80th Anniversary of Lego

It's the 80th anniversary of Lego!  What have you created lately? Over the weekend, Alexander created a board game using his bricks and guys.  We've enjoyed playing it a couple of times.  John Paul watched a tow truck load up a car on Friday and then recreated the tow truck using his Legos.  Legos truly are endless possibilities for imaginative play and creation.  Here's a short video about the history of Lego.

Summer Inspiration and Fun

Summer has officially started! :)  Yesterday the kids went swimming, bike riding, got to watch a movie, had friends over, ate water melon, built with Legos, built a train track, and worked on our 750 piece puzzle.  Oh my, what are we going to do today?!  Good thing we wrote out a summer list of things to do!  Also, Pinterest has come to the rescue with more ideas.
 We will be going to Chicago this summer, so I want the kids to learn more about the city.  Over the weekend I bought a large wall map of the United States.  Along with checking out our new map, learning about Chicago also means at least one trip to the library for some books, maybe create our own maps of where we want to go while in Chicago, create a cityscape, learn about some places to visit while in Chicago.  I also downloaded the Stack the States (Lite) iPad app.  {It's a great little game to help learn about the states.}
I want to make mobiles with the kids...inspired by Alexander Calder.  Did you know that today, May 29th, is national paper clip day?  I think we're going to have to break out the paper clips and see what we can create--bookmarks, mobiles, chains, 3D sculptures.
{Speaking of Chicago, here's a conversation between Jaime and Penelope yesterday:
P: I wanna go on a walk, Daddy
J: Ok, where do you want to go?
P: To a city
J: A city, what city?
P: Chicago
J: Chicago?! How about the arboretum?
P: Okay!
And to the arboretum they went :) }

Create, have fun, play, and learn...it's summer!  Don't forget the building challenge, Hello Summer. 

7 Quick Takes

(1) Today is the last day of school (good bye 3rd and kindergarten) for the boys, but learning won't stop :)  I've got some fun activities planned and am going to try a summer long project (thinking of a research project kinda thing) along with daily journaling.
(2) Just finished my homemade cappuccino and really want another one...and another. :)
(3) Could totally take a mini tropical vacation just by eating one of these pineapple macadamia nut macaroons (more about these treats next week!)

(4) I'm such a nerd or just really excited and interested in my summer class...general psychology...that I already started reading the textbook when it arrived earlier this week.
(5) I need to hear from the professor of said summer course to know the syllabus...class starts on 6/4!
(6) I wrote out our daily {flexible} routine/schedule for the summer.
(7) Planning a powwow with the kids this afternoon to brainstorm chores, activities, and the summer bucket list!

HELLO SUMMER!!!!

Alexander+Baseball=Fun Times

Baseball season is in full swing.  So far Alexander loves playing the catcher position.  I love watching the boys play. Some of the boys are so in to the game while others, well, as we had a talk with Alexander, they (and he sometimes) need to get their heads in the game.  This past weekend the Jets participated in a tournament.  The first game was ugly--ugly weather, ugly playing.  The second game however was impressive!  The boys seemed to have settled in and were more focused. The weather was MUCH better.  The Jets played so well, they were in the lead, but sadly lost at the end. I'm excited for several more fantastic games this season.

at bat

on deck

Toddler Spring Bouquet

Spring has sprung!  I don't know why I never thought about this phrase more until this spring.  We've had warmer than normal weather occur here in Kansas.  Suddenly all the trees had blooms that in a week's worth of time had leaves explode out!  Now instead of sticks for trees we have fluffy green trees everywhere.  It's so rejuvenating and beautiful!  To have some fun with the season and some craft supplies we have on hand, Penelope and I made some flowers.

First, we gathered our supplies.  You'll need an empty egg carton, scissors, and pipe cleaners.

Cut each egg section apart and poke a small hole in the bottom of each section.

Next, thread a pipe cleaner through the hole.  This can get fancy by twirling the inner end of the pipe cleaner or by twisting two or more colored pipe cleaners together and then threading them through the hole.

Finally, the carton flowers can be decorated with markers, stickers, pom-poms, glitter, etc.

Welcome spring!

linked up at Momnivore's Dilemma

Quality Time with Dragons

Today I let the shower wait longer than usual, let the dishes sit, chose not to vacuum, and left the 2 loads of (clean but unfolded) laundry sit on the counter.  Instead I played, I played and played with Penelope.  We played a game on the computer, then we played a card game.  This card game is one that she has made up, so it seems to change every time we play it with her.  Today's card game led us to a LONG pretend playtime that involved dragons.  First we had to scare the dragon away.  This meant getting out a few pots and a wooden spoon to beat the pots. 

We beat those pots softly, we beat them LOUDLY, slow and fast.  Then we had to make crowns to wear in order to be able to properly scare the dragon while we beat the pots.  Beating the pots turned in to having to make lunch for the dragons (yes, somehow instead of scaring the one dragon away we ended up with 4 dragons for lunch!). 

Penelope stirred and stirred her magic brew in the pot while I whipped up some real lunch.  "Mom, the dragons can't sit at the table!" 

I wish I had taken a picture of the entire spread she set up, but lunch took over 30 minutes today and this was taken within the first 5.

So, lunch was eaten picnic style on the floor...and the dragons ate it ALL and drank their almond milk without spilling it.  At some point during this drawn out lunch/picnic, my daughter became a dragon too.  The wonderful lunch energized the dragons, so they HAD to play tag.  When one particular dragon slipped and bumped her head, all the other dragons disappeared and Penelope returned.  She decided it was time to read a real story and take a nap.
Sometimes letting the messy house be messy is worth it.  Today it definitely was :) 

Now to get to those chores....

Meet Jack

So, our pumpkins were stolen as you read last week~right? you read this little blog often, right?  I know I've got lurkers out there...anyone want to leave some comments? You'd make my day! :)  We knew that just because someone stole them, we couldn't let the kids go without carving at least 1 pumpkin this year.  Also, I'd found a handful of new pumpkin seed recipes that I REALLY wanted to try. (I did some caramelized pumpkin seeds that will likely show up here tomorrow. They were awesome!)  Well, Whole Foods had their pumpkins on sale last weekend when we did the grocery shopping.  For a mere $2.50 we picked up 1 pumpkin (I've been hoping they would do their 5 for $5 pumpkin sale again, but so far no such luck.)
So, last weekend, as planned, the kids got to enjoy the October ritual of pumpkin carving.

Cleaning Jack out

The plans

Applying the plans

Here's Jack~who has lived a life indoors to protect his safety!

Polyvore Coolness!

Autumn Decor by erinmartinez on Polyvore.com

Angel Vine Topiary - Ballard Designs, $25
News Text Pillar Candle | Pottery Barn, $17
Owl Shaped Lantern | Pottery Barn, $29

Several days ago I saw this posting on Home Stories A2Z and saved it to read when I had more time.  Tonight the kids were all in bed on time since tomorrow is the first day of school.  So, I had a bit of free time to read through the info and play with the FREE Polyvore software.  Oh my!  So cool and fun and best of all EASY!  It's neat software in that it lets you clip images from all over the web and create your own buttons, decor boards, and collages.  I highly recommend it.  When you get a bit of time, check it out.  I'm still figuring it out--like posting it to my blog without necessarily having all that descriptive text under the picture and that over-sized white square.  Anyway, just check it out and be sure to check out the tutorial post about it--it helped me get a quick start. Fun!

Make 10

The boys and I just finished several rousing rounds of Make 10.  Make 10 is a great twist on Go Fish! and a wonderful review of math facts that equal 10.  All you need is a deck of cards or 2-4 sets of index cards numbered 0-10.  This will be enough for 2-3 kids to play.  With the deck of cards, the Queen=0 and the Ace=1.  Remove all the other face cards.  Shuffle the cards, then deal 7 cards to each player and place the rest in a pile in the center of the table or floor.  Take turns asking each other for cards to complete the pair to make 10.  For example, if Alexander is holding a 7, 4, and a Q, he would ask John Paul or me for either a 3, 6, or 10. 
With school around the corner and blisteringly HOT days outside, take some time to relax and sneak in a bit of review.  Enjoy some fun time with the kiddos then let them play on their own.