we heart the children's museum

We love the children's museum and would go when there's a discount or a good deal going on. We have a zoo pass and for the Summer both are linking up so if you have a pass to one you can get a pass to the other for $25 until the new year. I thought that was a good deal so I snatched that up. In these pictures we went the day before Father's Day.

In one of the rooms they have set aside for kids 4 and under called Wee World. They were doing an activity in there that day for Father's. They read a book about father's and then the played with scarves and bubbles.

And then at the end they made key chains for their dads. I thought that was pretty cool. They do this every Saturday and they get to make and take something home. This past Saturday they made rainbows!

Monkey with me, oh, wait that's a statue of a dinosaur. That looks way too much like me in the morning,

My sweet bubs. We had swim class today for the third week and he today decides to swim under water back and forth to me and the instructor. He's hated this class everyday and today he totally was a different kid and started swimming. I'll get a video of it tomorrow. Of course, when we got the to car he pooped his swim pants and it was everywhere. Maybe that's why he wasn't whining this time in the pool.

a box! oh thank you!

It's always the same story. As a kid you get a gift and the box is way better than what's inside, especially when there's peanuts involved. I thought this was a good idea at first and they loved this and played in there for an hour. Then, slowly the peanuts started coming out and man it was not fun to clean-up. But, they had fun and that's all that matters.

works for me

I love having a peds. doctor for a neighbor. I actually have 2. They're both peds. doctors. It's nice. I can get a second opinion in seconds. Anyway, they have a little boy a year older than Monkey that is a freak of knowledge. They had a Hooked on Phonics Learning to Read package that was just too young for him and they had no use for it. So, they gave it to me and it's just right. It's where Monkey is at with reading level.

We're only on D right now. You can only stand to do a letter a day since it can be so frustrating. She's grasping rhyming a little. The workbook is really cool. It tells you what to teach your child. It will say trace the A with your finger and then color it in the same color as an apple. Then it will say "watch DVD with the sounding out letter A segment." It will give you ideas for visual activities for A and then you have a flashcard activity and it tells you to go online to their website and play games with the letter A.

It takes about 20 minutes total a day and she's really understanding it and wants to do it more than everyday. We tried that and she got overwhelmed and wanted me to do everything for her which lead me to throwing the workbook over the couch and walking away. guh.

symphony under the stars

In college on Sunday night we used to go to this in the park near the zoo. The city would put on a symphony outside for free in the spring time each weekend. It was nice. We would bring a blanket and some snacks and just enjoy the music. I think I would fall asleep sometimes.

I saw in the paper that they were doing this again so I thought it would be nice to have the kids experience this. So I packed a dinner and a blanket and we sat our blanket way in the back and had our picnic. There was a play ground nearby so they played on that too.

We only stayed for half or it since it was 8pm and bed time is at 8:30 so we didn't get in as much classical music as I thought we would. It was still fun and something different to do with them on a Sunday night instead of just going on a walk.

part two of out to play

I must have not given good instructions to bubs when I said "smile". I should have said "smile normal". Our neighbor went to Oregon so we're on our own for playing out front for a while. We had a rattlesnake out there a few days ago so it's got me looking everywhere before the kids come out. The bushes have been trimmed and the hole where they were coming through has been plugged. The sweet smell of moth balls lingers out side because Google told me that snakes don't like the smell and it repels them so it smells like a grandma's boudoir.

My child is gifted. I told her that she cannot keep picking all of the flowers in the front yard so this was what she did on the neighbors driveway to make up for not picking the plants clean.



Some people ask me why I bathe my kids every night. They think it's a bit excessive. Would you put a kid this dirty to bed? They play hard from sun up to sun down. Do you have a pet that only belongs outside? I have two and their names are Monkey and Bubbie.
7am outside playing in the backyard making mud pies.
8am "helping" mom water the plants and trees.
9am, naked and doing sidewalk chalk art on the back patio.
10am ruling the forest and something about a gnome and filling up buckets of rocks from my newly landscaped back yard.
11am swim lessons at the parks and rec.
12pm lunch.
1:30pm nap until 4pm.
5pm dinner sometimes outside, nice to wash dinner off with a hose.
6pm to 7:30pm out front playing and eating Popsicles with our buddy.
And this why they take a bath every night.

Did I mention what I do when they're playing in the front?

out to play

Remember when it was safe to play in your front yard?

Remember when it was safe to walk to the store with your friends?

I would never think to let my ids play in the front yard alone, but I do love going outside in the front drive after dinner and play with the neighbor boy. Every night we meet outside and the kids ride their bikes and eat Popsicles. It's a lot of fun and a little bit of what we were okay to do when we were kids.

Before it got hot out here. The nuggets met up with their friend OBear and went to the zoo. We have a family pass so we try to go as much as possible to really make it worth the $60. Monkey has never fed the giraffes before. It costs $2 to give 'em a carrot. I know the money goes to the zoo to help fund it, but I can get a whole bag of carrots for $1.

There's a bronze elephant at the zoo in front of the elephant area. We always have to sit on it and take a picture. I have a ever growing collection of the nuggets of this exact shot. It's a fun tradition.

After the zoo trip we went across the street to the park and had a picnic. There's no way that we would do this again with this heat, but since the zoo now opens up at 8am for the summer we want to have a breakfast picnic and then go through the zoo.

Stick

Chasing each other with sticks.

summer science

In 5th grade I had a science teacher named Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis was a great science teacher. Every class there was a hands-on science experiment. When I moved that all changed. Science class was just reading out of a book and taking quizzes. I lost my interest in science after that. I think that's why there's a huge lack of kids liking science and math. Teachers don't want to put the effort into it I suppose.

Last summer I wanted to visit local places with my kids that maybe we hadn't before. I think we did 9 out of 10. The theme for this summer is a love for science. You can do this. We did a project this morning that was all pulled from a hat. Monkey talks a lot about volcanoes so I decided to have a hands-on project for them to make a erupting volcano. I went online and watched how to make 'em. Oh and my other goal was to do all of these projects with things I have around the house.

We got the things we need to build the volcano. Water bottle, mud, baking soda, vinegar and food coloring.
This is the video we watched while the mud was drying.
Lava Eruptions
Click here

Again, I was making up the projects as I went along so while the mud was drying and I wanted to have them do a coloring page on volcanoes I had them make there own play-doh volcanoes while I found a free print-out of a volcano.

And here is our project!! I explained why it was doing the erupting, I'm sure they have no clue what I said, but I hope they build a liking to science and doing experiments.

This is a video of our volcanoes in action. I didn't put enough baking soda in it the first time because when I poured more it it went nuts! Hence, the spillage on bubbie's volcano.

bouncy ball decorations

Bubbie's birthday party was out at the pool in our community. We had such a great time last year that we decided to have it out there again. Hubster brought down the grill and we cooked hot dogs and I made strawberry parfaits. Grandma Wiley bought him a wooden table just his size and a ball pit.

Grandma and Grandpa Simpson got him 3 balls that have Boise state labels. He saw these when we were in Idaho a few months ago so he was excited to see them again.

The theme was balls. Bubbie's cupcakes had little colored bouncy balls on them and beach balls filled the pool that each child got to take one home with them. Thank goodness too, I don't know what I would do with all of them.

Bubbie's birthday decorations cost me $1.00. I wen to the Dollar Tree and bought tissue paper and made these bouncy ball hanging decorations. So easy to make. You should try then for the 4th of July! One of my other posts links you to how to make 'em. I'm going to get some pink tissue paper and make some for Monkey's room. She really liked these and wanted to hang them in her room. I let her hang the red one, but the others didn't match so I need to get some other colors.

8 years

Eight years today, what was I doing? Oh yeah, I got married to
my scooby. I woke-up. Got dressed in the hotel room by my self. I was calm

and relaxed. Surprised am I because presently I do

not handle stress well and freak out easily. I guess

this was different because it was all right

so there was no need to get all worked up.

So, I got dressed and while waiting in the car

for everyone else to get ready I just sat there calmly. I showed up

at the Temple and pre-hubster was

sitting there waiting for me to arrive. Apparently I was late,

but I'm allowed since I was one of the key players that day.

They say getting married and choosing your spouse is THE most important decision

you will make in your life. Nothing else compares to

this decision. I guess that's why I was so oddly

calm and cool that day. I was suppose to marry scooby.

And even though he makes bonehead decisions sometimes

I still love him and glad that we

have had these 8 years together and know I will enjoy all the others

with him.

graduating

This is one of my students that I worked with and taught. She graduated in May from the school I worked at for 10 years. I remember the first time she came to the school and settled into the dorm. She came in behind her parents, walking slow and looking at the ground. Carrying a doll. And she left the same way. Left with her parents getting her belongings in the dorm and carrying a doll and this time excited to be going home with her dad. Little does she know that she won't be coming back to the school. Her life will be starting again at another place. I hope she's loved and understood there. Where ever she ends up.

cousins a dozen

Well, almost a dozen.

bouncy balls

I'm finally making these today. I said I would. I have a reason now to make 'em. Bubbie's 2nd birthday is coming up. The hubster and I were discussing what the theme would be and he asked "what about a buzz light year theme?" Nice, but it just didn't feel right. Bubbie loves bouncy balls and when I say the boy loves bouncy balls I really mean it. He has dozens. When we go into stores that's what he's looking for. He finds so much joy in them that that's the theme...balls. So that's where these come in. I thought I would hang them in groups with colors from the plates I got at the dollar store on Saturday that have bouncy balls all over them. Cute. Tune in tomorrow to see how the drama unfolds...dah, dah daaaah.