I love borrowing!

What a blessing it is to live in the age of technology! It's so much easier to find fabulous ideas that I can borrow to do with Ian! :) Undoubtedly, "my" best ideas are ones that someone else has done first!

Here are some of our most recent borrowed activities (and some other random things ...)

I mentioned a while back that my cousin Marcie sent Ian a package of lots of fun activities. One of the activities was a contact paper collage. Ian placed all sorts of various objects (buttons, foam shapes, rhinestones, yarn, sequins, feathers, etc.) onto contact paper. Ian's favorite parts were cutting yarn and placing the "jewels" onto the contact paper.

He was SO proud of his finished product and wanted to hang it in our living room window right away.

One day a few weeks ago, we created a "chili pepper light house." (I found a similar idea on The Imagination Tree.) We took a big box, and I poked holes all along the perimeter of the top with an ice pick. Ian then stuck through our chili pepper lights. He thought it was SO fun to read books by the eerie red glow of the chili pepper lights.

Another idea that Marcie suggested was placing Mentos into 2L bottles of soda. Ian thought this was very fun ... though he may have enjoyed eating the leftover Mentos just as much!

He immediately wanted to try it "one more time." This time he stayed close enough that he could feel the foam bubble out the top of the bottle.

I've found some fun literacy ideas on a homeschooling blog. One idea was letting Ian use a thumbtack to push holes along the shape of alphabet letters. This was a fun way to practice "writing" the letter without having to use pencil and paper.

Ian was VERY focused as he poked all of the holes. When he was done, he thought we should hang the paper in the window so we could see the light shine through.

I found a great book from the library called The Big Messy Art Book (by MaryAnn Kohl). One particularly intriguing activity involved dipping  ping pong balls into paint and then using a hair dryer to roll them around.

This activity was VERY cool! We'll definitely do it again sometime -- perhaps with paper that's not so big?? It was a little hard to maneuver around the large card table, although it did make a neat finished product. We plan to use Ian's creation as wrapping paper!

With some of the colder mornings we've been having lately, Ian has been excited to have hot chocolate to drink. I have no idea how he always ends up SOOO messy after every snack and meal. :)

Our non-napper has returned. Ian will happily "rest" in his bed for 45 min. to an hour each afternoon but rarely fall asleep. He's way too busy telling complicated stories to get tired. By 4 or 5:00, however, we can tell he has hit the wall. A few days lately, we've taken family walks before dinner ... and poor Ian just can't keep his eyes open!

This new jogging stroller is a recent purchase. Kim's friend Aliceson found a great deal on a used Baby Jogger stroller. We absolutely LOVE it! So far, Ryan has only made it through one walk. He'd MUCH rather be held or in the Baby Bjorn on walks. Kim is happy to have the chance to start jogging again... though for now it's a combination of jogging and walking as I get back into shape. :) Turns out that Ian is quite the good personal trainer. "Are you running, Momma?" he'll holler back if he feels me slow my gait. "Can you please go a little FASTER?" Ha ha.

One day, I placed a different color marking in the bottom of each egg carton "hole." I challenged Ian to find something of each color to fit inside each hole. (I saw this idea somewhere, too ... maybe Imagination Tree?) It was hilarious watching Ian. Let's just say he has Momma's (poor) spatial relations. He would find HUGE things that were the correct color and seem to be surprised when they didn't fit into the hole. Ha!

Ian DID find something for each hole and was most excited to eat the M & Ms and Starburst candies that he found for a few holes.

I ordered some fun huge buttons from Oriental Trading Company. One afternoon, Ian had a great time sorting them into different groups (by color or shape) and completing patterns that Momma started. As you can see, Ian LOVES to have his picture taken and lately thinks it's particularly funny if he can be blinking when I take the picture. He also asks frequently to have me take videos of him. Immediately afterward, he'll take the camera underneath a large blanket so he can view the video from his own personal "theater."

For months, Ian loves helping Daddy with the final step of lawn work -- blowing. Matt holds Ian who holds his own (bubble) blower, and they work together to blow all of the grass clippings off the driveway. So cute!

One particularly chilly morning, we played Chutes and Ladders beside our fireplace.

We were chosen to host a Fisher Price House Party. They sent us some really cool toys to try out. Ian's favorite is the Rev 'n' Go ramp with spinning race cars. The Imaginext castle and accessories are also really fun. The kids loved them!

We finally had the chance to go visit Mrs. W. (a friend from church) again. She's such a good sport to read Ian books. Ian loved telling Mrs. W. the names of all of the Thomas the train characters.

Playing with pom poms and tongs are fun!

And one funny Ian story ... we noticed the number 20 on a game board recently. I told Ian, "Look! There's the number 20!" "That's not  the number 20, Momma. That's the number 2000." When I looked puzzled, he pointed to our calendar time board and said, "See? That says 2012."

He has been super interested lately in "reading" car models from the back of the vehicles. If he sees an "S," he knows it's a Suburban, a "T" is a Tahoe, a "Y" is a Yukon, a "J" is a jeep, etc. He feels so proud of himself for being able to "read." He's also obsessed with finding the "hitch" on the back of larger SUVs and pick-up trucks.

My friend Kati blogged about a fun idea that she and her son, Caleb, tried ... building an obstacle course! Ian thought this was great fun!

In case you were wondering, Puppy still sleeps with Ian EVERY nap and EVERY night. Matt said the other day, "How does Ian hold on to Puppy all night long??" Somehow he does ...super cute!