Week 3: January 15 - 21, 2010 {#Mamatography}

It was so hard to choose photos for this week's Mamatography post. It seemed like I had the camera out all of the time. And we did so much! I had the kids help me choose which picture to include and this is what we decided on:

Day 15 (1/15/12)

"I push this button!"

Little Guy was just thrilled when "Brubber" invited him to play computer games on his laptop with him. Usually, we try to keep him away from our computers because he gets over-excited AND had that "I know what I'm doing and I'm going to do it myself" attitude going. The two of those, together, usually equal a computer that is completely frozen up within minutes and hours of trying to figure out how to fix it. But, my oldest patiently kept little guy in check and found a game that would allow him to use the mouse pad easily. He had the BEST time!

Day 16 (1/16/12)

Warm Winter's Catnap

Number 1 has been in heaven lately. He comes into the house after spending a few hours in the freezing cold, gets a bite to eat, then lays down somewhere for a nap - purring the entire time. I can't help but wonder if he ran into a stray who told him he should be grateful for a warm home and food in his belly. He's been showing his appreciation in many ways, too. He knows how much I like a kitty sitting on my lap, but he never really cared for it himself. Not recently! He's been bringing up "presents" to the door (and sometimes tries to sneak them into the house) in the form of field mice. My oldest usually is the recipient of these gifts, since he's often the first one to leave the house in the morning! And, he has even been hanging out with Little Guy, who has just recently made the differentiation between stuffed animal and real animal.

Day 17 (1/17/12)

Goofball

If you're my friend on Facebook, you already know about this picture. My oldest borrowed my camera for a school project he had to do (how cool is it that he can email his homework to his teachers?!) And, while he had the camera, he had to screw around a little, right? I found about 20 goofy pictures of him and his friend on my camera after he returned it to me. I jokingly told him that he should always delete photos after uploading, or they could make their way into the wrong hands. Then I mentioned putting one of the pictures on Facebook and tagging him in it. The kid actually DARED me to do it. Well, being the mom that I am, that's exactly what I did. I started feeling bad a few minutes later, so I removed the tag (the picture is still there.) I just don't know if one of his classmates might get a hold of his goofy picture and turn it into some kind of nasty joke. So, it's on my wall and he can tag himself in it if he wants. And I'll be having prints made of these photos because they are just too fun to forget about!

Day 18 (1/18/12)

You Could Have Put Your Eye Out!

You know how you're always warning kids to be careful with scissors? Yeah... While Little Guy and I were making our Craft Idea Book, I put the scissors down for a split second. That was long enough for him to come charging across the room at full-speed to grab them. Only I was faster and snatched them up. And, as you can see by the picture, I didn't do so safely. I stabbed myself in the hand - and it was a bloody one. Little Guy's eyes were like saucers when he saw what had happened. I think that he truly did not believe me all of those times I told him that scissors are dangerous. He probably thought I was just saying it to keep him from having all of the cutting-up-paper-fun. Ever since this occurrence, though, he hasn't tried to get my scissors. And I'm on the look-out for a good pair of child safety scissors for him. It is fun to cut paper and why should I be the only one to enjoy it?

Day 19 (1/19/12)

My Very Cold Friend

It was so cold! The wind was blowing like mad and the temperature, without taking windchill into account, was 9F. We have a pair of Blue Jays that have decided to winter in the woods behind our house and I couldn't help but see this bright blue guy all puffed up and trying to stay warm when I passed the window. I tossed a handful of seeds out for him and he quickly swooped down from his perch to fill his stomach.

Day 20 (1/20/12)

The Sick Blanket

Another chilly day. Rather than heading outside, Little Guy and I had an all-day indoor camping trip. This picture was taken early on in our day. We ended up making a campfire out of paper towel tubes and tissue paper. We made beds and Little Guy took a nap in his tent. We had snacks. We even went fishing, using sticks, yarn and paper clips for hooks. We didn't catch anything and concluded that fish do not like gummy worms, so we ate the worms for "dinner", instead!

See that striped, crocheted blanket? My great-grandmother made that before I was born (I think it may even be older than my mom.) It is known as "The Sick Blanket" because that is the blanket that we used whenever we were ill and laid on the couch in the living room all day, while our mom or dad nursed us back to health. It is used for the same purpose for my kids and, hopefully, one of them will become as attached as I have to it and their kids will get to know The Sick Blanket, as well. And when we were well, that blanket made the BEST tents... Still does!

Day 21 (1/21/12)

Wintertime

This is the picture of winter in my mind. Sled and squirrel tracks in the snow. Kids' footprints, big and small. The sunshine creating those cool blue shadows that you can only see in the wintertime across the snow...














So, what did your week look like? If you'd like to join me in this endeavor, just click on the Mamatography button at the top of this post to learn more. I'll be linking this post at Diary of a First Child's Week 3 Mamatography Linky when it's posted on Wednesday (1/25), so if you'd like to see more photos you should head over!

A Whole New Twist on an Old Game {Day 5 - KY Intimacy Experiment and GIVEAWAY!}

To all the little kiddies under 18 out there:

This is not a post for you. Please hit the back button, close the page, or anything else that will get you away from this page!

Sincerely,
ME!

Day 5 of the KY Intimacy Experiment is all about having fun together. This is something that has been long lost in our relationship. There are just too many responsibilities that we never make time to just have fun anymore. Even going to the park or taking walks as a family, Hubby and I are continuously on alert. With a headstrong toddler, you can't ever let your guard down! So, after reading what today's day- and nighttime exercises were supposed to be, I was excited. We need to be able to just let our hair down and have a good time!

Today's daytime exercise was great to plan and even better to actually do. We were to choose an activity that we've never done together before and then do it. So many possibilities! There were the usual things - we've never had a picnic with just the two of us. There were also the extreme ones - hubby suggested cooking a meal together. Extreme? Yes. I could only envision him not following directions and me ending up frustrated and angry. Not really something that makes you want to get smoochy, you know?

We settled on one of my favorite activities - Fishing. I haven't been fishing since before I was pregnant with Little Guy. I've always loved just sitting by the water, alone with my thoughts, with a pole in the river. I never keep anything - even if I wanted to, the water here is so bad that they tell you not to even feed your pets the fish from this river! Hubby used to go fishing with his dad when he was a kid, but his part mostly consisted of being quiet so he wouldn't scare the fish and handing his dad another beer. (It wasn't a bad experience for him, but he just never got to actually fish.) So, we planned an afternoon of fishing.

Photo credit: Livestrong.com

We quickly learned that he can't bait a hook. I laughed so hard to see him pull up his pole and show me a hook with a worm dangling down - it was hooked ONE time. We decided it would be my job to put the worms on. Then, he caught a tree - the one behind us - as he attempted to cast. Twenty minutes later, I had untangled his pole, got all the knots from his line, re-baited his hook (I have NO idea where the worm ended up!), and cast his line for him. I finally had gotten myself situated when he got a bite. He yanked the pole so hard that the poor fish was probably left thinking maybe he had just imagined the worm was there. After a short lesson on how to set the hook and reel in a fish, he was on his own again. Neither of us caught more than a single baby large-mouth bass, but I was having a great time. Hubby's unintentional antics had lightened the mood and, by the time we headed home, we were holding hands and making silly jokes with each other. We really had a lot of fun and didn't let ourselves worry or get frustrated with one another. He let me teach him how to fish and I didn't get angry about having to fix his mistakes (repeatedly! LOL)

That night, we tried the nighttime exercise. It was a twist on poker. (I really, really wanted to title this post: "Hit Me!"  "I'll Pass" I tried it out on Triberr's headline voting thingy and it was shot down - 14 dislikes and 0 likes! I thought it was funny! My other idea was "A Royal Blush" and it was just as unpopular.)
Now, this was a lot of fun for us because we really got to know each other over playing cards. I loved playing Rumy with him (I always won) and he had a great time showing me the zillions of different poker games he knew (he always won!) For the Intimacy Experiment version, we were supposed to take a pile of index cards and divide them into four equal piles. We each got two piles. On one pile, we were to write different body parts. On the other, different actions, such as "kiss", "blow", etc. By the time we were finished writing on all of the cards (we shouldn't have gotten the 100-card pack!), we were giggling at our ideas.

We shuffled our "body parts" cards together and our "touch" cards together and set them between us. Then, we played Five-Card Draw. Whoever won each hand got to choose one index card from each pile and the loser had to perform the touch on the corresponding body part. Now, this ended up being the most hilarious game of poker I had ever played. You see, since we each had to think of 25 body parts and 25 touches, we were running out of ideas toward the end. At one point, I received an ear massage. And hubby got to have his knee licked. Yeah. But, there were some pretty hot combos, too! After our agreed-upon twenty-hand game of poker, we were hot and bothered enough to not notice how late it had gotten. I'll leave off here by saying we had an amazing time and are saving the cards for another round of poker!

Here is today's EXTRA ENTRY question!!!
For TWO MORE ENTRIES, I'm going to give you a choice. Answer one of the questions below in a comment on this post:

1. Can you think of a fun activity that you and your partner have never done before? I'd love some ideas!
2. What weird body part/touch combos can you come up with? (Kind of like the ear massage I got!)
   

Answer the question in your first comment, then just type "Entry 2" in your second comment for two entries. Don't forget to leave your email in one of your comments.

You must have done the Mandatory entry on my original giveaway post HERE, in order to receive the extra entries on this post. I will add these entries to the original entries when I choose a winner.

This is open to US residents. YOU MUST BE 18 OR OVER TO ENTER! Giveaway will end on July 30, 2011, at 11:59 pm EST

*I received no monetary compensation for this giveaway, this blog post, or the blog posts that will follow. I did receive a K-Y Brands Intimacy Experiment package in order to fully participate in the program and tell you about it.