Winter Games & Activities

This past winter has definitely been the winter of games. The kids are big into games now. Oh, we've played Candy Land, Memory and similar games before, but now it's the kids really asking on their own. Scooby Doo is very, very big in our house. Not a day goes by that we don't watch, read about or play with Scooby and the gang. This haunted mansion Scooby Doo game was a HUGE hit around here. The gang has to make it to the top of the mansion, but there are traps along the way.

On Christmas Eve the kids received a Smashed Potato Head Playdough game. I have to admit that I find it pretty fun, too. You have to make it around the board without getting either cut in half, turned into fries, rolled into a hamburger or chopped in two.

Besides Legos (which deserve a post of their own), Jared loves his Trio set next, especially one that also turns into a Batcave. He and Steve have spent hours playing with this set. He's hoping to get a Joker set for his birthday in a few weeks.

We've also really enjoyed Don't Wake the Daddy.

Of course, it's always fun to play good ole blocks with Daddy.

Alexa seems to go back and forth with wanting to play with her GeoSafari laptop. She really likes it when others play with her.

What she ALWAYS wants to do is look at globes. She loves to search for different countries on the computer, read about them, and then find them on the globe. I guess my love of all things travel is rubbing off on her!

I love the show Art Wolf's Travels to the Edge. It combines two passions of mine- travel and photography. Alexa really enjoys cameras, too. So, she and I really got into watching this show together this winter. One day she asked to take pictures of the screen to kind of emulate Art as he was taking pictures on screen. Here's one of her shots.

The kids have also spent quite some time with Alexa's GeoSafari Talking Microscope. It's a pretty cool toy for kids who like looking a small insects and spiders and taking quizzes on them.

What indoor winter activities have been big around your house this year?

Building, Playing, Creating, Learning

I've heard so much about people making their own homemade pizza that I finally gave it a try. Mostly because I'm looking for quick, cheaper meals for the weekends so I can take a break from real cooking, but also I thought the kids would really like it. I threw some dough mix in the bread machine, and when it was done, we worked together on the pizza. It turned out ok, but it needed WAY more cheese. The crust was great, but the rest of the pizza? Ehh.

Jared's been working hard on his creations this past week. Here's one where he put the play table upside down and tied his snake and ropes around the legs.

Jared has the most amazing ability to come up with new things to do all the time. My daughter is a great reader and she blows some people away on the computer even at four, but Jared is incredible in his self-direction and imagination.

We had been watching old family DVD's and saw how we had a birthday party for Curious George around this time last year. So Jared found some Christmas wrapping paper and started wrapping some of his toys. He worked so hard at cutting and taping those presents. It made me think of how I hated sitting in kindergarten class around the table where they made us do these artificial cutting and pasting exercises. I've never show my kids how to cut, paste, color, or tape, yet they do it just fine on their own because they've practiced for hours by coming up with their own projects.

Alexa's been enthralled lately with Jumpstart Grade 1. She would play for hours and hours on that computer if we allowed it. When she starts getting too cranky and impatient, we try to gently guide her into something else. Plus, I worry about her eyes.

Here's one more game Jared made up this week. He dragged all my Tupperware out to the living room. Then he took out all his animals and started placing each animal under a Tupperware and calling them the animals' cages. I just love my kids!

Random August Fun

So as much as I had wanted to keep this blog current with what's been going on with us, it's almost the end of September now, and I'm just starting to write about our August highlights. It's not been a great month for me health-wise. I've had another sinus infection, had a severe TMG episode and have felt incredibly tired most days. I've felt like we haven't gone out and done as much as we usually do, even just doing different things around the house. But then, when I get really down on myself for not being as there for the kids as I want to, the kids do and say the most amazing things and I realize they are getting so much more out of our lives than I realize, even if it means just hanging out more or staying close to home.

We have enjoyed playing Mouse Trap many times the past two months. Jared's usually the one asking to play. He loves the construction aspect of the game.

Of course the pretend play has continued to be strong. They love, love, love to dress up. I love to just watch them and listen to how they use their play to make sense of new things they've learned.

I never thought with twins that I'd have one reading to the other, but since Alexa started reading at two, and then reading really well at three, the kids spend many hours together on the couch with Alexa reading to Jared. I have a funny feeling that she'll play a big part in how he'll learn to read one day.

We had been reading a book about mummies, so Jared asked me to wrap him up as one.

We've had quite a few beach ball games after baths...

..and the kids have actually asked to mop and vacuum! Who know how long that will last?

Ober Gaitlinburg Part 1

The day after we arrived in Gaitlinburg, we decided a big breakfast was in order, so after filling up on pancakes, hash browns, and strawberry waffles, we drove over to the bottom of the mountain to catch an aerial tram ride to the top of an  mountain amusement park/ski resort called Ober Gaitlinburg.

It was our first glimpse high up over the Smoky Mountains. I'm pretty nervous with heights, so I think Steve and the kids enjoyed the ride more than I did, but I did manage to take a few pictures while we were up there. Kids under six ride free, so for $20 it was a nice intro to the area.

We were just going to look around for a few minutes, to see what we'd want to do when we came back in the car another day, but the lure of amusement park games called the kids, and we gave in to a quick $5 worth of games.

Jared was pretty upset that he didn't have enough tickets to buy the knight costume, and he still didn't like it even when we tried to explain that we'd probably have to shell out another $30 and three or four more hours to get it. Ah, well. It's hard even for an adult to accept, let alone a 4 year old.

We picked up some fudge and took the tram back down. On to grocery shopping and swimming at the club house in the early evening.

Random Summer Fun

Here are a few random moments from the past few weeks.

Jared's been very into putting together different "mummy ghost" costumes. I think he's perfected it with this one. The pirate hat and his sister's white tights do the trick.

An impromptu science experiment. One day the food coloring was out, and Jared poured it in some water. I took out the vegetable oil to see how the coloring would dissolve in that liquid.

A fun game of Scooby-Doo Memory and Popsicles.

A request for hard-boiled eggs for lunch.

I walked in the living room one day to see Alexa stamping Jared all over. Yeah - he had taken off all his clothes, so it literally was all over.

Hula-hooping....

...and bouncing basketballs with Daddy.

Lots of bike riding.

Giving his dinosaurs a bath.

Helping me stir seasonings for the pot roast.

And snake love.

First Time Garage Salers

I'd been wanting to take the kids to a garage sale for a while now. I have vivid memories of going to garage sales when I was younger, and wonderful memories of helping my mom set up our own garage sales. I'll never forget how grown-up I felt when that first customer paid for several items, how I added up the cost on the calculator, made change, and bagged up the items. It was like playing store, but ten times as fun!

I had thought that when the kids were a little older, and we started budgeting money to give them each week for the things they'd like to buy for themselves, that I'd introduce them to garage sales then. I pictured them taking the money they'd saved and having fun spending the money. It wasn't quite like I'd imagined it be (you'd think by now with twins I'd realize things are almost never as I imagine they'll be), but I definitely think they are true garage salers at heart.

After waiting around for most the morning to see if we'd meet up with Steve's cousins to do anything, I decided to take the kids out and just do something. After a quick library visit, I thought, why not visit a garage sale? I have been wanting to go to a lot of them this summer, to find fun things to do at home with the kids during the fall and winter months, and it always seems hard to find time for that. I gave each of the kids a little baggie with five dollars in change, and we headed off for their first garage sale.

They seemed a bit unsure of what to do first when we arrived, and just sort of stared at everything piled up on tables and the floor of the garage. But then I spotted a table with mostly toys, and they became excited to dig through the bins. While sorting through a tub with Master of the Universe figures, Alexa wanted to know the price of something. She was shy to ask on her own, so I went with he. $2. When we walked back over to Jared, who was rifling through the toys, he wanted to know how much his figure cost, too. He just jumped up by himself, ran over to the owner of the house, and asked. Isn't it funny how siblings can be so different that way? Even though they're twins, Jared and Alexa truly have their own unique personality and disposition.

So, Jared bought two $2 figures, and Alexa bought one for $3. We headed across the street where there was another garage sale. We found a box of children's books, and Alexa bought 5 books for $1, and I bought five books for $1. I also found a great copy of  Cranium Cadoo  for $3 to tuck away for a few years when the kids get a little older. When we left, they both asked if we could go to yet another garage sale.

They were able to get practice with paying for things, counting out money, and thinking about how many items a certain amount of money will get you, but my next goal is to start giving them their own money each week and showing them how important it is to save for larger purchases.

Have you had any interesting experiences with taking your kids to garage sales? Have they helped set up any of their own?

That evening we went to Steve's parents house to have yet another BBQ and say goodbye to Steve's cousins who were headed back home the next day. I was so caught up in the evening that I don't have any pictures, but after they left, Steve's younger sister and her friend set up a game of Bags.

I'd never played before, and Shara's friend blew everyone away with how good he was, but us adults really had a good time. I feel like I hardly ever play games with other adults where the kids aren't included, so it was nice for a change. The kids did like throwing in the bean bags for a while before the game, but didn't seem that interested to play once we told them we were going to play a game by the rules.

We didn't stay that long as we had a lot to do the next day to get ready for our next trip and Father's Day, so we headed home around 8:30. Besides knowing we would come in the evening for a BBQ, the rest of the day unfolded on its own unplanned. I don't know about you, but I really need at least a few days out of the week like that. To wake up and not have anything planned for the day, and yet knowing you'll still have a full and rich day. Wonderful.

June 10-13 Part 1

Even though I've kept up my goal with being fairly consistent with this blog (making at least a few entries every week), I still miss recording so much of what my kids learn every day. I suppose a person could never list everything they've learned in a day no matter how hard they tried.

Still, I love to have a record of all the amazing ways the kids learn and have fun to look back at over the years. That said, for some reason, I've captured quite a bit more about our lives in the past few days than I usually do.

The kids received so many things for their birthday at the end of April that I took a few little things and put them on the side for later. This past week I pulled out the box I'd set aside. The kids discovered the little kites and had fun trying to get them to fly.

Making large bubbles continues to be a huge hit around here. Alexa found making bubble hand prints just as fun.

I started a new thing I'm tentatively calling Activity Box time. As unschoolers, we won't have a set curriculum, but I believe very strongly in constantly introducing new things to the kids. I keep a box in our room, and I look for things they might like and new things they haven't been introduced to yet, and add to it whenever I can. Then on Monday morning or afternoon, I bring out the box and invite the kids to pick something in it to do with me. I've filled it so far with books on craft projects, games, books, and DVD's. I'm so excited about garage sale season so I can stock up on tons of fun stuff for the next year. I've also ordered the books Science Arts and Math Arts by Mary Ann Kohl and Knights and Damsels (since they love knights and castles so much). I'll make sure we have most of the supplies on hand, and then I'll place the book in the box for the kids to choose projects and activities that interest them. Of course, they don't have to do anything in the box, but they haven't yet found nothing they'd like to do.

Jared's favorite choice this week was a Scooby-Doo game that I actually received for free at a thrift store. It's really just a memory game. He's never wanted to play memory games when Alexa and I have played them in the past, but because it was Scooby, he was really excited. He was so good at it! He blew me and Alexa away in points.

Alexa chose an art project (she usually does). You were to draw a picture with pencil, paint with water inside the drawing, and then dip your brush in watercolor and dab it into the water.

There was quite a bit of lounging on the couch reading. Alexa is reading a book about mummies in the picture above. We've been into learning about Egypt lately. They watched an episode about Egypt from the Families of the World DVD series, and we just finished up reading Mummies in the Morning, the third book in the Magic Treehouse series.

DK puts out a great CD-ROM called My First Amazing History Explorer. I checked it out from the library, and Alexa loves it. She loves all things computer related, and if I'd allow it, she'd literally play for four to five hours straight. Some of the material is a bit above her head, but she really loved exploring the program.

My friend came over with her son and two month old baby girl on the 10th of June for a little playdate. The kids played in the sand, and I attempted to get the little pool blown up, but things didn't work out quite as I'd have liked. They usually like to have the slide go into the pool, but I couldn't get it to work. Still, Jared and J played for a bit in the water, and Jared wowed us with his flying leaps from the edge of the pool. Alexa's been a bit funny about water lately, so she didn't really go in that much.