Monday, March 30, 2009

I ♥ Faces - Week 12, Pouty

The moment I read that I ♥ Faces theme this week was Pouty, I knew the exact picture I wanted to use. He had the cutest pouty face, and his cleft seemed to accentuate that lower lip when he started bringing on the tears. I miss that pouty face very much, though his new pouty face is just as adorable. Head on over to I *Heart* Faces to see other pouty faces in this weeks competition.


Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spring Break - Act 2

This past week marked the second and final week of our spring break. The begin of the week started off with a park date with a family from school. Natalie and I have known each other through PTO and our girls always got along with we had to get together for meetings or fund raiser counting. They don't get to see each other often now since Joci is in Kindergarten and Alexis is in preschool. They certainly had a fun time running around and swinging. Notice Alexis is sticking her tongue out as she swings. That is some serious swinging concentration going on. She was learning to pump her legs to keep herself going so she wouldn't have to wait on me to push her.Jarod is in the 5th grade and Andrew is in the 4th grade so they don't get to play together often. Jarod was trying to teach Andrew some cool soccer moves.As well as how to surf on the swings. I think they look more like monkeys then surfers, but they had a great time running off lots of energy.I was afraid Andrew was going to get his backside stuck in the baby swing. Instead, his legs went numb from being pinched inside. Aiden had his first swing experience. The verdict: HE LOVED IT!!! He would kick and scream and throw himself backwards whenever I tried to take him out (not one of his more endearing moments and something I hope he doesn't continue).
He did hang out on the blanket for a little while and enjoy his sippy cup while the girls danced around him.
Thank you Natalie, Jarod, and Joci for meeting us at the park. We all had such a great time.
The next two days were pretty boring. We just stayed around the house and got some chores done. Aiden has learned to torture poor Suzy Q and tries to climb on her every chance he gets. She is pretty tolerant and will just walk away when she has had enough. He has started throwing toys at her and she doesn't care for that too much. We are really having to watch him around her, for fear that he will hurt her or that she might react if he provokes her too much."Just one minute mom. I'm drinking my sippy cup."Andrew had made a hammock out of his blanket and bunk bed. He proceeded to fall asleep in it that night, though by that point it had stretched so far that it wasn't really swinging him anymore.
Thursday we had our big outing to the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert. Check out all the fun pictures by clicking here.


At the end of the day we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend some time with them before heading back home.
Our only other outing during spring break was to the gold mine movie theater. We don't go and see movies often because they are just so darn expensive. We bit the bullet and decided to go see the new 3D movie, Monsters vs. Aliens. This was Aiden's first movie theater experience and he wasn't too impressed with the big screen. I ended up having to leave with him toward the end of the movie since the toys, milk, blanket, crackers, popcorn, or cheerios were no longer keeping him quiet.

Little Miss just waiting for the show to start.
My boys, and of course Daddy has his silly smile on again.Isn't he just so darn cute with this 3D glasses on?And now? We are back to the daily grind. Wish me luck as I am subbing all week long in a 5th grade class. I haven't worked a full school week in over 4 years. Hoping my back and voice and nerves can last a full 5 days. Have a blessed week.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert

**WARNING: long post with LOTS of pictures. Stick with me to the very end or you will miss a very yummy treat.

On Dale's day off yesterday we took the kids out to Palm Springs to visit the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert. We had never been there before, though Dale's parents had talked about it often. So, we packed up the kids and headed down the 10 fwy. The kids were very antsy to get there that they didn't even ask to watch a movie on the way there. Once there, Dale put on the baby wrap for the first time and, through pinching neck muscles, enjoyed carrying him around.
Once inside the place the kids had fun running from attraction to next attraction. They were all hands on activities so I could sit back and let them enjoy their time.

Lasar Harp - Alexis has now chosen this as her instrument of choice. Andrew kindly pointed out that she wouldn't be able to drag a harp out to the park like he can do with his trumpet.Strobe String,
and the Strobe Fan, where the kids could color a picture on a paper plate and then watch the picture morph as the fan spun faster.
Next, we moved on to the Pulley, where the kids were expected to pull themselves up. Alexis sat back and enjoyed watching me struggle to pull her weight up.The magnet wall was fun to play with, tossing things from an arms distance and watching them stick.The washer toss was more magnet discovery and a source of enjoyment.
There was a huge "I Spy" board, which I might say Alexis did an awesome job finding the different objects. Lord knows she can't find the toys to pick up that are right in front of her nose, but she found the hidden bride and groom in a heartbeat.

The kids eagerly moved on to the VW bug in the center of the museum that they were allowed to paint. As you can tell this is an ongoing painting project, that the kids enjoyed immensely.

If this place wasn't 50 miles away, I would take Alexis there everyday to keep her occupied.
Daddy and his goofy smile once again.
Andrew tried his hand at wheelchair racing. He did get going pretty fast, but I would hate to see him out on the open road with how erratic he was steering the wheelchair.Alexis wasn't as fast, and her little arms gave up pretty quickly.
They had an adorable "grocery store", where the kids could put things from off the shelf into their kid-sized shopping carts and then go to the checkout stand and pay with their ATM cards or museum cash.
Of course my sugar tooth girl only wanted to buy brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts. No convincing her to put some frutis and veggies in her cart.
They even had a full size police motorcycle in the museum for the kids to climb all over.
Aiden even got in on the action when they tried to make a maze for the ball to navigate.
Alexis and Andrew got the gears moving really fast when they worked together.
We slowed things down for a little bit and hung out in the kiddie corner so Aiden could get down and wiggle some more. Look out, this kid loves to drive.
Two hands on the wheel buddy!!
Andrew wasn't too happy to be taking a break from all the big-kid hands on activities.
Then after the thrill of driving wore off, he transitioned to being a major backseat driver. I have no clue where he has learned that from.
Alexis made a really yummy pizza, with two olive eyeballs.
Andrew really enjoyed the old typewriter,
as did Alexis,and even Aiden.
Then we moved on to the dress-up room upstairs, where Alexis chose this colorful get-up,
and Andrew enjoyed dressing in this full fireman's suit.
Aiden threw on a fireman's hat as well.
Aiden felt at home and was trying to change the channel on the TV.
"Where did brother and sister go?"
Getting a little walking practice in.
Building blocks with daddy.Andrew and Alexis really enjoyed the ropes course, navigating their way up and over a series of tangled ropes.
The rock climbing wall wasn't challenging enough for Andrew, as he zoomed from one end to the next in no time.
Lastly, the kids made their way back to the art area to decorate coffee filter butterflies,
and do some coloring pages.
After a long and eventful day, we left to find a place to eat. We stumbled upon this Cheesecake Factory. Neither of us had ever been to one, and I had just been talking to my friend Tammy about wanting to go to one soon.Never a lack of goofy faces from my big boys,
and all thumbs up smiles from the girls.
Had I known how huge the portions where, Dale and I would have split a plate and the kids would have done the same. Alexis' kids' pizza was 10 slices, for her to eat by herself. She ate ONE slice. Of course, we were at the Cheesecake Factory, so we had to save room for some cheesecake. And boy was it good!!! My advice: skip the meal and jump straight into dessert. YUM YUM! I was lucky if I got a bite between feeds to Alexis and Aiden.

At the end of our adventures for the day, we headed down the street to Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit for a while and then drove home to crash after a long, exhausting day. I think the kids and I will have to return to the museum some time this summer (braving the 118 degree heat!) since they had such a fun time and it was extremly economical.