Laura and I have recently launched a new site called the FunPlace Database! This is a brand new resource designed by parents FOR parents to make it easy to find fun places to take your kids. We all need to get out of the house most days, but sometimes it’s just difficult to find places to take them!

To celebrate the launch of the site, we’re having a great giveaway! There are two ways to enter and you may enter as many times as you like!

1. You’ll receive one entry for every FunPlace you add to the database, and it only takes a minute to add a playground, library, museum, restaurant, etc so it’s easy to enter! You must enter a valid email address in the form so we can contact you if you win.

2. You’ll receive one entry for every other place you post info about this contest- your blog, Twitter, a forum, etc. Just send us a link to where you’ve posted it via the contact form.

Click here to visit the contest page, read about the $100 Amazon.com gift card and other prizes and enter a FunPlace to win!

Jack has learned a lot this month. He can write his name pretty well and is slowly working on mastering letters, numbers, coloring in the lines, etc. He has a chalk board that has been helpful to practice on, and sometimes he gets in David’s crib to write on his chalk board, so he can do it without being attacked!

We have a US state puzzle that I have avoided getting out because I knew Jack would want to open it and I didn’t want to deal with all the pieces, but recently we were talking about where different states were and I ended showing him the puzzle. He was dying to open it, so I told him we could open it when he learned all 50 states, thinking this would buy me months of time in which I didn’t have to worry about David choking on Idaho. Well, it took him about a week, but he can now name all 50 states so I had to open the puzzle after all! If only I could get that kind of persistence from him in putting his clothes on every day. (I neeeeeeeeed help!!)

We have had some success in using a sticker chart with him lately. He gets a sticker as a reward for doing something extra good and when the chart of 20 fills up then he gets something special he’s chosen when we start a new one. We’re on our second chart now, but for filling up the first one, he earned a giant gummy bear he had seen at World Market. That thing was so disgusting – but Jack enjoyed mutilating the giant orange gelatinous sugar bomb.

We went to the Texas State Fair several weeks ago and had a GREAT time. There was lots to see and do (and eat) and we only got rained on a little. There was a Midway area for the kids with rides that were way too expensive ($4 each!!??), so Jack only got to ride a couple. When he asked to ride one of those fast little roller coasters we were surprised, since he has always been really cautious and not a fan of things that feel out of control to him (he still won’t go on the swings at the playground). But he insisted he wanted to, and we want to encourage him to become more comfortable taking a risk here and there. Mark rode with him and explained to him before it got started that there was no way to get off once it got going, but turned out it didn’t bother Jack a bit. He enjoyed it.

Jack had a little altercation with a sidewalk. The sidewalk won this round, but Jack left his mark on it by bleeding copiously all over it. It was his first nosebleed, and he took it like a man. I was proud of him for not getting too upset by the whole thing.

I loved this shirt on Jack. It’s been fun pulling out the 18 month clothes for David and remembering little Jack when he wore them.

What is it about putting tennis shoes on a kid this age that makes them look so big? David is such a little GUY now- baby days are gone for good. He’s such an easy-going little guy in many ways. He’s been waking up every morning around 5:30am. It’s the same routing every morning: I go into the bedroom, he says “gi ooooouuuutt!”, I say “no. night-night.” and give him his pacifier (he calls it his “da-da”) and lay him back down and leave. He doesn’t scream in protest or cry any longer; he just goes back to sleep. I’d let him cry, to maybe get past this early waking thing, but that would wake Jack up and once Jack is up, he’s up.

We had to buy yet another gate. This one stretches all the way across where our living room meets the kitchen dining area.

He is not amused.

He is definitely not easy-going when it comes to being contained. We had no choice though, as he was pulling down the one going into the kitchen and it was damaging the cabinets.

David is still a car fanatic. The first thing out of his mouth in the morning is “car-car”. Yesterday at breakfast, he picked up a Cherrio in each hand, held them up side-by-side and said, “car-car!” His pronunciation is sort of Boston-accented: Cah-Cah.

Jack started his homeschool co-op class this month and is really enjoying it. It’s just once a week for 2 hours, but it’s helped us ease into doing a little bit of school at home every day since his teacher sends home worksheets. We’re only doing about 15-20 minutes a day of handwriting right now, and we stop when Jack seems to be “done”. My main goal is to get started on the right foot this year with enjoying whatever learning activities we do.

At his 4 year checkup, there was a book showing all the different parts of the body in the office that he was interested in, so recently we bought him a couple of what he calls his “body books”. There are pictures of intestines, brains, blood cells, eyeballs, etc. and he is fascinated. He pores over them, looking at the pictures and asking what things are and what they do.

He continues to be strong-willed of course, and easily frustrated when things don’t go his way or take too long. I have found just recently though, that if I stay on his side instead of pushing against him, he calms down much more quickly. So, when he gets upset because we have to leave a playground for example, echoing back his feelings of frustration and anger (“it’s awful to have to leave, I know you’re frustrated, it makes you angry doesn’t it?”) is much more effective and helpful than my usual drill sergeant approach.

David is trying to set a new trend in toddler pajama fashion.  I kept putting his arm back in, and finally just gave up since he seemed to prefer it that way. Jack, who needs things to be in their proper places ran around this morning, complaining loudly, “PUT IT BAAAAAAACK!!!!!”

He looks so self-satisfied doesn’t he? “Now I’ve got him! That’s what Jack gets for making me scream all the time!”

David is our little howler monkey. He loves to holler just to enjoy the sound of his own voice and he is a champion climber. He’s begun trying to climb the bookcases. I caught him up on  the piano the other day. He had pulled a box over there to help get onto the bench and then up onto the keyboard. I’ve been really focusing on teaching him how to get down from places safely and he’s doing very well with that at least.

We’re finally at the point where David can play outside without having to follow him around and make sure he doesn’t put a handful of dirt in his mouth or keep him from falling and skinning his knees on the concrete. He loves the slide and being outside in general. He doesn’t understand why he can’t just go out anytime he wants and regularly has what we like to call “floppy fits” about the issue.

He’s decidedly entered the floppy fit stage. They all do it at this age I guess and I feel sorry for him. They know what they want, and can successfully communicate it sometimes, but often they can’t communicate well enough and have no idea why they can’t have it or why Mommy and Daddy don’t understand what they are asking for. He throws his head back while simultaneously becoming limp to keep you from holding onto him so I’m just focused on trying to keep him from busting his head every time he does it.

He’s still into cars big time, and likes to get one out and fly it around in the air while saying “zooooooommmmmmm” and twirling around. Of course, then he gets dizzy and falls down – so funny.

With rather low expectations, we took the boys to have their picture made yesterday. We just didn’t expect David to sit still with Jack long enough to get a decent shot. In the end, they managed one that was pretty good:

Jack looks about 10 years old in this picture:

Jack is proud to be a 4 year old. He tells everyone he meets that he’s 4 and tells them how big he is. He is not shy and has no problem making friends at the playground. He just walks up and introduces himself and joins in with any group of kids that will play with him. We went to the library recently, and while I was returning some books, he walked into the middle of the room and announced “my name is Jack” to the room. Oh dear…

It’s fun to see him process what we’re teaching him about God, Jesus, the Bible and the world around him. He loves to read the The Big Picture Story Bible with Daddy, and we talk about how God is the One who gives us everything we have. When I made a comment about needing to do some laundry because I was out of underwear, he said “maybe God will give you some underwear!” Yes. Yes He will.

This summer has been rather slow for me with regards to design work, so I’ve had more time than usual to work on projects of my own. A friend emailed me at the beginning of July asking if I’d ever sold any artwork for digital stamps. I told her I really don’t draw well enough for anything I create to be called “artwork” and I didn’t even know what digital stamps were. After investigating a little bit, I discovered that there is a new trend among those who make cards to buy high resolution digital images for a couple of bucks each that they then use as they would a regular rubber stamp. Since rubber stamps are rather expensive and since these images can be resized and printed as many times as you like, it can be a better option for many who are into making cards and crafts.

I saw an opportunity to jump in early on a trend, and there were still some good domain names available, and I’ve always wanted to learn to draw well anyway and bada-bing, bada-boom I end up with ANOTHER web site.

I’ve never made a card in my life, though I’ve done lots of scrapbooking, so if you know of people who are into card-making you might let them know about the site. I will give away a free image to people if they’ll send me a picture of what they’ve made with it so I can post it on the site!