Mommy, I want S'More!

My kids have a major sweet tooth.  Our project for today was inspired by, not the proudest to admit this, the Bubble Guppies.  It's a show they watch in the morning while they eat breakfast.  I let them watch TV in the morning because it slows them down and gives me the time to do the two million things I have to do in the morning to get them ready for school and to get out of the house.  ANYWAY, the other day the Guppies were camping and making s'mores.  The kids couldn't stop talking about...especially Sadie who knew exactly how to make them.  I had Michael buy the ingredients to put them together and was going to surprise them...but they happened to be around when the groceries came home and those smart little kiddos figured it out right away.  Here are some pics.  But don't let these cute little faces fool you.  They were much different this morning as each one of them took turns throwing some major crying and hissy fits...seriously, the entire morning.  


The ingredients.  Mouth watering.

Getting everything ready!  They were so excited.  Drives me crazy they don't look at me when I take their pictures.

Silly kids...

Waiting for the marshmallows to soften up and brown a little.  

love.

Skyler managed to eat his smore with getting hardly anything on him.  It was insane!  I was covered and gooey, and Sadie was soooo gooey that I actually had to hold it for her and feed it to her because she couldn't stand her hands getting that sticky, and even Daddy had marshmallow strings hanging from his chin.

She was so into it that I couldn't get a picture without a blur.

  

And Just a Few More Pictures....

I think the hardest part for us with selling our house is getting out in time and doing something fun.  Last weekend we hung out outside, went on a mini field trip, and took walks.  Over the week we headed next door and hung out with a friend.  But today, it was pouring, we had nothing to do, and the kids watched a movie in the car while Michael and I staked out the person coming to see our house.  Kind of weird.  Can't wait until it's sold!

 Madison thinks she hit the jackpot.  She has to leave with us when our house is being shown...think she's happy here?

 Michael's hospital always has these 'fun' days for kids.  This was revolved around being healthy.  Tons of activities, lots of awesome give aways, and the kids had a good time.

 They had them pose at the end with medals...how cute is that?!

 Two Redskins cheerleaders came to give autographs and pose for pictures.  Skyler was super shy but Sadie was all about chatting up these ladies.  They both received a signed team picture...Skyler was checking it out later and told us that ALL of the girls were really pretty.  Um, yep, you can say that:)

Skyler's Passover Sedar

Skyler has had a fabulous year in school.  His teachers are beyond wonderful.  Caring, fun, responsive, real, and just plain fantastic.  They invited everyone to their seder.  Loved it. 

Can you spot them?  I think this picture was included because Sadie joined right in.  Think she's ready for school?!

 This one is random...they were playing dress up and decided to stay in costume for lunch.  Ah, the joy of childhood;)

 Our first passover that I did all by myself.  Looked great, but the seder lasted a total of maybe 2 minutes?  Everyone was hungry so we ditched the ceremony part, did a quick run over everything on the table, and ate:)  I'm guessing that's how it will probably always be if it's just us.

Washington DC Botanical Gardens

I have been wanting to go to these botanical gardens forever.  This day was began with one of those disappointments I mentioned in the prior post.  We had planned to go to the aquarium, even had a ticket in hand.  The kids were beyond psyched to go.  We were happy we actually planned a trip in advance.  And then that morning I thought about the fact that it was Spring Break.  Hmmm...that meant a lot of people would be doing the touristy thing.  Called ahead and the entire morning was already book.  You can imagine the tears and agony that followed this announcement.  We had to think quickly and Michael  remembered this place.  Huge sigh of relief, Skyler was ok with it, Sadie still couldn't let the aquarium disappointment go, but decided she would go with us if we promised another day at the aquarium.  LOVE this place.  It's beautiful, fun, educational, and FREE!

We were waiting for Michael to pay the meter.  So I thought I'd snap some pics of them...I absolutely LOVE this short series of pics with them.  Totally sums up the fun kids they are...

 Don't you just fall in love with him??  Is he not the cutest kid EVER?!!!

 She's pretty cute herself:)

 sigh...love her

 This section was made just for kids to PLAY.  perfect.  They loved it and could have spent all morning doing the basic but super fun activities.

 Yep, my little girl is a trip!

 Michael took the kids to the upper level, I stayed on the lower one because heights are not my favorite thing.  They were waiting for the elevator and Michael was getting some pics of them.  I love this picture of it all happening.

 Another series that is my favorite.  I was begging them to pose for me at the end of our little trip.  They were not going for it.

 This was right after I told them that we would leave if they smiled.  There is the enthusiasm I was kind of looking for....

 I finally got them to smile by bribing them with coins to throw into the wishing stream.

 Can you tell she had enough?!

Activities to Fill Our Days

Being a stay at home mom is not much different than teaching.  You have to plan activities ahead of time or there will be chaos.  The kids are capable of having quiet time when they play on their own, but they have these long pockets of time when they are insane and need directed activities!  Thank goodness for pinterest....life saving in lots of ways!  But the one life lesson I learned as a mother, is DON"T PROMISE ANYTHING until you KNOW FOR SURE you can follow through.  Nothing worse than the disappointment and the tears that follow.  Here are some successful days:)

I found a recipe for sidewalk paint...mix cornstarch, water, and food coloring, and the result is fabulous sidewalk paint.  It was crazy windy that day and Skyler wasn't a huge fan, but Sadie LOVED it.  The only problem is that the wind knocked down all of the cups after a while and left a crazy rainbow mess!

 One of Sadie's 'poses'.  She cracks me up.  I love her outfit here...so much fun dressing her!

Today's fun activity?  A diaper box!  They created box sculpture and used one of them as a tunnel.  This literally took up at least an hour.  I wish I could take credit for this one, but it was all Skyler's idea.

 Picnic day!  This was one of the first warm days in March.  We had hit a playground and then decided to picnic outside using an old table cloth.  This is what happened AFTER we finished eating...Skyler covered himself and they had a blast.  

 Looking like Sadie pushed him over in this one:)

 We see this face a lot when he's tired, hot, sick, or bored.  Here I'm thinking he was all four!  

My Little Ballerina

My Dad has some amazing pictures of Sadie in dance class that I have to upload.  But I had to snag some in one of her new ballet outfits. It's the one activity that is all hers, that she doesn't have to share with her brother, and it's 100% girly.  She loves it, rocks out, perhaps not ballerina graceful, but rocker style.  She especially loves her little ballet outfits and looks forward to wearing them...I can't wait until her recital in May!  

 She loves making crazy faces and then looking at herself in the pictures...

Despite the Insanity...

So, yes, despite the high levels of stress and craziness, we have managed to have some really fun times together.  It's crazy how many pictures I went through and things we have done in just a month's time. 

First up?  Baltimore Science Museum!

My parents kept us company while Michael went away to a convention.  We picked the Baltimore Science museum as our field trip and it was wonderful.  Skyler is a huge science fan, so he probably could have stayed there forever.  Actually, he just LOVES museums.  Would be happy if we went to one daily.  Sadie just loves field trips.  SO, it was a great morning:)

 Bed of nails...crazy.

 My parents bought Skyler a science kit...he loved doing the experiments.