A Drop Off the Old Paint Brush....

Get it? Drop...paintbrush...chip...block...NO? Just Me? Ok then....nevermind...

It's no secret that I like to craft.  Most projects I work on while Noah is asleep, but some require daylight, so I usually spray paint or sand something outside while Noah runs around in the backyard and plays.  He is always semi interested, mostly just curious of what his crazy mom is up to.  I decided it was time to share my joy of craft time with my little monkey man.  I set out to have him make handprint turkeys.  I thought it would be so fun for Thanksgiving.

I squirted a big glob of brown acrylic paint in his hand and told him to rub them together (he's good at this b/c he likes to wash his hands and put on lotion - he might have my hand washing OCD).  Then we put his hands down on the paper after he lifted them back up he looked at his hands, covered in paint, and promptly wiped them straight down his shirt onto his pants...DOH! (note to self, need crafting smock for clean hand ocd kid).

Then I gave him a piece of paper with globs of paint on them.  I thought he could use that paint to decorate his hand turkeys.  He thought it was more fun to mush that paint around on the paper.  Turkey Hands, not so much.  REALLY happy future Kandinsky, YEP! Once he was satisified with his "mush" painting, we promptly washed his hands off and cleaned off his table.  Then, in an effort not to stiffle his creativity (wink) I gave him some more paper and CRAYONS.  He's so serious when he colors!

It was fun, and Noah enjoyed it.  He really likes to color and has spent a little time each afternoon this week coloring.  He hasn't broken any crayons, but 2 are missing and he fed the gray one to Lola...(sigh)...but so far he's pretty good about not coloring on the walls or anything.  Today we are off to shop for some supplies for him (washable paint, a roll of craft paper, etc.).  I plan to be like his own personal craft dealer...heh

I took the picture that Noah colored and put it on the fridge, I brought him over and showed him his picture and oooohed & aaaaaahed and told him I was so proud of my little artist.  He took it off the fridge, crumpled it up and threw it in the trash....LOL, perfectionist in the making? Nah, just a kid who LOVES to throw stuff in the trash, never know what you'll find in there.

Cheeeeeeeeese!

Because he is a ham....

....or because I've been a mamarazzi with a camera in his face since the day he was born.  What can I say, the boy LOVES a photo shoot!

A Boy & His Pals

It's no secret that we live in a mad house.  Yes, friends, with a toddler, a mini horse, a crazy cat and a ghost cat, there is always SOMETHING going on.  This is a typical day in the life, at our house.  Noah starts out with his Lola Mutt.  These two are some serious BFF (partners in crime).  Lola is such a good sport, she lets that boy drag her ALL over.  He locks her in his room and he MAKES her play.  Poor Lola....

But you can't feel bad for her for too long, because pretty soon, crazy gets into the mix.  You know that old saying "curiousity killed the cat", yea, that will TOTALLY be the case in our house.  Because Scruffy just CANNOT stand to stay out of it. Pretty soon it's all out WWF.  Lola gets Scruffy, Noah gets Lola, Scruffy gets Noah.  Total circus.  Lots of meowing, laughing, crying, barking, growling, hissing, tail pulling, fur grabbing....is it bad that I just let them go until they poop out?  .....Nah!

Oh yea, the ghost cat...Fiona.  She's the smart one of the bunch, only comes out of hiding once everyone is safely asleep.  Well, that and she is kind of mean and they just KNOW not to mess with her.  If you ask Noah, "what does Scruffy say" and he'll answer you with "meow" or "kitty kitty" but, you ask him "what does Fiona say" his answer is always "HIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

He EXCELS at jumping!

Noah and I started a Mommy & Me Tumbling class.  He LOVES it! I do too, b/c it's more of a Noah Tumbles and mom laughs watches class!  Wooohooo!  Noah's a rock star at his tumbling class.  On his very first day, he was already better at everything than the other kids (who had been in the class a few weeks)..HA! That's MY boy!

He loved EVERYTHING!  He laughed, he pointed, he said "MAMA" A LOT! He did everything 2 or 3 times.  He even went on the high balance beam and walked all the way across (holding my hand) and never fell off!!  Superstar material...seriously!

And then it was time for the parachute, you know the big colorful parachute thing that you all hold on to and go in a big circle then float it up and everyone runs underneath....

Total MELTDOWN!

Every week he hates the parachute less and less.  But he'd still rather go play on all the fun stuff than with that stupid parachute!

Chatty Cathy....er...Noah

Sooooo...it's been FOR-E-VER since we've had a nice little blog about what the crazy monkey boy has been up to. He's SOOO big now.  He's 20 months going on 12.  And he is chattin' up a storm! I can't even tell you the words that he is saying because everyday is he saying new things! For example, last night he was playing and singing with his cousin and he sang "Ooooh baby!" yea seriously...total rock star on my hands! He says all of "his people's" names, Mama, Dada, Kiki, PawPaw, Gigi, BB (bridget), Zanna (Zander), Audi (Autumn), Lola, Scruffy, Lulu (Lexi), Winnie (Vinny) notice how most everyone has a double name "ma-ma, da-da, ki-ki", etc.  Well my aunt and uncle have a dog named "Er", yea really (it's short for "her", so weird, right?! LOL) Noah calls her ErEr, makes sense though, right!

He's also movin and shakin.  Last week we started a Mommy & Me tumbling class.  He had a lot of fun playing on the mats and climbing, flipping, etc.  He was awesome on the balance beam, and even climbed up and did the high balance beam.  His teacher said for his age he "excels" at jumping! Too funny. He did have a total meltdown towards the end of class. So I'm hoping this week goes better! Wish us luck! I'll take pictures this week, I didn't want to be "that mom" last week! heh

My Cutest Kid!

So recently Noah was entered in a local "Cutest Kid" contest, hosted by one of our fabulous local photographers.  I posted about it here on our blog and about 200 times on facebook.  I have the best friends in the world, because Noah received a TON of votes and WON the contest!  What does that mean? Well, we already knew he was the cutest kid in town, but now we'll have free pictures for a year to prove it! If you live in the Lake Charles area, I highly recommend J. Langley Photos.  Not just because we get free pictures, but because she takes the most beautiful, awesome photos! Thanks to everyone who voted for Noah! Muah!

A new journey...

When I began blogging, nearly 2 years ago (wow!) my whole intention was to blog about our family - we had just had our first, and only, baby boy. We were moving out of state, to be closer to family, and so that I could have the greatest opportunity of all, to be a stay at home mom. Well, this blog, started out innocently enough. Each and every post was dedicated to telling our loved ones what Noah was up to, new milestones, etc. As time when on and I learned more about blogging, blogland, and all those wonderful blogs out there, our family blog began to....drift a little. I began to blog about shopping, my crafts, decorating, all of the fun things I enjoy. But I was doing little blogging about my precious monkey boy, Noah.

I know a lot of bloggers have multiple blogs, so I decided now was the time to start a new blog. I really enjoy crafting and decorating and sharing those ideas/projects with my blog community. But I need to redirect our family blog back to its original intention. So from that, came the idea for The Craft Monkey! I look forward to sharing lots of fun projects on my new blog. I've added the old posts from our current blog (a very tedious task!). I hope you'll enjoy The Craft Monkey and visit it often! And The Hernandez Family will once again be dedicated to our very special boo boo chicken, Noah!

**See below for how you can help us win pictures for a year for Noah, voting ends tomorrow! PLEASE VOTE!"**