Science kits

When we got home yesterday Alex's science kit was waiting by the door. He was excited to try it out. We watched as Alex did several of the experiments.

Sabrina wanted to do some science too, so I got out some of our magnet kits for her to explore.

Marie-Anne

Reading is Magic

Yesterday, we went to the library's Reading is Magic Show. We have seen Tony Daniels perform several times at this annual event. He is hilarious and his magic tricks leave you wondering, "how does he do that?!?"

Before the show some of the kids, including Alex got to try to hold a book with one hand without using their fingers. Then Tony showed them how to do it.

Alex also got to be one of the volunteers during the show. The kids had a great time. I let Alex buy one of Tony Daniels' videos that teaches magic tricks.

Marie-Anne

Barnes and Nobles Story-time

I took the kids to Barnes and Nobles. I had forgotten that they have story-time on Tuesday mornings. Sabrina was super excited to learn they were having story-time (I need to start taking the kids back to story-time).

Sabrina was so excited that she sat in the chair 15 minutes early to wait! I told her she could play or I'd read her a book, but she wanted to wait. The lady gave her the coloring sheet early. We were impressed with how well Sabrina colored.

Marie-Anne

Mission Hills Park

Yesterday morning I took the kids to Mission Hills Park. We had the whole playground to ourselves. Alex and I pretended we were Jedi. Sabrina was thrilled that I went down the slide with her a couple of times.

Marie-Anne

Sunday School

I am still teaching Sabrina's Sunday School class. The kids are learning a lot. Sometimes it is hard to keep their attention though.

I have used the same green hippo puppet as my "assistant" for years. One of the boys called it a chicken and I made the mistake of having the hippo respond, "I am NOT A CHICKEN!" Now every time I use the puppet one of the kids start "yelling you're a chicken." {SIGH}

Marie-Anne

Natural History Museum

Saturday was the Natural History Museum's birthday. Admission was half off so we went.

There were a lot of hands-on displays. The kids even got to touch a shark, sea star, and horseshoe crab. Sabrina was thrilled that she got to pose with a "real" mermaid!

Of course the regular displays were fun too. The kids played in the yellow submarine for a long time.

Marie-Anne

Art Contest

Frank's work has lots of fun contests. This time it was an art contest; What you love about America. We all took a few minutes to draw something.

Sabrina was the only entry in her category so she won art supplies- a coloring book, black/white board and crayons to use on the black/white board. She insisted on coloring the sketch I did of my entry.

Alex was the only entry in his category. He won a $50 Amazon gift card. We used it to buy him a nice science kit and a small Lego set.

Frank won his category. He also got a $50 Amazon gift card. He chose to combine his card with Alex's to get the kids some educational items. His gift card helped pay for Alex's science kit and Sabrina's Math Monkey game.

I didn't win, but it was fun.

$100 in Amazon gift cards and art supplies for less than two hours worth of work, (combined). Not bad.

Marie-Anne

Game Night

Tonight we played some new games that have been sitting on our shelf for a while.

Our first was Spurtle Turtle. It is an ocean memory game. The tokens are placed in the turtle's shell and each player pushes a button to shoot out two tokens. Then they flip them to see if they got a match. After all tokens are out it is played just like memory.

Next up was a kid's version of Jenga. (We've had this one for probably a year, but never played it because it was in the garage.) The kids wanted to play this one over and over.

Then we played the Whac-A-Mole Card Game. This is one that I take with us when we will be waiting. It's great for playing at the airport or doctor's office.

We also introduced the kids to Go Fish. Sabrina wasn't really interested, but Alex wanted to play again and again.

Our last game was All Around Town. It is one of Alex's favorites.

Marie-Anne

Game Night

Tonight Frank, Sabrina, and I had game night. We played both games twice.

Sometimes parenting is tough. We had to deal with Alex's bad attitude, which is why he didn't get to play with us. Then Sabrina had a fit because she lost. All we wanted was to have a fun family night, (SIGH).

Marie-Anne

Gap

Within the last week Sabrina has lost two bottom teeth! About two weeks ago she fell and knocked the two front top teeth loose.

Marie-Anne

Exploration Peak Park

We took the park challenge this morning. Exploration Peak Park is about a 30 minute drive from our house. It's actually not too far from Pump-It-Up and the Bass Pro Shop so we might go back the next time we visit one of those places.

I liked the western frontier layout. Behind the false store fronts are multiple slides, bridges, and climbing things.

The "courage" (as Sabrina called the carriage) was a favorite of both kids. For some reason she was also calling me "Muthur".

We all rode our not so faithful steeds.

The kids enjoyed the "Esau" (see saw- Sabrina's word). I got on it for a few minutes, but it hurt my knees.

I'm the only one who chickened out of going down the slide. I think I'd prefer Alex's method over Frank's.

The kids also had a good time at the splash pad. We brought water guns and splash bombs. Alex hit it off with the boy in the picture. Alex wants to move to be close to him.

Despite the heat (today's supposed to be 107 degrees) we had a good time.

Marie-Anne

Chuck E Cheese

I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. My mom sent us a coupon for 100 tokens for $20. Thanks, Mom!

Although Alex danced for free tickets, he didn't want to pose with Chuck E. (This is the first time he didn't.)

Alex did pretty well at these games.

Sabrina's favorite ride was the new merry-go-round.

Marie-Anne

4th of July

 

 

On the 4th of July we watched the first half of Gettysburg. We also went to a park after dark to watch other people burn their money- I mean fireworks. I think the kids enjoyed the novelty of being at a park after dark as much as they enjoyed the fireworks.

Marie-Anne

Cookies and Cold Water

The kids helped bake cookies. As a family project, we delivered the cookies and cold waters to homeless people at a local park. It was during the heat wave- about 113 degrees that day. We talked to the kids about how hot we were just the few minutes we were out, but how these people had no where to go to escape the heat.

Marie-Anne

mini date

Frank and I had a mini date after the kids went to bed. We played several games of Chinese Checkers until he had to start working from home. We are pretty well matched; every game was won by one to three moves. He beat me twice and I beat him once.

I used to play with Mamaw and she was good- I never won, but always had fun.

Marie-Anne

Game Night Silliness

Tonight was game night! All three games are pre-school games because we wanted everybody to be able to play, have fun, and have a chance of winning. Our first game was Learning about... Manners Picnic Basket Game.

As you can tell, there was a lot of silliness going on tonight. Our second game was S'Match.

Our third game was a favorite with the kids; The Berenstain Bears Learn to Share. We played one game each. We have discovered when we play more than that it isn't as much fun.

What are some of your favorite games?

Marie-Anne