Field Trip!!!

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My kids have no concept of what this means and I pondered whether I had lost my mind this morning as we set out to a local art museum for Toddler Thursdays. Then I remembered that I have no brain to speak of…so I was good 🙂

Anyway, after getting lost and ending up at the city history museum, we made it to the art museum and headed over to hear the end of the talk about color (which Zoe and Ace already know but I thought they’d have fun. Then we went to do our art activity. It turned out better than I expected.

Zoe, Ace, and Liam all made bubble art. Zoe called her’s “Bubbles of Art.” Ace called his something that was incoherent (he makes up his own language sometimes).

So here’s what ya do:
Take some dishwashing soap and drop some food coloring in it. Have the child (or you if you child doesn’t know how to blow yet) blow bubbles then place a piece of paper/cardstock on top of the bubbles. It makes really cool designs.

We only saw one child suck instead of blow and taste some yummy soap. Liam was very good at letting me blow for him and when I wasn’t paying attention he’d call out “bow, bow peas” Just a couple of spills on our part and we were good.

After the art activity, I took them around the museum. It had a lot of wonderful, beautiful paintings that Zoe and I enjoyed looking at and Ace kept wanting to touch. Liam was firmly strapped into the stroller (I may have lost my mind but I know what’s smarts!) and Josiah was napping in the stroller. Ace about gave the security guys a heart attack but they left us alone for the most part and Ace enjoyed holding my hand most of the way through. As we were walking around, Zoe said she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Surprise, surprise!! I can’t wait to see her face when she sees what “Santa” is bringing.

After the art museum we decided to head over and see what our city history museum held. To be honest, I can’t tell you about the history of our city, but I can tell you they had a cool train engine locomotive and car and a streetcar and a really great little play area that held the three olders attention while I breastfed Josiah.

So, that’s been our day and I’m hoping the kids get a nice long nap so they can play with daddy while I go out with MOPS.

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Drawing a…

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Zoe started drawing people last year (she was 3 1/2). Here’s a picture of her first drawing:
I was reminded this week how different our children are and how God has blessed them with different gifts and abilities. Notice her person is a ballerina (this is her first drawing, no lie) with a body and arms and legs in the right place.

Here’s Ace’s first drawing he did this week:

This is how preschoolers at 3 1/2 should be drawing! Ace told me this was the giant falling down. I suggested that he might want to put eyes and a mouth on it, and he informed me he already had (opps!). They’re on the right side of his face. I think the jellyfish thing beside the big person is David. I love his silliness. He’s so creative in telling stories.

I guess I’m bragging on Zoe a little bit, but Mark and I both have noticed how she seems to enjoy drawing and have a knack for drawing things. She amazes me daily as she comes up with different things to draw and can do it. Her first drawing she got upset because, she said the arms didn’t look quite right. Such a perfectionist!

And, in keeping with the season, Zoe has now been studying the art of drawing Christmas trees! She got the idea to draw them on her own and she’s been drawing them since Thanksgiving (before we got our tree or had decorations out).

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Sweet Brothers

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Liam is really starting to show how much he looks up to his big brother, Ace. I’m using this as a teaching tool for Ace so he understands what’s at stake when he acts up. He’s not really getting it.

During our “puking period” on Friday, Liam rushed over to see what Ace was doing at the potty…then proceeded to try and throw up in the potty himself. (see how sweet…just kidding…it gets cute, keep reading).

Ace then went to lay down and Liam grabbed his blanket and lambie and lay down beside Ace. Later, when Ace thought he could get up, he was sitting on the step going to the playroom and Liam came up and sat beside him and put his arm around him. It was beautiful and not a camera in sight! This may never happen again. Oh well, now it’s preserved on here for all to see.

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Christmas Parade

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On Sunday after morning worship, we braved the “harsh” autumn cold air (NOT!!!) to sit and watch the Christmas parade. By the way, I’m seriously considering turning the air on and throwing ice around the house to make it “feel” more like the cold Christmases I remember.

Anyway, here are the reactions to our kids first trip to a parade with some splashes of friends thrown in (we were not home all day until late that night…which left of asking what we were thinking…crazy parents and our idea of creating memories…yes, we’ll probably do it again next year because we lost all our brain cells when we had Zoe).

What is this strange thing before me? Why are we eating a sandwich in the middle of town?

“Phew! These people have got me worn slap out.” said Katie Bug

Liam’s expression as he watched the shriners’ on their little go karts.

Okay, so this is just funny. These are my best friends girls. I didn’t realize that Katie Bug had the snarl on her face until I got ready to put it on the blog…too cute! If you’re wondering, her and Liam are the same age and act a ton alike (very scary).
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The Great Christmas Tree Adventure

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So, a family tradition we’ve done is go to a Christmas tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree. This year we tried a farm that I’ve been watching ever since they planted the trees (it’s on the way to some friends house). This was the first year they had trees to sell and it was a lot of fun…for me, Mark, Zoe, Liam and Josiah.

Ace, however, was in a mood. From the start he complained about everything. It was too hot. He wanted to ride the hayride. He asked at least 100 times if we were done. He wanted popcorn. He wanted hot chocolate. Agghhh! Let me clarify that the moment we reached the farm, we went over how it was going down…tree, hayride, hot chocolate and popcorn.

Somehow we managed to make it through picking out a tree and the hayride to get to the good stuff. Here was where my adventure began. Mark got the hot chocolate and popcorn and I corralled everyone around the fire pit (that wasn’t lit but smoking because it went out). Then he trekked out to pay for the tree. I was holding my drink and Liam’s drinking and Josiah in the sling. In between trying to help Liam drink and keeping Josiah asleep, Zoe kept complaining that her drink was too hot. She’d try to pass it off to me and then when I wouldn’t take it, she would take a sip and complain it was too hot (ya get the picture??). Finally, she did it enough that some hot chocolate splashed on her hands. Her gut reaction was to throw the hot chocolate…at me. Thankfully, it hit my leg, the tail of the sling and my sock. I was wearing blue jeans so my leg was okay. My foot felt the major part of the drink. Of course, after it happened so was crying because she had hurt me and because she had hurt herself. I felt so bad for her.

I hope next year that our family tradition does not include chronic complaining or hot chocolate burns!

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