Challenge Day 17- Small motor skills

I haven't been writing recently, but we have definitely been playing! On day 17 we busted out the spray bottles and syringes and droppers. The kids love these bottles of colored water. They play forever. They enjoy making different color combinations and seeing what they can mix with what.

On this particular day, Mia decided to play along! She didn't do much but stand and yell and put things in her mouth, but she loves it too! Since this day was a few days ago, I don't remember very many details, so I will leave you with the picture. Enjoy my cute babies!

Challenge Day 16- Star Gazing

After several gorgeous spring afternoons outside, our Northern location caught up with us. The temps dropped and we are once again stuck inside :(

However, this won't stop us from playing! Today we were star gazing! I took a giant moving box and poked holes with a box cutter in the top. After cutting all the holes, I stuck the bulbs of Christmas lights in the holes. Okay, this was SERIOUSLY cool!

The kids were entranced and so was I. I only wish the box was big enough for me to lay in. This box seemed so hypnotic. Bella sat and stared and played for hours. I would say this was another success, thanks to an idea on Play At Home Mom's blog!

I cannot wait until the weather warms up and we can go back outside. We're all itching to play outside some more!

Challenge day 13-15 Spring has sprung!

The past few days we played outside. Again and again and again. We didn't do much else. It's just too beautiful to stay inside. The first day we played in our yard and had an invitation. The next two days, we played at the playground. I'll break down the days the best I can, even though there's not many details. So, this will be mostly pictures.

The first day (Day 13), was so gorgeous Daddy wanted to wash the car and we all played. I put some soapy water into jars and gave the kids food coloring to mix in it and giant straws. I explained (after Bell attempted to drink the soapy water), that we were going to play with bubbles! Jeremiah loved this one. He loved making different color bubbles. Bell, after tasting it, wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, she hoarded the food coloring and became a mixologist and drop by drop put it all into one jar. Ending up with a murky brown color. She was pleased with herself.

After this I took yet another idea from the PAHM blog. I took plastic bottles, cut off the bottom and rubber banded a piece of towel to the bottom. I then wet the towel and put some soap on it. When you blow into the bottle it makes like a bubble snake. SO. COOL! Bella was scared of it (LOL), but Jeremiah loved it. It was a little difficult for him to do (Bella wouldn't have been able to do it), but he liked it. He wanted me to do it for him. I blew into that dang bottle for so long, I gave myself the hiccups.

While Jeremiah was doing this, Bella got out some toys from the shed to play with. When Jey was done, I got a bubble gun thing and used some of the soapy water and made bubbles for the kids to chase. They loved this, until Jey got bubbles in his eye :( He was fine. He's a tough kid :) Mia woke up  in here some time and came out and wanted to snuggle and nurse. Oh no! Not nursing and baby snuggles! How horrid! Oh, ok baby, I GUESS I will just have to hold you until you're tired of being cuddled. Oh, DARN.

Daddy and Jey then went to play soccer in the yard and the girls and I went to sit and play. Mia was loving the warm sun and brisk wind. Bell was picking flowers and running around. She would alternate between playing with Amelia and I and playing soccer with the boys.

That was about it for this day. LOTS of fun and the kids slept in late! Win-Win!


The next day (Day 14), we went to the playground with some friends. I don't have any pictures of it, for two reasons. 1- It was too fun to take pictures! 2- There was an issue with some neighborhood kids acting TERRIBLY inappropriate and I had to talk to their mother, in fear of one little girl's well being. :( I've spoken to the proper authorities and hopefully the situation will be resolved and the little girl will not be subjected to any behavior like that ever again. Poor little girl.

Skip to the NEXT day (Day 15), we went to the park again! This time with a snack picnic and Daddy in tow! We had SO much fun. We all climbed and went down the slides. Even Mia! It was so nice to get out in the sun with my family. Ahhh, how I adore them! I'm so incredibly blessed for my beautiful family. Now time to get out there and PLAY!

Challenge Day 12- Ice and sun!

They look like gum drops!

I'm going to put the invitation from the day my Mom left and yesterday's all in one post. Because, well, I'm lazy.

The afternoon after my mom left, I was super excited for the invitation I had planned. I had taken a dome shaped ice cube tray and frozen colored water in it. I set up the ice cubes on their light table with some petri dishes, droppers, syringes, and hot water. I wanted them to explore the temperatures and how they affect each other. They LOVED it! I only wish I had more ice cubes for them to play with. Next time, I think I will freeze several batches over a few days, so they can play longer. I got right in there with them on this one. Bell of course, wanted to eat it. Luckily, it didn't taste like much, because I'm not fond of them ingesting food coloring. Either way this was a TOTAL success and we will be doing this again in the near future. Hopefully outside, when it warms up and the baby will get in on the action too.

fun fun

Then yesterday, I set up a bunch of different crafts. There was coloring with crayons, markers, and colored pencils. There was construction paper and scissors. There was glue with paper and colored rice, and there was also play dough.  This was also a big success. Mostly, they wanted to color with the markers, because, before now, I have not allowed markers in the house. I've been too afraid of the mess. But it was fine. Just like I should have known it was. Bell had marker all over herself, but she "looked so pretty". lol They've been seeming rather bored with the rice and play dough. I need to find some new ideas for them to stay engaged with the activities.

Later in the day we went outside to embrace the impending Spring weather. I had some strawberry plant seedlings I needed to plant while we were out there. We got out the soil, planters, water and seedlings. We took turn digging hole and planting the seedlings.  Bella, apparently, has no issue getting dirty with DIRT. She will dig and get as messy as any other kid. It seems to be only "controlled messes" she is not fond of. mmhmm. I'm beginning to catch on to your plot, little lady.

The weather was beautiful and Mia crawled around exploring her surroundings. She played with the gardening tools and ate some dirt. Typical baby things. I bet that dirt was DELICIOUS! (not so much). The kids also, had some "just add water" plants that they opened and added water to. Bell had Basil and Jeremiah had Bell Peppers. They added the water and fluffed the expanding soil. They just wanted to walk around with them, not leave them to bask in the sun. They weren't too happy when I tried explaining it would take a long while for the plants to actually grow. My children are more the instant gratification type.

Eventually the predicted meltdowns started and it was time to go inside for naps. The first outside play of the season must have wore them all out, because ALL THREE TOOK A NAP! No, you don't understand. This is a rare phenomenon that has happened like five times EVER in our house. It was so blissful. I laid on the couch and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It was fantastic!

More play today and another blog tomorrow :)

Challenge -Break for Mom

The "bottom" one is milk :(

I took a break from the "Challenge" the past few days due to my Mom's visit. This in NO way means we didn't play! We did a lot of running around and playing with 'Nani'. I'll just sum up the past few days all in one post.

Nani got here on Wednesday evening and we had dinner and played until bed time.

On Thursday, my Mom was willing to help me bring all 3 kids to the allergist. Mia was getting tested for a peanut and milk allergy. The milk instantly showed up as positive. Poor baby. The peanut did not show up, but due to a previous face-swelling indecent, the allergist wanted blood tests done.  We took Mia to the lab and after poking and proding my poor baby like cattle, and getting NO blood, they finally stopped and I refused to allow them to poke her another time. I said I would return once they had lancets and could finger prick her. WHY they did not have these on hand, I will never know.

After traumatizing my poor infant, we decided to get some lunch. It was scrumptious. The kids all downed their food like they hadn't eaten in days. Which is always good. Good appetites, to me, means one of two things. They've been playing hard, or they're growing through a growth spurt. 

<3

After lunch we went shopping and got some things to play with and some plants to plant our recently arrive strawberry plants in. I believe all 3 kids (and my mom) fell asleep on the way home. It WAS a rather long day.

On Friday, we had intended to take the kids to the local children's museum, but I needed to go to the grocery store. When I grocery shop, it's an all day affair. I had to go the next town over to stock up on meat (IE chicken and ground turkey), like I do every 6 weeks or so. And THEN I had to go to the grocery.

Mom came with and we ONLY took Jeremiah. He ate up all the one on one attention. Daddy stayed home and spent time with Bella, while the baby apparently took the best nap of her life. LOL She got 4-5 hours of UNINTERRUPTED napping. I don't know if she has EVER had the opportunity to do that. I know I've never been away from her that long and it wasn't fun. I missed her little face. I missed Bella too, of course. But, there is something about your nurslings eyes that make your heart break, when you cannot look into them. 

Later that evening, the kids busted out the play dough they found cleaning out the basement the other day. It was given to them long ago, but I never let them play with it, in fear of the mess. That's no longer an issue in this house!

Fun stuff!

My Mom just left and it was a sad goodbye. We'll see her again soon, though. We had a fun invitation today, but I'll save that for the next post. Time to get back to playing!

Challenge Day 11- Spring Cleaning

Nuts right!?

Today we were cleaning the house and basement to prepare for my Mother, who is coming into town tomorrow. I was in the basement most of the morning and the kids decided they wanted to be down there too. I swear, with all the toys they were finding, it was like Christmas all over again!

I went through and piled all the baby items (strollers, high chair, bouncy seat) in  one area. I also went through boxes and threw out all the crap I knew we would never use. Then came the tubs.... Oh, mountains and MOUNTAINS of tubs. Most full of clothing. I will shortly be sorting them into sizes and sending them to friends who have children that it will actually fit, setting aside things Mia will grow into.

After sorting through junk and doing tons of laundry, we came up stairs and ate some lunch. The kids had crafts of their choosing. They chose play dough and glue with colored rice and made some lovely art work. We're talking fridge worthy, here. Ok, maybe not... But they had fun.

purdy art

After they did their crafts, we made dinner. It was my first attempt at pesto. With no food processor, no less. It was fantastical. Everyone gobbled it down and made sure to say how much they liked it. Extra points for mom.

THAAAAAT'S RIGHT!

After dinner, well... time for dishes. I decided to see if Jeremiah could step up the the plate here. He THRIVES on structure and designated tasks. He's been successfully emptying the entire dishwasher, for months. He also helps load it when I hand him the dishes. I asked him if he wanted to try to DO the dishes. He EXCITEDLY answered yes. Ok, buddy... go for it! Boy did he! He rinsed and scrubbed and was excited to use the sprayer. He successfully loaded and started the sink full of dishes. WHAAAAT?! Is this possible? Can my 5 year old REALLY do the dishes? Is that sad that I'm RIDICULOUSLY excited about this? I have no intention of making him a slave (ok maybe in my mind, he will be a dish slave). But, the help every so often (especially if he asks to help), will be awesome. He's also a great vacuum-er. LOL $50 to rent him for the day ;)

Challenge Day 10- The weather is DIVINE!

We started the morning with the rice we dyed and the light table. They had jars and beakers and petri dishes. They had a blast with the table. They love anything colored. They're such imaginative children! They love to pretend to cook. They'll make anything and everything you ask for. And some things you don't.

We played for a little while but the NEED to get outside in the 60 degree weather was killing all of us. I wanted to try this invitation I saw this morning on Play At Home Mom's blog. You mix corn starch with baking soda and food coloring for a paint slurry. You then pour/spray it with vinegar and it bubbles up like crazy! Well, for us, this was a total bust. Jey touched it for all of 5 minutes, dumped the baking soda all over and watched until the bubbles died and was over it. LOL Oh well, we wanted to play soccer anyways.

Doesn't Mia look AWESOME?!

We all went to the side yard to play. Bell had no interest in playing. She was busy exploring and finding the first flowers of spring. Mia sat and collected and munched on pine straw, in her horribly mis-matched outfit. It was so ugly it was hilarious. Honestly, I was too excited to get outside to care what she was wearing. I just needed her to be warm. The wind here is always strong. That was my only concern.

Daddy and Jeremiah were practicing soccer techniques. Then I decided to jump in and try to show Daddy up. I was holding my own, as best I could. Then my body laughed at me. My chest tightened up and I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. My body was like "AHAHAHAH Did you forget you had asthma?!". I went inside, grabbed my inhaler and sat the rest of the time out and played with the baby. OH DARN!

We had so much fun outside, it's ridiculous. As much as I LOVE the winter, I'm looking forward to playing outside more with these kids!

Challenge Day 9- A Rough Day

It was a rough day. A REALLY rough day. It started with the baby being up vomiting all night, so I had another night with virtually no sleep.  This was coupled by the fact that I was out of coffee creamer. I LITERALLY cannot function without caffeine. I remember a few short years ago, making fun of my parents b/c they NEEDED caffeine to function. I was like "Just wean yourself off!". Enter 3 kids in 5 years and my addiction to caffeine. So I'm running on no sleep, worried about my puking infant and have no caffeine to help me through the day.

I'm not even going to attempt to lie. I put movies on for the kids ALL day. I can try to make it sound good and be like "We had a movie day!", but let's be realistic. The TV was my baby sitter today. I HATE saying that, but it's true. I TRIED to function, but it really wasn't possible.

I did actually MAKE lunch for the kids. We made tacos. They enjoyed helping with that. They both love tacos. Then again, who doesn't?

I laid on the couch and tried to gather the motivation to do, well, anything. I just couldn't. The caffeine headache was also imminent. Daddy was working night shift... I didn't even pack him any food to take to work. I mean, NOTHING. He ate tacos at lunch and then went to work with nothing. WIFE FAIL. He understood, and assured me it was okay. What a sweet man.

Once Daddy left, I HAD to muster up some energy to feed the muchkins. I made a combination of my chili and black bean soup. So? Black Bean Chili? It was good, not great. Everyone ate it, which is the important part.

While I was cooking, I DID set up an invitation for Bella with the colored ride we made the day before. I gave her rice and paper and glue and let her go at it. She had fun and made me some beautiful artwork. LOL

She had fun :)

There was rice and glue everywhere, but she enjoyed it. That's what mattered.

Jeremiah got to play his Wii during this time. He doesn't get to play much, so he was thrilled. He will also whoop our butts at any Wii game.

So the day pretty much stunk. Television and video games. Part of me wants to feel like a failure, but the other part realizes that EVERYONE has days like this.

Aiming for a better day today!

And the aftermath and artwork :D

Challenge Day 8- Fun with Friends

On this day I had 5 kids, ages 5 and under in my house. Needless to say I'm exhausted at the moment. I was watching the children of a dear friend, so she could go on a retreat with the youth ministry she leads.

I had NO idea what to give the kids as an invitation. I WANTED to take them all outside, but about an hour after we woke up, it started snowing. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to play in. Just enough to keep us indoors.

Bell looks thrilled

I knew the kids would all love cloud dough, but I didn't know how her children would do with it. They're great kids, don't get me wrong, but I would probably lose my cool if flour was ground into my couch or was being thrown. I don't know. My kids are messy with it, so it probably would have been fine. But, my mind went to like worst case scenario. I'm learning to allow the messes, but you've got to crawl before you can walk. I also, was not comfortable bathing her children (b/c they WOULD have needed it), without her permission.

I decided to play with something clean! Shaving cream paint! I made two trays of paint and put it in the middle of the table and told them to go at it. Jeremiah immediately dug in. Isabella, as always, wouldn't touch it. Lily and Ali had a little bit of a reservation, but in the end had fun.

WHEW! That was a fun 5 minutes. You know kids... monkey see, monkey do. Lily decided she was done after 5 minutes, so the others followed suit. ::sigh:: OK, let's get cleaned up.

The kids washed up and ran off to play. Later on we tried another invitation, one I've been DYING to try. Home made Play Dough! It was a recipe you cooked and then I kneaded color into it. I let each of the kids take turn putting ingredients into the pot and stirring. They quickly lost interest and went off to play again.

Once the dough was made, I kneaded in the coloring. I divided the batch into quarters and made blue, red, yellow, and green. I divided each of the colors into quarters as well and rolled them into balls. Each kid had a small lump of each color. I set it on the table and didn't say anything. It took them a couple minutes to notice it, but it finally piqued their interest.

They all climbed up to the table and started exploring. "What IS it?" Jeremiah asked. "Well, what does it feel like?" I replied. He said it was soft, warm, pretty, round, and of course, squishy! Once I was like "Yes, it is. Just like play dough!" You could see the light bulbs turn on and they all immediately started squishing and molding like tiny artists.

Why is it hard for me to watch my kids play with something in a way that I would not? For example, Jeremiah squished all his colors together until it looked like a hot mess. I was thoroughly annoyed by this. How could he? I JUST made that? Now he doesn't have 'colors'... just a nasty mess. I had to step back and breathe. There's NOTHING... I repeat... NOT. A. DANG. THING. wrong with what he did. But, why did it annoy me so much? Then I realized, it's b/c it was not the way I would have done it. Learning that about myself will definitely help on this journey. He's just a kid, and to him, the possibilities are endless! He isn't limited by not having separate colored dough. He now has a NEW color and the biggest blob of dough on the table! He proceeded to make a snowman :)

Lily, again, lost interest. She went and sat on the couch, kind of moping. I went and sat with her to talk to her. She wasn't feeling well, and she was obviously missing her mama. I took her temperature and with a low grade under arm temperature, I gave her the tylenol her mom had left for her. I pointed out to her, that her and Jeremiah do not get to see each other very often and she should play AS MUCH as she could. With that, she seemed to perk up a bit and went off to play with the other kids.

Not long after this, we started getting ready for Breezy to make her way back and get the girls. We gathered their things and deflated the air mattress. Breezy came, we made dinner and they got on the road to go home.

Daddy and I were enjoying the silence after 2 days with 5 kids. Mia was playing with the kids earlier in the day, so she fell asleep about 5 o'clock, maybe sooner. Around 9, I had Daddy go get Mia so she could be awake for a bit (so she would sleep tonight), and to eat her dinner. I gave Mia her bowl of carbonara and she gobbled it down.

Unfortunately for us, about a half hour after Mia ate, she projectile vomited all over me and the couch. We quickly cleaned her up and made sure she was ok. I got the little machine and cleaned the upholstery on the couch. She nursed and drank some water and stayed up for a bit longer, until she started rubbing her eyes. I called Breezy and asked about Lactose Intolerance.  The carbonara had Parmesan cheese in it. We normally avoid giving Mia dairy b/c she was sensitive to the dairy I would eat, when she was younger. She has had trace amounts of dairy before. And even had Mac & Cheese the other day, and was fine. But I could not think of what else it could be. Luckily, we happen to have an appointment with an allergist on Thursday, for Mia anyways. I'll talk to them about it.

I crawled into bed around 1 and no more than 30 seconds after I crawl into bed, I hear couching and gurgling from her (she's about a foot from me). She is vomiting in her sleep. I sit her up and it just keeps coming. All over me, all over both of our beds (our crib is sidecarred to our bed), and all over her. Daddy rushed down stairs to get some towels. I clean her up the best I can. Daddy, trying to not get sick himself, picks her up out of the bed, so I can strip the bed and wash everything.

Anyways, Mia and I ended up on the couch. No more instances, as of yet. Thank the Lord. So, I'm EXHAUSTED. Truly...  just a walking zombie at this point. Hopefully, the other kids won't get it, if it is a bug. Time to go make some coffee!

Challenge Day 7- Cookies and Glow sticks

So the kids have really been digging these cookies, that I found on Pinterest. They've been asking for them again so our invitation today was baking :)

 

We didn't have any bananas, like the recipe called for... So we cut up a giant apple and sauteed it and mashed it up. We also added mini chocolate chips. NOM NOM NOM

Both the kids LOVE baking so this was a total hit. They love measuring and pouring and mixing. Watching the mixer is always quite an event too. (I've named my mixer Frederick, by the way. I just thought you would like to know that. It is quite the love affair)

We measured and poured and mixed. LOTS of Blankenship fun. We all love to eat so cooking is such a natural extension of that, that I'm thrilled to share with my children. I hope they learn to love to cook and bake like I do. Or at the very least be ABLE to cook for themselves as adults.

 Bella poured in the dry ingredients, while Jeremiah mixed the coconut oil into the apples and added the vanilla. Then he added the wet ingredients to the mixer. Jeremiah added some craisins and Bell added the chocolate chips. There was definitely some craisin/chocolate chip stealing going on. But I didn't mind. I joined right in. Well, with the chocolate anyways.

The cookies turned out great. Unfortunately, I was busy preparing the house for guests, that I forgot to snap pictures of all the cookie nomming going on. Everyone said they were delicious :) I wouldn't know. I'm not a oatmeal cookie person.

Not long after the cookies were done our dear friend, Breezy arrived with her two girls, Alice and Lily.

Breezy was chaperoning a teen girl retreat of some sort in the next town over and asked me to watch the girls overnight. No problem! My kids don't get very much interaction with other children, because we only know one family up here. We were all excited to see them.

When they arrived, we got everyone settled and I got dinner started. Mac and Cheese was the dish of the evening, because I know her girls don't eat some of the stuff we do. They're sensitive to spice and unfamiliar things, so I played it safe. You cannot go wrong with Mac and Cheese, after all!

After dinner it started to get dark and our evening invitation was about to begin. I wanted to WEAR THE KIDS DOWN before bed. The girls were going to sleep in Jeremiah's room, hoping to make it easier on them that mom was not present. So I knew there would be no sleep for anyone, unless they were exhausted when they laid down. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

I cracked open about 50 glow sticks and turned off all the lights. I turned on some Veggie Tales music and let them go. They were HILARIOUS. They were throwing them in the air, waving them around and watching in awe as the stick could make one solid mass of color in front of them. At one point we put a glow stick on every appendage of each child. Since they could now "see" each other... a game of cat and mouse was in hot pursuit. They ran laps around my kitchen/dining room/ living room area.  They all were running and laughing while slamming into walls and each other. They had a blast and Daddy and I couldn't stop laughing at them.

We eventually woke Mia up from her nap, to join the fun and eat her dinner. She wasn't so sure about the glow sticks at first but eventually was waving them around, like the other kiddos.

Challenge Day 6- My Little Scientists

My petri dishes and test tubes came in the mail, along with my window crayons. I was SO excited. I knew I HAD to do a rocking Light Table invitation. This is what it ended up being:

(Colored water, petri dishes, dropper and syringe, q-tips and cotton balls and colored corn)

Jeremiah found the invitation first. Bell was lounging on the couch with a belly full of cereal. He looks at the table, then at me and goes "Huh? WHAT?! What am I supposed to do with this?" I replied with "Whatever you want!" He did a little leap of joy and got right to exploring it all.

So serious!

Bell soon realized there was fun being had that she was left out of and scampered off to find her brother. She ran over to the table and said "WHAT. IS. THIS?! Hooray!" lol They make me laugh. She got right in there with Jeremiah. They were being very serious and very meticulous. I think they were plotting to take over the world.

I thought I had another picture of the table semi "lived in", but I must have deleted it. :( All I have now is one of the aftermath.

I'm not sure why it's hard for me to watch them play with things NOT in the way I think they should. Or the way I would. They wanted nothing to do with the petri dishes, for the most part. They instead, spent the entire time dumping the corn and cotton balls INTO the cups of colored water (several more cups were later added to keep the party going). We had cups filled of sludge by the end of it. But, they loved it. They also ended up using about half of a bag of cotton balls. LOL They were Bella's favorite part. Bella eventually bored and Jeremiah decided to hoard all the corn.

This was what he concocted

I thought I saw painted/colored corn on the Play At Home Mom blog, that I love so very much, but by the end of this, most of the paint was coming off of the corn. Granted I used washable paint. But, in my defense, I wasn't expecting them to mix the water and corn. Silly me. Do not underestimate your children's imaginations! So, now I have all normal colored corn again and I need to find a new way to color it... if that's even possible.

After this came lunch and then nap. Well, the older two were offered a nap and the baby woke up. The days of all 3 napping at the same time are long gone. However, Bella will stay in her room and play quietly for about an hour.

Since the window crayons showed up shortly after nap time, Jeremiah was chomping at the bit to get to use them. So, I told him to go at it.

OK, these were SERIOUSLY fun.

Eventually Jeremiah got cranky and he took a nap. Around the same time Mia went down. But oh wait! Bell was ready to come out of her room. LOL We let her have a go at the window crayons. She loved them too. I forgot to snap a picture. Mia decided she wasn't tired after all, so we took the girls outside to play, since the weather was like, in the 60's. We didn't realize however that there were Gale force winds. The wind was knocking Bella over and pushing Mia's walker all over the place. It was absolutely hilarious! We had intended to stay out and play for a while and have Jey come join us when he woke up, but Bella really did not like it. We ended up staying outside for all of about 10 minutes. We came inside and started straightening up and getting ready to cook dinner. 

SO WINDY!

 Overall the day was wonderful. There were the normal, every day meltdowns. But I realized that we had not really gotten on to the kids in well.. Gee... about 6 days. I don't think we've had but one timeout. HOORAY! I HATE timeout. I don't think they're particularly effective nor do they address the issue, but sometimes, I'm at a lack of how to handle the situation. The kids don't seem to be fighting as much and are interacting more.

Who would have thought!?! ME, playing with the kids would make them behave better... It makes PERFECT sense, but I never thought about it. WHY don't people tell you these things? This past week has been fantastic and I cannot WAIT to keep playing with my beautiful family!

That being said, I'm expecting an epic melt down day, any time now. Because this seems too good to be true!

God is good and I'm so incredibly grateful to have the amazing family that I do <3

Challenge Day 5- Sponge Paint

It looks like I will be writing each days blog the day after. I fell asleep again last night, while watching TV...

I'm quickly learning that taking on this challenge and wanting to do all of the stuff I see online very challenging, on a military budget. There is SO much I want to do with them, but we just DO NOT have the supplies, nor the money to get them. I will just be buying a little bit with each pay check, the way any military family buys anything.

I'm also less enthused about this, than I was on day 1 and 2. NOT that I don't love playing with them. I've REALLY been enjoying it. But trying to think of invitations with supplies we have has proven... challenging. I know once I'm more used to this, I'll start thinking outside the box more. But as of now, I'm a little frustrated. Yesterday I was at a complete loss of an idea we hadn't already done. I was also lacking motivation to figure one out. I resorted to hand painting after seeing a project on Pinterest.

Jeremiah's Shamrock

So, I whipped out the paint and we got started. I should have known that Bella would not be down for the activity I had planned. It involved painting their hands and making Shamrocks. Then they could just finger paint.

Your Majesty demanded brushes of some sort. So, I ran down stairs and grabbed the sponges from mini paint rollers. (You know, the ones for edging?)

Those worked. She was ready to play. Phew! They giggled and played and smeared paint everywhere.

The mess no longer bothers me. Which is AWESOME! I'll be the first one to tell you I'm not a great housekeeper. They're is always stuff EVERYWHERE. But it's generally not DIRTY. Just messy and cluttered. So allowing them to get things dirty was a big step for me. Allowing them to be kids and make more work for me was a huge surrender of control. As I sit here writing this, I hear Bella dumping out colored water all over the light table and splashing in it. It makes me cringe. But, it will be cleaned up in like 3 minutes, once they're done with today's invitation. So, I let it go.

sponge painting

They're having fun and I'm learning to let the little things go and have FUN with them! I cannot wait to write about today's invitation, tomorrow! Get out there and Let Them PLAY!

Challenge Day 4- Neon Bath

I'm writing this post on the morning of Day 5, because I fell asleep at 9 o'clock last night, watching The Biggest Loser. Apparently I was tired.

Anyways... I wouldn't call yesterday a bust... but It wasn't anything terribly exciting. At least not during the day. I woke up tired and cranky as always and for the life of me could not think of a new activity I had the supplies for on hand. I'll insert here that I have spent the last 5 years keeping messy anything out of my house, as well as any small trinket toys. Well, now that comes back to bite me. lol I've ordered a bunch of things on Amazon and am not so patiently awaiting their arrival to have more fun with the kiddos.

That being said, I HAD to go to the grocery store. Daddy ate the last can of tuna for lunch and the kids had spaghetti. I had cheese and crackers. We were desperately in need of a grocery trip. So, I spent most of the day meal planning b/c I'd been to distracted playing the last few days, to even think about it. The kids were still enthralled with the light table in general, so they played with it all morning.

That's one cute baby!

 Mia and I packed up and headed to the grocery while the older two "napped". Ha Ha. Yea... Right.

 The grocery trip was successful and fun with my sweet girl.

I return home to get dinner started and work on our evening "invitation". (This is a term from Play At Home Mom that I will be using a lot. Click the link, right ^ there, for an explanation.)

 (I'm going to ask you in advance to forgive the HORRIBLE picture quality in these first few blog posts. All the pictures are taken with our cell phones, because I seem to have lost my SD card for my good camera.)

I had purchased a mess ton of glow sticks from Target when I was there. I had seen a glow stick balloon  idea on PAHM the other day and decided to take a cue from that.

While the kids were eating, I went a filled up the tub and cracked about 20 glow sticks. I hung some up, sat some on the edge of the tub and put some in the bottom of the tub. OK, I must say... by then end of this... Donny and I wanted to get into the tub!

Mia is in bed, all tuckered out from the shopping trip and the kids finish up eating. They get undressed and patiently wait outside the bathroom door for their bath. I open the door....

Cool, right!?

They gasp and screech and Jey is jumping up and down. He excitedly climbs into the tub followed by a semi-hesitant Bella. They both get in and it's game on. They're splashing and trading the bracelets, until they get the colors they want. Bell ends up with the purples and blues and Jey with the yellows and greens.

They were amazed at how when the glow sticks went under the water, the whole tub lit up. They played for probably 30 or 45 minutes before I head Bella's monstrous foot steps through the house like a single woman stampede. Then we here laughing and "I'm so COLD!". They come running into the living room. Jey is wrapped in a towel and Bell is dragging her towel behind her. She is surprisingly dry.

We get them dressed for bed and do their bedtime routine. We tuck them in, with their new glow bracelets of course. We explain they will no longer work by morning but they can play in their rooms while they're still glowing, if they would like. They both choose to do so. They finally tucker out and go to sleep. I promptly followed while watching The Biggest Loser.

Ah well. Another fun day :)

Challenge Day 3- Light Table

The morning started out a little blah. I woke up to a naked toddler and screeching (playing) children. They also woke the baby up. Again. The hubbs woke up with a headache for the second day in a row. As I lay on the couch while the kids eat breakfast, I consider making a pot of coffee. Mind you, I drink coffee daily. I was just too lazy to get up and make it. I also did not particularly feel like deciding on an activity for the kids. It's much easier to be a lazy parent. LOL I finally muster the energy and put on some coffee and put on my thinking cap for the kiddos.

Well, they LOVED painting yesterday... But, I didn't want to do the same activities over and over. I bought shaving cream last night to make the bath time paint I'd seen on Play At Home Mom's blog. (I think) AH HA! I got it. I mixed shaving cream with food coloring and put a dollop on each kids plate of each color. I then sat up TV trays for them to paint ON. My thinking was... Lot's of fun + clean trays + clean hands when done = WIN!

Jey was puzzled to why there was no paper, but did not take long to dive right in. "Oh it's soft!" and "Oh it smells sweet!" and "IT'S SO SQUISHY!" promptly took over the conversation. Bella, on the other hand, put ONE finger into the concoction and FREAKED out. She once again, demanded to wash her hands. She then went and grabbed some plastic utensils and started poking around inquisitively. A few minutes later she runs and grabs a 'baby'. Apparently, it is the 'baby's' birthday and this is her cake. Don't you love the randomness of kids? It was absolutely adorable.

Jeremiah at this point has now mixed all the colors together and is staring at a nasty brown-ish color. While not happy about the color, he is enjoying the texture. Isabella got paint on her hands a few more times and washed them again. After about an hour, Jey finally decided he was done. He got up to the kitchen sink and scrubbed the brown goo off his hands and used soap to get off any remaining color. He then proceeded to make him and Bell peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Bell finished hers by putting on the jelly, "By me-self!". Well, she did... and she ate it all! She must have been hungry staring at that "birthday cake" all morning.

We then all cuddled on the couch and turned on a movie while we were waiting for the baby to wake up so I could take Mia and Jey to the store. We were going to get things for the 'light table", but Jeremiah did not know that.

The baby FINALLY woke up. (Longest nap ever!) And we got ready to go. Bell was to stay at home with Daddy and play and help him tidy up. We got dressed and bundled up to brave the cold and got going.

We get to Target and Jey flips. He LOVES Target. We spend so much time looking at every interesting thing and talking about them and how much they cost vs. how much something else costs. He's having a ball. We get done at Target and it's time to go to Lowe's and get 'light table' supplies. We grab some fluorescent lights and plexiglas and head home.

We get home and eat dinner and Daddy and I get to work on the table. The kids are all running around excited because we're building something. We finally get done about a half hour before bedtime. The kids are in AWE. They look at the table. They touch it, poke it, and then squeal with delight. They see all the little stickies and do-dads I've placed on the table, just to show them the table, and they love it. They play until an hour past bed time. We sit and talk about the colors and letters and textures. This is going to be a huge hit in this house. I'm so excited!

Day 3 down... I'm enjoying it more each day!

Challenge Day 2- Daddy's Birthday

Today is my husband's 26th Birthday. Happy Birthday, My Love!

When the kids woke up, I told them it was Daddy's birthday. The questions started and so did the excitement. Can we make him a present? Can we make a cake? When can we EAT the cake? Can we play with the Cloud Dough again?!

Yes, dear children, you CAN finger paint until Daddy wakes up. And I mean REAL finger painting. The messy kind. I put on my big girl pants and whipped out the paint. Jeremiah was rather hesitant about getting messy. "No Bell, we can't get dirty." Bella, REFUSED to get dirty. She put one finger in the paint and demanded to wash her hands. She then requested a paint brush. What a priss. Jey's finger painting turned into hand slathering. Which, I completely expected. He made pictures and hand prints and tried to get Bell to get messy too. She was having none of it.

At this time, the baby (Amelia (1yr)) was sitting across the table nomming up her baby cracker things and slapping the ziplock bags with paint. She was thoroughly enjoying herself as well. 

The older two decided they were done and wanted to color. We washed up and cleaned up and out came the construction paper and crayons. Jeremiah wrote "Happy Birthday Dad. I luv you", at LEAST a dozen times. Every time he would get frustrated and say "It wasn't good enough to give to Daddy". He would give the paper to Bella, who now is not coloring but cutting up all of the construction paper she can find.

It was time to wake Daddy up. Mia and I went into the bedroom and woke Daddy and told him Happy Birthday.  Daddy stumbles out of the bedroom as the kids squeal with delight and shout "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!" A smile sweeps across my husband's face and he says thank you and hugs each child good morning. I go into the kitchen and make the Hubbs his favorite egg sandwich in my new cast iron pan that a dear friend has just sent me. It's fantastical! I put a little too much cheese on the sandwich, so it ended up being egg flavored grilled cheese. Ah well, he gobbled it down and said it was delicious.

Jeremiah now gives Daddy his card and the kids sing Happy Birthday. They insist he have a candle to blow out. I light a small Yankee candle while we sing and he blows it out at the end. The kiddos cheer and clap. "NOW can we make cake?!" Jey exclaimed.

"Can we show Daddy our cloud dough?" soon followed. Why, yes. Of course you can babies. We did the set up and they went to town. Daddy and I even got down there and made "sand castles" with them. (Mia is asleep when we play with the cloud dough as of now) The 'dough' quickly over takes the tarp and the sand is everywhere. Bell is running all over the house with flour foot prints left behind. There is now snowball fights and rain happening in the dining room. They are covered head to toe. It's caked int their scalps. Another bath it is.

We decide to wrap it up when Bella starts melting down. She's awful tired from all of the excitement. We bathe the kids and the baby wakes up from her nap. We try to lay Bella down, but she's having none of it. Jey makes himself a sandwich and colors some more. Jey and Mia are playing on the rug while Daddy is catching up on some basketball and I sit here on the computer. Daddy is now taking a much envied birthday nap as the kids get their small amount of TV time for the day. They have chosen to play Mario on the Wii.

The day is young and we still have some cake making to do. Possibly finger paint and playdough making as well!

Challenge Day 1

I started Day 1 rather timid, yet excited, about the whole process. I saw a finger painting in a gallon ziplock bag idea on Pinterest. I decided that was a good place to start. The general idea is to put paint into a ziplock bag, suck the air out, tape it to the table and let them doodle on it. GENIUS! They were intrigued for all of 10 minutes. But hey! It was a start. Later in the day I decided to make Cloud Dough.

Bella, my 2.5yo, excitedly helped me mix the concoction. Jey, my 5yo, had a smile from ear to ear when he realized he had free reign of this stuff. Then it was game on. I laid a plastic sheet on the floor and took the kids shirts off and let them go. I did not realize the play my kids were craving. They. Went. NUTS! They were squealing and giggling. They played for two hours, until finally at 1pm, I wrapped up the activity so we could have lunch. Baths were DEFINITELY needed before lunch time... So, off to the bathroom we went. They took a bath together for the first time in a while. I decided to allow the play to continue. They made a wreck of the bathroom. Water EVERYWHERE! I lost my temper, and then realized... It was a whole 1 towel and 2 minute clean up... And they had a blast doing it. Eh, ok, go for it.

I asked them what they wanted for lunch. They chose PB&J. I soon realized, I had sent Daddy to work with the peanut butter. Jelly sandwiches it is! The kids grabbed their chairs and pulled them to the counter. They were making their lunches for the very first time. They grabbed their bread and knives and went to town with the jelly. Bella chose to make a half of a sandwich, which she ate one bite of, and then refused. Typical, for her. Jey chose a half sandwich as well. Only afterwards, he made another half, and then ate Bella's half.

We made dinner and ate and got ready for bed and for Daddy to return home. Overall, I consider it a successful day! We had fun and I'm learning to let go of the messes and let them PLAY!

30 day PLAY Challenge

I started the blog to keep myself accountable to the challenge I have set for myself. Inspired by Plat At Home Mom, I have challenged myself to play with and engage my children, every day for 30 days. I do not intend to stop after day 30, I'm simply hoping by then it will be second nature and play will be a normal part of our everyday lives.

I've always looked at the mothers who enjoyed playing with their children, and wished I was like that. Over the years, I've simply accepted that I am NOT one of those mothers. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my children, but I've never been one to love playing Candy Land 18 times, or coloring for hours. I've been a "go play with your toys/siblings" mother. Then it dawned on me while reading Play At Home Mom's blog.... The only reason I'm NOT "one of those moms", is because I've chosen not to be.  Well, the buck stops here. I'm holding myself accountable to be a better mother.

For a couple years now, I've known I would homeschool. Besides the fact that I know my children better than any teacher ever could, or that I can give them more personalized attention than any school, or that I can put God into their daily curriculum... We're a military family. We move A LOT. So, homeschooling was the logical solution. But, I quickly tired of making lapbooks and handwriting and reading lessons. While we WILL still do a curriculum, it won't be as structured as I had originally planned. We are not a structured or scheduled family. So WHY did I think our homeschooling would be?

This is where Play At Home Mom comes into play. I will not only use a curriculum for my children, I will let them learn and explore through play. They will learn to explore things, question things, problem solve, and use logic and deductive reasoning as a part of their learning process. This will also allow them to be independent and confident in themselves, which are two wonderful traits ALL children need.

This being said, wish me luck! I'm rather short tempered and easily annoyed. My children screech like pterodactyls all day long. My ears are normally bleeding by 10am. They wake up the baby, the argue, and they whine (BOY! Do they whine!).  But, they are wonderful, loving, caring, sympathetic, and curious children. God made them that way, so who am I to try to smother those qualities? I will embrace them, the best I can, and guide them in harnessing those traits to become enriched, intelligent, selfless, followers of Christ.

HERE WE GO!