Happy Campers

I decided that the kids needed a change, something new and fun. What better than to get out the huge honking camping tent (that has never been used outside, mind you!) and set it up for the kids to go camping!! They have all been 'explorers' lately, laden down with their flashlights, keys, binoculars, wallets, and calculators. (Not sure about those last two, but whatever, they are happy!!) They squealed with delight when we set up the tent, then immediately went to fetch their sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, books and camping lantern. Dave then decided that they needed a campy lunch, so they had veggies, dip, hummus, fruit, crackers and juice boxes. I tell you, you've never seen a more contented crowd!! Dave then got out his guitar and played some camping tunes. Does 'I shot the Sheriff' count as a camp song?? And of course, you can't go camping without your faithful camp dog.

Crash's first bath inside

Today, Crash had his first real bath (he had one when he was very young, but it was out of desperation as he was covered in sh**) and I am not sure who got more out of it, Crash or the kids! The pictures chronicle the entire episode.

Caleb in his bathing suit, getting all in the groove!! (The kids LOVED the fact that they wore their bathing suits, in January no less!!)

Crash before he realizes what is about to befall him.

Potter getting into a good vantage point!

Hundreds of hands, scrubbing, washing, rinsing, it was a flurry of motion.

A good ariel shot of what was happening. To our credit, Crash only escaped once out of the tub!

'Please, someone get me out of here. Hey, you, buddy with the camera........'

Me, now that we are almost done washing. I was wetter than the dog.

Gettin' a good shake goin' on!!!

The boys really didn't want to get out of the tub; that would signal that swimsuit time is over.

'Special' lunches

On the way home from UPK yesterday, Molly requested that I make a 'special' lunch. Knowing what was in the fridge, that was going to be a stretch!!! But, with a little creativity, I did come up with something neat that both she and Caleb loved! Then today, they asked for a repeat, so I had to do it again - oh the pressure to be supermom!!!!

This is actually today's (Friday's) lunch. This is what the scene is supposed to be:

The chicken nugget is the trunk of a tree with cucumber leaves. The black olives are a caterpillar on the ground, the pretzel is a butterfly and the cheese acts as both clouds, and a sun with carrot sunbeams.

This is Thursday's lunch:

Black olives serving as dirt, cucumber sticks acting as both grass and flower stems, ham as the 'tulips' atop the stems, cheese acting as snow on the spring ground, with rainbow rotini acting as, well, a rainbow.

Potter at the Geography Bee

Potter participated in the finals for the Geography Bee for his school this past Wednesday. He had made it through two previous rounds, both written. This last round to select a winner for the school was part written, part oral. Potter was more worried about being in front of soooo many people than he was about the actual questioning!!! Although he did not win the entire Bee, he came in 3rd place!!! And out of the 10 finalists, only 2 were in 4th grade, the other 8, including the winner, were in 5th grade. Proud of my boy!!!

Potter on stage, ready to go!!

Potter watching the slide show of all the contestants, and this was him on the big screen. (My pictures stink because I forgot my camera, so these were all taken with my iPhone. grrrr)

Reading the rules and directions!!

Potter correctly answering 'Which city in the midwest has the largest population?' Do you know the answer? See the end of my post.

Taking a bow before the two finalists finish up!

City with the largest population in the midwest = Chicago

Jumping Jungle

The kid's preschool had a fundraiser today at the Jumping Jungle, which is a huge arena of inflatables. They were scheduled for a 2 hour window of jumping, running, and bouncing time! It is a cool place to go in the winter, when you need the kids to expel some of that pent up energy :) Since motion was very fast, it was hard to get good pictures, but I attempted to do so. Lots of fun and smiles all around!!!!

Molly coming down at mach 4

Potter and Caleb going through an obstacle course to get to the huge slide
Caleb and Potter made it all the way down
Molly tries a different way of heading down
Caleb going head and face first!!!

Crash having fun too

Potter heads down the hill

Dave on the sled

Dave going down the hill.....

Sledding at Merseareau Park

After getting another 3-4 inches of snow last night, we decided to head over to Merseareau Park (just a 3 minute drive away from our house) and take the kids sledding on the berm that separates the park from the river. It was about 20 degrees with a windchill of 12, and boy let me tell you that wind is pretty wicked up on the berm! We almost lost our new inflatable tube sled to the wind that carried it over the berm and almost all the way down to the river, but luckily it sort of stuck on a huge blob of snow so that I could rescue it. Thirty minutes was about the max that we could take with the wind, but there was LOTS of very fun sledding to be had there. We'll go back the next snow that we have!!

Caleb headed over for some sledding

The whole gang racing to be first to sled
Potter reaches the top, ready for his first run down the hill
Making sled tracks makes the next ride go even faster!!
Caleb takes a break on the hill
Dave after his turn down on the tube sled. (See video in the other post!)

Crash gets off his leash and has a blast running through the snow, which is all the way up to his belly!
Molly in a wave of snow, heading down on the tube sled
Why not go down on your belly, sans sled?
Heading back to the van, Caleb gets a free ride

Like my new gadget??

Am going to be better about reading this year (grown up books that is, I read plenty of elementary aged books) and so I have decided to share my list of books from this year with you, my dedicated followers!! If any of you read something good and would like to share with me, email me or leave a comment and I'll share it with the rest of my blogees!! The books that I have read so far this year (1 - give me a break it is only January 8th!!) appear to the left of this post.

Kid's bedroom changes

After a wee bit of a wait, Molly and Caleb both got their new beds today!!!! We went right after Christmas to buy Molly her own double bed (which could not get delivered until today) and then Caleb got his 'new' bed which was the twin that Molly was giving up. They each got to pick out new sheets. Surprise, Molly picked out Princesses and Caleb, surprise again, picked out Star Wars. They go nicely with the Star Wars blanket that he got for Christmas. Momentarily, Caleb is headed up to sleep in his new bed, and Molly will have to wait until bedtime. Starting in 2010, she no longer has to take naps, just have quiet time in the afternoon. It is truly hard to believe how grown up our children are getting. It is evidenced by the number of baby and toddler items that we continue to give away.

This morning, before the switcheroo

After the big change! A note to all of you who may not be aware, the bedframe that Molly is now using belonged to my grandmother (my dad's mom) and is extremely special to me. I am happy, as is Doode, that Molly is now using it :)
Molly's new bed
Caleb's new bed

Huge (dressed) snowman....and baby

The snowman is now fully clothed, and Potter and Molly decided he needed a friend. (You may be wondering where Caleb is during all of this. As I type, he is snuggled on Dave's lap in front of the fire, drinking his chocolate milk.)

Huge snowman

The kids used almost every last flake (not really) to make a really huge snowman. That was this morning, and this afternoon he is starting to melt. I might try to snag another picture of him fully 'dressed' before he topples down. This was very impressive!!!!

Sledding, sledding, sledding

To avoid major head trauma, Dave and I try to cover up the wood pile at the end of the sledding path. There 'twernt enough snow for that, so we instead ended up standing down there to catch and deflect the sleds to the woods for a longer, more fun ride. The looks on their faces as they came down the hill = priceless!! And someone couldn't run fast enough back up the hill to do it over and over!

Happy New Year!! It's 2010!!!!

The start of another year was enhanced by the 3-4 inches of snow that we FINALLY got yesterday, against what was predicted, which was a light dusting. The kids were in heaven, playing outside in the snow and today the frivolity carried on! We had a lot of fun with the new sled from Santa and the sled from last year as well. All the kids were just giggling uncontrollably as they headed down the hill in the backyard. Such a good time!!!