The Ish List

Just a few things Ish is digging right now:

Playtime

Dinosaurs. He's got a TON. Big ones, little ones, dinosaurs that make noises - he loves loves loves them.
Busy Books - he has the Toy Story version as well as a Cars and Thomas versions. They come with mini figurines and fold out play mats - the books live up to their name, keeps Ish busy!
Toy Story figurines. He has them all (plus some duplicates).
Entertainment

Ish loves his dvds (he calls them "his stories), and while the Toy Story series is #1 in his heart, he's starting to get into Scooby Doo (influenced from his idols - his older cousins). I picked up this dvd at the supermarket the other day and he is mesmerized!
Bath Time

These are Ish's "special tub crayons" (as I call them - to reinforce that these are only for the tub and we DO NOT draw on other surfaces of the house!)
Ikea funnels - cheap and good entertainment! Although, he only likes to use them with daddy. No funnel time for mommy.
Bed Time

Pillow Pals - he has Woody, Buzz and now a Bullseye. He talks to them at night - tells them the story of his day. He hugs them, throws them, carries them around. They really are buddies!
Twilight Turtle - every night when we are getting Ish ready for bed he tells us he wants to "press the buttons" - meaning he wants to turn on his turtle and play with the different light settings. He gets a kick out of seeing the colors on the ceiling. Helps him fall asleep - which works for me!
So what are your kiddies into these days?

An "Off" Day

We all had a bit of an off day today. We're sort of funky lately. Not ourselves. Physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. Doesn't help that this is the view most days. Gloomy. Dark. Depressing. Spring cannot get here soon enough.
So today I thought I would try to cheer us up with some fun in the kitchen. These cupcake mixes were on sale for $1 at K-Mart last week and I picked up a few to have on hand. I thought today would be a good cupcake day.
I gave Ish a mixing bowl and spoon and he pretended to stir as I mixed the batter.
After letting Ish help me with the hand mixer, we poured our batter and baked our cakes.
We had some leftover frosting from Super Bowl Sunday on hand.
And I had some yummy snacks on hand for the 20-minute baking wait. These are almost as good as Girl Scout cookies and a lot less fattening! We pick them up at the Christmas Tree Shop every time we go.
Ish distracted himself with coloring as we waited for the stove timer to beep.
And when it did, we frosted.
And after dinner, we feasted.

Now, if we can just get a bit of sunshine to pop on through, we'll be alright!

Wordless Wednesday: Snack in the Box

The Start of Our Lazy Weekend

Matt was supposed to be away for the long weekend but his plans changed. So we're spending a lazy weekend together. Ish is anything but lazy, but even he seems to be chilling out this weekend.

Coloring (if you have a Target near you, this Toy Story lap desk was on clearance for $3.74!)
Hanging out with his new pillow pals.
Clowning around with daddy.
And watching movies with his blankie and new pals before bed.
Doesn't get lazier than that!!

Wordless Wednesday: Ish's Wishlist

The Weekend We Left The House

Yep, we actually left the house this weekend. And not for a supermarket/warehouse club run to stock up on bottled water and pantry essentials. Nope, this weekend we went out for fun. It didn't snow this weekend. As a matter of fact, there was no winter precipitation at all. And it was - dare I say - balmy. Yep, we went above freezing for 2 days in a row!!!

We were excited to get out for the sake of getting out. So we planned a trip out to lovely Paramus, NJ to hit up Christmas Tree Shop and Ikea. We went to Christmas Tree Shop first because they tend to have a lot of Toy Story/Cars activity sets and I knew we could pick up something that would keep Ish occupied in Ikea while me and Matt took our time strolling around the warehouse. Christmas Tree Shop did not disappoint.

Ish was pretty good for the first half of Ikea. But he was starting to get restless and since we all seemed to be hungry, we stopped for lunch and I busted out the Toy Story Activity Backpack. Stickers, stencils, crayons, a small blank pad and the ever coveted markers were included. Just enough to keep Ish happy.
So happy that he even graced me with his cooperation when I asked him to look at the camera.
And he even agreed to eat lunch with the promise of being able to use the markers again when we were done.
We didn't have any big ticket items on our list for this run, but we picked up a few items to continue organizing Ish's growing collections. I really like their hanging organizers for stuffed animals so we picked one up for Ish's big boy room.
These bins are roomy and I like that you can see through the front - I picked up a few to use in the playroom.These are smaller and I think they'll come in handy on shelves in Ish's room and the playroom as well, so I picked up 2 sets.
As we walked through the self-service kitchen area I saw these cute little funnels - 2 for 99 cents. I picked up a set for Ish to play with in the bath - he LOVES to use different pails and buckets in the bath and I thought he'd get a kick out of having a new "toy" for the tub.
So, all in all, a successful trip. We got out of the house, we had fun, we had lunch out and Ish napped on the way home. Plus, we didn't freeze our butts off getting in and out of the car and there were no icy patches to look out for as we walked to and from the stores.

And bonus, the forecast for this week gets us into the 60s by the end of the week!!! That's practically pool weather here!!

Free Stuff Friday

Not a whole lot to share - things are slowing down in the freebie world (can it possibly be too cold for freebies??). Here are few things I've found lately that I thought I'd share:

20 Free Pampers Points for February (10 points each):
XK6JT33PRDRAK6W
PAMPERS4MOMJFM1

Not sure if this one is still valid, but try it out (it's 42 points!): VMF776C7HMXXT4A

Pampers has actually released a lot of free codes lately - which tend to expire quickly. I post them on Twitter as soon as I confirm they're real, so if you're a points stalker, follow me!

Free PediaSure rebate:
http://pediasure.com/pediasure-rebate

Johnson & Johnson coupons (just click on the product you want and a coupon will appear):
http://www.johnsonsbaby.com/johnsons-offers

$1.00 off Nutella (mmmmmm....Nutella......):
http://nutellausa.com

Kellogg's coupons:
http://www2.kelloggs.com/Coupon.aspx?id=1992

Valentine's Day coloring pages:
http://www.coloring.ws/valentines.htm

Free sample of Baby Exerderm (supposedly good for kids with eczema, like Ish, so I'm going to give it a try!):
http://www.exederm.com/free-sample.html


Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Flashback to Valentine's Day 2010

Some Tuesday Thank You's

I've been a slacker with my blog thank you's lately, so I thought today was as good a day as any to get these out!

Thanks to The Drama Mama over at The Scoop on Poop for passing on the Stylish Blogger Award. Me and Ish, stylish, who knew??!!
And a big thank you also to one of my favorites - Mama Hen over at Mama's Little Chick who passed on the Life is Good and The Irresistibly Sweet blog awards. Mame and I have done a lot of commiserating over this crazy winter we have been having lately. We keep each other entertained through our postings!

So if you have a chance, visit these mama's - tell them Ish sent you!

Super Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday came and went again this year. The highlight for us being my parent's Super Bowl party and all the yummy food that comes along with it. The actual game, eh.

Ish warmed up by having an appetizer of cheddar cheese chips while intently watching The Puppy Bowl.
Of course his eye was on the dessert prize - cupcakes that he watched me and Matt make earlier in the day.
He was THRILLED that his girls were at the party.
And was even more thrilled when they attempted to show him how to play Nintendo DS.
Alex had the patience to try to actually teach Ish how to play Mario Kart. Ish really only wanted to mash the buttons.
So, all in all, a good day. I'm still full.

Congrats to the Packers. All that cheese must have given them the edge!

"We have to be quiet"

That's what Ish says when we walk into church every week. He doesn't always follow his own advice. But sometimes he surprises us.

One Sunday a month there's a special children's mass in the quiet room (you know, where they keep the noisy kids like Ish). A priest, one of the CCD teachers and a few little assistants come in and tell stories, teach songs, ask questions, etc. Ish has never done really well during the children's mass. He's a little young for it yet. But a few weeks ago as the kids piled in for the mass, Ish walked up to where the big kids were sitting and he sat there and listened.

He was still.

He was quiet.

He really seemed like he was listening to the stories.

I don't expect this every time, after all, he's still just a crazy little 2-year-old. But it was nice to sit there and watch him tilt his little head as he listened. And every once in a while he would look back to make sure me and Matt were still there. And of course, we were. We would smile at him and he would turn right back around. He acted like such a big boy that day. My little bubba.

Wordless Wednesday: Just a random cute picture from yesterday

February - just like January

So we turned the calendar today. But it didn't really seem any different from the month before because we got yet MORE snow! Are you jealous of my Toy Story calendar? I know you are!
I stayed home from work today and was in charge of entertaining Ish while Matt worked in the office upstairs. I lost the "the calendar is not a book and I am not taking it off the fridge" argument early in the day. But it did keep him occupied for a while, so it's not really a loss.
We did more "special painting" today. I broke out the Mickey Mouse book for a change of pace.
We acted silly and took pictures of each other. His Lightning McQueen bath camera doesn't actually take pictures, but he doesn't know that. He was happy thinking he was taking pictures of me taking pictures of him.
We wore silly hats.
And we ate snow day comfort foods.
Tonight the forecast is for an ice storm with treacherous roads in the AM. I have a feeling we'll be doing all of this over again tomorrow. And that's okay with me.