MMM: Froot Loop Fun

On a cold Monday in February, when I woke up realizing that I had absolutely no IDEA what our plan for the day would be, I went to the pantry and found the key...

FROOTLOOPS!!

Luckily, the kids had made froot loop necklaces in bible class a week or so before this, so the idea was fresh on my mind.  This activity was so much fun, educational, and required zero prep with very little clean-up.  My kind of MMM!

First we counted them

Then we sorted them. 

side note: I had to help Cbug a little bit with this by choosing one color at a time and having him match it, but after a while he got the hang of it.  Some colors he could do better than others.  I secretly wonder (well, not so secretly anymore) if he is color blind.  The kid can recognize any number or letter (looked at the box of froot loops and said "F-R-O-O-T=L-O-O-P-S"), but doesn't recognize colors.  I'm leaning toward the fact that he doesn't find this information useful so just doesn't care (because that would totally fit his personality),
but still....I do wonder.

Of course, when you are sorting and counting froot loops you work up quite an appetite. 

There were definitely snack breaks along the way!

Cbug was DONE after his snack so did not stick around for the last activity...

Froot loop necklace art.

But KJ LOVED it!  I tried to get him to do a specific pattern.  HA.  His creative geniusness was not really up for suggestions.

What a ham!

Another fun Monday

(I mean, there was sugar involved...how could you go wrong)!

ABL

because we're just that cool...

So, I have already bemoaned the fact that my children were not that interested in the cold, wet, white stuff.   (Actually KJ did enjoy it a bit more the second day).  We ended up with over a foot of snow-fall  in our area and actually measured more than 8 inches of accumulation in our yard.  I know some of my more-northernly-located friends and familly will laugh about this, but RRL and I were practically giddy at the sight of all that snow.  After all, this kind of snow happens in our city...exactly NEVER.  So, while our children could not appreciate history in the making, their parents were not about to let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity pass them by.

We went to a marriage conferene Friday night so all 3 of our snow-fearing-children were spending the night with Grammy.

So, just before the conference I had an amazing idea.  One of things that I love about my hubby is that he puts up with my hare-brained-ideas that often result in FAILURE.  May I be so bold, though, as to say this was NOT one of those instances. 

This idea was pure brilliance.

A late night sledding date.

Did I mention that it was brillant?

We had so much fun, had an entire huge field of snow to ourselves

(since it was 11 pm and everyone else had to go home when their mommies and daddies called them),

and we laughed more than we have in a long time.

Our laughing may have had something to do with the fact that THIS was our "sled"...

Hey, you have to get creative when you go to Walmart during the 30 minute break from

the conference in hopes to find something that could be used as a sled.

You thought I was kidding, didn't you?  NOPE...we definitely took turns using the lid

(which was an amazing sled) and the plastic tub (which was not so amazing).  We raced and laughed and crashed and laughed. 

We took turns, that is, until RRL (and shattering pieces of plastic tub) went flying all over the hillside...and I collapsed on the ground in laughter (with him, not at him, of course)

But our fun in the snow did not end with the shattering of our "sled".

We also had a snow fight (and I used my "sled" as a shield)

And made a snowman.

(Hey it was late, so no knocking our snow-man-making skills)

And did I mention we laughed?

A lot.

Today I'm praising the Lord for hare-brained-ideas

and the moments that bring us closer together.

Love you, Babe.

Thanks for the fun in the snow.

We're just that cool.

ABL

Seriously...SNOW?!?!?!

We've managed to miss all of the snow this season (being out of town)....until today! SO M-U-C-H fun!

That is...

...fun for Cbug as long as he stayed out of it!

(seriously, who has a yard full of snow and heads for the dry sandbox to play alone...typical Cbug)

..and fun for KJ while his snowballs/snowman making attention span lasted, for about 6.3 minutes.

(which was just long enough to get snow all over Mommy!)

....at least it was fun for the Daddy and the Momma (I built the snowman and took the pictures).

Ah well.  What do you expect for a couple of Texas boys who've hardly experienced temperatures below freezing, wear socks on their hands and don't even own winter coats (dont' worry, grandparents, they had on lots of layers).

Doesn't this crack you up? They were clinging to each other like their Momma was torturing them

by making them stand in the snow for a picture.  What a mean Mommy!

Maybe it will be fun next year.

ABL

Just because

Random pictures from the last month or so.  Just because.

A couple of firsts...

Lou's first

time in the nursery

and KJ's first

homework project

A new family favorite...

"soap soup"

We let the boys "cook" some sudsy water

while we are making dinner.

Bath time.  We haven't braved all three in the tub at once, but Lou loves to be entertained by her rowdy bros while they bathe.

On the flight to TN for my Grandmother's funeral. 

Cbug wasn't quite sure what to think, but the view was gorgeous. 

He pretty much had a complete melt-down at the threshold to the plane. 

When we buckled him in his seat he was shouting "I so scared, I so scared". 

So dramatic and amazingly completely cured with a package of cookies from the flight attendant.

Its been super cold and rainy around here

(no comments from Lt D,  currently stationed in Alaska, will be allowed)

We haven't been outdoors much.  So, when it got above 40 and was only drizzling instead of raining, I let the boys go out for a bit.  I could only find one hat and one pair of gloves, though, so we had to improvise with a pair of Daddy's socks and a hat that is about 2 sizes too small for KJ.  The boys didn't care and it made for a good laugh for their parents.

Everything about this picture just makes me laugh.

What's with the crazy eyes?

And Lou loves to try to stand up

(even though she can't crawl)

Her uncles gave her this super cute outfit for Christmas.

Its tough to be her!  Preciousness.

So there you have it. 
Just because,

ABL

MMM: Making Valentines

Makover My Monday was so much fun this week.  Mostly because I was determined to not have too much of an agenda for the finished product.  Mommy is slowly learning how to have reasonable expectations!  I knew I wanted the boys to make valentines for several people, but I also knew that their attention span would not put up with doing multiple projects.  So, I decided to make one huge valentine and the cut it into smaller ones...and here's the kicker, they didn't even KNOW we were making valentines.  As far as they knew, we were just making a MESS (a favorite passtime of theirs) with pink, red and white paint.  AWESOME!

Here are the angels with their blank canvas

(I could turn that into all kinds of parenting metaphors,

but I will stay on task... you are welcome)

and for the "warm up" we added a few brush strokes

Then I brought out the big guns. 

When we were at Aimee's on Friday, she introduced us to the BRILLIANT

idea of driving cars through paint.  SO FUN!  This alone kept Cbug,

whose painting time span is usually about 26 seconds, occupied for about 15 minutes

today (which doesn't sound long unless you've been around a 2-year-old recently).

The boys especially loved "crashing" their cars through the paint.

But that wasn't the only painting trick we tried.



I also let them use the potato mashers. SO FUN!

Especially the one that made a shape like a snake -->
 

And before long, they were driving the cars through the potato mashers

(see KJ doing the same thing in the background...this part was definitely THEIR idea)

 

And when we finished all of our painting *I mean mess-making* this is what we had...

Until I turned it

into these...

What a fun mess-making-monday!

Can't wait to mail/deliver them!

ABL