These Are the Days….

Going to school and teaching school are some of the best times of my life. I was born to learn! So I want that for my children desperately, but I have 2 very active boys who think sitting in a desk all day and doing EXTRA homework are nightmares. Oh, well, they look cute in their uniforms anyway.

Kindergarten and second grade!! Both boys were thrilled to start school, not so thrilled to keep going back. In all fairness, we had the hottest days of the summer AFTER school started. Isn't that the way it always goes? So hard to listen and think and work after running around in 110 degrees. They started school on a Wednesday and the following Monday, Lionel looked at me like I was crazy when I asked him to get ready for school. "But I already went to school!" he proclaimed, as if those three days were it for kindergarten. Oh, sweet boy! There are 180 days of kindergarten! But they are flying already… So we are working on getting this school routine down. They do great in the mornings - breakfast, dressed, brushed, backpacks, and out the door. But asking them to do homework once they've kicked off their shoes and had a snack is a battle. They've both had a special volunteer in their classrooms (Mama) and soon I will be walking the halls as a substitute. Back to school, indeed.

Summer Wrap-Up

Okay, so I have not posted with the commitment I promised. As much as I yell at the boys about sitting still, it's not easy for me to sit at the computer for hours either. So I will be combining…a lot. The rest of the summer was okay. We got bored, for sure. We hit up the water park many times, some with friends, some with Dad. I can honestly say that I loved going there. It was easy and fun, but we need Lionel to grow one more inch before our family can access everything at the park. I told him next summer, but the truth is, Lionel will probably grow that inch in the next few months. Kid is a bean pole! And that is why this photo of him is so precious to me…

Camp Mama started to fizzle as the boys began to get bored with anything and everything. I did attempt child labor by making "washing the car" a new fun game. And we got to eat the rock candy that we grew. That experiment worked quite well, but I learned a lesson a little too late about not allowing the crystals to form on the glass. I guess we don't really use champagne flutes anyway…

Billy took two weeks off and just hung out with us. We drove up to Flagstaff and rode the ski lift to an elevation of 11,000 feet! I am not afraid of heights, but it was starting to get to me! The boys loved it, but that sitting still thing? Even harder in an open basket hanging from a wire.

The boys also did some "American Ninja Warrior" obstacles in the woods. They became completely obsessed with that show this summer. I have to admit that I got into it, too. I found Everett in the garage lifting weights in order to "train". That one is all about authenticity.

There was an epic pirate ship built - complete with an ironing board "plank". And Everett built a highway, traffic jam and all.

Then, as if the summer had flown by, it was over. Kindergarten and second grade, here we come!

Camp Mama Update

Here are some more highlights from Camp Mama. We also made some yummy treats like cornbread, yogurt bark, homemade popsicles, and french toast bites. We tried some new foods like gnocchi (everyone LOVED it!), apricots, eggplant, kiwano melon (DO NOT try it! Disgusting!) The activities below were some of my favorites. Moon sand is a mix of flour and baby oil and it was really soft and smelled delightful. It was a big hit - messy - but kept them busy for a long time. Lionel wondered if that is really what the sand on the moon felt like. The boys LOVED building their own boats and the wind cooperated that day and sailed them all over the pool. The ice block treasure hunt was just awesome! They loved freeing their little toys and it was the perfect thing on a hot afternoon. They had been patiently waiting to do the cup building ever since they spied the Costco bag of cups in my closet! That was super fun and I will pull that out again and again. Bubble snakes were fun, but they didn't make the long snake-like shapes I thought they would. We created our own original board game called Stano Swamp! Don't get caught in the mud or let a gator get you! Pool noodles and balloons make a great game - who would have thought? And finally, add Pop Rocks to a coke and blow up a balloon! Science in action.

Los Angeles

We packed it up for a 3 day weekend in Los Angeles. A little road trip, a little hotel pool, a little playing on the beach. We enjoyed 70 degree temperatures and digging holes in the sand. There were doughnuts and burgers to compliment this Father's Day mini-break.

Catching Up with Camp Mama

We've had some fun days at Camp Mama! There was homemade slime, Scrabble, mega train track building, play dough, puzzles, and stringing cereal to make snack necklaces.

Cousin Adam

We welcomed some visitors in early June. It was baby Adam, Uncle Jamie, and Aunt Lynn's first time swimming in our pool. I think everyone loved it!

Camping 2015

We did it. We ventured an hour and a half north, set up our tent, made a fire, and roasted hot dogs and s'mores. We camped! The boys loved being outdoors, especially in the river. We froze in our tent under the stars, but really had fun.

Camp Mama: Week One

Here at Camp Mama, we do 4 things each day. We MAKE something, we PLAY something, we EAT something, and we EXPLORE something. It has been fun seeing the boys race downstairs to check the Camp Mama board. Some activities have been winners and some fizzled during my introduction. But this schedule keeps us on track, lets us be creative, and keeps us busy almost all morning. Here are some MAKE activities we did this week…

We started the week with mini greenhouses. We used rotisserie chicken containers and planted spearmint and basil. We made wind socks to welcome summer and decorate the back patio. We spent a good 45 minutes on sand bottles - th boys loved this activity! Here are some EAT things we did…

Squeezing lemons for a yummy frozen lemonade drink! We made the PERFECT salsa! I will never buy jarred salsa again! The kids loved it, too, and we even made homemade tortilla chips to go with it. We did a cool activity where we painted our bread and then toasted it and topped it with cinnamon sugar. It came out great! And what summer is complete without my classic breakfast picnic? It was even cool out that day. Here are some of our PLAY activities…

We played ring toss. And we played the classic game of "Huckle Buckle Beanstalk" with Iron Man. You can see him hiding in the picture. We also rode bikes, played air hockey, created a restaurant called "Blues Cafe" and took turns being the cook, waiter, and customer, and raced some really cool ballon rockets. For our exploring this week, we took field trips to the pet store, Oasis open gymnastics studio, a new library (Everett got his first library card!!) and the water park. And of course, we did a lot of swimming and popsicle eating, too. And Everett found a baby lizard in our yard and named him Ed. We set him free despite the boys begging to keep him. Where could we put a lizard??

It was a great intro to Camp Mama and a fun week with my boys.