I wasn't too sure about how this week would go considering we started our Monday off with all three minis at the pediatrician's office and MANY antibiotics prescribed. Despite the unplanned illnesses and rough start, the week wound up being great! The beginning of the week was rainy, so the kids enjoyed numerous crafts and sensory activities. The kids thoroughly enjoyed showing off their knowledge of daycare rules and routines when we had a new daycare child join. We ended the week with a FULL day of outside activities in the sunshine.
Here are some highlights from the week:
Waiting at the pediatrician's office.
Max helped me bake dinosaur chocolate chip muffins on his sick day.
The kids love the Circus color forms. These were the Walmart version of Color Forms. They were a bit flimsy, but they got the job done and provided a good hour of entertainment.
Painting tulips.
The kids have been playing school by reading each other books and taking turns being the teacher who bosses everyone around.All of the kids made and decorated chocolate cupcakes for my mother in law for her birthday. They were rather confused as to why I had them decorate cupcakes that weren't for them, but something about letting them go crazy with sprinkles seemed to cheer them up.
Dino-land sandbox (see Dino-land Sandbox post for details).
Paint egg cart shells to make them into:
Flowers! These turned out really cute and the kids loved seeing their final project.
New glitter markers the Easter Bunny left for Harrison. The kids loved these but they run out of ink rather quickly.
A favorite lunch: Veggie and pepperoni tortilla pizza, corn, and green beans.
Sealife sensory bin. A couple of the kids were scared of the larger whale and shark figurines, so I had to break out the smaller ones. The kids got pretty wet while playing, but the floor stayed dry surprisingly. We will definitely be putting these in the water table for playing this summer.
Foam stickers on their suns.
The kids colored paper plates with the scented markers (their favorite and only markers they want to use lately) to make "flowers."
Harrison colored a picture of himself on his flower because "I'm kinda like a flower mommy."
Max brought this journal entry home from school. I'm so glad the teacher's helper in his room can spell "watched" correctly......
The kids loved this 3-in-1 game center. Perfect for a dreary, cool afternoon.
Play-Doh + dinosaurs = endless fun! To keep with our dinosaur themes, we rented "Walk With the Dinosaurs" from Redbox. It informed the kids of lots of "cool" dino facts like how mom's would feed their young regurgitated plants, all about dino poop, and how meat eaters would kill each other. So here you have Max's dinosaur's explained to me by Max himself:"The triceratops standing on the red play doh was just eaten alive by the other dinosaur who is also throwing up all over him while the large dinosaur poops on them." I don't exactly recommend this movie....
The kids have also been playing "vacation" this week. They pack up every single small bag we own, stuff it with toys, books, or an entire box of Kleenex (thankfully this time it was not torn into little shreds so it would fit into multiple bags), pack it in a laundry basket, use the strollers as carseats, and then "drive away." This week they drove and drove until they were "in the middle of the ocean on our own planet."
Elizabeth got a new doll whose eyes open and close. She enjoys trying to gauge the dolls eyes out with her little fingers. For this reason, I thank god she is our youngest!
A pineapple, banana, mango fruit smoothie for morning snack for the kids. It was wonderful!
Finally nice enough to play outside! We started our Friday morning with sidewalk paint on the driveway.
To keep the kids from running in the street, I make two blue lines in the driveway. I inform the kids that they have to stay within these two lines or they won't be painting anymore. I have a chair set at one end (closest to the street) for any strayers, but I luckily I have kids who listen and follow directions superbly. They make my job easy!
Elizabeth got bored with painting and was told to sit on the front porch. She made her own fun:
At the end, the kids dumped the bowls of paint out and painted with their hands.
Finally playing with the Dino-land! It was a hit!
Ended our week with some ice cream on the front porch and picking "flowers from the yard." We're stellar parents and display these flowers proudly in a shot glass.Next week looks to be quite rainy, so there will be lots of sensory activities. I'm also going temporarily insane and letting kids use Sharpie markers for coloring t-shirts. Always interesting week's when there's little ones around!