When life gives you Lemons....

I LOVE the school Johnny has been at for the past year in a half. They have a creative curriculum, so a lot of learning is from play and hands on activities. Once a week they cook something, they are always making fun projects with any and everything, and the teachers are amazing. Johnny definitely strives at Fort Daniel! Well all week long he has been talking about this lemonade recipe that we HAVE to make so we went to the store and got all the ingredients and he taught me how to make it the boy way, beating the lemons until they made juice of course. It was a lot of fun but we learned one glass of lemonade does not need 5 lemons. lol

Johnny "Bear" Blue

Johnny never fails to amaze me. Now that we are all hi-tech and have Netflix he is no longer a slave to our movie collection (which I must say is pretty impressive!) When it is TV time Johnny gets in his chair and takes over, and do not try to take the remote from that boy he would rather be in time out then give it up. It makes me laugh every time he picks out his show he flies right by the typical 5 year old shows Finneous and Ferb, Johnny Test, Jimmy Neutron to name a few of my favorites to put on a documentary. This is something he gets from John and he loves it! I know I shouldn’t be complaining that my child watches educational TV, but I had to draw the line this weekend.

The latest show he has discovered is Survivor Man with Bear Grylls, he could watch this for hours. Probably the only time I have seen Johnny sit still is when Bear is talking. He wants to be him for Halloween, he now wants to be a survivor expert when he grows up aside from John and Bruce Lee this is his new hero.

Well we were at the playground the other day when I looked over to see Johnny crouched down with half a pine tree in his hand and a sneaky face. I walked closer only to see he was eating a pinecone, yes I said eating. He had broken it apart and was eating the seeds. When I asked why he explained that you have to find the seeds of a young pinecone in order to get moisture. Um, yea buddy there is a water fountain right over there. So when he told me a few days later that you can eat scorpians I figured it is time to take a break from the survivor skill training. But if your ever stranded on an island, a glacier, or the wilderness Johnny isnt a bad guy to have around.


When we were at the beach Johnny somehow caught this flying fish with his bare hands. He was pretty ecited about it!

Obsessed....

Really a lot of things could fall under this category for me what can I say when I like something I really like it. But currently I am obsessed with Instagram, I love it. I mean let’s face it, sometimes an SLR isnt the most convenient thing to have in your kids face all the time. Its not like while we are eating dinner I am gonna bust out my camera and start taking pictures (well, except when we were at the beach and Johnny got crab legs, but seriously thats like the only time.) Instagram makes it so easy to get those moments that you dont always have your camera for. I probably need an intervention, yesterday my camera on my phone stopped working and I might have had a small panic attack. I mean how was I going to take a picture of Johnny eating BBQ to show the world? Without Instagram I will never remember what happened from last night up until I got my phone working again. I am happy to say it was an easy fix and my grid is up and running again.

Anyway I know the weekend is over but here is our weekend wrap up, Instagram stlye. If anyone wants to follow me I am katannblue1.

Back to the Blogging

So, you can pick your jaw up off the floor. I am sure when you received this update in your email (because I am sure you are subscribed) you were shocked but yes it is true and exciting the Adventures are back. Now I must tell you what brought me back to my little spot on the Internet. I am sad to say that Superman, our beta died and he did in fact drown. I came to the blog to read the post about my fear of our fish drowning (in which some of you thought I was crazy) when I got sucked in. I was really enjoying reading this blog, actually I read the entire thing (that's not narcissistic at all right?)  It is so nice to have your life highlights in one place.

So here I am, with lots of great topics to post about and a bit of a new look - ok, ok a total blog makeover! Now I was really proud of my blog I had made all by myself like a big girl but it was getting a little too cluttered. And while the dozers and construction fits the Blue family, well I just wanted something pretty and simple. So take a look around at all the updates, especially my fancy new pages and be ready to get sick of us again.

I will leave you now with a moment of silence for Superman, he just couldnt stay out from under those rocks. He is with the many,many fish friends that Jenny has lost.

All Growed Up

Man, my baby went to pr-K and came home a big boy! I really didnt feel like it was going to effect me at all this whole pre-k thing, mainly because he has been in daycare all his life and pre-K is in the same school. But I tell you what, seeing him come out of school with his little book bag on I realized it is a big deal. Pretty soon he will be riding a bus and then he will be driving and dating and then moving out and leaving me. (sob)

It is amazing how his entire attitude has changed, he got in the car and said "Mom, you know how there are Pre-K friends? Well now I am a Pre-K friend" He is excited to go to school and I am hoping this newness dosent wear off any time soon! He is really loving his teachers, I think he has finally gotten to the point where he can say Mrs. Wiener with out totally losing it. I am really excited for what this school year has in store, he will be working on reading and writing among other things. In this first week they worked on learning telephone numbers, he called me. And then he called John, and Gigi and Poppy and Jenny and Nathan and me again. LOL

I guess I have to face the fact he is growing up very quickly but I still have 1 year until Kindergarten.

My very own FORT...

Well, it has never really been a big deal to have a play set in the yard. We go to the park all the time, and a lot of the kids in the n-hood have one so I really didnt see the big deal about having one, until now!

Johnny is getting to an age where I can let him play outside by himself, while I cook dinner - if the windows are open and he is singing a song loud enough for me to hear the entire time. Just kidding, but not really. LOL

So I started my hunt for a cheap play set, which are hard to come by. After stalking craigslist I found one that looked pretty good all it needed was a little TLC and a couple swings- we picked it up for 100 bucks! And let me tell you ever since that little fort was put in our backyard Johnny has been hiding out in it. He has big plans for it too, he can keep all his weapon sticks there, and have a weapons store. He can hide out and camp out, eat lunches up there, defend the house from bad guys and aliens and it can be his ninja hide out - really the possibilities are endless.

Such a great father and son project! So they first started with sanding the wood which Johnny was able to do all by himself. Then they had to get the lumber to re build the base. The two of them worked on this every evening using every bit of daylight they could. Coming inside dirty and smelling like boys! When it was ready to be erect John put it up while Johnny held the base, adjusting it as needed.

While the boys were busy building the swing set I was accessorising it! Now Johnny has never been a big fan of swinging, he prefers to jump off them or see how long he can spin around in one. So with that in mind I thought a punching bag would be better use of the swing area. I also got him a trapeze bar because he is part monkey, and a telescope simply because every fort needs a telescope. Johnny was pretty excited with my selections.

And drum roll please .... the finished product

Old Skool

In this digital and high tec world we are living in its no surprise the toys that are out now are unlike any I have seen. And believe me Johnny is always begging for the latest and greatest. But I have realized lately that what he find the most joy in playing with are the simple, old skool toys.

He went to a birthday part and in the favor bag got a whoopee cushion, why I have not thought to buy my son this I have no idea. It was the HARDEST I have ever seen him laugh in my life. He has tried to make everyone sit on that thing, even Hickup. Johnny has been working on his techniques and sneaky skills to make it more effective - but it was great pure fun and laughter for hours.

We just got a great deal on a swingset / fort for the backyard and now that he has a fort he needs a way of communication between up top and below. So we got some cans and made walkie talkies. Another great success, fun project for Johnny and I am once again a cool mom. He is so cute and truly believes the rope between the cans is transmitting directly to my ear, he kept whispering the top secrete messages to me and then after he thought about it for a second he screamed into the can. Of cores I played along, dropping the can and holding my ear, he thinks he is sooo funny.

So along with collecting as many sticks I can find for his 5th birthday (yes I said 5th - tear) I am on the lookout for more blast from the past toys- if you have any suggestions let me know!