Summing up week May 5 - May 9: lots of outside time! The weather was perfect for long walks, nature hunts on walks and in the backyard, bird watching (and identifying thanks to our new bird book), running around the backyard, pool time, and banana "ice cream." Here are a few highlights from the week:
Monday was Cinco de Mayo. I made homemade chicken tacos, rice, and salsa for the kids to eat for lunch and they got to try out dancing, singing, and playing instruments to mariachi music. For full details, see this post: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/05/cinco-de-mayo.html
Running around the backyard.
We did a hatching grow turtle. This one hatched and grew within 24 hours. No matter how many times we do these, the kids love these things!
Working hard on their daycare Mother's Day gifts.
After clean up time everyday before lunch, I usually put on cartoons, an educational show (think Leap Frog), or a Disney movie (for the past 2 weeks it's been parts of "Despicable Me 2") but last week I started having them "read" books to each other while I finish up lunch. The kids LOVED picking out and sharing their favorite books. Even more so, they loved playing "teacher" with each other, showing the pictures, telling the story, and telling the other kids to "listen up to me."
Dancing parties happen often around here.
Playing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Harrison informed me he's being the turtle that "has the things in his back that he just slaps out at people."
Trying out a little t-ball. The kids have been playing golf around the backyard, setting up their own courses. Elizabeth got tired of golf and set up t-ball in the yard and told the other kids "watch out!"
Cuddle time with daddy.
I like to have breakfast pre-made the night before, but one morning I just wasn't organized enough. The kids wanted pancakes, but trying to get both boys ready for school, getting myself ready, and making breakfast wasn't going to happen. So, instead I whipped up chocolate chip pancakes, put them in muffin tins, baked them, put some strawberries on their plates, and viola! Easy and warm breakfast for all of the kids. I typically make regular pancake batter and add in bacon or sausage to the middle of the muffin cups, pour the batter in, and bake, but the kids felt like they were getting a special treat with the chocolate chips.
New shimmery Dot markers. The kids used these to decorate flowers, suns, and cards for their mommy's.
Dinosaur bone dig in the sandbox. They attempted to put the dinosaur together. I found this dinosaur bone sand set at Michael's for $4. The kids had a great time burying the bones, digging them up, and putting Mr. T-Rex (as they named him) together.
Sand slime! Not one child would touch this slime. Usually the kids LOVE to play with the homemade slime, but they refused to touch this. Harrison told me "you can go ahead and play with it mommy. I'm just going to be in the other room" as he backed slowly away from my creation! Apparently I won't be making this again.
Buddies who find trouble together....this is one of their rare quiet moments.
Max brought home Mother's Day projects all week--these were one of the best parts of my week.
The minis worked on giant Mother's Day cards for their grandma's throughout the week.
Banana "ice cream" will be the new summer treat around here. Freeze bananas, blend (we added a bit of powdered sugar and cinnamon, but we've done it without too and it's just as good), scoop in ice cream cones, and put sprinkles on at Harrison's request. Healthy, yummy, and a cool summer treat.
Water table sea life and pool time on our 90 degree day. The boys once again got creative with the slide.
It was so hot out that Elizabeth layed down on the patio with her blanket. She refused to go into the pool to cool off. Could be a long hot summer for this little miss E
The daycare Mother's Day gifts. The kids worked hard on these all week! For more details see post: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/05/mothers-day-gift-ideas.html
Banana ice cream round 2.
Fishing for sea creatures.
I love that the kids insist on going barefoot in the backyard! We've had to wash lots of feet the past several weeks!
The kids have been obsessed with "Despicable Me 2" (we've literally watched parts of the movie every day for 2 weeks now). The kids were so excited when I surprised them with minion crackers to eat while they watched.
Painting blue birds. We had 3 different kinds of blue paint (dark blue, light blue, and a medium blue with glitter). Once dried, we attached a blue construction paper circle cut out, beak, and colored in an eye. The kids had fun making these fly into each other's heads....
Our pop bottle tornado experiment gone wrong.....it broke in half and water went everywhere! BUT the kids got to see "the scary tornado" a few times before it broke.
Spring foam stickers.
We've been talking a lot about the weather lately. Spring is a great time of year to do this because you get a variety of weather: cold temps, snow, rain, hot days, sunny days, cool days, cloudy days, etc. We read this to prepare the kids if bad weather strikes and we need to go to the basement. Luckily the weather has been pretty uneventful during the days, although that evening we got hail! Huge pieces of hail fell from the sky. I set a bowl out to capture some of the pieces. Harrison and Elizabeth loved playing with the hail pieces and eventually at them "for our bedtime snack. It's really healthy mom."
Stickers. Lots and lots of stickers, because what kids don't like stickers??!!?
One of the biggest excitement of the week came when the Amazon box arrived: "it HAS to be toys!!" the kids exclaimed. It was (and birthday presents for the minis).
Clay models. I bought several packages of clay from Michael's to make handprints. I wasn't extremely happy with the clay so when the last handprint had been made, I let the kids make their own clay models. I set out cookie cutters so they could make shapes. The kids mostly just made their own, but had fun making different things with the cookie cutters before they decided what they wanted to let dry. We've got hearts, snakes, balls, a table with food on it, and one "sky view of a playground."
Next week, we'll be continuing with our long walks, bake muffins and have a muffin party, lots of paints projects, coloring, and even better: it's toy rotation time.
