Giant Ice Cubes

My boys like to destroy things. It's in their DNA. I saw this idea on a couple of different blogs. You get a container (any shape and size) and you put little plastic toys in it and then fill it up with water and freeze it. It's probably better to freeze layer by layer of toys, but I just did it all at once. I took little green army men, some change (for their piggy banks) and a spiderman and froze them in some water. You have to think ahead a bit on this and fix it up the night before. I gave the boys squirt guns (we have ice cream cone squirt guns from their Easter baskets in case you were wondering what those plastic ice cream cones were) and hammers. The squirt guns were kind of a bust after the hammers came out. :) I've also seen where you can give the kids salt and let them spoon it onto the ice to melt it.

They thought it was totally fun and it kept them entertained for about 15 minutes before they had every last little piece of ice smashed.

Train Day

First of all, I've been gone way too long from this blog, and I can't promise that it will be regular postings for a while, but I am glad to be back! We've had a baby since I posted last and it is a GIRL!!! This fun little book arrived in the mail today. How sweet! Natalya Joy is her name. You will probably be seeing pictures of her very soon on here.

We've just been enjoying playing outside this summer and trying to adjust to 3 kiddos. Today, however, was so hot that we had to come inside to play after only being out an hour in the morning. I decided that it would be easier if we came up with a theme so we could think of things to do with that theme. Trains it was! So I pulled apart this cardboard box and let the boys paint it so we could eventually put it back together and make a train engine. It didn't turn out so well so I don't have a finished picture, but I'm pretty sure they were more interested in painting anyway.

We moved on to a little train set we have upstairs. You'll have to forgive the near nakedness. It's hot and Titus is potty training. And who am I kidding? This is the usual attire around here (for them!)

Then we went downstairs to play with their Thomas train set.

We have a Thomas the Train Memory Game that we played...

Except Titus doesn't know how to play Memory yet and Roman could really have cared less, so this is what ended up happening.

We got out their Thomas tent and tunnel. :) I know...it's a stretch.

Boys...do they destroy EVERYTHING?

I kept telling the boys that there was a surprise at the end of the day (usually to bribe them to be good!). One time when we were picking up the Memory game cards Roman asked "is this the surprise?" :) Boy was he relieved when I told him it wasn't. I'd be some kind of mom if THAT had been my surprise. We went and picked up daddy from work and drove to the zoo to ride the train right before closing. They loved it!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a time to remember those that we've lost. That's bittersweet and it is something that little kids don't fully grasp, but we wanted to take the boys to the cemetary today to put flowers on their great-grandma's grave. Grandma Hattie died this past February. Roman had all sorts of questions about why people die, how people die, why were there so many flowers on all the graves?

Thank you to all of our military families who have sacrificed so much for us and for our freedom.

Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center

For our homeschool field trip for May we visited the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton, Nebraska. I wasn't quite sure what to expect or if it would hold my 4 year old's attention, but it was a fabulous field trip! It helped that the weather was gorgeous and that it was all outside. :) We had two tour guides and both of these women were fantastic with the little kids. They had them all wear name tags and when one little kid would get bored they would say their name and point out something of interest to them and just like that they had their attention again.

They would stop and find a spider web (what Roman is looking at below) or a bug on a tree and the kids were completely captivated!

There was a bridge to walk across and of course all of the kids had to stomp across it. :)

Looking at insects and plants up close.

They got to hunt for living things in the pond. Roman was so excited when he found a snail!

The guide helped Roman identify snail eggs and other cool things from the water.

The whole gang!

May Day Basket Healthy Goodies

I don't know about you, but I love doing May Day baskets with my kids. However, May Day being the week after Easter you're probably like me and don't want any more candy in your house! So I've been thinking about alternatives to the candy and here's what I've come across.

Mini Granola Bars: these bars are a healthy treat and I was thinking if you cut them up into mini bars and wrap them in Saran Wrap you can stick them into your little May Day baskets. A healthy treat and most kids like granola bars, right?

Trail Mix: there are so many options to how healthy you can make this. Try adding yogurt covered raisins to your dried fruit and mixed nuts.

Mini Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies: these look good and even though they are cookies, they are somewhat healthy.

Baby Bananas: Have you seen these in the stores? So cute and the perfect size for a May Day basket.

That's all I have for now! I hope that gives you some healthy ideas for your kids' May Day baskets. I have little kids with young friends so I think these ideas would work. With bigger kids who know that May Day baskets are usually filled with candy, these ideas might be a total bust. :)

Picture Chart

My mom uses these pictures with the special ed kids she teaches. They are great to use for kids before they can read or as they are learning how to read. This is basically a chore chart, but kids can figure out what you want them to do by looking at the picture.

Here's what you need to get started: a piece of cardstock, velcrow (or magnets if you are putting this on your refrigerator), little pictures (you could probably find them online or draw them yourself), markers, tape and scissors. This is velcrow above that I cut into little pieces to stick on the back of the pictures and on the chore chart itself.

I put a little envelope on Roman's picture chart so as he accomplishes something he can pull it off the chart and put it into the envelope.

Here's the finished product. If you're wondering what all these cards mean I'll explain them.

The first row is "Morning" and from left to right they go like this:

1. Wash hands (my son sucks his fingers and they smell terrible in the morning...yep, he's 4 and still sucks his fingers. I swore he would be done at 3).

2. Clean up table - this translates to taking his plate, fork and cup to the sink after breakfast

3. Make bed - this means folding his blanket and putting it at the end of his bed

4. Get dressed...a constant battle with my 4 year old boy

5. Brush teeth

"Afternoon"

1. Book - this means either I need to read to him or he needs to look at books himself sometime during the afternoon

2. Pick up toys - we have to do this a couple of times a day

3. Fold clothes - Roman loves to help me fold washcloths if I'm doing laundry that day (and let's face it, I SHOULD be doing laundry everyday to keep on top of it) :)

"Evening"

1. Wash hands - this means before suppertime

2. Set table - Roman likes to help me set out the plates, silverware and cups (love it that now that I've dug out my fun, plastic plates for summer! Eases my mind a bit that he isn't going to break the nice plates)

3. Clear off table - just taking his plate, fork and cup to the sink

4. Pick up toys - again!

5. Put shoes away - we always have a pile of shoes by the front or back door

6. Laundry - when he strips his clothes off for his bath he needs to put them in the dirty clothes basket

7. Brush teeth - I help him at night

In a perfect world all this would happen every day, but as it never will be I'll be happy if we get half of these things done in a day. :) But I don't want to end up with boys who don't know how to help or don't think it is expected of them. Can I get an amen?! :)

Rain Art

I posted about making "rain art" the other day and wanted to show you how ours turned out. First, I had them both draw pictures using Crayola washable markers. Then I put them on cookie sheets before I placed them outside so they wouldn't get soaked from laying on the wet porch. We left them outside for probably 10 minutes. It really just depends on how hard it is raining and how much you want your pictures smeared. Above it Titus' picture along with a sticker from Super Target that he put on there. :) Below is a picture I drew with the kids. Roman's picture! This was a fun thing to do on a rainy day. The boys kept running to the door to check their pictures.