Snow Day!

Okay, okay, we all know Las Vegas did not get snow. 

But we made some here at my house!

 I have been getting a lot of different ideas and recipes from a wonderful blog I found through Pinterest called Growing A Jeweled Rose. I love the things she does and posts and it helps me to improvise my own things from them. Honestly though take a peek at her site, the things she has posted are awesome!

 The fun thing about the snow is that it is actually cold. No refridgeration, no ice it is just naturally cold. 

We sculpted with it and made "snow castles" with it.

Now I know that Gage is not the type to like to get his hands dirty but I was not sure about K. Surprisingly though, both boys LOVED this! They both played for about an hour and even after Gage lost interest K was still going to town!

 Momma and Brenna got in on the fun as well.

 I gave Gage a spray bottle of vinegar to make the snow "erupt". The boys were so thrilled!

 I can't wait until tomorrow because when Little B is here we are going to do it all over again.

We switched from cold "snow" to warm outdoor water play as a way to clean up from the mess.

 

Since tomorrow is Friday we are going to make all kinds of messes! Water, sand, flour, EVERYTHING! I hope you all look forward to it as much as I do!

Until Tomorrow!

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Everyone, Meet K!

This is K...

And today we went from this...

 

to this.

 

Today was quite a rough one I must say! It was K's first day and it was also a Little B day so I had all three kiddos at once on K's first day. Talk about eventful. As can be expected he had a rough start. He did not want Grandma to leave him and he was upset for a good twenty minutes or so but eventually calmed down enough to start coloring a bit. (Note the still very grumpy look on his face in photo 1 though!) 

When Little B showed up he got upset all over again and I was beginning to sense a pattern that every time someone came or went he was going to get upset. After a tear fest from both K and Little B though they got over it. Let me just say that today my sensory bottles and bags proved their worth!

Each time K got overly upset or teary eyed I simply pulled one of the bottles out, usually the ones with glitter in them or beads, shook it and he calmed down a bit. A few go rounds of this and he was calm again. 

I pulled out the snack for him and Little B as well as our alpha magnets and the cookie sheets. He was THRILLED! He forgot all his woes and took to filling up the cookie sheet with as many letters as would fit, Little B followed suit.  

 

After we grew tired of magnet play I had to keep the fun rolling in order to prevent another possible break down. What can possibly be more exciting than an indoor sand box? I personally don't think much to be honest with you. He and Gage went to town with the dinos and monster trucks and shovels. The first smile he cracked all morning was when Gage took a shovel and dumped sand onto the rake he was holding. K lit up and laughed a deep belly laugh, don't you just love those? I know I do! 

 

From sand play we moved onto my failed attempt at cloud dough, which I guess makes it just glorified flour. Regardless of my fail though the kiddos love it. Especially Gage! I will have to give this one another shot sometime this week or weekend. 

 

Since Little B is not ever very fond of the messy play and it was just after nap time for her I pulled out the water table and added in the blue water beads I got this weekend. Little B was not amused but the boys had a ball. The scooped them, squeezed them, and swirled them about. 

While Gage napped I pulled out the number dobbers and let the two littles "color" with them. This was short lived when it became clear to me that a mess was certain and I hadn't yet experimented with how easily they would come off of hands, clothes, and carpet!

This is how the afternoon played out.

 I will just say that today I found out that Gage is not all that fond of sharing mommy. My son faked an earache to make sure that I turned all attention back to him. The littles played with toys on the floor while watching some Nick Jr. and Gage got lots of mommy cuddles. Let me just point out that Gage is all of 3 so where he learned that faking an injury was his best shot at getting mommy's attention I will never know. Or maybe as little ones it is automatically programmed in us that the quickest way into mommy's arms when their are other kids around is through a boo boo. What better boo boo then one that can't be seen or verified without a doctors visit? 

As soon as both K and Little B had been picked up this afternoon, Gage was up and running around the house completely over wanting mommy cuddles or Momma loves. All I can do is shake my head and dread what lies ahead if he is already this crafty at 3.

Until tomorrow!

(Luckily tomorrow is just K and Gage so fingers crossed that it goes better than today! Oh and that we will have lots more activities to share!)

A few of our favorite things

These last few days have been...

Lets just say that I am over it. 

I haven't watched kiddos in two days. It has made for a slow few days that is for sure. Yesterday Gage and I did NOTHING, not a single thing. I decided that today that had to change. 

While Gage ate his breakfast I sat down to work on a few new activities. I have been gathering things to make what I like to call our "boredom box" full of activities for various ages to pull out should the kids decide that they are bored and if they appear to have to much time on their hands. 

 

 Their are coloring books, letter and number activities, scissor and glue activities, magnets and tons more. Their really is something for every age in this bin. 

 

I traced a few of the magnets we have onto paper to use as a matching game of a different kind. The letter and number ones won't be too challenging for Gage because he knows his letters and numbers, but the car one will be quite difficult because there are so many of them and the shapes are not as easy to pick out. I hope he enjoys them all regardless though! 

Another thing that I made for the kids today was pinterest inspired! I had found a link for things to make from cardboard and one thing on it that caught my eye was a sky box. Glow in the dark stars and planets inside a box with a hole cut in it to view through. The flashlight is there so that the kids can shine the light on the stars to "charge" them prior to viewing. Gage has so far LOVED this one!

 Yesterday I decided to give my sewing machine a go. I have never been taught to sew so this was an adventure in itself. I had recently found some bean bags at the thrift store that I was going to buy to do carnival games with the kids among other things but Ms. Shannon went on a rant about how easily those can be made so yesterday I made the attempt. My first try was an absolute FAIL! I don't have photos of them individually so you will have to take my word for it. It literally fell apart after an hour. With the help of my niece Brenna, who took Home Ec in school the second one came out better. The third and fourth came out the best. I now feel like I can sew anything but I know that is not true! It's all about baby steps I suppose much like most things. 

So with these newly made bean bags I decided that Gage and I would do a can toss like you see at carnivals to help with his hand eye coordination. At the risk of sounding a little "braggish" my bug already has a killer arm, it is the aiming that needs work. 

I set up three soda cans and explained to him how to do it. Leave it to my child to try and cheat by standing almost against the bench the cans were on so I had to make a line of tape for him to stand at. He was not liking that and tried at every turn to stand closer! Once he got the hang of it though, he was knocking them down faster than I could put them back up.

 

He even got Brenna in on the action and they had a blast playing together!

 A few days ago we took a stab at another Pinterest inspired idea. 

The glow bath!

Glow bath number 2.

 

 

 

I think it is evident that the glow bath is quite a hit in our house! We love it and will continue to do it. I am planning on researching other black light and glow activities to do with all the kiddos as well. I may have to one day cover the windows in the front room with blankets and do all kinds of glow activities with them. Better yet though, I may be able to do it in the garage!

Something for you all to look forward to! 

I have an early morning tomorrow! My first kiddo will be dropped off about 6:30 so this mommy needs to get ready for bed time! If only Gage felt the same. 

Until tomorrow!