School Vacation Week!

We have had a great week. Barring the sinus cold I've been battling (and suspect the kids have as well), it has been a great week. The kids have had plenty of energy and it has been a fun and relaxing week.

On Monday, the weather was wonderful, so we spent some time outside and also did the grocery shopping or the week and stopped at the library. I made some baked potato soup for dinner and it was just all around fun!

Tuesday was a tougher day. The kids were both very cranky. It was still nice out, but the wind and slightly cooler air were displeasing to Beth so we didn't spend to much time outside. We did get in a lot of time bouncing on the trampoline though! The kids took turns - one would bounce and the other would run circles around the trampoline while counting.

Wednesday, we had a trial class at The Little Gym. First, Beth and I tried a parent/tot class and then Nora had her own class. While it was a lot of fun for Beth to run around, I kind of felt like it was a big price tag for what it was. Nora's class was with a friend of hers. She had a blast in the class, but I'm still unsure. They seemed to spend a lot of time sitting and waiting (they sat to wait while an inflatable bouncy mat was set up, and after they bounced along it a number of times, they had to wait while it was taken down again). There was also a long time sitting at the beginning of the class. Nora is currently in a tumbling program at the Nashua YMCA and we love the instructor but more and more equipment is getting damaged during "open gymboree" time. This has really limited what the kids are able to do. She really wants to learn to swing and spin on the bar, so I'd like to find her that opportunity. We have a trial class at a gymnastics center in Hudson on Saturday and I think we'll make the final decision after the trial.

When we finished up with our trial class at Little Gym, we went out to lunch with a surprise guest - Daddy! He met us in Westford for some lunch and then we went to the Acton Discover Museum for an hour to play. It would have been nice to stay longer, but we weren't entirely sure what to expect from the snow, so we erred on the side of caution. When we got home, there was an inch or so of snow on the grass and the kids both wanted to stay outside and play. The shoveled for a bit and then we went into the backyard to sled. Nora continued to sled for 20 minutes after Beth went inside. I think she was just excited that we had some snow!

Thursday morning. the kids woke up to find close to 8 inches of snow outside. They were super excited and we out on the deck playing in the snow before 8am! We got fully dressed and went out to play 3 times during the day. Nora had a blast - she built a snowman (she built the middle and top ball without help!), made tracks and snow angels, did some shoveling and some sledding. Beth wasn't as thrilled. She is still to petite to really be able to maneuver in the snow, so after several failed attempts, she got frustrated and started whining and crying. Poor thing! I ended up pushing her in the swing for a bit and pulling her in the sled for a few minutes. Inside, we read many stories, made rolls, made some snow ice cream, had a dance party and watched a video showing yeast in sugar water blowing up a balloon.

Friday was our big adventure day. Andy took the day off and we decided to take the kids to the Museum of Science in Boston. The day didn't start off as planned - the sliding doors on the mini van were frozen shut, so we had to let the car run for about 10 minutes so we could pry them open. But, soon enough, we were off. We parked at Alewife and took the train in. We thought Nora, who loves trains, would be excited but we were concerned about how Beth would react (she has been scared on trains or in confined spaces in the past). Imagine our surprise when Beth was a bubbly happy child and Nora was a bit overwhelmed and nervous! Luckily, it didn't take long for Nora to relax and enjoy the ride. She was very excited when we changed lines to the green line to get to Science Park! We had another little problem when we got to the museum. Usually, I get our membership through the Dover, NH Children's Museum, and this year, I got it in Boston because that was where we were when we needed to renew. Anyway, the MOS and BCM do not reciprocate because they are too close! D'oh! And even worse, we forgot Andy's badge (Raytheon employees and family get in free). Luckily, the gentleman working at the information/help desk was super kind and let us in anyway! Once inside, we had a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed many of the exhibits, although once again Nora showed her slightly timid ways when she saw the life-sized T-Rex! She was very nervous around the dinosaur! We enjoyed our afternoon and then took the T back to Alewife. Of course now if you ask Nora about the day, she excitedly tells everyone about the train ride

February Fun

I wasn't terribly good about taking photos in February either. The following are all taking from my phone, so I apologize that they are not great quality, but they do allow for everyone to see some of the fun the kids had this month!

Nora and Beth went through a few days where they made at least 10 paintings a day. It was hard to keep up - cutting the paper off the easel, making sure paint cups were full and finding places for all their artwork to dry!

For some reason, this photo makes me happy. Beth often reminds me of Little Sal from Blueberries for Sal (and One Morning in Maine, but we don't read that one very often). Seeing her in (unbuttoned) overalls made me start dreaming of summer and fruit picking!

 

 I took the girls to a local toy shop to pick out a birthday gift for a friend. Of course, once they picked out the gift, they found the books and sat down to read.

 Nora has an hour long tumbling class at the local YMCA on Friday late afternoons. Beth and I wait for her in the lobby and play. I started bringing some of our magnatiles to keep Beth entertained and they have worked out really well.

 On occasion, Beth lets me use a few magnatiles. One day, I actually got 8 magnatiles, so I built this tower. Beth delighted in knocking it over almost as soon as I finished building it.

 Nora and I were playing chase in the front yard. She peeked back at me through the trees while I was taking a quick rest.

 Both girls have enjoyed pretending to be The Big Bad Wolf lately. They want a tower built so that they can huff and puff and blow the tower down!

Beth, "reading" on the way to a birthday party!

 There was a clown at our friends birthday party and she painted Nora's face so she would look like a puppy. It's the first time Nora ever wanted her face painted and it looked so cute!

 Beth did not want her face painted, but after playing for awhile she finally decided that maybe the clown wasn't so scary. She got some balloon butterfly wings, which she adored.

The girls got silly sunglasses in their loot bags at the party. Beth loves to wear them (and ham it up for the camera).

 I'm sure I've mentioned that my girls both love books before, but here they are again, reading. This time, I'm told they are on the train riding to work.

 Nora is really starting to get interested in experimenting ( it seems to come with the age - a lot of our friends who are a year older have really become wonderful scientists!). Here Nora is using a vase to make rainbow patterns on the floor (wall, and ceiling)!

 My little goofball! Beth loves taking bubble baths and this photo just makes me smile :-).

Playing together!

Over the last week or so, the kids have really started playing well together again. It was a bit of a tough stretch between Thanksgiving and early February. The constant fighting over every little thing, the tears, the screaming, the whining. It was making for really long days! Then, we had a rather extended cold (or 2). First was two weeks of exhaustion combined with a 4 day fever. We followed that with another cold that included a few days of fever and a few weeks of wet coughing. It has been a long month! We seem to be mostly recovered from everything. Beth still has a bit of a runny nose, but the majority of the coughing has stopped.

One day last week when I was up in the night with Beth, I was totally exhausted. I got the kids breakfast and then laid down on the couch for a few minutes. The kids finished their breakfast and then started playing. They played, without one fight, for the entire morning! I was able to wake up, make some tea, pick up the breakfast dishes, and start the laundry without having to break up a fight or answer fifty questions!

Here's a photo of the girls that I just love. Both girls love books, and Nora has really enjoyed 'reading' to Beth lately. But really, what I love most about this photo, is the little bit of their personality you can see. Nora is still wearing her pajama shirt underneath her playdress and Beth has her dress on backwards.

 One of the games the kids adore playing is hide and seek. Of course, neither of them are very good about keeping quiet in their hiding location (although Nora is getting a lot better). During one round, I entered the living room to Beth "hiding" behind the chair.

Butterfly Place visit Feb. 2012

We went with some friends to the Butterfly Place in Westford, MA this week. It opens on Valentines Day for the season, so all the plants were still small and there weren't too many butterflies. There were enough butterflies to have a nice trip though! One of the butterflies landed on Nora almost as soon as we entered the room and it really freaked her out, but she was totally fascinated at the same time.

More baking soda and vinegar fun!

Nora loves baking soda and vinegar experiments. She was very excited when I asked her if she wanted to blow up a balloon using the "fizz" from the reaction. We used a funnel to put some baking soda inside a balloon and then put some vinegar in a bottle. I stretched the balloon over the top of the bottle.

Here's Nora right before we started the reaction.

 Lifting up the balloon to dump the baking soda into the vinegar.

 Watching the balloon inflate with carbon dioxide.

 At one point, the balloon inflated enough to fall over to the side. It surprised Nora a bit, but she really enjoyed this experiment.

We have repeated this experiment a number of times. Both girls love watching the balloon inflate! We ended up inflating one balloon with the carbon dioxide and another with regular air. It was really interesting to compare them. I wish I had taken photos. We noticed that the "gas" filled balloon fell to the ground much quicker than the 'breath' filled balloon, which seemed to float down a little more. Then, the next morning when Nora picked up the 'gas' filled balloon, she noticed right away that it had shrunk significantly in size! The 'breath' filled one didn't seem to change overnight.

Valentine's Day

February 14 and we were outside in a mid-weight fleece jacket! After I dropped Nora off at school with her bag full of homemade Valentines cards, Beth and I went to her tumbling class. The second we got home, Beth asked if she could ride her bike. So, instead of going inside for a snack, I opened the garage door and we played outside until it was time to pick up Nora.

 Nora made Valentine's for us at school. She was so proud to give them to us!

 Here are the Valentine's Nora made for school. I cut out butterflies and Nora decorated them. They came out really cute. Some were simple (like the one I have a photo of) and some were elaborate with lots of rhinestones and glitter glue. Nora's preschool teachers told me how excited Nora was to hand out her cards to her classmates. They were also happy to see that Nora is given artistic freedom at home. Unfortunately, when Nora got home from school, she was upset because all the other girls in her class gave out princess valentines (Disney princess/fairy, with princess lollipops). We talked for a bit about how special her cards were because they were so different. By the end of the day, she was back to being proud of her cards.

 We actually made these cookies the day after Valentine's Day. Nora requested roll our chocolate cookies, so that's what we made. i let the kids decorate them with some icing and sprinkle sugar. we had some pretty silly looking cookies.

Project with daddy

Nora and Beth really enjoy doing projects with daddy. We picked up a few simple wooden kids from Lowe's for them to put together. They picked a pirate ship and a wooden planter box with a clear front window (so you can see the roots). The kids were very excited to build something and have daddy help them! I have a feeling there will be many more projects with daddy in the future!

What happened to January?

After the craziness of the holiday season, January was definitely a recovery time! We had many lazy days spend reading or painting. The kids continued to have this vibration about them a few weeks into January and we spent a lot of time playing with new gifts - dress up clothes, trampoline, dollhouse, games, puzzles. I didn't take too many photos during January either.

One fun thing we did in January was wet felt. Nora wet felted in preschool last year, but Beth has never tried it. I got out some wool, a washbin and some soap and covered the floor with a shower curtain and a table cloth so that water wouldn't end up everywhere! I let the kids pick out what colors they wanted for balls (we had a felt ball kit from Peace Fleece). The kids really enjoyed the project, and once the balls were done, they played in the soapy water for awhile too.

 After playing in the water, Beth stood up and was very upset that she somehow got all wet!

 We had a small snowfall in January and the kids were up and dressed in record time! They both wanted to play in the snow. we ended up spending a lot of time outside, both before and after school!

Nora making a snow angel!

 Making footprints before school.

 Side by side snow angels.

 We made a snowman in the front yard. He had eyebrows, arms, eyes nose and mouth. He was also just about as big as we could make him and still have a little snow on the ground!

 The kids were looking for sticks and mulch to make eyes and arms for their snow people.

 Nora was very excited to test out her snowtube. Luckily, the snowy grass was just enough to allow her to glide down the hill.

 Beth had a blast jumping in puddles. One one sunny morning, she ran around in the puddles for almost an hour. Then we had to run inside to change her clothes so we could pick Nora up from preschool!

 There wasn't enough snow left by the end of the week to make another snowman, have a snowball fight or sled, so I put some colored water into spray bottles and let the kids spray paint the snow. They had a blast!

Red Cabbage juice!

We didn't do much science (or art, or anything non-Christmas related) during December. The kids were so interested in Christmas, that they wanted to do Christmas craft projects, baking, holiday fairs, holiday adventures. Even their pretend play was heavily holiday related (wrapping gifts for each other). However, on one rather nice weekend afternoon, I made some red cabbage juice and set up a "kitchen" for the kids to play outside.

Red Cabbage juice is pretty easy to make. Boil red cabbage for 10 minutes or so, strain out cabbage and the liquid remaining is stinky, but fun!

Red cabbage juice acts as a litmus test. It starts off a grape purple color. Add baking soda, and it turns blue, add vinegar and it turns red. Mix the red and blue together, get purple fizz! If you add a drop or two of dish soap, you get purple foam instead (the soap helps trap the gas released from the reaction, so you get a better visual reaction).

 

I showed the girls the basics and explained briefly the how and why. Then, I let them play! They were both pretty fascinated with the experiment. Nora turned a bunch of juice varying shades of red, and then added baking soda to make fizz in reds and purples, depending on how acidic the juice was to start. Beth mostly just wanted to see the fizz, so she kept dumping vinegar straight onto baking soda and really didn't care as much about the juice.