summer boredom buster: fun with shaving cream

My mom used to do this with us when we were kids-has anyone else tried it?  it's cheap entertainment. . .good for a solid 5 minutes distraction, right?

You start with a pie plate, cookie sheet, or otherwise flat surface.  Can you see me in the reflection?  I'm not wearing any pants.  Just kidding.

 

Grab your favorite shaving cream.

And squirt (spray? what does one do with aerosol shaving cream?) about half a cup to a cup worth.

 

And let your kiddo go to town.

 

I had my kids wear little aprons just in case they got a bit messy or wild with their shaving cream, but you really don't need to worry too much about mess-it's soap.  It cleans up really easily.

   

I like to encourage them to draw pictures or practice ABCs or whatnot.

If nothing else, their hands get really clean.

And when they're done, they smell like Daddy.  *Plus*

Try it!  It's fun.  =)

safety, punkin', safety

To replace the batteries in your little brother's toy:

Step 1:  find a flat-headed screwdriver

 

Step 2:  fit the screwdriver into the screw accordingly 

Step 3:  look adorable in your safety glasses

Step 4:  assure your mom that you know how to set up the positives and negatives

Step 5:  get 'em all in there

Step 6:  screw the battery cover back into place

 

Job well done, Cam.  And thanks for teaching us that no task is too small or mundane to worry about safety.

adventures in camping - otherwise known as "don't like the weather? wait 5 minutes" *edited*

*edited* I fixed the link to the video below. One person told me about it not working...that's great for my ego...

We got a wild hair this past weekend and decided to get out of town for a spur-of-the-moment camping trip. You know how it is, you spend a week in the house with sick kids and/or not being able to get out and do anything fun, you end up just busting to get out and do something, anything. So we did!

Packing for camping trips is anything but a quick chore, but 2 hours within deciding we were going to do it, we were off. As we got closer to the Rim, the clouds started to build, so we were a little worried about possible weather problems, but we figured we would be OK even if we got a little wet.

As we were setting up, it did rain a bit off and on, but we had the waterproof part of the tent up, as well as our pop-up awning protecting our chairs and things, so all was well. It wasn't a lot of rain either, just a few showers here and there.

The boys were such a big help, gathering firewood and helping to clear our area.

I love how Cameron documented our trip, writing a journal of sorts as the weekend progressed.

The sun shone on and off and after the showers came and went, we had a lovely clear night.

I love the clarity of the stars up north out and away from the city. Millions and millions of stars feeling so close; it's just gorgeous. The night was cool, but not uncomfortably so. My favorite part of camping is always that hour or two after the kids go to bed, when the adults stay up to play card games and drink cocoa by the fire.

The boys played a bit of frisbee the next morning. The sun was shining, the ground was drying up, and we were quickly shedding our jackets and layers of clothing.

I was just about to start slathering some sunblock on the kids when I noticed some clouds moving in.

And then this happened:

From sun and warmth to rolling thunderheads and hailstorms in minutes. We were going to just wait out the storm like we had the day before, but this storm, as you can see, totally made the ground white with hail and eventually turned it into a swampland. The kids were bound to get muddy and wet, so we just packed up our wet tent and left.

And from then on out, it was blue skies. Crazy crazy weather! But fun memories and we were so glad we went.

it's so hard being sick

So very rough. The bucket, the remote, some food, and pillows propped up as to ideal viewing of 24 hour cartoons. What more could you want?

Actually, Friday was a pretty bad day for The Amazing Mr. E. His temperature got up to 103.7. We were so worried we called the Pediatrician's office who referred us to the triage nurse. She counseled us on what to do, when to be worried, and how to treat him. No more throw up since the graduation, thank heavens.

He's so funny when he's sick. All droopy-eyed and cute. When I'd ask him if he wanted a drink, he'd say, "Probably Yes." He snoozed off and on, on my bed all day, only eating a bit of cereal for breakfast and drinking sugar free powerade and diet sprite.

What do you do for your kids when they're feeling ill?

it's not a successful activity unless there's vomit

Ethan's Preschool Graduation last Thursday night with Miss Christy was so cute!


Christy put a lot of planning into it; I'm so grateful for her and her willingness to take Ethan into her preschool the last couple of months of the school year. He really enjoyed her class. I only wish she was continuing on next year so I could send business her way. ;)


They sang a few songs detailing the things they'd learned during the year. I was very impressed with their Months of the Year song, which I neglected to get on video.







The ceremony was complete and the cookies were being delved into when Ethan threw up. Nice. He had been warm all day, but I was hoping he's just gotten too much sun earlier. I'm just happy he got through the graduation. I hope this didn't ruin the graduation for anyone else, or make anyone else sick!

interesting things about yesterday

$1300 was stolen/frauded from my Bank account using the hubby's debit card. Someone back east went on a shopping spree at Best Buy and is having a great time on my dime.

The boys had their last day of school and then my parents took Sean with them to Utah for a week.

Two complete strangers looked up my hoo-hah. (annual OB-GYN appt)

Ethan had a very delightful, very cute, very successful Preschool Graduation with Miss Christy. Then he promptly threw up. Joys.

I watched "So You Think You Can Dance?" for the very first time.

Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Discuss.

the last day of school. . .and sanity

How quickly does the school year come and go! I just love this time of the year; looking back to see the growth and changes in my kids. Cameron entered 1st grade being able to read words. He's leaving 1st grade fully able to read books, complete thoughts and sentences.

When they were a bit younger, summertime was a time for panic. How will I entertain three little beasts for 2.5 months? But last year was a turning point for us. We actually had a really great, really busy summer because they were older and able to do a bit more. That's kinda key, you know? Being able to get up and go without worrying about diaper bags or sippy cups or changes of underwear. It's kinda nice watching your kids grow up before your eyes (in contrast to what my blog may portray regarding that subject, Ben. . .you know what I'm talkin' about Bro!); it's great as some things get easier, outings, for example.

So this summer, we'll be swimming lots at the community pool, and I plan on signing each kid up for at least one extracurricular activity; anything along the lines of Aikido, Mad Science Club, Art Club, or Basketball. I don't want to be too busy, but without some kind of activities, the kiddos will go nuts which means so will I.

How do you plan on entertaining your young'uns this summer?

doin' disney-last Friday

On this second day at the park, we bounced back and forth between California Adventure (which really is made for bigger kids) and Disneyland. Disney is open earlier and later than CA Adventure, so we ping-ponged a LOT. And believe me, by about noon, our feet were feeling it!

For the first time in all my years of going to Disneyland, we made good use of the lockers by stowing away coats and jeans for the kids for later. Although the weather was perfect during the day (80 degrees all three days!) it got down into the 60s at night, which is a bit too cool for us Arizona wimps.

Sadly, Ethan was literally millimeters too small for the Grizzly River Run, so Dan and the boys went without him. He was so forlorn and depressed sitting up on the bridge as we taped the boys coming down the river. We'd brought large trash bags from the hotel to use as ponchos, which worked pretty well. The boys came off the ride completely dry-Dan unfortunately hit a waterfall just right and water poured down inside his 'poncho', but he was ok with that. Better him than the kids.

Now I love roller coasters, but I hate hate hate that drop your stomach feeling. That feeling of weightlessnses when you fall. Hate that! So this picture of me cowering into the shoulder of my beloved husband is not just a show for the camera. I was buried like this the entire ride. I can not stand the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Hate it!

All the little 3-D/4-D shows at CA Adventure are so fun! The Bugs Life encounter and Muppet show-all good stuff.

It was hilarious sitting behind the boys during the train ride, watching their little arms stay up in the air, their bodies sliding from side to side as they careened around corners. Try not to get sick as you watch these videos.

We got lucky enough to be the first in line at the monorail when it was time to board, so we got to sit in the front engine compartment. That was a new experience!

We did plenty more throughout the day, including watching one parade, eating lunch at Pizza Oom Mow Mow (?), eating dinner at this awesome little Jazz place in Downtown Disney (really cool New Orleans-esque square with live music and dancing and super yummy food), and trying the 3-D Toy Story arcade type ride over in California Adventure <---- that was SO COOL! ---> but by about 7, Ethan was pretty much done. I really wanted to stay til midnight, but for about two hours, this is how we carted him around.

And that got difficult.

Then Cameron started to fade, so by around 10, I knew we were about done.

We had one more set of Fast Passes to the Thunder Mountain railroad though, so we hit that one up one more time. Now I'm sure I've experienced this ride in the dark before, but I honestly can't remember it. It is a totally different ride at night. I absolutely loved it! While in line for that, Cameron totally fell asleep and pretty much went through the entire ride laying down on Sean's shoulder. I guess that's our cue to call it a night.

This ended up being such a great vacation. Aside from the 2 minutes when the boys first learned where we were going (who gets disappointed about a surprise Disneyland trip, I ask you?) and the 20 minutes when Cameron got lost (don't worry, I had our names and cell phone numbers on papers in each boy's pocket), everything went really smoothly. No one got sunburned (aside from a 2 inch part on top of my head-I always forget to put sunscreen on my scalp) and we came in way under budget, so. . . yay! Great times, great pictures, and I hope something that they'll remember for a long time.

Oh and damage? I gained 8 pounds. No joke. 8 POUNDS. (I already lost 4 of that, but still. . .) How is it possible for someone to gain 8 pounds in 4 days? It's not like I went nuts! (well. . . apart from my one or two or ten donuts every morning, and the large variety of fried foods at my disposal each meal) but oh well. Such is vacation, right?