Adventures with a half empty jogging stroller: Part 4, Hiking in Orange County

We repeated several of the hikes I have already wrote about this month but two new ones we did were the Upper Newport Bay Trail and the Oso Creek Trail. 

The address for the first trail is 2301 University Dr, Newport Beach. There is quite an interesting network of trails here. We saw a lot of nature. There is no shade but an awesome nature center to hide in if it gets too hot. The boys could spend hours at the nature center alone. ;-) 

The Oso Creek Trail is one we do several times a month because it is so awesome and nearby. There are several entrances to it, but if you park at Oso Viejo Park in Mission Viejo, there is an entrance by the baseball field to the trail. The trail goes on in both directions for quite a while. I bring the stroller if I want to go fast and far, and I leave it in the car if I want to linger on all the awesome pinecones and bugs with the boys. Both are super fun. Check it out!  

Kiddo Crafts and hands on activities: Fall Edition

One of my favorite activities we do every year is the thankful tree. I create a big tree on the wall, and then for each day in November we think of something we are thankful for to write on a leaf. It is so fun to read all the responses and to celebrate Thanksgiving all month long! 

Fall collages. 

Practice cutting, sticking stickers, and drawing. The boys worked on these for a long time. They are so competitive so I said who can get the most pictures on their paper, and then we counted them all. ;-) They LOVE to count lately. 

Making sugar cookies!! 

My boys love this activity, and they barely let me help with any of the steps. ;-)  

Painting baby pumpkins is a great activity. 

We used a lot of different colors, glitter, and stickers. We gave these away as gifts for a service project.  

At Michaels you can get inexpensive wooden items on clearance. Eli loves to paint them! I have three colors of washable paint, and we mix the colors we like. ;-)  

We made a black cat in nature class that I thought was so cute, and Max made it all by himself! Draw a cat shaped head on the back and a moon shape around that. Let them cut it out and then glue on whiskers and eyes. A hit because they love cats!  

Spider craft. We punched holes around a paper plate, and then I tied a long piece of yarn to one of the holes. Have the kids thread it through, stick some bug stickers on, and glue on a large black spider. Great lacing practice!  

I helped make these in Eli's class and thought they were so cute. Cover a roll of toilet paper with soft puffy material and then cover that with a rectangle of fall fabric. The kids pushed the fabric through the hole, and I helped them fold it up. Then they twisted and pushed in the stem and tied the ribbon.  

Pumpkin carving is a great fall activity. The boys decided what they wanted, and I drew it on for them. Then I cut the hole in top, and they got all the gushy seeds out. Then I let them wash the seeds and spread them on a baking sheet. We cooked them with a little salt and enjoyed them. Then I cut out the rest of the face. They loved going in the dark garage and seeing the face.  

Max wanted a really complicated design so I convinced him to let me paint it on instead. Win!  

Spider craft #2. Poke 8 holes in the bottom of a plastic cup. I found tiny cups at Walmart that worked great but big ones work great too. Have the kids poke pipe cleaners across the holes (4 total) for the legs and then glue wiggly eyes on. So cute! And it doubles as a toy. ;-)  

Adoption Update and I am thankful for ;-)

Bella:

It’s been a long time since we’ve had an adoption update. We have been on the match list for three months now. Every month I get to sit on a call to hear about the match updates. Last week’s call was very encouraging. During last month’s call there were about forty families waiting ahead of us. This means that whenever the organization gets a child’s referral, they look first to these families to see if they are a good match for the child. This month they made over thirty matches bringing the number of families ahead of us to only about 10!! This means we could be looking at a match any day now. It could also take another month or two. It is dependent on a lot of factors, and our organization said last month was an unusually busy month. However, it is still very encouraging, and I have been having a hard time not expecting it to happen next month. Next year we will be celebrating the holidays with our three kiddos and everything will be different. So those prayer warriors out there please pray for us. Pray that the matching staff will find the little girl that is right for our family. Pray that the boys will have ready hearts to receive Bella into their happy, little world, specifically Max who most of the time isn’t excited for a little sister. Pray that we would have wisdom with dealing with all of her unique needs, such as her medical needs, emotional needs, nutritional needs, and so much more. We are very, very excited but as third time parents we are also realistic that this will be a huge, difficult transition for all of us. Parenthood is a sacrifice and a struggle and a joy every single day, and I am thankful for the ability to be a mom.

Letting go:

One of the things that has made me happiest the last few months has been Eli’s reaction to his first year of real, serious, learning how to read and write school experience. I feel like I spent so much time the first five years preparing my little boy for this moment in his life. Worrying about why he wouldn’t interact during music class, reading to him every day to instill in him a love for books, taking him on so many playdates to help him interact with kids his own age, preparing craft and activities for him every week to stretch his mind and encourage him to try a wider range of activities, and so much more. And I am so happy to report that after all the hours and hours and hours of effort and prayers and love and direction he is doing so well. He loves school. He loves to learn and write and read. He loves homework. He love the chance he has to be there and has never said a single negative thing about school.  It feels like such a huge thing.

I read an awesome book that I recommend called, “Strong Mothers Strong Sons,” and it says that raising our sons is a long progression of letting them go with the first major one being them going off to school. I feel this is very true. I drop him off for 6 hours a day and trust that his wonderful teachers will take care of his needs and that if he needs something he will step up and ask for it. This has been hard for me since I have spent the last five years glued to his side. It also feels very good, and I love to hear all the updates that he has for me once he gets in the car. I am also thankful that I am not the one who is solely responsible for teaching him how to read “it,” how to add, how to speak Spanish, how to play basketball, and so much more. That is too much pressure for this momma who has a hard time not being too hard on myself. ;-) 

Preschool Activities: Part 3

Fizzing Chalk Paint: Max will often ask me to make a batch of this paint at home. Mix washable watercolor paint (mine is from Lakeshore) with equal parts cornstarch, baking soda, and water. I only have red, blue, and yellow, and Max loves to make more colors by mixing. Then let them paint on the sidewalk with brushes. Bring a spray bottle filled with vinegar and the paintings will fizzle and bubble. Really cool. The paints eventually end up spilled on the floor and stepped on, but it is always a hit with my boys. And it comes right off with water.

 

Fall Tree Paintings. Cut out a tree shape and glue it on. Then give the kids fall colors on plates with q-tip paint brushes. I also had some foam brushes that we used for a different look. They can paint the trees to look like fall. ;-) 

Activities in Orange County that cost a few bucks but are well worth it!! ;-) October Edition

#1. Tanaka Farms!! We only spent $4 for an adventure here. This is a beautiful pumpkin patch that feels like a real farm. They have tractor rides, which were free the week we went! They also have a free corn maze, pumpkin pile, petting zoo, and more. Definitely worth going for the picture taking opportunities alone. ;-) I will have to go back with both rascals and try again. ;-) 

#2. Pumpkin City!! This place is a Laguna Hills gem. We have gone here every year since the boys were born, and this is the first year we have spent any money. If you look, you can find free ride tickets a ton of places, including the paper, the Laguna Hills mall, at your local school, etc. This year we had the opportunity to buy wristbands for unlimited rides as a MomsClub fundraiser. It was great! The boys loved the ride that spun like the teacups and climbing the pumpkins. The wristbands include the petting zoo and blow up rides as well. The patch also has animals in little cages that you can feed for a quarter, which was the boys favorite last year. ;-) 

Adventures with a half empty jogging stroller. Part 3. Hiking in Orange County

We went on two beautiful walking adventures lately. 

#1. The first is at North Irvine Lake. Park at the Barnes N Noble at Woodbridge and walk on the bridge over the road. Then walk around North Lake. It is a flat and easy trail, perfect for biking and scootering. Half way through there is a nice little playground overlooking the lake. We found lots of baby geese! ;-) Then after you finish the hike, there are some awesome frogs to climb on at the shopping center and/or you can read some awesome books at Barnes N Noble. ;-) 

 

 #2. The second hike was super beautiful. I kept taking happy deep breaths because it made me so happy. Go to Serrano Creek Park in Lake Forest. This is an awesome, shady park with tons of horses that regularly walk by. If you walk away from the horse stables, there is a beautiful trail that winds through the Eucalyptus trees. We walked for two hours and found tons of treasures, like little black bugs, a swing, and lots of good sticks to play with. ;-)