Trip Day 6: Manlius, New York

After waking up from a well rested night, we took the kids to the hotel pool and binged on the continental breakfast before heading out to the car. We drove straight to Julene's house. I was happy to be at a place that we could just veg out for a few days.

When we entered, we spent a bit of time getting to know all of the pets. She has 3 cats and a dog. So, the kids felt like they were in heaven. It wasn't soon after though that Julene loaded us up in the car to head out to a very easy hiking trail that led up to the some beautiful waterfalls.

It was fun to let the kids just play in the water and be carefree. I think that they needed it more than I did. I wasn't able to hike to the top of the waterfall, but Mandi took on the challenge. I was happy that she got to do something that was a little more high adventure.

That night, Tom grilled up some steaks while Julene taught me the proper way to do brussel sprouts. It seems like every time that I visit Julene, there is something on the dinner menu that I have never tried before. It's kind of fun.

That night was spent talking and catching up. The wonderful thing is that Julene gave us a 2 rooms. So, I didn't have to sleep with snoring or any kids kicking me. It was wonderful.

Trip Day 5: Pennsylvania and the Crayola Factory

Matt and I got up fairly early in order to get him to the airport on time and the kids and I off to our next destination. The morning didn't start off as smooth as I had hoped. After a few days of lack of sleep, Ali was in one of her moods and decided to not cooperate in the least amount. This meant that leaving was filled with tantrums and lots of tears. Oh well...that seems to be part of parenthood.

Matt drove to the airport because, once again, I didn't want to have to deal with traffic and weird, last minute lane changes. We dropped him off without too much difficulty. Within 10 minutes, Ali started feeling sorry for all of the fuss that she caused in the morning and wanted us to return back to the in-laws house in order to apologize. Go figure.

Getting to the Crayola Factory was an awful driving experience. It seemed like every road was a toll road, and one of them, we missed our exit to find out that we couldn't turn around for another 40 minutes. By the end of it, I was frustrated and annoyed with the entire state in general.

We did eventually make it to the Crayola Factory though. By the time that we got there, I was starving and debating on whether it was smart to get the cranky kids out of the car or better to find a place to eat. Luckily, they ended up having a cafeteria center inside of the Crayola Factory. I wouldn't have made it otherwise.

The Crayola Factory was fun for everyone. Ali was still being difficult throughout, but managed to join into the games and activities after a good hour of pouting in the corner. Erin enjoyed the entire experience and was a doll throughout as we colored with melted wax, made our own puzzles, and enjoyed all of the supplies that the center had to offer.

We stayed for several hours until we got so hungry that we figured we would hit the over priced cafeteria for a snack and leave. We ended up driving about another hour to get out of the city in order to find a hotel. We found a Comfort inn that looked like it would do; so, I sent Mandi in to ask if they had 2 joining rooms that were non smoking.

She came out and said that they did, and she got us all set up. So, we headed out to Burger King to get some dinner before heading back to the room. When we opened the room though, there were not two joining rooms. It was one room with a queen sized bed and a double fold out bed from the couch.

Mandi went back to the lady and stated that this was not the room that we ordered. The lady basically said that there were no refunds. That's when I came out...because I am much more confrontational than Mandi. I told the lady that I wanted to speak with her manager. When she said that the manager was not available, I told her to call him. Then I got on the phone with my brother to see what we could do on our own side to get our money back.

My brother said to call up the credit card and stop payment. Luckily, she came back after talking with the manager and upgraded us to the presidential suite. We went in the room to find out that it was exactly what we had originally asked for - two joining rooms. The only difference was that it had a huge, heart shaped tub in the master room. It also smelled of smoke. I was too tired to care though. So, I got the kids to bed and stayed up talking to Mandi for a short while before falling asleep myself.

Luckily, the air conditioner had a nice, loud hum to it; so, I wasn't constantly woken up with Mandi's snoring. Everyone was much happier the next morning.

Trip Day 4: D.C.

This was the day that Matt and I split up for activities. He took the kids and went to an aerospace museum; while I took Mandi and headed out to D.C. Matt dropped us off at the nearest metro station, and we took that the rest of the way into D.C. It was a good experience for me to go on the metro station without Matt. It gave me a bit more confidence in that area.

When Mandi and I arrived at D.C., we didn't have anything in particular that we had to see. I had been there several times before; so, I just let her take the lead. The only thing that I really wanted to see again was the holocaust museum. To this day, that museum still makes me think and appreciate all that has changed in the world. So, we got tickets there first before heading out to some of the other places.

Mandi wanted to get a picture next to the Washington Monument, but it was under construction. So, we just got pictures outside. I could go through and describe all of the different museums that we saw, but frankly, most people have seen them and know what we saw; so, I will just add pictures with this post, and you will get the idea.

We came home at about 8:00 that night, ate cake for Teyanna's birthday, and talked with family for a little while before falling asleep.

Trip day 3:National Zoo

The national zoo was on the agenda for the day. Matt and I got up at a recent time, but we figured that there really was no point in getting there super early because of D.C. traffic. So, we took our sweet time getting the kids up and dressed.

I left one more message on the phone for Anthony to call me back. I wasn't sure if he was going to meet us there, or if he was going to stay home with his wife and sick kids.

I had Matt drive us to the zoo because I know how crazy the traffic can be towards the main city. I didn't regret that decision one bit. Matt tends to do the psycho kind of driving better than I do. Let's just say that there were many lane switches last minute, and I am sure that I heard a few honked horns.

The zoo ended up being okay, but not as fun as I had hoped. We were lucky enough to come right when a heat wave struck. So, by 10:00 in the morning, we were sweating within 10 minutes.

"MOM! It's hot! I'm too hot to walk. Can't you carry me?"

"Look at the panda."

"It's hot."

Erin starts to cry because I won't pick her up, and she has to ride in the stroller when she is too tired to walk.

We did get to see a lot of neat animals and the pandas getting fed. I just wish that it had been several degrees cooler.

Towards the end, Erin fell asleep in the stroller. That helped things a lot because I was able to spend one on one time with Ali - something she desperately needs when she is cranky. Very few people have enough patience to handle her at that point. So, Matt pushed the stroller while I cheered up Ali, talked, and held her hand.

Right before we left, we got some ice cream at one of the ice cream dot stands. That cheered up the kids for about 10 minutes...until it was gone. We ended up leaving much earlier than I really wanted too, but it was time. Everyone was cranky and hot. We were looking forward to air conditioning and lack of complaining from the kids. Really, I think that the kids will enjoy the zoo much more in about 3 years. Ali was more obsessed about her own personal comfort than the animals, and Erin was often too short to see most of the animals and required constant assistance. Oh well, I tried.

Anthony was able to get in touch with us while at the zoo. He gave us a different number to call him on when we decided where we wanted to meet for dinner that night. By the time that we got home, I told Mandi to figure out the place that she wanted to celebrate her birthday and laid down for a nap.

Apparently, Anthony gave us a number that didn't really work; so, getting in touch with him was frustrating for Matt. They managed to get in touch through his regular phone to eat at a nearby bar type restaurant.

It was fun to see my old college friend again, but he didn't have too much time to talk. He brought his kids with, and they needed to get home and to bed by 7:00. So, he spent about 45 minutes explaining the updates in his life; we walked around a pet store for a few minutes after, and then it was time to say good bye.

Since Mandi, Matt and I didn't really feel like calling it a night at 7:00, and my mother-in-law had the kids, we went out to the movie "Now You See Me" instead. It was really good and a nice ending to the night. Plus, I felt like we got to properly celebrate Mandi's big 30th birthday.

Curious George, Kites, and Paper Airplanes

I thought that I would take a break today from telling you about the trip to updating you on one of the recent activities that I have done with the kids.

Yesterday, Matt and I went on our bimonthly date. We went indoor mini-golfing, out for soups and sandwiches, and ended the date buying cheesecake at Sam's club. When we were at Sam's, I found a pack of 10 Curious George books with stickers and activities for $7. The price was too good to be true considering all of the books were early readers level 1 - which is Ali's reading level.

So, Ali cruised right through one book last night and decided that she wanted to read another this morning. Her motivation? She wanted one of the stickers.

"Mom, can I have a sticker once I read this book?"

"Yes."

"I want sticker!" piped in Erin.

After spending about 10 minutes trying to get comfortable with 2 kids and an adult on the bean bag, I gave up and moved everyone to my bed. As annoying as it is to have three people plopped in my bed, it seems to be the only way that I can get everyone comfortable and feeling like they are getting proper mom cuddles while reading...very important.

Ali read the book with ease. It's amazing to me how many words that she is just picking up now without my help. She is starting to enjoy the process much more and doesn't get nearly as annoyed when it is time to sound out a word.

At the end of the book, it showed the kids how to make paper airplanes. Ali immediately got super excited.

"Can we make a paper airplane right now?" asked Ali.

"Paper airplane! Paper airplane!" shouted Erin.

I dragged myself out of the comfy, warm bed to go downstairs and get paper. I knew that they wouldn't stop talking about it until they each had a paper airplane in hand. I ignored the instructions in the book and showed them the way that I learned how to make paper airplanes as a kid.

At the end, they each picked a sticker and put it on their airplane for decoration. The next 10 minutes were spent with airplanes flying all over the house. All in all, it was a good activity, and the kids had fun.

Trip Day 2: Entering into Virginia

The next morning, we woke up to bright eyed, screaming kids. We all went down to the Best Western's continental breakfast before packing up and heading out. Our next stop would be Williamsburg, VA.

Williamsburg didn't live up to the hype that I thought it would. If you are just dropping through, this is not a place that I would recommend. Almost everything interesting requires advanced tickets, and requires that you sit or walk while a tour guide talks you through it - definitely not a place for kids as young as mine.

We did manage to have a little bit of fun though. We looked through several shops and even picked up some home made candy in one of the stores. I enjoyed looking at the silver shop just because I think that the process of making silver jewelry is interesting. There were many pretty things, but nothing that I fell so in love with that I couldn't just walk out.

Matt was fascinated with the lingerie shop across the street. The lingerie consisted of full gowns that cover more that most people where outside these days. I thought it was kind of funny to see what was considered risque back then.

Ali spent most of her time complaining about the heat, and Erin decided that she wanted me to carry her the entire time. It made walking for a long period almost impossible. We did manage to get to where the work horses were so that Ali could say "hi."

Erin cried as soon as we got there because we told her that she couldn't walk to the side of them. The owner told us that it was dangerous and could frighten the horses. She cried for most of the walk back to the car.

Once back in the car, we were all grateful to get the air conditioner started. We all decided that the best option at that point was to get ice cream. So, we stopped at a Steak and Shake on the way and got everyone different flavored shakes. Even Erin got her very own banana flavored one. She was quite happy about that.

As we got closer to our final destination, we hit some traffic, but it wasn't so horrible that I was cursing by the end of it; so, I am thankful for small favors. It wasn't long before we reached my mother-in-law's house.

Once there, we sat and talked for a while in the living room and helped my sister in law find some good singing music for an upcoming audition at school. The kids enjoyed the time out of the car, and I enjoyed my time with their pet dog, Anakin.

The rest of the night was spent chatting and taking things easy.

Trip Day One: South and North Carolina

I know...I was gone for a while. Did you all miss me? The past two weeks were spent in a car travelling up and down the East coast. Yes, we had many wild adventures. Yes, there were tears, tantrums and spouts of bitter frustration, but, in the end, it was one of the best times of my life. So, I will tell you about the trip one day at a time.

Mandi, my college best friend and roommate, joined us in Georgia on Tuesday, May 28th. We left for our first leg of the trip the very next morning. The kids were excited and stocked up with an entire cooler full of snacks, plenty of DVDs and a dad sitting in the back to help with the boredom. I was the designated driver, and Mandi was in charge of making sure that I didn't fall a sleep at the wheel. I'm pretty sure that I had the easiest of the three jobs.

Surprisingly, the car ride to Greenville, South Carolina was really uneventful; so, we will skip that part of the story and hop straight to the first stop - The Children's Garden. This was such a nice little place to take a short stop. The garden was first created to encourage children to get out of the house for a while an experience the joys that come with nature. I thought that the volunteers did an excellent job on making it kid friendly and a fun place to visit.

The poles were covered with murals from different artists, and there were plenty of statues to play on throughout. There were also a plethora of musical instruments for the kids to pound on along with hundreds of beautiful flowers. We spent about a hour there before getting back in the car, but it was well worth the stop.

The next place we stopped was about 4 hours away in Durham, North Carolina at the Museum of Life and Sciences. I was excited and nervous about this stop initially because of the price. It wasn't cheap, and they charged almost as much for the kids as they did the adults. In the end, it was all worth it though.

As you enter, there is a big play center with tables full of blocks. I think that my kids could have spent an hour there alone...especially Erin. Matt, as much as he will deny it, enjoyed playing with the blocks too.

The next area was especially cool because it had a live simulation of how a tornado forms. The kids went as far as getting up onto the giant block and playing with the tornado. It was fun to watch them giggle and laugh as they broke it apart and watched it reform again.

There were several other areas of the museum that were cool, one of our favorites was a spinning map. It was about 3 feet in diameter. If you spun it one direction, it would zoom in, the other direction out. The you could tilt it to get to the location that you wanted. We found all of our houses on it and even some foreign places just for fun. All of the adults thought it was super cool.

Everyone had a great time until there was only about 45 minutes left before the museum closed and we hadn't even gone outside yet to see the animals. The biggest problem that we kept running across was getting Ali to transition from one area to the next.

"Ali, we have to go."

(Long pause, then no response.)

"Ali, we have to go. We are running out of time and will miss the animals."

"I'm busy."

After much coaxing, we got her to go downstairs and almost out the door, but it was too late, she had found another play area that interested here.

By the time that we got her outside, Matt was frustrated, and Ali was crying. This seems to be pretty typical when we don't have the time to do things at Ali's pace.

We had no idea how big the outside was and spent most of the time walking without seeing many of the animals. By the time that it was over, I came to the conclusion that just staying inside and ignoring the outside would have been better.

We stayed at the museum for 3 hours, and it wasn't nearly long enough for the kids to get to play with everything that they wanted to play with. Oh well, maybe next time.

We found a hotel that night at a Best Western. I felt kind of bad because Matt found one for much cheaper, but I didn't feel safe in the neighborhood; so, we ended up spending much more. If I hadn't had the kids, I would have probably been fine with it. Matt didn't seem to care though. He was happy to get a suite where we all had beds.

I would have slept really well too if I hadn't been sharing a room with two people that snore...loud.

Farmer's Market

Today’s adventure took place after 2 hours of yard work and buying a really nice new ladder. I just had to add that last part because our new ladder is really cool. Maybe I will go into the details on that later.

Currently, my husband is doing a “Biggest Loser” competition at work, and I am weaning the kids off of the fast, fattening snacks that they got used to when I was too tired to cook anything. This has resulted in my family eating a lot of fruit… and some vegetables.

One of our favorite places to buy fresh produce is at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market. Most would think that I am crazy for trying to enter that place on a Saturday. It’s always extremely busy, crowded, and the produce isn’t always perfect.  I just can’t help myself though. I have my husband with me, and I see it as killing two birds with one stone. Not only do I get the produce that I want, it doubles as a live aquarium for my kids to get excited about.

When I told Ali that we were going to get produce today, she was hesitant because she wanted to finish her cartoon.

“No mom, I will stay home today.”

"Ummm…no, you are coming because both mom and dad are going. There will be no one here to watch you. Plus, this is the place with the fish.”

Ali suddenly got excited and rushed upstairs to get dressed. That took about 3 minutes, and then she spent the next 20 minutes staring at her socks and shoes. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was annoyed by the time that we finally got the family loaded up.

The kids were pretty good on the car ride once Matt put a stop to their screaming, and I threatened to take away Ali’s Netflix if she kept provoking her little sister. After that, it was pointing out things that they saw through the window.

Once we got there, we parked and let everyone out.

“Where momma. Where MOMMA!”

“She’s on the other side of the car,” said Matt.

Erin proceeded to walk around the front of the van until she could see me and hold my hand. This seems to be the most current hardship with Erin. She will accept no one’s help except for her beloved mom’s. This makes it really hard if I need Matt to take over for a while. It just ends up in tears and a two-year-old tantrum.

I grabbed Erin’s hand and started walking to hear, “Where my dinosaur? I need my dinosaur.”

It took a minute, but I convinced her that her orange stuffed dinosaur would survive in the car for a few minutes while we went shopping.

“Let’s go see the clams first mom because I like clams, and I want to see the clams before anything else. Okay mom. We need to see the clams first,” says Ali.

I breathed in and out and continued to walk as Ali rambled on and on about the clams and other fish that she wanted to take a peek at.

Once inside, Ali ran to the different glass windows to look at the chopped up sea food. She asked questions excitedly and seemed to skip along at her own pace. Erin demanded to be picked up (by me, of course) so that she could see inside the big fish tanks.

By the end of it, both kids were happy and laughing their heads off. They thought that the lobsters were particularly hilarious.

Once the kids got their fill of watching the sea, we headed over to the produce area to pick up fresh fruit and some bread.  Erin finally let me put her down, and we walked out with plenty of yummy items to snack on during the ride home.

In the future, I will do this activity several times. It’s free. The kids get excited, and it motivates us to eat much better.

Strawberry Picking and Bird Feeders

Today was the first official day of summer. I would say it was full of laughs, activities and bonding exercises, but let’s be honest with ourselves. I’m human, and I get tired. So do my children. There is a point that all of us need down time.

The day started out great. I told Ali that we were going to go Strawberry picking today; so, she got ready at super speed and was shoving ME out the door. It was kind of a nice change from our normal routine of me constantly pushing her to even get dressed.

Erin wasn’t quite aware of what was going on and tended to prefer to stay naked while she watched her morning cartoons and ate waffles. To get her to join in with the excitement took a little more coaxing.

It wasn’t long before we finally were all piled into the car. Since the drive was only 40 minutes, I thought that a movie would be enough to entertain my children. I was wrong.

“MOOOOOOOMMMMM…I’m bored! My seat belt is tugging on me. Where are my crayons?”

“Waaaaaawaaaawaaaa….(an assortment of babbles that I didn’t understand)”

“Ali, watch the movie. If you are calm, Erin will stay calm.”

“I love to sing. I love to sing. It is pretty outside…lallalalalalala,” sings Ali at the top of her lungs.

I rolled my eyes and kept driving. Only 32 more minutes, and we would be there. With 20 minutes left to the ride, I got desperate and bribed the kids with a box of fruit snacks if they were good for the rest of the trip. That at least kept Ali quiet.

When we arrived to the pick farm, there were already plenty of people picking berries. I got the kids out of the car and handed them each a bucket.

“Moooooommmm, it’s cold!”

“Ali, its 70 degrees outside. What you are feeling is the wind, and you are going to appreciate it once we get into the hot Georgia sun.” She didn’t believe me, but at least I convinced her to leave her jacket in the car - one less thing to carry.

When I started this adventure, I thought that my kids would help me pick considering Erin proved herself to be an expert at it last time, and Ali had been multiple times. I was wrong. Both kids handed me their buckets and got mad at me if I didn’t put the strawberries in their bucket verses their sisters. Needless to say, it was a long 40 minutes of picking strawberries, and my back hurt by the end of it.

I paid for the strawberries and headed to the car. Ali, with her excellent memory thought it pertinent to remind me 500 times that I promised her fruit snacks. I gave her the box to share with Erin. The snack that I thought would last the entire car ride home lasted about 6 minutes. Ali gave Erin two packs and devoured the rest of the box. This is why I don’t buy fruit snacks very often.

After that, Ali started singing and screaming at the top of her lungs. I finally put her into time out because she was making it difficult to concentrate on the road. Erin quietly sat and watched her cartoon.  Once home, I washed strawberries so that the kids could get a taste of all of “their” hard work.  Then I went upstairs to unwind and take my nap. I know. I am so spoiled that way.

The kids ate lunch, watched TV and ate snacks while I took an hour nap.

When I got up, I played for a while with them until Matt got home. Then I forced Ali to get off the computer and move for a while. With Matt being home, the kids went into full play mode with wrestling and all sorts of high energy games. I had to think fast.

“Ali, want to do something cool?”

She stopped instantly and stared. “What?”

“Get dressed. Go outside, and find me two of the most beautiful pine cones that you can find.”

She followed my instructions quickly and found a pine cone for her and Erin. I tied a string to the top and looped it. Then I had the kids roll it in peanut butter and bird seed.

“I want pine cone. I WANT PINE CONE!” said Erin as she messily rolled her pine cone in the peanut butter and bird seed.

At the end, the kids found a place outside to hang them and were quite satisfied with their creations.

We ended the night with a short walk, hand in hand, while the kids talked and pointed out the flowers in nature. All in all, it was a good day.

Crayon Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Today, Ali has been causing me all sorts of grief.  I went to pick her up from one of her final preschool days to find out from her teacher that she was complaining of being tired all day. The teacher said that she basically stayed in a blanket and read books to herself in the corner instead of participating.

At first, I was sympathetic. “Ali, are feeling okay? Did you not get enough sleep?"

“Yeah Mom, I’m tired. Erin kept waking me up last night.”

I knew that this last statement wasn’t true considering that Erin was out like a light by 8:00 pm, and I would have heard her if anything was wrong because I am the lightest sleeper in the world. I also remembered that Ali was the first one out of her room this morning. At about 6:30, I heard her creep down the stairs and start watching TV.

Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I didn’t say anything and took her home. That’s when it started.

Within 5 minutes, she had transformed from a lethargic slug to the Roadrunner zooming throughout my house. Except, instead of “Meep! Meep!” it was “Mom! … Mom! …”

I’m sure that she said more, but I couldn’t understand because she kept moving from room to room while words flew out of her mouth.

I wasn’t the only one who was bothered by her running around, though. After a few shoves and bossing from her big sister, Erin began scheming. I watched as she transformed into the Wiley Coyote.

What I heard next was a quick thump-thump-thump of someone running up the stairs, then a loud thump and some crying. When I came around the corner I pieced back what logically must have happened with my two Looney Tunes:

Erin, the Wiley Coyote, climbed up the stairs as if they were a cliff and waited for Ali, the Roadrunner, to come flying along the same path. However, as Ali reached the top of the stairs, Coyote Erin made a quick shove and did what was impossible in the cartoons – she successfully pushed the Roadrunner off the cliff.

She didn’t fall more than a step though, and no one was hurt, but both kids were sent to time out.

That’s about when I passed out from exhaustion. Pregnancy tends to kick in full throttle at about 2:00, and I become useless without a nap.  It wasn’t long before both kids were bouncing on my bed.

“Mom…MOM….MOOOOOOOMMMM!!!” shouted Ali.

“Wake-up mom,” said Erin in her little whisper voice as she patted my face.

Despite my efforts to play dead, the kids weren’t going to let me sleep any more. I got out of bed and told Ali that if she wanted to do anything fun today, she was required to wear clothes. She reluctantly obeyed, and I started the kids cleaning up some of the toys so that we could start a fun activity.

Ali started working on the toys that were spread across the floor while I cleaned the kitchen, office and living room.

Finally, I told the kids that it was time to have some super fun.

“Ali, go and get all of your broken crayons.”

Ali rushed like a mad woman to the computer desk where she kept her secret stash of crayons. I took the normal supply out of the cupboard and started sorting out the broken ones with Erin. It didn’t take long before we had a nice pile of crayons. Most of the broken ones already had the paper peeled off because that is something that my toddler enjoys doing in her free time.

While the kids ripped the paper off of the rest, I put tin liners in the cupcake pan. I had the kids put the colors that they wanted to mix in the tin of their choice.

 

“All the pinks and purples are mine!” exclaimed Ali.

Erin just started to whimper in the background until I handed her one of the “cool” colors.

Once the kids were done loading up the tins, I slipped them in the oven at 400 degrees and let the kids watch through the glass as the crayons slowly melted. They thought that part was especially cool. The problem was once the crayons came out of the oven, they needed to cool down. The kids were not a fan.

“It’s taking too long.”

“Waaaaaaaaaawaaaaa”

“I don’t understand how we can color with those paint things. Are we going to dip our fingers in them?”

After about 5 minutes of this, I wanted to rip out my hair and run screaming the opposite direction. Luckily, that’s about when Matt came home. Thank goodness for small favors.

I got frustrated enough with Ali that she was sent to time out until dinner was done (3 minutes later), and told Matt what had happened at school today. Once Ali got out from her room, Matt promptly told her that she was going to bed right after dinner. We didn’t want her to be “tired” tomorrow, right? Of course not…

I thought that the idea was brilliant. Not only did it punish Ali for lying to her teacher about her lack of energy, but it also gave me an extra hour tonight to get a little peace and quiet.

Ali started complaining again about how tired she was and how she couldn’t move from one space to another.

“Ali, if that is truly how you are feeling, we are going to have to take you to the doctor.”

“Will he give me a shot?”

“Probably”

Her fatigue suddenly disappeared, but we still put her to bed soon after.

The crayons eventually cooled to a solid state. I peeled back the tins to find that they definitely do look like Reese’s peanut butter cups. I will let the kids color with them tomorrow.

 

In the future, I will probably do this again, but with something else to distract the kids during the cooling time. The wait was just too much. 

Shapes, Colors and Marshmallows

The last day of preschool is this Friday; so, I was hesitant to break into my summer bag of tricks already. After all, one of the final days of preschool was only 21 hours away… Even better, bed time was only 9 hours away... If I could run out the clock, I could keep the first activity fresh until they drove me really nuts…

I looked at them naked except for their underwear as they took turns clawing at each other while fighting over a bean bag chair. I knew I had to take action, and it had to be now.

“Hey, do you want to do something fun?” I asked energetically.

Ali allowed herself to be kicked off the bean bag chair and hopped up, eyes wide in anticipation. She was always up for an adventure. Erin ignored me, now sprawling in the coveted spot.

I pulled out a bag of colored marshmallows and held them up. Erin took a break from celebrating a rare victory over the bean bag to fixate on the treats. Mirroring her stare at the bag was my husband, who seemed to have temporarily been pulled out of the trance induced by his laptop game. I now had their undivided attention.

I divvied out the toothpicks and marshmallows at the table and demonstrated to the kids how to put them together. Ali immediately started making a chain of marshmallow-toothpick-marshmallow-toothpick. Erin put a marshmallow on a toothpick,ate it, then repeated.

My husband and I, on the other hand, are pros at this. I started building a bridge, explaining that I was using triangles to make it structurally sound. My husband pointed out that circles are actually the most structurally sound, but that triangles are easier to make and are also very strong. He had some weird lattice structure growing in front of him. I’m glad he finally found a way to use what he learned in all those mechanical engineering classes in college…

Ali then looked at our three-dimensional structures, and it clicked. She turned her chain into an oval and called it a pond. Then she started building a triangular structure on the side of it. “For the horses,” she said. Of course.

Erin looked at our three-dimensional structures, then at her empty toothpick, picked up a pink marshmallow and said “PINK!” Then she picked up a yellow marshmallow and said “LELLOW!” Finally, she picked up a greenish marshmallow and said “BLUE!” Close enough…

My bridge was done. Well, done as it could be. Toothpicks aren’t always the right length, so it zig-zags a bit. My husband had built some sort of geometric abomination that he was a little too proud of.

“Look, I made a space ship!” He said, making a rocket sound. Then he picked it up and pointed out the docking station he built that it can rest on. Not bad!

Ali only heard “station” and said hers was now train tracks, and the horses help get coal for the trains. She then started shoving as many marshmallows as would fit on a toothpick so she could to build a coal pile. Ingenious!

It was time for pictures to document the start of the summer activities. My husband and I beamed proudly behind our creations. Erin turned her back to me and let me take a picture of her toothpick pile, and Ali continued to fiddle with her creation and refused a photo until lunch was ready; at which point, she finally gave a big proud smile presenting her work to the camera.

The first activity was definitely a success, and there were plenty more marshmallows and toothpicks to do it again. Best $3 I’ve spent in a while.

The Beginning

This blog is to maintain my sanity.

Let me explain.

I am a mother of two kids, with one on the way.

That is reason enough, but let me explain more – Summer is coming.

My four-year old has been in preschool for 9 months and has loved it. She has turned into quite the curious child and seems to want to know EVERYTHING.  The problem with this is that she is still young and often needs parental supervision for some of the things that she wants to explore. She’s a smart girl, and we've worked on her reading and math. Needless to say, she’s way ahead of her age group. Her personality is all sunshine and rainbows, and she is very friendly. How she came from my husband and I, I am still not sure. She loves being a big sister, and has the classic “nobody can bug my sister but me” mentality when it comes to Erin.

My two-year old is in very much in a two-year-old frame of mind.  She makes messes in two minutes that require more than an hour to clean up, and her favorite word is “no!” She isn’t as interested in learning as Ali, but she’s very smart too. Most of her personality can be summed up by saying that if our kids were pets, Ali would be a dog, and Erin would be a cat. Until recently, Erin was largely content to ignore us until she needed something. Over the past couple of months, she seems to have developed a sixth sense that another baby is coming. Ever since, her attachment to mom has become quite strong; therefore, she watches my moves like a hawk.

I have loved preschool as much as Ali has. I get to spend one-on-one time with my two-year old and it’s been peaceful and quiet with only one toddler to look after. But preschool is ending for the summer, and I find myself wondering what in the world I am going to do with both. Both of them are at the perfect age to enjoy new experiences and teaching opportunities, I just have to present them with some.

Half to share my experience with others and half to commit myself to actually planning and doing these activities, I thought of posting some of our upcoming adventures on this blog. I am sure as I get through each activity and experiment that there will be ones that I love and hate for different reasons. Hopefully, at least one person will be able to learn from my mistakes.

Either way, the goal is to spend some quality time with my kids, and get them away from the television for a bit each day. I’d say it’s also to help them bond as sisters and fight less, but let’s not get carried away. Wish me luck! I am sure that I am going to need it.