Fun time at home

A lot of our fun times this summer happened while we were hanging out at home.  (Some of these fun ideas are ones that I did with Ian when he was two or three, and I wanted to give Ryan some similar experiences! Ian was happy to re-do the activities as well!) Most of these ideas I found in blogs or magazines.

One morning, the boys created some pictures (to be used as wrapping paper) with ping pong balls, paint, and a hair dryer. They had a system going where the boy that was not holding the hair dryer would dip the balls into paint and throw them into the water table while the other one would blow the balls, the paint, and often his own hair as well. The boys had a great time with this project!

Both boys helped with quite a bit of baking and cooking this summer. Since the Parmesan chicken (pictured below) didn't involve dessert or being able to lick the bowl, Ian wasn't as interested in helping. But Ryan happily helped measure, stir, and pour.

We spent lots of time this summer in water -- at our neighborhood pool, in sprinklers, and in big and small pools in our backyard. This little pool was just right for Nathan -- and just right to put at the bottom of our slide to make a "water slide."

One morning, the boys wanted to arrange their breakfast dishes into a "train" and "Mickey Mouse."

One day, we tried to do the Ivory soap in the microwave experiment. The Ivory soap is apparently supposed to expand into a flaky material. But ours didn't do anything. Epic fail.

So, we decided to grate up the soap, unroll a roll of toilet paper, and mix both with water to make "clean mush." The boys loved this activity as well and spent quite a bit of time mixing, stirring, and squishing. Once they got the idea to use the mush to have a "snowball fight," though, it got really fun. They ended up with clean mush all over themselves!

Ian spent a whole afternoon building and then painting a monster truck from a kit that a friend had given him.

We had Ian read us at least one book every day this summer. Some days, he decided to read to Nathan!

The boys caught dozens of lizards in our backyard. The boys' quick reflexes always impress me!

Ryan played with quite a bit of play dough this summer. Here he is creating a porcupine from play dough and toothpicks.

One especially fun summer day we received some diapers in the mail. Most exciting were the boxes they came in. Ian spent a lot of time cutting, decorating, and accessorizing his car!

One morning, Ryan enjoyed playing in flour -- especially driving his vehicles through "the snow."

Another fun activity was when we built a "water chute" from aluminum foil (a couple of layers of foiled with bunched-up "walls" on the sides). Then, we placed a hose at the top of the chute and tried to experiment with what would float the best. The boys had built boats from Mega Blocks -- which ended up being too heavy to float or move, even when we moved the chute to the biggest slope of our driveway. The best floating options were bath toys like rubber duckies and small bath boats. We had quite a few boat races. Ian enjoyed experimenting with how he could adjust the chute to make the water flow faster (closing the end, narrowing the beginning, raising the walls, etc.). All in all, a fun activity!

Having some fun activities like these planned helped make the summer mornings at home breeze by! Yay for the relaxing days of summer!

Nathan at 8 months old!

On July 16, our sweet Nathan turned eight months old! What a fun age!

Happy 4th of July!

Nathan can sit up well, lean way over to reach toys, and then resume sitting. (And he seems to have a super long reach ... even things that we purposely have put "far away" from him he can grab! Ha!) He can scoot and army crawl and be in the "crawling position" on his knees, though he hasn't officially started crawling yet. He likes to maneuver over our legs when we're sitting on the floor with our legs out. He can pull himself up from a sitting position to his knees while holding onto furniture. Nathan prefers to stand and will stand up for long periods of time near his activity table or in his exersaucer.


Nathan takes three naps a day, usually 30-45 minutes long with one hour-long nap. He still wakes up a few times at night. He prefers to have us rock him to sleep with his head on our shoulder instead of laying down flat in our arms. Nathan prefers to sleep on his tummy.

Eating solid foods is still not a priority for Nathan. He keeps his mouth tightly clamped and will even turn his head away when we try to feed him various pureed baby foods on a spoon. We know that he'll like eating someday. :)

Nathan is getting more vocal and communicative. He squeals and screams often and babbles some as well. He likes to move his hand back and forth across his mouth to make a bubbling sound. He shows he is happy by flapping his arms.

Many people still compliment Nathan on his beautiful hair and bright, happy eyes. Friends will most often say that he looks similar in appearance to brother Ryan. He is the smallest of our three boys at the 8-month mark, weighing in around 20 pounds. Nathan got his first two (bottom) teeth this month.

Nathan lets us know that he dislikes the carseat by arching way back when we try to strap him in. (He usually gets over it pretty quickly, though, and is a good traveler.) He is sad when Momma or Daddy even briefly leave the room where he is. He especially dislikes going to the church nursery while Momma goes to women's Bible class on Wednesday mornings.

Some of Nathan's favorites include playing with his toes, "helping" with the dishwasher, playing in the Tupperware cabinet, playing with his activity table or in his exersaucer, being anywhere Momma is, splashing in the bath (especially now that he has transitioned to the big tub!), swinging, and being "worn" in the Baby Bjorn. He also has enjoyed our many family trips to our neighborhood pool.

We love you, our happy 8-month-old! We're so glad God gave us you! :)

Fun with cousins, aunts, and uncles

 What a joy to now live close to TWO sets of aunts, uncles, and cousins. We enjoyed some fun times together with them this summer.

All six Schleicher boys enjoyed the $1 Paddington movie. This was the first time in a theater for Jaden, Cody, Nathan, and Isaiah. Only Ian and Isaiah made it to the end of the movie (with Aunt Chelsea), but we all enjoyed the experience and the snacks! :)

 We checked out a couple of different splash pads to beat the heat. Even Nathan liked splashing in the cool water.

 We celebrated Aunt Amy's birthday with a special birthday lunch. She had lots of help blowing out candles. (Ryan still is bothered by the smell of the smoke and prefers to stay back, holding his nose. :))

 Aunt Amy started giving Ian piano lessons. We are so impressed by her enthusiasm, gentleness, playfulness, and expertise while giving lessons. Ian has made a TON of progress since starting lessons this July. Even though he doesn't love practicing, he likes it when he can play songs well and loves his lessons with Aunt Amy.

 We got together to celebrate Uncle Jason's birthday with a dinner in later July as well.