errands CAN be fun!

Today I had to run a bunch of errands…Home Depot, Grocery Shopping….you know, all that mundane stuff you need to do each week.  I try to make errands fun for Noah and incorporate a little fun!  Here’s are a few pictures from our errand day!

 

We went grocery shopping…and as soon as we get in the store Noah signals to the cookie display and says "cookie, cookie"!  He gets very excited when I put his special shopping cart "tray" on and he gets to put his cookie in it!

 

We came out to the parking lot after shopping and got to meet "Jackie" the labradoodle.  Noah was excited to see Jackie looking out the window at hime!

 

Then we headed to Home Depot.  I just needed to get one little item, but we had fun wandering around the store.  There are an amazing amount of "fun" things to do for a little guy!

Noah did a little lawn mower shopping…

 

He did a little oven shopping…

 

He did a little kitchen remodeling shopping….

 

And of course, he had to climb across the long line of carts!

 

On Monday mornings Noah and I volunteer at church by vacuuming the church.  Noah bring his own vacuum and is such a good helper.  I caught this cute picture of him and his vacuum headed into the church!

Science Center visit Cousins!

Cousins Alan and Emily were on spring break this week so Noah and I took them with us to COSI (Columbus Science Center).  I don’t know who had more fun….the little guy or the big kids!  We had a great time together and we really enjoyed spending time with Alan and Emily.

 

 

The little kids water table….notice Alan and Emily were having fun playing!

 

In the Ocean Exhibit Noah had tons of fun getting SOAKED!  Cousin Alan helped with the soaking by pouring water on Noah’s head!

First “Sentance”!

Noah said his first "sentance" today.  Okay, so it wasn’t a real sentance BUT it was 3-words strung together!  He has never done this before today!

 

Want to know what he said?  Drum roll please……..

 

"Ma-Ma….Up…..Ball"   (he said this while pointing up to his ball we had placed out of reach).

 

YAHOO!!!  Go Noah!  Mommy and Daddy are so proud.

Low Calorie Strawberry-Lemonade Smoothy!

I made up this recipe today since I was craving a smoothy…and we all know the commercial smoothy stores charge a fortune AND kill you with calories!  So, here’s what I came up with.  A Strawberry-Lemonade smoothy that is low in calories and sugar, is thick and hearty, and has Fiber!  I figure a serving is about 3 points for Weight Watchers (probably less, I usually tend to round up).

 

Strawberry-Lemonade Smoothy

 

7-8 large whole UNSWEETENED  frozen strawberries

1 tbsp. of premixed (powder) Country Time Lemonade

3 tbsp. of Fiber One Strawberry yogurt

 

I mixed all of this up in my mini-food processor and it came out perfect!  If you want it thinner, add a little skim milk.  YUM!  If you make it, let me know how you like it!

 

Rainy Day = Library Day!

Noah and I spent a couple hours at the library today.  I just love the library.  I love the smell of books, the rows of colorful books, the fun of finding books for Noah, and all the fun kid stuff to do.  Today he was a bit tired so he wasn’t up for a lot of playing, but he did enjoy some puzzles and a puppet show.  Meanwhile mommy searched the rows and rows of colorful books for some fun books to bring home.  There’s just something about library books that I love….the plastic wrapping on the outside, it just reminds me of being a kid and loving storytime in my classes.  I love the colorful and vibrant colors in kids books.

 

Up until today we have only been checking out board books for Noah.  He tends to get a little rough with books and board books were the only safe books we could read.  However, in the last few weeks he has been doing very well with the "regular" books, which I just LOVE because now we have TONS of books to explore!  I think we had read every board book available at the library….and were starting to get a bit tired of the same ol’ books.  Today was the first day I checked out TONS of "regular" books and I can’t tell you how excited I am to dive into them!  It’s possible that mommy loves kids picture books more than Noah!  I just adore reading them, and Noah seems to love them just as much.

 

Off I go to read, read, read!

 

Help me out and VOTE!

Go to this link: http://www.mysteryflavor.com/votepage.aspx

On the top where it says "find a name" type in "Fruity Tooty Punch" and it will show an entry by "aubregary".  Vote for my flavor entry!!!

 

Thanks everyone!

Water Aerobics

I had my first water aerobics class last night and loved it.  I was half expecting it to be full of grannies, but found that everyone was around my age and had little ones at home.  The instructor was awesome and the class was much harder than I expected, which was great!  I am actually sore this morning, who knew you could get sore from water aerobics!  I have it again Thursday and can’t wait.

 

 

Swim Level: Goldfish!

Noah started swim class this weekend.  He graduated last year from "Guppy" and this year is a beginner "Goldfish".  I thought it would be fun for daddy to be able to do this swim class (since I get to do everything else with him!).  Saturday was the first lesson.  Very cute.  Noah just loves the water and is fearless.  He did get a little whiny when he saw mommy on the side of the pool, so I had to go hide out of site until class was over. Even though the pool is indoors the water was a bit chilly (we have been told it will be better for next week’s lesson) so out child was a colorful shade of purple after his 30 minute lesson!

 

 

  Friday night we met our wonderful neighbors, Dick and Jan, for pizza.  It has been 3 years since we have lived next door to them and we have never gotten together for dinner!  We are so blessed to have such fantastic neighbors that love Noah so much.  They brought him his first Easter gift!  Inside a cute little sports bag Noah found a wind-up bunny, Playdoh in Easter eggs, and a light up egg!  Thanks Dick and Jan!  We love you!

Sunday was an exciting day!  We became official member of our church.  We went to the front of the church after the sermon and the pastor introduced us to the congregation.  We are so happy to "officially" belong to such a wonderful church! After church we took Emily out to lunch and she was the lucky winner to get to sit next to Noah during lunch…..quite the messy adventure!

Look at our little ham! He was such a silly boy at lunch today.

Today was a beautiful day here in Ohio so we took advantage and got our bikes out for the first ride of the season!

 

 

AUBRE’S NEW PROJECT

I have started my own website: http://greatideasformoms.today.com/

 

I wanted a place (seperate from our family website) where I could talk about craft projects, share parenting info, and other things I love.  Please bookmark my website and check back often!  I would love your feedback.  If you see anything you like or dislike, email me at aubregary@yahoo.com and let me know!

 

Please pass along my website to other friends you know that would appreciate it.  THANKS!!

Princess Party!

   Noah was invited to a princess birthday party for my dear friend Bridgett’s daughter, Natalie.  Today was her 3rd birthday!  The birthday party was held at our church in the kid’s play area.  My only dilema was, "what do you dress your little boy in for a princess party?"  The answer came from daddy…the most "boyish" outfit we could find.  He was decked out in Ohio State colors, a baseball cap, an Ohio State football jersey, and of course, his red puppy slippers!

 

He even got a haircut for the event!

 

Noah was really shy at first as the kid’s started arriving.  He wanted "ma ma" with him at all times or he wouldn’t play.  What a good mommy I am…I somehow managed to crawl up (cram my body up) several small platforms in this giant indoor kid play contraption (all the while lifting Noah to each platform) so that Noah could enjoy the "car" and "bubble".  Boy oh boy was it HOT inside once we got to the top.  My sensitivity (aka: FREAK OUT OF SMALL PLACES) started to set in and Noah and I climbed back down pretty darn quickly after arriving at the top (just as my "internal panic button" was starting to go off.

 

A view from the top where we climbed….

 

The birthday girl!  Happy 3rd Birthday Natalie!!

 

Everyone patiently waited for the cupcake cake to arrive!  Noah loved the juice boxes!  This was his first juice box ever!

 

He LOVED the cupcake cake and kept signing "more" over and over again!  In fact, everyone had left the table to go back and play and there was my little Noah sitting at the table waiting for more cupcake (which he never received…mean mommy).  In the second picture he is making his "silly face" for me while eating cupcake.

 

My beautiful friend Bridgett!