So Proud of Himself!

Walker got a Thomas the Train chair from MaMa & PaPa for Christmas last year and he just LOVES it! A week or so ago, he was so proud of himself when he not only put it in the glider chair, but then using the basket under the endtable, managed to climb up and sit in it. What a cutie!

WFMW - Wii Fit

My sweet husband got me a Wii for my birthday back in March and we LOVE it! Our little boy is only 21 months, so he's not old enough to play yet, but DH & I enjoy playing together tremendously and can't wait for the day when W is old enough to play with us! When using Wii Fit, we've learned that we need to put a lap board down on the ground to try and distract W from the Wii board, which he loves and always wants to sit or stand on...not very conducive to exercising!

We have found that we watch less TV and are more active at night now, as most Wii games really encourage movement & activity. When I saw that Wii Fit was coming out, I was immediately intrigued.

When you first get started with Wii Fit, you have to do a body assessment. You stand on the balance board and it captures your weight and also calculates your BMI. Wii Fit bases everything on your BMI - in fact, you never have to see your weight if you don't want to. It then puts up a BMI scale and tells you where you fall and then encourages you to set a goal to reduce your BMI. The amazing thing about the Wii balance board is that because it knows your weight, it can "sense" how you're standing on the board, where you're placing pressure, when you step on and off, etc. When you do either the strength or Yoga exercises, it will place a small circle on the screen, and then place a red dot in the middle of it. If you stay balanced and under control, the red dot stays in the circle...if you lurch all over the place, the red dot goes with you. This nifty little part of the program allows you to know when you're doing the exercises correctly and helps you improve your form. It truly keeps Wii Fit from just being gimmicky!

Now on to the various activities - there are 4 different activity groups - Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics & Balance. This is one thing that I especially love - there's something for everyone. Our family has a YMCA membership, but let's face it...some days neither of us make it. My husband's schedule is crazy and unpredictable, and their childcare hours are limited, and some days I just don't "feel" like it - but with Wii Fit, I can exercise whenever I want, when it's convenient for me. I can do 15 mins in the morning before my little guy gets up and then another 15 minutes when he's down for an afternoon nap or try to exercise with him standing next to me. There's a little piggy bank that tracks your fitness minutes each day and you unlock additional activities with the amount of time you spend. And as you spend more time, you unlock additional time or repetition options...for example, the super hula hoop starts out at 3 minutes, but as you become proficient at that time level, it unlocks a longer time setting. Pretty nifty!

And one of the best parts? My husband loves it too. Confession - I've been lazy as of late, and he's probably used it more than I have! He loves the strength training exercises and the boxing too. Last night we did the advanced step aerobics activity together (albeit me without the Wii board) and we both really enjoyed it. Okay - these are pics of me boxing...please don't laugh too hard! LOL

So if you already have a Wii - go for it! And if you don't - consider saving your $$ to get one. I know it's not cheap, but the family entertainment (and exercise) value is priceless in our book!

For other great WFMW ideas, head on over to Rocks in My Dryer!

Things I Love Thursday - Blooms

Blooms, blooms and more blooms - the more the better, is my motto! Hydrangeas have become one of my absolute favorites...when we moved to our new place back in Aug 2005, I started to dream of big, beautiful hydrangeas. That year, I planted a few, albeit not in the best location for them...a little too much afternoon sun...live & learn. They've never flourished so I finally got around to moving them this year, but I digress! Then the next year, I planted 5 more on the side of our house...they grew a little, but not a whole lot...not many blooms. Then last year, we had a late cold snap (freeze) in April, and it never even occurred to me to cover my beloved hydrangeas. They all got zapped - one so badly that it didn't make it. The others were okay, but blooms were few and far between. However, this year...they are making my heart sing for joy! I have always wanted big beautiful hydrangeas, just like these, but never dreamed I would have them this quickly. So exciting. Just last weekend, we finally put a timer-based drip-soaker hose on them, so even though they get a good bit of sun too, with a little bit of water love, they're handling it beautifully.

But here's the main thing I love - these are "Endless Summer" Hydrangeas - that means they don't just bloom on old growth (as traditional hydrangeas do), but on new growth too! They cost a little bit more initially, but to me, they're well worth the extra outlay of $$. I'd rather pay a little more in the beginning and then get a much bigger enjoyment pay-off!

Hydrangeas color can also be manipulated based on the pH of your soil. Our soil produces pink blooms, but I LOVE blue, so I've been steadily covering the soil around my beauties with peat moss. This year, I can begin to see the pay-off. Some of the blooms area beautiful, pale pink, while others are a pinky-purpley-bluish combination. Hydrangeas also make excellent cut flowers (they dry well too) - and with so many blooms on a bush and the knowledge that they'll keep on blooming, cutting them isn't quite so sad! LOVE it!

What things do you love? Head on over to The Diaper Diaries to check out some other "loves" and feel free to add yours too! :)

Behind again...

but what else is new? I finally picked up my laptop late today from the computer tech...to their defense, the hard drive that they installed back in February was faulty...it was still under warranty, but that meant they had to send it off to the west coast and then had to wait for them to send the replacement....read TAKES A LONG TIME!!! Anyway...all of that has had me behind on all things computer. But, I realized tonight that I had downloaded some pics a few weeks ago that I hadn't yet shared on the blog. We all went over to Grandpa and Grace's one night for pizza and to hang out a few days after Grace got home from her surgery. The babies were cute, cute, cute...just like they always are! Hope you'll enjoy a few pics! (I somehow managed to change the upload settings half-way through this post, thus the pics are scattered all about...sorry! I just don't have the umph pah to go back and re-upload them tonight...enjoy!)

We had pizza for supper, and *somebody* wanted none of it, UNTIL Aunt Autumn walked out the door holding a piece (she intended for herself) - Walker then suddenly developed QUITE the interest and took it out of her hand and started working on it.

Then Alexa saw it and before we all knew it, it was *her* pizza! LOL

WHAT???
Oh - got it back again!
LOVE it!

What a sweet cousin!

I just love sleeping young'un pics...what a cutie pie!

Oh, how sweet!

Head on over to my sis's blog and see the sweet pic she posted...LOVE IT!

Walker's Big News....

yea! That's right...baby #2 is on the way! I don't have a firm due date yet (and if Button is anything like W...add 9 days anyway!), but looks like January 9 or so. Woo hoo! Needless to say, it's been an exciting few weeks around the Williams household! And now a few more pics of W after he was playing in the water...

He looks so vampire-like right here...such a funny shot. He's had 12 teeth for forever now, but yesteday I noticed I think he's got a few more starting to come in.

He was so proud of himself that he managed to carry 2 cups at one time...

What a cutie pie! Thanks for stoppin' by!

attention, attention...

I finally got some pics of Walker playing in our water tub posted below on my WFMW post...just didn't want anybody to miss them who would enjoy them...more tomorrow! :)

WFMW - Splish Splash & Measure

So we've all either heard it or said it - "Mom - I'm bored!!!" - in honor of the start of summer, Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer has asked all WFMW participants to throw out some boredom busters. My little guy is only 20 months, so I haven't had a lot of dealings with boredom yet, but in brainstorming this past week I thought back to an activity I remember from childhood - scooping, splashing & measuring water. The concept is simple - children LOVE water - start with a dish pan, a plastic tote/storage box or aluminum tub...basically anything that will hold a decent amount of water. Fill it up with water and then add various cups, scoops, measuring cups, etc. to the mix. I set our station up on our deck (so the mess is minimal) and my little guy can play, splash & dip water to his heart's content. As I said before, our little guy is just 20 months, so for him, this is mostly just for fun...sure, learning to pour from one container to another is a learning exercise...but mostly he's just splishin' & splashin'. However, for older preschoolers, you can also really turn this into a learning activity about measuring - and FUN! Our little fella LOVES anything water, so this one definitely works for me! For other great boredom busters, head on over to rocks in my dryer!

Walker & Papa

Walker has always loved a phone, but recently we've let him talk to Brad a couple of times when he's been driving home. Walker will talk for a little while...and then hang up. So cute!

Materialism

Wow - what a great post on materialism...head over here and check this one out - it's sparked great conversation for Brad & me tonight!