Come along with the Castros and paint our toys...

Harold has been taking a CPA course on Saturdays. This week they had a break but he still needed to spend some time studying. So I needed to come up with something to do outside with Maddox so that it would be nice and quiet for Harold inside. So I grabbed the washable paint and a couple of bath ducks and took him outside. Maddox was very surprised and said "I can paint my toys?". While he was painting he continued to tell me "Maddox is making a mess". It was so cute and so much more fun for him considering it was something he normally wasn't allowed to do. Usually I give him something to do so that I can get other stuff done but this time I got to enjoy the activity with him. After you see the pictures guess which one is mine. hehe After we finished painting we filled up his little pool with water and I gave him a washcloth and an old shampoo bottle (that I had filled with water and a couple drops of hand soap) and he gave them all a bath. When he finished giving them a bath he asked to paint them again. This is activity is a keeper!

He was hiding from the camera....sort of.

   

Come along with the Castros to Matheson Hammock Park...

This afternoon we decided to go to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful day here and we needed that relaxing family time. Maddy even went into the water although it was a little chilly but there were other children in the water and wherever there is other children playing you will find Maddy. He is such a social kid and has not found out yet that 8 and 9 year olds don't always like an (almost) 3 year old tagging along with them. Landon is always happy being outside. If he is fussing I know bring him out to see some sunshine and it is an instant cure. My little sunshine boy!

Come along with the Castros and keep Maddox busy...

Maddox is always looking for something to do and I am always trying to find things for him to do. It is essential for me to keep him busy so that I can keep up with the housework and take care of Landon. Some of the things that I have found that really keep him busy are the simplist things like scissors with paper, different sized cups filled with water, and a dry erase board with markers (that I found at Target for $.75!!). Why do we spend good money on toys....everyone always says it but we still do it.

I just threw some paint in a ziplock bag and taped it on top of a piece of white paper and let him squish it around. Fun!

Here we set up a spider web using rope. I cut out spiders from felt and hung them on the rope with clothes pins. I told him he had to rescue some bugs I cut out from the spiders without touching the rope.   

 Here he is using scissors and a hole puncher.

 

Come along with the Castros and make Landon laugh...

Landon (especially when well rested, fed, and changed) will pretty much laugh at anything. Maddox walking towards him always gets a chuckle. On this day in particular I heard the word "zip" on a show Maddox was watching. So while acting silly with Landon I said "zip zip Landon" and he started cracking up. Over and over I would say it and the laughs kept coming. I ran to get the camera because it was a pretty good laugh and usually at this point he would normally stop doing what I wanted to record but this time he didn't. So just how cute is this laughing baby! Please ignore the toddler in the end of the video asking for food I just didn't have time to edit. Thanks! :o)

Come along with the Castros and have a Happy Valentines day...

For Valentines day we meet up with some friends in our playgroup. In the morning, Maddox and I made some "cupid crunch" to bring with us to the park and share with our friends. It is just popcorn, mixed with peanuts, cranberries, and M&M's all held together by melting white chocolate. This stuff is soooo yummy I almost didn't want to share. hehe. There were 7 kids at the playgroup but I only have pictures of Maddox and one friend. The reason being is that he was stuck to her like glue. I guess you could say that she was his little Valentine.

Come along with the Castros while Landon is teething...

We are expecting a first tooth to break through Landon's little gums any day now. It seems every picture I have of him lately his hands are always in his mouth. When its not his hands, it is anything else he can get his little hands on. One of his favorite things to chew on right now is the strap to my camera. Since I am always taking pictures he has many opportunities to get it into his little hands and in about .2 seconds it is in his mouth. Poor little guy I hope these teeth come out quickly! 

He is obssessed with this tag because he can reach it and pull the whole arch down and then get it right to his mouth

The camera strap

Sometimes he gets so desperate he shoves two hands into his mouth

Come along with the Castros and go to the Miami Seaquarium...

Today we took our first trip to the Miami Seaquarium. To start, it was 50 degrees here today! brrrr! It was funny watching how the two boys reacted to the cold. Maddox walked around half the day wrapped up in a blanket, that thankfully we had in the car. If you know Maddox, it must have been cold because being wrapped up slows you down a little and he does not like to be held back. Landon did not like all the layers and was wondering why we weren't taking him out of his seat. Despite the cold, we had a great day! The park is impressive. We had the chance to watch fish get fed in the shark tank, we also watched two dolphin shows, a sea lion show, and a killer whale show.During the killer whale show Maddox and Harold sat in the splash zone. When they say splash zone they mean you are going to get soaked zone. Yea for the blanket again as Harold was able to cover them so they were only a little wet (while everyone around them were soaked). Maddox thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall we all loved it all! Both boys did so great considering it was way past nap time. We finished the afternoon by coming home and all (except me) taking a nice long nap. However, I did enjoy the quiet time. It was a great day!

All wrapped up!

He has been camera shy lately so when he asked me to take this picture I was thrilled!