Pinterest Activity: Baking Soda and Vinegar

One afternoon after naps, I decided to do another activity I found on Pinterest. It was baking soda in a baking pan and colored vinegar. My, oh my did Taelyn LOVE this project. It seriously kept her busy for nearly an hour an a half!!!

I first took some baking soda in a baking pan, I poured vinegar into some plastic shot glasses and added food coloring

I gave Taelyn an eye dropper

I just let her go to town.

The eye dropper took some getting used to, but once she got the hang of it, there was no stopping her.

It was great!

An hour and a half later, this was the finished product.

It was easy clean up and and it was a great distraction while I got dinner ready. I will definitely do this again!

Taelyn's New Bed

A few weeks ago, Taelyn discovered she could crawl jump out of her crib. The first time she did it, nearly gave me a heart attack. It ended with her screaming in pain. I just knew she broke something. After assessing the situation, she was fine, but that one time, opened up doors for her, doors she never even knew could open, literally. She began making it a nightly thing. She would climb out of her crib and find us, whether we were in our beds upstairs, enjoying some alone "mommy/daddy" time or downstairs watching TV, she found us and thought it was time to party. That got old FAST! We put her back in her room and in her crib and she would climb out. It was becoming a nightly ritual and we didn't like it!

Todd and I decided it was time for her to get a big girl bed. Our great friends (and neighbors) JJ and Kellina were looking to get rid of their daughter's bed because she never slept in it--EVER. So after a long, sleepless night of Taelyn getting out of her crib and us putting her back in, I called Kellina and told her we are ready for the bed when they are ready to give it up and she said, "NOW."

JJ took the bed apart and that afternoon, Todd and JJ took it piece by piece from JJ's house across the street to our house and they put it together. It is a beast of a bed and they got it all done just in time for the kids bath time, so right after bath, we put Taelyn to sleep in her big girl castle bed.

Such handy guys!

Took about 2 hours to assemble

Finished product... CASTLE BED!

To our surprise, Taelyn LOVED the bed and was not intimidated by it at all. She was playing in it and Todd said it was "Tud Tud Time" (Night Night Time in Filipino) She took her "KiKi" (Blanket) and laid down. Todd laid down next to her until she was good and comfortable and then he left her and she stayed in her bed ALL. Night. Long. She didn't get out once! We were so excited. I kept waking up through the night to check on her through the video monitor. I even went as far as to go into her room to make sure she was still breathing because I just couldn't believe she was sleeping so well in her new bed!

This was taken at like 3 in the morning

I needed proof she was still sleeping

This is the view from her window

This is the picture I put together to post on Instagram

Family Emergency

Last Friday, my mom and niece, Maila came over for lunch. While they were here, we asked my brother, Russell to come over, but he said he couldn't because he and his wife, Gigi, had some running around to do. Shortly after my mom left, I was getting the kids ready for their naps, my mom called me hysterically crying, I couldn't even understand her, I could only make out the words: "Russell, Surgery, NOW" So being that my mom speaks broken English and her Filipino was also hard to understand through her sobs, I told her I'd call her back. I called Russell directly. He explained to me that he hadn't been feeling well, was coughing up blood and was having shortness in breath. He went to get a chest x-ray and the doctor informed him that he had some sort of metal material, the size of a dime lodged in his right lung and it needed to be removed immediately! They said he must have swallowed something. With alarm in his voice, he said he and Gigi were on their way to to hospital.

Now, it was my turn to panic. My mom doesn't do well with information like this because she is a stress case and automatically thinks the worst. As soon as I gathered myself, I called Todd at work and told him he needed to come home right away so we could go to my brother's house to be with the kids, who were still at school. In times like these, as family, we need to be there for each other.

Todd picked up my mom on the way home from work and we headed to my brother's house together. Gigi dropped Russell off at the hospital, so she could pick the kids up from school. By the time we got to Corona, (where they live) Gigi was just getting home with the kids, then she and my mom left to be with Russell at the hospital. The kids were a MESS, the girls, Maya and Leah were crying uncontrollably and Allan, just seemed like he was concerned, but didn't want to show any emotion. To take their minds off of what was going on with their daddy, I started doing their homework with them and when we were done with that, I had them write an essay about how they felt about what was going on with their daddy. They said they were scared and that they wanted him to feel better. Allan wrote that he was afraid that he wouldn't come back, and that is when he started to cry. I also started to cry! Goodness kids sure know how to pull at your heart strings!

Not long after the kids finished their writing assignments, Russell comes walking through the door. It was a flood of emotions. My first emotion was instant relief. I was so thankful that he was ok and able to walk and talk and explain everything that he went through. It was a quick surgery and they were able to go through his mouth to remove the material, so they didn't have to make an incision, which everyone was thankful for. The only visible strain that we could see was broken blood vessels in his left eye. Since they went through his mouth, he gagged during the surgery and the strain cause the blood vessels to break. Other than that, he was perfectly fine. THANK THE LORD FOR THAT!!!
The foreign object in Russell's right lung

It appears to be some sort of dental material

This is a scale to see the size of it

Carnival Fun

Our church had a Carnival for the little kids last week and Taelyn absolutely loved it. It was geared towards the little kids Taelyn's age. It would have been kinda cheesy for anyone older than 5 or 6, but it was PERFECT for Taelyn and boy did she LOVE it!!

It had everything that any regular carnival would have, but it was made for younger kids. Taelyn got her face painted for the very 1st time.

She sat perfectly still

An Ice Cream Cone on her cheek :)

Her very 1st balloon animal, a pink poodle

There were games like the bean bag toss

Bowling

She did really well with the bowling... picked up the spare even!

Got really cool prizes! My fashionista little girl picked all of the prizes that were accessories, like the cool glasses, bracelets and a few necklaces

Taelyn truly enjoyed the Carnival and didn't want to leave. She was worn out by the time we got home. She opted to read her brother a story instead of play. Sweet moments like this make me so happy and make everything worth it!

Busy Bags

I discovered these things called "Busy Bags" on Pinterest and just as I started pinning away, I got invited to a "Busy Bag Exchange" on Facebook by one of my friends. A Busy Bag is just as it sounds, a bag full of an activity to keep your kids busy.

The exchange was perfect! How awesome to get a bunch of women together to make busy bags and exchange the bags and now we all have different bags to keep our littles busy! In this case there were 19 of us. Each of us made 19 bags of the same activity and exchanged them and now we have 19 different bags! AWESOME IDEA!

I made Felt Popsicles. I cut out felt Popsicle tops that needed to be matched to the Popsicle stick that had the corresponding color.

It is a great game to help teach colors which my little girl is struggling with

I did 6 colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, the colors of the rainbow.

I used all 4 sides to the Popsicle stick to make different levels to the game for different stages of learning. I wrote them in the same colors, in black, and a fruit that is the color, as well as gluing the felt to the Popsicle stick for sensory matching. I purposely picked this activity because I thought that it would be super easy for me, but it proved to be quite the opposite. The busy bag for the kids, kept this Mama busy for a total of about 5 hours to finish everything. I spread it out over the course of the weekend, but Taelyn really enjoyed it, so hopefully the other kids do too.

Summer Days

Things around her have been kinda crazy. I have been doing so much with the kids. I love Summer days and the fact that I can spend my days with my kids and do whatever our heart's desire. We have spent a lot of time in water. Those who know me, know that I am NOT a fan of water. Being that I am not necessarily black culturally, (I'm Filipino and Honduran) I have "Black" traits when it comes to my skin color and my HAIR. I joke and say, "My DO, don't do water!" BUT again for my kids, I will do anything, even get in water, although I didn't get my hair wet at all, I was prepared, in case it did get wet.

We went to the Regional park a few times and Taelyn loves it more every time we go

We met up with her friend Kailey

Taelyn would lay down with her hands on the bottom and pretend she was swimming

I did a really neat project with cornstarch water and food coloring

Taelyn didn't really enjoy it

She didn't like the way it felt on her hands

More swimming, this time, Trent REALLY enjoyed it, I think it was because Mama got in with him!

Todd, Leah, Trent and ME!

I love the fact my brother has an umbrella in the pool

Taelyn loves to play outside and run through the sprinklers

We have been going to Story Time at the library. Taelyn sits and listens to the story like a good girl, as long as she doesn't have any distractions. ;-)

Trent was excited because he got to hold a "twinkle star"

Trent playing with his friend Mila

If its not too hot, we go to the park

I try and do something EVERYDAY, if I don't, I think I am capable of losing my mind. I try and keep Taelyn stimulated, interested and BUSY. If she is busy doing things she has no time to act up or get upset about anything. Makes for really good days for her and me.