By amy on August 30, 2010
What’s in a cardboard box? A lot of fun! I felt creative so I decided to do something fun with the kids.
I read an idea about making a target out of a box so I set about to construct one with the kids help. Feeling brave I decided to let them paint their new toy.
You can throw the bean bags to hit the target, they fall into a little compartment behind which has a nifty little door to open and retrieve the balls (That last part was added by me for Lance’s benefit because I knew he’d get a kick out of opening the little door).
Well, I watch the kids downstairs a few times a week and when they saw this they wanted to paint too. So next time they came over……
We transformed the box that formerly held all the packing peanuts into a Batmobile! It kept the kids occupied for a solid two hours! Of course, I was occupied as well watching that paint didn’t get on the floor. (note, there is plastic down under the car but it only reaches so far).
Lance demonstrates the hatch. If I was a guy I might know the official name for that.
Here’s a side view – this car is complete with wings on the back, designer wheels on front and fire coming out the tail pipe! Can you tell a boy helped me design the car?
When it was all over, the kids needed a bath, the living room needed a cleaning and mommy needed a rest! What a fun day!
Posted in Family News
By amy on August 27, 2010
After the museum we stayed with some friends then took our time traveling to my brother’s house in order to spend an evening with him.
Along the way we stopped at a state park to play disc golf and then lingered in the cool weather to enjoy a picnic lunch by the lake. This was so relaxing!
As part of our trip we visited Washington D.C. We drove in early Tuesday morning to secure the free parking then rushed past a memorial or two in order to get tickets for the Bureau of Engraving tour.
We paused after the tour to eat some lunch and I fed a friendly little squirrel. It was a picky squirrel – would only eat the peanut butter and not the bread. It didn’t like chips either. After eating we went up in the Washington monument to enjoy the view.
Unfortunately I felt bad so Brian and I left early to have some down time at our host’s house. We spent the next day there as well, just talking and enjoying a slower pace.
Posted in Family News
By amy on August 25, 2010
Well readers, we are recently back from a week long trip up to PA in order to see my brother get hitched. Along the way we made a few stops – just to break up the drive 🙂
Wow, did that scare you? No, it’s not a picture of Brian in a moment of road rage, this fellow greets us at the Creation Museum – a refreshing look at history the way God wrote it.
Brian decides to join the crew building the ark…too bad we couldn’t stay for completion, they looked a few decades away from reaching their goal.
Not sure why this was here except to entertain the kids….and Brian.
The landscaping outside was beautiful! Fortunately a recent rain storm made the weather nice enough to go for a stroll in the gardens.
We found a waterfall we liked. Aren’t we cute….and happy….and, oh, where are the kids? That’s right, with Grandma! Now we understand the big smiles 😀
We traveled with Lori and Jonathan.
After reading so much about the flood it was nice to see a rainbow 🙂 We actually got to see the whole arch, I just couldn’t capture it on camera.
Posted in Family News
By amy on August 10, 2010
Over the weekend we visited Brian’s sister, Rachel, who lives near Houston. As part of the visit we took the kids to the beach.
Ivy takes her first steps into the water encouraged by Rachel.
Lance was a little unsure about things but with Daddy’s help he braved the waves. Cousin Oliver tries out the water too – though both he and Lance preferred sitting safely on shore and making sand castles.
Ivy was a regular little beach bum. She took right to the sand, water and other people’s toys. She loved every bit of the trip, so of course, she got most of the photos.
Gotta watch those waves, they sneak up on you when you’re not looking…..
…and knock you flat!
Daddy dug big holes and put Ivy in them – she loved it! All the mud filled in around her and it was hard to pull her out.
Ivy was starved by 11:00 and couldn’t get her food in fast enough! A sandwich and fruit revived her for a little more playtime before we headed home.
We had fun with the Bryants – thanks for taking us!
Posted in Family News
By amy on August 4, 2010
Apparently the kids deemed yesterday to be “clean up day” and for some reason I just happened to take pictures of everything.
Ivy decides the only thing she likes at lunch is sour cream – unfortunately it’s rather messy to eat with your hands. Lance decided he didn’t like anything and while I was cleaning Ivy he threw his food on the floor. Oh well, I needed to vacuum anyhow. I do the whole front room, thinking to have a clean house when Daddy comes home.
After lunch Lance gets into the food closet and scatters grain everywhere. The vacuum comes out again.
A few hours later we have playdough everywhere! I babysit the two kids from downstairs for a few hours several days a week and decided to make playdough with them. Fun project but rather messy. At least Ivy didn’t eat any.
The neighbor kids had left and I just finished picking up the toys and playdough bits then sat down to do a little vacation planning when I heard a funny noise and came out to see the kids found a new form of entertainment. Oatmeal I had just bought for tomorrow’s activity. I try to scoop and vacuum it up even as Lance wildly tries to throw it everywhere.
Now it’s 5:00, the kids are whiny because they are hungry but we’re waiting on Daddy so I give them some milk and animal crackers for a snack while I again try to do a little vacation planning. Hearing sounds of too much fun I discover the kids must be done with snack. This time though, I make them help me pick up all the animals. This is a slow and rather tedious undertaking.
Daddy finally arrives and we go out and get free hamburgers. We’re both tired when we get home and are happy it’s almost bedtime for the kids. Brian offers to run them through the shower but when I go to find them I discover my day isn’t quite over.
Lance used his new stool (still in the kitchen from the playdough cooking project) and got a box of toothpicks off the counter. How fun! Getting all the toothpicks back in the box is even more tedious than animal crackers but that’s what we did. Daddy even came and helped to speed things up a little. Finally we got the little rascals bathed and in bed. Sigh.
Is life monotonous as a stay at home mom? No way! Look at all the different situations I faced. They might be variations on a theme but each mess is unique. And interspersed between all this activity were trips to the potty for both kids and only one accident (Ivy) all day! Now that makes a mom feel successful!
Posted in Family News
