Hands-On Art

Surprisingly, Alekzander wasn't a big fan of getting paint on his fingers, but it didn't seem to bother him that he had it on his legs and chest!  He was, however, quite particular about how the paint cups were placed on his work surface.  We may have a budding artist on our hands!

Helping Mama Make Mud

Mama's Helper :: With a cute crack

We are constantly amazed by Alekzander.  While his verbal vocabulary is growing every day, his receptive language is off-the-charts incredible.  Today I asked him if he could grab his green bucket and help me water the flowers.  Sure enough, he picked up his green bucket from the driveway, scooped up some water out of the pool, and dumped it in a flowerbed. Of course, my little helper discovered fun in the process of watering flowers :: making mud and stomping in it became the new purpose of our task.

Dirty Piggies

Salad Toys

I'm not going to lie.  When we bought our salad spinner at the beginning of the summer, Andrew and I were pretty excited.  We were growing our own iceberg and Romaine lettuce in ceramic planters on the back porch, and while Alekzander enjoyed picking the lettuce leaves and eating them right then and there, we decided it was necessary to invest in a salad spinner to wash our lettuce before consumption.  

Our lettuce has since died, but the allure of the salad spinner is alive and well.  All day it was Alekzander's "toy" of choice {along with a few other treasures that he enjoyed spinning in the salad spinner}.  A good hour of entertainment was gleaned from a simple kitchen tool.

Step one :: Gather treasures to spin.

 Step two :: Push down with all your might.

Step three :: Release and watch it spin.

Monster Animal Noises

Two minutes after obtaining a huge, ugly goose egg-bump 

on his head, courtesy of the "poowal" stair, 

Alekzander is clearly lucid and happily playing ATB's game 

while shoving watermelon in his mouth!

8 Stories

Uptown "poowal" fun normally happens on the 7th floor of the TM building.  

On this lucky day, Alekzander got to embrace some summer fun 

8 stories high, thanks to Daddy.  

Oh, these boys :: I can't help smiling as I watch them together.

500

In celebration of my 500th blog post, 

I am going to ask a favor worth 500 pennies ... 

a penny for every single one of my 

silly, serious, wordless, heartfelt thoughts.  

But first ...

 Sully, Age 6                                         Riley, Age 5

On Saturday, Sully Hill and Riley O'Donnell opened up for business.  Sully and Riley ran a fresh produce and lemonade stand to exclusively benefit the Rohr Family Foundation and the kids they serve.  After several hours in the hot sun, everyone remained helpful and happy.  The kids helped pour lemonade, picked out veggies, and talked excitedly to their customers.  They were happy to share information about the foundation by passing out Rockstar stickers and other RFF materials.  

{As of late, my heart has begun to beat wildly for Rohr Family Foundation.  The founder, a co-worker, has started an amazing foundation to honor her husband and serve the kids in our area who are fighting cancer.  Trish was also able to help and honor some sweet friends of ours whose 2 year old daughter, Claire, is also fighting cancer.  Two weeks ago, I took on the blogging responsibilities for RFF, and I must say that I am IN LOVE!}

The kids raised over $500 from their produce and lemonade stands.  {Such a big, big number from two little entrepreneurs!}  A generous matching donation was also made by Marty Snider to bring the total money raised to just over $1,000!  {For the rest of this original blog post, check it out here!}

Now ... your turn!

First of all, $500 is a lot of money.

It is 50,000 pennies.

What I am asking of you, is to donate 500 pennies {or $5} ... or more to Rohr Family Foundation.  Click on all of the links, read the RFF blog, educate yourself about the mission, but know that I believe in this cause BIG time.  

Maybe it is the mommy in me ::  the wife in me :: the teacher in me :: the Christian in me, 

but seriously, this foundation is going to make a HUGE impact and I promise you 

that your 500 pennies {in exchange for my 500 thoughts!!!} will be appreciated

and used directly to impact a little life that is fighting cancer.

Please donate here:

... or head on over to the RFF blog 

and click on the "Donate" button on the left side bar.

Please leave a comment below to let me know you donated 

... or if you'd like more ways to help.

Alekzander's "treat" from the produce stand {courtesy of Sully}.  

Unwashed, unpeeled ... but he loved it!

The kids were concerned that he was eating it fresh out of the ground, 

but I promised them that he has had worse things in his mouth.

First taste of lemonade {courtesy of Riley}.  And still hanging on to his carrot.

If you look closely, there is a carrot 'crumb' on his collar!

Safety Webs

Safety First.

Daddy made a rule that would make Mia proud ::  

You must always wear a helmet and shoes when riding your bike!
{Shirt and shorts are optional!}

Even in the driveway!!!  After all, we have to protect those crazy connection webs that are forming in Alekzander's smart little brain.  The other day, I told him we were going to take the train {light rail} to go see ATB and swim in Ryan's "poowal".  Immediately, Alekzander finagled his way out to the garage {SNUCK!} all the while saying, "Chooo, chooo.  Chooo, chooo."  Little man knew his "Chooo, chooo" helmet was in the garage, heard the word train, and I think he thought he was going to have to take his new friend Thomas the Train with him for protection.

I wish I knew what was going on in his head all the time, but I swear, the kid is a little genius!