Crazy 8 Haul

Another addition to shopping for Fall/Winter for A and E. Thesse are one of our first purchases. I didn't have many skirts for A, and most who know me knows that I like to have a variety of dresses, skirts, and pants. Of course long sleeve and short sleeve, as well as jackets. Here is my steal of a deal on skirts.

For A:

Anf for E for next summer: 

For $3, why not?

For all of this, I paid $35. This is also including the shipping. 

Review: Puddle Jumper Life Jacket

When it was time to prepare for summer, I knew we needed to get some type of life jacket for A. Last summer, we were home in Louisiana and swam a lot. We tried a variety of life vests and A hated every single one. This year I asked around to friends, and many suggested the Puddle Jumper.

The weight range is from 30 to 50 pounds. A was 32 pounds when I bought it and now weighs 34.5 pounds. It is also Coast Guard approved.

This life jacket was and still is an absolute hit with her. She happily puts it on and wears it, even when we are around the house. She loves it that much.

I love the design of it. I love that there is nothing around the neck and nothing between the legs. That is what A disliked about the others. Even the different designs are adorable and stylish. She wore this swimming to swimming pools, beaches, and waterparks. We had no problem with it or getting her to wear it. She played as if she wasn't even wearing anything. It always held her upright. It never tilted her forward or backward. Even with waves and splashes and sudden moments.

We absolutely love this, and we give credit to this product for being the reason A loves the water as much as she does now. It gives her independence and safety. Two things that both a toddler and parent want when looking for an item like this.

It gave her lots of confidence to swim. In fact, she was scared to be in a pool or at the beach. This entire summer (once we received the Puddle Jumper) she wanted to swim by herself, and she let us know!

Here are some pictures of her wearing it:

The Puddle Jumper can be purchased from Walmart, Target, and Amazon.com that I personally know of. We bought her's from our local BX. We will definitely be getting a second one for Baby E next year. No questions asked. 

Water Park Fun

This last weekend we brought A and E to a water park. We went with some friends. Sadly, I forgot my camera so we don't have any pictures, but I still wanted to document our adventure.

A is 2.5 years old, and E is 6 months old. We took them to a place called AquaSplash because it is smaller and a little more old fashioned. It is very much toddler friendly than the other water parks. It is about 1.5 hours from the house, so we got up and headed out that way. We ended up meeting some friends out there. A absolutely loved it. It was so much for her. She was able to run around and play and do her own thing. She wasn't afraid at all, and I was so surprised. In fact, she willingly climbed up to the top of a larger slide and slid down with me without complaining. Going down, she was scared, but once we got down and she realized she was ok, she wanted to do it again and again and again. She absolutely loved it.

Then the parents did a whole Daddy Day Care and Mommy Day Care Rotation. The men would go and ride a slide while the women watched the kids and vice versa. We had so much fun, and I didn't realize how much times have changed for me. 1 - I am older and 2 - I have had children. Both have changed my level of fear and anxiety, to say the least. I didn't realize how scared of heights I was and how scared of water slides I am. Again, to say the least. In the end, we all had a great time. Since it was the last weekend before school starts here, it was a great one. Spent with great friends and awesome company.

We were there for 7 hours with 8 children under the age of 7 and 7 adults. Pretty nice day for all of us!

Lazy Weekend

With us going to Spain in about a week, we have been enjoying our lazy weekends around the house. We have been focusing on cleaning up and tending to the garden so we can enjoy our Spain trip. Our weekends have involved so much outside time that it is unreal. Mowing, weeding, planting, swimming, sports, sprinkler fun, picking tomatoes and other fruits and veggies. This weekend I think we will be picking our radish pods and pickling them. We have several zucchini's that are ready as well. I think we will pick those as well and share some with our friends and neighbors. There are too many for us to eat alone. But then again, we do put zucchini in a lot of dishes.

I would love to put some pictures of the girls, so I will do that here. I know I haven't updated much on them or even posted many pictures lately. Here are a few:

Lets back track to April. This first picture of the girls shows how A always wants to entertain and be right there with E. They seriously can not get enough of each other.

These next several pictures show an afternoon of the girls playing outside. Between playing with water toys and buying them a new outdoor playhouse and slide, we spend a lot of time outside. 

I have a hard time with these pictures of A. 1 - she was/is going through a stage where she doesn't want a bow or ponytail. It drives me nuts and 2 - she refuses to wear a whole piece bathing suit. She hates the way it feels. But I really don't like her being in a two piece. Anyway, she's young... yes I know. 

And the new playhouse! 

She insisted E have a turn on the slide. Excuse the way I look! 

A's favorite snacks {2 years}

When a baby becomes a toddler, a fairly high percentage of their diet is on snacking. I always try to plan what I will have for snack foods in the house and what I will also have for lunch. I plan to do a post on A's favorite lunches at this age, so I can be prepared with E. This post is going to be A's favorite snacks at this point and time. 

A is 2.5 years old. She is our eater. She loves to eat, and she is definitely not picky. If she sees you eating, she wants what you have. This girl will eat anything you give her. And she will even go to the fruit trees and pick stuff to eat, and go in the garden and attempt to pick stuff. She isn't allowed in the garden, so normally I catch her before she attempts but she has succeed before with the tomatoes. 

Anyway, I thought I would list A's top 5 favorite snacks right now. They are in no particular order. Just like with any other child, she changes fairly often. As time goes on, I may update. 

1. Yogurt. A loves yogurt. She has for a while, too. But now she can eat it by herself. She likes flavored yogurt, as well as plain yogurt. And sometimes I even give her fruit to go with it. 

2. Fig Newtons. She has been enjoying herself some Fig Newtons lately. She also likes the strawberry, blueberry, and apple ones. But her favorite are by far the fig ones. 

3. Apple Sauce... or any kind of fruit sauce. We have several fruit trees. We couldn't eat the fruit fast enough, so I decided to make and freeze some apple, pear, and cherry sauce for Baby E could have some when we started her on solids. Well, A decided she was in love. She has eaten the whole stash in the freezer. Now I am having to buy from the grocery store, which is fine. I decided to try her again on the pouches because I thought it would be a great way for her to be on the go and still enjoy her apple sauce. Surprisingly, she loves them. So we buy both, the cup and the pouches. 

4. Cheese Sticks. I have a hard time with this one. A is just like me. She loves, loves, loves cheese. I know it is a good source of calcium, and I know it is healthy when eating properly. But this girl loves cheese beyond no end. If I let her, she would eat a whole bag of string cheese in one sitting. 

5. The last one that I am going to post is one that is generally a given with children this age. It is important for them to have it, and generally each child likes some variety of it. Fruit. A loves fruit. She goes through stages where she will be really into berries, then back to apples, pears, and bananas. Right now, she is loving nectarines. She went through a Clementine phase as well. The only fruit that she hasn't really taken too is watermelon. She loves pineapple and cantaloupe. We give her fruit a lot. Especially during these hot months.One of my favorite ways to eat it is through a salad with a packet of instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding over it! Yum!

That wraps up A's favorite snacks at this time. She loves to eat and her taste buds are always changing. I hope to do more of these just to watch as her taste buds and desires change. I hope you enjoyed this. And I hope it gives you some inspiration to what to give your children as snacks!