unplugged Friday

This year for Lent I have decided to go unplugged on Fridays, which means no t.v. and no internet on Fridays. I have also decided to perform Random Acts of Kindness throughout the week. Yesterday was our first Friday to go "unplugged". I knew to pull this off I was going to have to get creative and have some activities in mind. Yesterday was a bit of a challenge because Aidan has a nasty cold and just wanted to sit and "veg" all day in front of the t.v. I think he watched about 3 shows yesterday and the rest of the time I was able to keep in engaged in other activities. One thing we did yesterday was to put our new "watercolor paint" to use. Watercolor paint comes in the same containers as your typical tempra paint, only it is the consistency of water. I had to order it online because the people at Michaels looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked for it there. You use it like you would food coloring in different activities ( only it is nonedible). The advantage of using watercolor paint instead of food coloring is that it cleans up much easier and does not stain like food coloring. So far we have used it to experiment mixing colors in shaving cream, used it to color our homemade playdough, used it to make coffee filter art, and yesterday we used it to color macaroni ( and I have only had it a week- can you tell we are having fun with it and love it! lol). We had fun coloring it yesterday and next week we will use the colored macaroni to do some sorting and fine motor activities :).

Yesterday afternoon Clinton, Aidan, and I went to the lake that is close to our house and had a picnic. After we had our picnic we had a fun time feeding the geese and playing at the playground there. We also took our ball and Aidans bike so he could practice riding. We had a great "family day" and a great time was had by all!

Aidan is loving school! He asks if he can go every day! Although I am not thrilled that it seems like he has been sick since be began last month, I am happy that he loves it so much. :)

Aidan had Occupational Therapy ( OT) and Physical Therapy (PT) evaluations last week and it seems like they are going to recommend services for both. We haven't gotten the official report but we are waiting to hear from the therapists. They both gave us some great activities to do at home to work on various skills. I have created a spread sheet so I can make sure we are getting everything in at home. :0)

This morning we went to the farmers market by our house and rode the train. It is a really cool area/park that is made to look like an old Western town. They give train rides around the park on the weekends. Fun!

Our macaroni project yesterday....

mixing it in the colors.... I got these cool bowls at Target on clearance for .25 each. Bargain!

Letting it dry....

The view of the lake.

Aidan sitting in the grass on the hill. He had such a great time!

feeding the geese...

Check out the feet on this bird!

waiting in line to ride the train

They have 3 trains that they rotate. The engine they normally run is out of commission for a couple of months so it can receive its yearly maintenance. Today they had the trolley car running.

riding the trolley this morning...

Fountain at the park.

Aidan surprised me a couple of weeks ago when he (out of the blue) wrote his name in sidewalk chalk! Writing his name is not a skill we have been working on , so I was pleasantly surprised! Not bad for three!!!!