Sunday, June 24, 2012

Underwater Adventures

So, I looooooove Pinterest. It is my absolute favorite, and I get lots of good ideas for things to do with Buddy from it.

There was this one picture that I found where kids laid down in chalk drawings and then interacted with the pictures, and it was AMAZING!

Anyway, we decided to do the same sort of thing, but with our own twist! Buddy didn't want me to draw the scene and plan it for him, so he picked out what he wanted the scene to be, and helped draw it, and then kept adding and changing it as we went along. It was SOOO much more fun than I had anticipated, and he was so pumped about it, and I think it turned out pretty great!
(Especially since I didn't realize till too late that you kinda have to be up on a ladder to take a picture from this angle, so I had to just hold my camera above my head and shoot blind!)

 The first picture we took, Buddy wants me to point out "Gary the Snail" in the left bottom corner. He's pretty proud of his drawing skills here!


 It was almost as much fun to edit these pictures as it was to take them, since Buddy was really into trying out all sorts of effects and styles! Yay for Picasa making editing easy :)


This pic is included cuz Buddy wants you to know that those houses at the top are the cottages: Grandma Betty's is on the left, the other is on the right!


I love this one the most, since Buddy got so into it! Look, he's even holding his breath "underwater"!

We've been really crafty recently, so expect more craft posts in the next couple of weeks!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Here Come the Waterworks!

So, it's been really hot and miserable in our neck of the woods lately. Like, 90 degrees and ALSO 80% humidity, every day. Which, obviously, means it's time to check out the local pools, ASAP.

Anyway. So I've always driven Buddy 15 minutes away to a fancy "aquatic center" that's sort of expensive and not really worth it. But this year, I realized that there are actually quite a few decent pools within a few minutes of me, and they each only cost $1 per person!

So today, we checked out Schulenburg Pool. It was perfect for us! Not too crowded, a shallow end deep enough for decent swimming, but shallow enough that Buddy could touch if he got nervous, a slide, and a diving board! Pretty good for just $1.

right after going down the slide!

mid jump!

we're cute!

he's ridiculous.

this is only included so you notice the guy making faces in the back.

Coming up for air!

We did a cool project today too, but I'm going to save that for another post :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Stubby Nails.

So, you guys. I have this AWFUL habit of biting my nails. Like, so far down that they bleed. It's nasty.

So this fall I went and got fake nails put on with my cousin, in hopes that I would break the chewing habit. And it sort of worked! Unfortunately, it's CRAZY expensive to get your nails redone every 2 weeks or so, so I've been trying to make my own nails beautiful.

Anyway, my new strategy is to paint my nails beautifully so that I am not tempted to pick at them, since they are so pretty!

Here are 2 of my most recent nail designs:

Taste the rainbow!

I was learning how to use tape to help with straight lines, I'll get better at it  soon!
Anyway, it seems like this is something I'm getting sort of into. So I'm thinking once a week or so I might post a new design! Maybe it could be Fun Nail Friday? Or something like that...

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Soccer's Over!

So soccer this summer has been a whirlwind. It lasted 8 weeks (I think?) but it seemed like only a few! Buddy's skills grew by leaps and bounds, but unfortunately his attitude grew with it.

It's surprisingly tough coaching a team when your son is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the players. I didn't go into this season expecting this, since last season Buddy was one of the dreamier ones on the field.

This year, between his sudden coordination and all the time he and his dad are spending playing together, he's suddenly a superstar!

And that's great. I'm so proud. But what do you do when your boy suddenly dominates to the point where no one else on his team even gets a chance? We talked about making passes, letting everyone have a chance to have the ball... but how can you blame the kid for not wanting to do that when he passes to a teammate and then that teammate doesn't even run with the ball? It would be different if the other kids tried but failed, but we have some kids who won't even run. Which drives me nuts, of course.


Anyway, last week Buddy's cocky attitude got him in trouble. After scoring his 4th or 5th goal of the game, he did a little happy dance and some kid from the other team got ticked off and decked him. And Buddy hit him back. And all of a sudden they were in a fistfight.

I was mortified. But what do you say? Don't be happy about your success? Don't be proud of yourself? And when someone creeps up from behind trying to hurt you... shouldn't you defend yourself?

I definitely gave him a talk about sportsmanship, but... I don't know. I maybe don't think he really did anything wrong? I mean, if another child had scored a goal, would it have been wrong for them to run around and cheer about it? And since my kid is only 5, is it really fair to expect him to understand that he's not allowed to be vocal about his success, since he's doing better than others?

Anyway, this year was great, because Buddy got so much better. And because I got over a fear and coached his team. But I definitely can't wait for next year, when he will hopefully play against kids more his own level :)

Proud coach/mama with her favorite teammate!


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Summer So Far...

The summer has barely started. And we're making an effort to have lots of fun! Especially since I feel like I'm not seeing my son enough, I'm trying to make sure the time we spend together is"quality time", not just watching movies or playing computer games. So:




We've gone to the Splash Pad a whole bunch, since it's only a few blocks away (so we can walk) and it's only $.50 to get in (so we can afford it!)


Buddy has loved it so far, it's a nice way to spend a warm afternoon without having to organize any sort of "event". Of course, I definitely WANT to take Buddy to some fun pools this summer, but this is always a good backup!




Buddy has been kicking some major butt in soccer, to the point where he's dominating the soccer field. So I've been having him play goalie a lot (since as the coach, I don't want my son to be the "star" of the team... so cliche!)

Except, of course, he's great at being a goalie too!! So, it seems my son is quite good at the soccer stuff. Hooray for talent! Now we just have to work on sportsmanship/teamwork, which I don't honestly expect from any kid Buddy's age, so I feel like I don't have to feel guilty till next season!

Anyway, I'm planning all sorts of fun kiddo things this summer. And with luck, I'll even remember to blog about them!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

50/50 Mama

I don't know if I posted this, but Buddy's dad requested that we split time this summer.

WHICH IS GREAT, don't get me wrong! I  love that Buddy is getting to spend some serious guy time with his dad (especially at a time where I had just started worrying that I couldn't substitute anymore!!) And I think Buddy is loving it too.

Seriously, you should HEAR him gush about how awesome it is to play soccer with Dad, and watch movies with Dad...

And seriously. I promise I'm not being all controlling, OK? Because when he shows me his lunchbox packed with a cereal bar (full of sugar), a PB&J sandwich (full of sugar), pudding (full of sugar), and cookies (full of sugar) and then says "Mom, look! If you had packed me my lunch I would NEVER have gotten so much yummy food!"....

All I said was "Yeah, I probably wouldn't have. So aren't you lucky you get to be around your dad so much this summer? You get all sorts of nice treats!"

Because you know what?  He's right in that I wouldn't have packed that kind of lunch. But also, I might not have run around with him all day like his dad. And I don't usually get the chance to cook a healthy dinner for Buddy (because he's always with a babysitter because of my work schedule), so he probably ends up eating just as badly at my house!!

This is something I'm working on (struggling with) learning! I'm so used to being in charge of Buddy's care that it's hard for me to accept that just because Buddy's dad has a different way of dealing with things doesn't automatically mean he's wrong!



So... Buddy's dad and I are planning on splitting custody pretty much 50/50 this summer! Which, theoretically, is awesome! And I'm going to try to remember that! Buddy is 5 1/2 now, and we've never split time before, so I'm nervous.
Basically, my anxiety (surprise) is freaking out and I want to control every move his dad makes. Even though his dad is doing fine on his own! God, help me remember that my son was born from 2 parents, and both of us have worthwhile lessons to impart on our son!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

School's out!

Today is officially the first day of summer for our little family!

It's weird saying that. Because Buddy started summer-school yesterday while at his dad's house, and I don't start my summer schedule until next week.

So, Buddy's official summer started Monday. And my official summer starts NEXT Monday.

BUT: We have lots of swimming/catching up/outside things to do with our friends until then, and I've made a promise to myself to start bringing my fancy new camera to things (because the fancy camera is just as wasted if you don't take nice pictures as if you ruin it!) so hopefully I'll soon have activities and ideas to post about regularly, instead of just maybe once a week!