VACATION

Vacation means:

sleeping in,

eating slowly,

reading at 10 am,

good coffee,

taking a morning nap,

putting together a puzzle,

shopping my favorite stores all day,

walking the beach shelling,

touring the islands,

laying on the beach napping,

vacation BINGO,

good coffee,

an afternoon nap,

cooking together,

decaf and a shared candy bar (after dinner of course),

watching half a movie each night,

to be continued....

Jus' Makin'/Bakin' Worms

Another day in Crazyville. We stirred up dough, rolled it out and cut it into worm shapes, then added raisin eyes and tails. (note the pink tutu in this shot, nothing like a tutu to get in the baking mood, right!)









Still working on the eyes and tails in this shot. Max really just wanted to eat the eyes and tails, and who are we kidding, so did Brody.











The finished product on her plate. They were pretty tasty and the kids liked them.






Brody's serving below, we did add honey dip. The cheddar cheese made them chewy.

The Insanity that is My Life

I titled it that way because sometimes that is the way it feels to me. What am I doing? What am I having these kids do? How does it feel to you?

Here are Claire and Brody on our first March spring outdoor day on the playground. I'm not a great photographer, my camera is slow, but I make up for it in love...






I took MANY shots of Max swinging, but just
couldn't get his smile in my shot, in most of them
the bill of his hat is hiding his face!!!











SOOOOOOOO cute, there he goes! He isn't waving, he is getting his pail adjusted on his arm for carrying, just like he sees the big kids doing.











This day I was making a fun lunch with toasted bread cut outs. Instead of a sunny-side up egg in the center, I used a scrambled egg (I didn't think they'd dig the gooey yolk!)










Here they all are finger painting. The end result was fingerprint worms and ladybugs, which were pretty cute! Max thought it was very funny to go
without a shirt (and to sit in his sister's booster chair)!

Projects

Claire and Brody LOVE Projects (with a capital P)
I found a great list of Projects that are
Science Projects rather than Art Projects. This Science Project was working with frozen cubes of colored water melting in clear water. You just never know where it is going to go. They were most interested in the cube itself instead of the color spreading. They wanted to keep touching the cube.





It was also an opportunity to work on the basic
colors - we'll add in yellow in the next batch.

They would not give up on the project until the
entire cube melted, which took a LONG TIME.









Yes, Science can be funny.













This was Science AND Art AND Scensory, called Cloud Dough (mixture of flour and baby oil). It felt very cool, but it is a HUGE MESS, and will be more fun (for me) when they can play with it outside (and Max can join in). You are not supposed to color it, so the white is a little boring. This day they were more interested in the clips I used on the back of their craft aprons than the dough itself. (and trying to get each other's clips OFF) Sorry, Max, it was your naptime - you can play when we take this dough outdoors!

Reading - Reading Nook - Quiet Corner

Max is a busy little guy, and doesn't always sit
still for very long, but he does enjoy a book,
especially if there is a moo in it. And please
help him find the moo in the book, ok? Over,
and over, and over, and over....









We created a Reading Nook for the kids in a
corner of the living room. Here, Brody and Claire
are investigating the Hidden Object Jar, but
they have also been caught reading quietly in
this nook. Hopefully that will become even more
popular over time.








They do enjoy reading quietly, but often the two
of them don't want to sit still for very long unless
the other one is occupied elsewhere. They also
enjoy looking at a book together, with Max trying to find his spot right in the middle! The Elmo Search and Find book is their favorite right now.

Grandma Stock

Guess if this is a Grandma's blog, I can blog about MY Grandma Stock. (also odd to me now that we would have called her Grandma Stock instead of something more intimate!) I have been doing some family research recently and found out something new about her, and I remember so little about her, that it makes it special. She died in on August 28, 1968, just shy of my 11th birthday. Certainly too young for a little girl to lose her Grandma (my mom was 38, WAY too young to lose her mom).

I have a few precious items of hers, and one gift she gave me that I remember. It is a bank, a rectangular metal box with a lifting lid and an awesome unique key. I kept loose change in it, and a few other treasures through the years, like rings and earrings that I didn't want to lose. Mom told me that she probably ordered it from a catalog and had it mailed to her. She didn't get to town to shop very often, so she did a lot of catalog shopping. Seems kind of cool to me that she would have spent time looking through catalogs (much like I do now) for gift ideas for her little grandchildren. (she had 32 of them)

Someday I'll pass it on to one of my kids, or grandkids. Don't know if it is something they will care about or appreciate - but isn't that the way life goes? This goofy life history book that I am working on is another one of those things to pass on. I asked Jeff if he thought anyone would ever read it. He said Claire would! Here's hoping!!

Anyway, I love you Grandma Stock!

Winner!

I won a jar filled with 873 M & Ms at the Lonsdale
Business Showcase this weekend! Woo and hoo!

What to do with them all? Cookies, Trail Mix, ?

Aunties and Uncles

No picture to back up my story today - but a story worth telling nonetheless.

Being an Omi and being a Papa is a wonderful thing. Watching your grandbabies
grow, mature, learn, play and fight is a joy. But I've noted another wonderful
thing, this week especially. Claire, Brody and Max LOVE their Aunties and Uncles.

Every day, Auntie Bethanie drops off Brody in the morning and picks him up in the eve.
Claire and Max are so excited to see her each time. She is a niece and nephew
magnet. They know she is good for giving them unconditional love and attention.

Wednesday was a snowy day, and Auntie Whitney came home a little early. She got
right to work making muffins, and Brody and Claire were right there in the kitchen
with her, standing on chairs, HELPING her. Patience needed to be LONG.

Thursday I brought the kids to the farm for the day. Uncle Sean (Paco) came over
almost as soon as we got there. Claire, Brody and Max were all standing by the
door watching him walk up the driveway and they were jumping up and down and
calling out his name and smiling big smiles, waiting for him to get into the house so
they could pounce on him! He even got involved in the morning routine and
changed Brody's diaper and got him dressed.

These are just this weeks' noted events. Of course, Brody has idolized Uncle Josh
since he started Omi Daycare, looks for him everywhere in the house and wants to be
wherever Josh is. Auntie Heather comes over to the farm every other week to spend
part of the day with the kids. I think she thinks their "projects" are hilarious and that
their tummies are never full.