2 Hour Delay = Oatmeal

I know, not what you would think would make me happy about a 2 hour delay for school this morning.  But really, I have three little kids - do I EVER get to 'sleep in?'  

Not so much.

So today's 2 hour delay did not get me any more sleep.  

What it DID give me was the time needed to make a big pot of steel cut oats (none of those quick oat nasties!) on the stove AND time to sit down and eat them.  

Monkey Brains and Naked Hieneys

And on another note, I am guessing my days of pictures like this are limited, so I am enjoying it while I can!

I'm I the only person that finds this box more than a little creepy?

Foot Doctor and Baltimore Discovery Museum

Today we had to take Grayson to his 6 month check up with Dr H (or as Grayson refers to him, the Foot Doctor.)  We decided it would be fun to make a day of it and take all the boys to the appointment (doesn't this sound fun?? wait for it...) and then after the appointment we could all go to the Discovery Museum on the Inner Harbor.  We have a membership to the Kids Museum closer to home, so we thought we would take advantage of the reciprocal membership program and spend the afternoon at Baltimore's museum.

We decided at his last appointment that we would have Grayson continue to wear his brace as long as the shoes still fit.  He was 'released' from wearing it - BUT he had not had the big growth spurt we saw Gabe just have over the summer (1.5 inches in under 90 days) and growth spurts are prime causes of relapses.  So while we waited, the boys donned exam gloves and played with haloed limbs:

You can't tell - but he's in there!  Three stories up!

After seeing Dr H and getting "extra credit" for continuing the brace, we loaded up and headed to the museum.  The boys had a blast.  They literally went up and down and up and down at warp speed for HOURS.  This museum was spectacular.  Grayson really liked the "water room" where everything was wet and splashing.  There were raincoats and crocs for the kids to put on and a full body dryer for when they were done!  HE also thrilled at the full size VW Bug and filling station where he could pretend to pump gas and drive.  Reece's favorite thing seemed to be the full diner scaled down for little people.  He 'took my order' and brought me food from the kitchen for almost 20 minutes before we moved on.  Gabe ran up and down and through the tunnels at break neck speed.  He also liked the room where they could pulley themselves across the river on a raft.



(there are lots more pictures, I just need to set them up in a slide show format)

As we left the museum the sun was literally setting and the boys were exhausted.  We grabbed some food on the run - which added to the fun factor for them since we never do the drive through.  I snapped a few pictures as we left town.

The kids were asleep about 30 seconds after inhaling their dinner and we enjoyed a quiet drive home.  I think next time we might try the aquarium :)

Pre-K Chemistry

 Now that Reece is going to the Montessori school the same days as the twins, it has gotten a bit harder to carve out time where I have ONLY the twins by themselves.  This means that some of the 'bigger kid' activities have been put on hold.  So the fact that I had just the twins for a few hours after school today meant we could pull out something fun to try!

Once again, borrowing from the Play at Home Mom site, I pulled out the baking soda and vinegar.  And to make it even more inquiry based, I colored the vinegar with food dyes so they had some primary colors to work with.  Now that we have been doing this sort of open ended play invitation for a little over a year, they boys jumped right in and started as soon as everything was out.

They got to use the medicine syringes to pull up the vinegar and then squirt it out onto dishes of baking soda. This was a great activity that held their attention for 40-50 minutes (until we ran out of baking soda and vinegar!) They were really excited to see the foaming and hear the noises it made.  Then they started mixing colors and the play took on a whole new direction.  They were eagerly seeing what colors they could make.  

When all the vinegar was used up they started stirring with spoons and were surprised to find the baking soda was gone!  When we decided it was time to clean up and start making dinner they both happily helped pick up the dishes and bring them to the counter.  

Fun with Tinker Toys

Because sometimes the container is more fun than what is inside it!

But not to worry, he has a serious side, too --

Hmm..Blogger insists on putting this sideways...

New Year - New Directions!

We are done with the little people chairs.  This is a bitter sweet moment.  I am thrilled because I hated tripping over them and cleaning the trays.  I am saddened because now we have to wrangle the boys at the table.  We moved the island and brought in one of their play area tables so they could 'practice' sitting and eating at a table that was the right size for them.  The 'big' table is just that - and the boosters just don't work.

Welcome to the kids table!