Watercolors and Toddlers

So, along with my occasional toddler meal postings, I'm going to try adding in some fun ideas for toddler activities on this blog too.

Today Penelope and I played with watercolors! yay! I love doing watercolors with Penelope because 1.) it doesn't require squirting a million little squirts of different colors so that she has a few colors to chose from 2.) I don't really care if she "mixes" the colors up on the pallet, because they're easy enough to rub down later on to get each color back to their original vibrance and 3.) it washes SO much easier than other paints! Not to mention they're cheap.



If your kid's like mine, they get bored after a few minutes and are ready to move on to something else. Painting with watercolors is pretty straight forward, so today I thought that I would share a couple of different techniques to keep your toddler interested in their creation.
When Penny and I start out, I try to give her something a little less exciting than a paintbrush. Today we used a straw.

Simply but a big glob of paint on the paper like so:



Then blow the paint around to create an effect as such:



fun! If your child is a bit older, they can be a bit more creative and use green and brown paint to create trees or multiple colors to make fireworks.
We didn't get too elaborate:



...Penny was bored of this after a few tries as blowing through a straw requires a lot of coordination and patience on her part.
So this is when we go for the brush!



...and when that starts to get boring, allow them to dip their hands in it. Penny likes to apply the paint to her hands with the brush, then slap it on the paper.

Lots of fun!

You can also color on paper with a white crayon before painting. The paint won't soak into the paper where the crayon is:

Penny Turns Two!

The inevitable has happened. Our baby turned two. I'm sure it'll get harder to believe, the older she gets, the taller she grows and the smarter she gets. Just as last year, we ended up with several parties instead of just one. We did, however go from 4 to only 3 parties this year.

First, we had her BIG birthday bash. It was only two days before we moved. I had wanted to have a going away party with all of our Mommy and Me friends that we have grown so close to the last few years. Penny had known some of the other babies since she was only 3 months old! Since it was only three weeks form her birthday, we decided to go all out and make it her Birthday Party so that she could celebrate and say goodbye to her friends.



We received an excellent group rate at Stonefire Pizza in New Berlin. We got a double room to party in and all of our guests got a $5.00 card for the game room and were able to help themselves to the all-you-can-eat buffet. There were also some fun toddler friendly areas, that made the location perfect for Penelope and her friends - a train table, a water table, a jungle gym and a play kitchen/pizzeria.



We had a TON of fun. Penny has been obsessed with Finding Nemo, so that was the theme. But since it has been quite a few years since the movie came out, the stores sell NOTHING with their characters, so a lot of improvising had to be done. I ordered balloons from Amazon and stickers from Ebay... the stickers were used to decorate the cupcake stand and the favor bags. I made a banner, using Nemo colors and the staff at Stonefire provided a projector so that I was able to project the movie on one of the walls. I made cupcakes with little Squirts on top - made out of gum drops and gummy peach rings. I also picked up some AMAZING cake pops from Starbucks.



It was bittersweet to watch Penny play with her baby friends and to talk with my mommy friends, knowing it could very well be the last time we would see each other. I've been so accustomed to being able to call on them whenever we were bored, that we've become so lazy, not having friend available to play with now that we've moved to California.

Penny had a blast. After her friends left, her, Alan, my sister, Michelle and I stayed behind to play games. Penny picked out a cute sea turtle as her prize as well as some temporary tattoos.



Alan's father got us annual passes for Disneyland as a house warming gift, so we met up with him at the park the morning of Penelope's birthday, which was also Labor Day this year.












We were able to take her on the Finding Nemo ride, which she loved, as well as some other fun rides. Later in the afternoon, we celebrated with Alan's mother, Alans brother, Steven and his wife, Jill at Lake Mission Viejo, just as we had last year.



Penelope got to swim, open presents and we had a picnic with Disneyland cupcakes for dessert and bday wishes.

California or BUST!

We've moved! GAH! So crazy!

Sooooo... last January we decided that it would be a good time in our lives to move, if we were ever going to move. Penelope had gotten really sick around Christmas time with a form of bronchitis and we had found out that she would likely become that sick every time she caught a cold. I was the same way growing up. This also means that she will most likely have asthma too. Her eczema also got really bad in the winter months... so we started researching, and, sure enough, Milwaukee is rated the #2 worst city for asthmatics... and asthma is linked to eczema. Not good for either of us!



Up until now, Milwaukee was neutral territory for Alan and I. A four hour drive from my family, a six hour flight form Alan's - it wasn't too close to either and it was right where we had met. We LOVE Milwaukee, they have so much to offer a young family: festivals, museums, parks and lots of cool people. But as much as we love the area, it was just becoming clear that it would definitely be nice to have family around while raising our children.

My family lives in Northern Wisconsin. Not a big town at all, which also means squat for jobs. Alan's family lives in Southern California, which means lots of jobs, but everything costs a ton. Alan's mom has been an empty nester for quite some time now, and had two bedrooms available for use and California is considered to have the best climate for those with eczema... so our choice was obvious. We're moving to CALIFORNIA!

So Wednesday, August 17th was the day. We were able to spend one last, gorgeous summer living in Wisconsin (so we were able to get our fill of good memories, at least :P ) and were able to attend all the fun family festivities that occurred.
We were fortunate to be able to have my baby sister, Mikala live with us the entire summer. She was a HUGE help, I'm so glad we were able to get in some good bonding and I was able to work on packing up our belongings, have an Estate Sale and still get in all of our usual activities without going completely crazy.

The rest of my family came down the Friday before we moved to help with loading the moving truck. We had a going away party that night with some of our Milwaukee friends and Alan's coworkers. My parents were good sports and came too :) It was nice to spend the extra time with them and they were able to come to a birthday party we had for Penelope with our Mommy and Me friends.

Monday, we picked up and packed up the moving van... which was HUGE. Alan had to work that morning, so I was so thankful to have my daddy, the trucker there to drive it home and back it up into the driveway for us! We had Penelope's Birthday Party that day and, in the evening, we loaded the heaviest furniture to the back of the van. My brother, Ryan and his family came by to visit that night and the girls had a BLAST playing around in the back of the van. We've decided that we just need to open up one of these babies the next time we all get together, they were so entertained. Penelope was FILTHY in no time.






We spent about five hours loading the truck, which I thought was pretty good! My sister, Michelle watched and played with Penelope, Mikala and I carried things from the house to the van, my dad arranged all of the boxes in the back of the truck all while my mom cleaned the house spotless. Everyone ended up leaving that day, after Alan and I thanked them by taking them out to dinner.



It was pretty sad to see them go, especially since I knew that they were pretty sad about us leaving. We're hoping to be able to visit sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas... but Alan needs to get a full-time job first, so we can afford it!



Penelope and I flew out of Milwaukee really early Wednesday Morning and Alan stayed until Friday, so that he could finish up his week at work. He left in the moving van with our dog, Sophie and made it into Santa Ana by Monday!

We're getting pretty well settled in. It's like a game of tetris, trying to find places for our things among Alan's mother's, but everything is going well. Alan has been getting some good freelance jobs that could lead to a full time job, which is his goal. So fingers crossed everything works out! Penelope and I are on the hunt for a play group. We don't know anyone out here with kids yet, so it's a priority for me to find Penny some other children to play with!