Our New Toy

We've had a new addition to our family....a boat!! My parents have had this boat for awhile. However, they don't use it often, and we inherited it. We've gotten a lot of use out of it since we are surrounded by lakes here. Little Lion loves it! He says on Saturday morning, "Is it boat time?" You can see he loves it!


My nieces are here from Wisconsin. We took the boat out with my dad and them. Our day didn't start out so good when we couldn't find a rope for water skiing, but did eventually. Then we get to the lake the boat doesn't start! Luckily it was just the battery which was able to be recharged while with went to Dunkin Donuts ;) My Dad drove which was nice, so Mr.E and I could relax together.
Mr. E decided he was going to water ski first since my niece C had never done it before and to try it out with the boat.And this is what happened...The rope broke. I guess I'm not the only one to gain pregnancy weight :) After tying a new knot he was up and skiing like a pro. C was next. Here is the whole process. She tried hard to no avail except rope burn;( I'm sure next time, she'll get up!!


LL was having a good time watching! By this time we were getting HOT!! Welcome to Florida C and A :) We decided to jump (or pushed in some cases) into the lake and cool off.


My favorite shot of the day!We put LL in the lake and he was NOT a happy camper! I don't know if it's because it's a lake that is HUGE or the fact that there is to edges to hold onto, but he was ready to get out as soon as he got in.
Oh well, it takes time. I'm just happy he loves riding it so much!! We are looking forward to spending lots of quality time on the boat and start fishing soon too!

Father's Day Craft

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads in my life!

My wonderful husband is a great father with Little Lion! He is playful, loving, and dedicated to LL! It makes my heart swell when I watch them together and am anxious to see the same bond with the new baby!

Every year for Father's Day, I/LL make something for Dad/Grandpa to keep on their desk. LL's first year, I took pictures of him in a baseball outfit with Mr.E's autographed bat and ball. The next year, LL was walking all over. So I took pictures of him outside with just a diaper and Dad's tie on. Last year, I bought baseballs and LL put his handprint around the ball like he was throwing it.

This year, I decided to get fancy ;) My lovely friend D posted on her blog a while back how she made silhouette pictures of her kids. They turned out beautiful! I thought I could follow the directions, and would make 3 for Mr.E and the Grandpas. And for you blogger friends, my directions ;)

Step 1....the hardest step....take a good profile picture! I took about 14 pictures trying to get LL to look straight ahead. He is so used to me making him look at the camera and say cheese ;) Here is the picture I ended up using.
Step 2...Print the picture on cardstock. I printed it 5x7. I wanted to be able to see the details of his face clearly and it made it easier to cut out.
Step 3....Carefully cut out the head. I took my time and was careful to not cut off his nose or lips. It was actually helpful to have picture of the face against a light background because I could see if there was white around the head.
Step 4....Paint the adorable face. I went to W*lmart...YUCK....and bought cheap acrylic black paint and sponge brushes for a whooping $2. I flipped the picture over because I liked it facing that way and I didn't want to actually paint LL's face black ;) LL helped me paint the faces. Let me just share that black paint and toddlers is MESSY :)


Step 5....Buy picture frames to suit your taste. I wanted to buy 8x10 oval frames. I searched high and low, and the only place that sold them was JoAnns. However, JoAnns only had 2 frames and I needed 3. After asking for help to see if there was more which there wasn't the salesMAN said it was girly and old fashioned for the silhouette. So he recommended a more contemporary frame which is 5x7, and cheaper ;)You'll see it in a few steps :)

Step 6....Use spray adhesive to glue the picture to a white background to fit your picture. I used cardstock for the background that I cut to fit the frame.
Step 7....After letting the glue dry, I put the picture in the frame and TaDaaa!! A silhouette picture of your precious child in manly frame!


Mr.E has already put his on his desk. I'm sure the Grandpas will love them too!

Beating the Heat

It is HOT here already!!! Today's high is 96 with it feeling like 106!!! We don't have a pool unfortunately. We were outside for a bit jumping on the trampoline. (no this pregnant lady wasn't), and Little Lion tells me, "It's too hot out!" To the covered porch we go. Little Lion decided he wanted to cool himself off.

Yes that is LL sprinkling himself over his head with his watering can from his water table. He thought it was sooooo funny! Then he decided to try other items in his table...the pan.
Maybe I should invest in some water toys or get the sprinklers out :)

An Early Christmas Present!

The time has come for a BIG announcement!!!! Little Lion will be a big brother in December!!!!! I'm almost 13 weeks and anxious to get to the honeymoon 2nd trimester as I'm still feeling nauseous and blah which is no fun with a 3 year old!! We went for our NT Scan today which showed a perfect little bundle of joy that was moving all over! So much in fact that he/she didn't want to cooperate with the tech to get a good picture of the neck fold. I had to keep moving from one side to the other to try and get he/she to the correct position. The tech finally got a good picture. Here he/she is ;)
I tried really hard to get the tech to take a look at the gender, but she was ADAMANT to not look because it was too early. However, I know about the angle of the dangle and I wanted to see. Oh Well. My big ultrasound will be July 30th!! I don't know if I can wait that long!!

Now I need to think of a good blog name for he/she...hmmmm....Cubby, Littlest Lion, Lioness in training :) I guess maybe I'll need to wait to find out the gender. Yippee for new additions to the family!!!

School's Out for Summer!!!

First off....boooo to school being done ;) That is the first time in my life I have ever said those words! As a former teacher, I was always excited for summer vacation, but as a parent that means I've got to entertain Little Lion all summer long. Funny how times change;o)

Little Lion's last day of school was a Splash Day. The kids spent the entire morning outside playing with water. Here is LL checking out the action.
He got put in the sprinklers and wasn't too big of a fan, but he didn't run crying either!
They also had a little bounce house.

And LL's favorite was the water table.
Here is the first day and last day of school to compare how much they grow :) His silly personality hasn't changed :)
Some last day fun!

Let summer begin!!!

Maybe a Drummer?

Little Lion as you know is obsessed with guitars. Well he also likes other instruments as well. He is into his keyboard, microphone to sing, and drums. We don't actually have a drum set, but we have the Rock Band drum set which he loves to bang on. So much in fact, that he BROKE off one of the drums!!!! Mr.E had to put a metal bracket on to hold it on and be able to endure the banging of our future musician ;)

His favorite store to visit is The Guitar Store. We've been there every week for the last month. He just walks around in awe of all the guitars. He plays on the keyboards. He watches the other patrons test out the instruments. And he enjoys playing the drums. Here LL is using all the drums they could. Notice the store does not provide drum sticks ;)

2's are Through!

Little Lion has passed the 2 year old class :) I can't believe that a whole school year has gone by! It seems like yesterday I was blogging about meeting Little Lion's teacher who was WONDERFUL this year!!!! And now only 1 day left which is a Splash Day. LL has learned so much and grown a lot! Beware bragging ahead......

He started out the year with only a few words in his vocabulary and not very social. Now he talks ALL the time and in complete sentences and is friendly with everyone! He can sing numerous songs especially Slippery Fish, 5 Little Monkeys, 5 Little Ducks, ABC's, and a blessing song. He can count to 50! and recognizes all letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and animals. He can spell (memorize) many words like his first and last name, Subway, bowling, one, fox...he is fascinated with how words work! It's amazing how quickly they learn things!

Another big thing they did in school was CRAFTS!! They do crafts daily. Of course I want to keep them all, but by the time he graduates high school, I'd have an entire room full of school related items. So I decided to photograph his projects and keep the few that were special. I also thought it was interesting to see what they did throughout the year. So here are LL's masterpieces!

August/September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May/June

So much fun for the kids! I'm so happy to have made the decision to put LL in school! He will be going back next year too and even for 3 days instead of 2!