Popsicles.

Saturday it was 100 degrees and sunny. Yes, 100 degrees. Praise the Lord for AC in both cars and our house! Of course the obvious thing to do was spend half of the day at the pool, the other half taking a nap, and then finish things off with our first round of homemade popsicles. I must say, they were QUITE good. Tyson wasn't quite sure how to eat it at first, but overall I think he liked them :)

New outside fun!

Genius toy report #2!! It has been mostly sunny and in the 90's for the last few weeks. Sounds crazy hot, I know, but it's so dry here that it's really not an uncomfortable heat. Plus, I am now fully used to air conditioning :) Our backyard gets direct sun all morning while Tyson is up and doesn't really have any shade until after his nap. I decided there was a perfect way to take advantage of that warm sunshine, and still be able to play out there in the heat of the day.

Once again, look familiar?

Our first kiddie pool! Filling it up with the hose in the morning works perfectly because the sun warms up the water after a couple of hours, and it's ready for play! I am a Sunscreen Nazi with Tyson, so he's dressed head to toe (shorts, shirt, hat) in UPF 50 sunscreen clothing. Best invention ever. And of course his hands and feet get sunscreened. Might be overkill...but at least I have a clear conscience, right? Poor kid. He gets his vitamin D when we go on walks and play outside, but not when we're in the pool! He wasn't quite sure at first what to do with this big thing full of water...

Guess it's worth tasting, at least.

Oh yeah, this is really cool, mom.

Learning how to climb in and out without slipping. His little legs are barely long enough!

Time for a water break.

I have a feeling we will spend plenty of time in this pool! I'm not gonna lie, I definitely put my swim suit on and got in. I think I had as much fun sitting in there playing as he did. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really old enough to be a mom. I think I enjoy the ball pit and kiddie pool at least as much as my kid does...

Desperate times call for creative measures...

We moved last weekend. Again. Always a stressful thing, even though we were very excited to be moving into our new rental house! I was significantly unprepared for how difficult it would be to unpack with an active toddler BOY around the house. I really think girls are less busy, and quieter, lol. Anyway, we survived the move, but Tyson was definitely a little bit stressed out by MORE changes (considering we just uprooted him and moved 4 months ago) which meant he was clingy, whiny, and had separation anxiety any time Robin or I even moved toward the door. I am pretty sure he thinks we're just going to up and leave him forever one of these times since he's had to keep getting used to new people, places, church nurseries, bedrooms, etc. Despite Tyson's insecurities, I still needed to unpack! Ty was off his schedule (hard to keep one at all with boxes piled floor to ceiling), adjusting to sleeping somewhere strange, and needed MORE attention at the exact time I wanted to give him LESS attention and unpack boxes instead :) Let me introduce you to my creative genius this last week...

Do these look familiar?

Yes that's right, your fond childhood memories of the "ball pit" come to life! At a garage sale last weekend, I found 5 GARBAGE BAGS FULL of these balls for $10. Robin was weirded out by how excited I was. Best $10 I've ever spent. Of course I'm not sure how we'll ever use 5 garbage bags full at one time, unless we invest in a McDonald's ball pit, but they will be put to good use, I assure you. I managed to find out little inflatable pool from last summer, and turned it into the most fun distraction from moving chaos, ever...

Ty has yet to eat inside a McDonald's, so this is a first time ball pit experience.

Still deciding what he's supposed to do in here.

Oh yeah! Whatever he wants! Roll in them, dive in them, jump in them, and let them fall over his head.

And try out every other ball in there to see if they fit. When they do, you obviously have to clap.

It was (and still is) a smashing success. And this is 1.5 garbage bags worth! I think I'm still more excited than Tyson is. Anyway, now you know how I was able to get quite a bit more unpacking done last week since I finally found a distraction worth documenting.