Art Institue and Picnic by the lake

This is the third year we've visited the Art Institute for its free Family Day, and we were definitely not disappointed. Last year we saw a dance performance by a local ballet company, and this year we heard  African jazz music by an awesome band. Jared especially was drawn to the drums. I hadn't ever heard music quite like that before, so I was excited to be introduced to new music.

After the performance we went to check out our usual rooms: the miniature room, the touch room and some of the Impressionist paintings. Unfortunately, Jared was not content to stay near us and started dashing off through the museum. He was pretty upset we made him hold Steve's hand. It's not easy staying sane when your kid is having a mini temper tantrum while people are trying to quietly check out great masterpieces. This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but the one thing that got him to settle down was to point out the butts of the sculptures we passed. What can I say? He's really into talking about butts, and it did get him interested in the art.

Then we walked down a few blocks to have a picnic right on the lake.

It was a hot day (this was at the end of August), so we moved to a shady spot under a tree. Here's a picture Alexa took of the sailboats on Lake Michigan.

It was a wonderful, wonderful afternoon. Not stressful, not exhausting......just right. I wish we had done this more during the summer.

Rhythm & Blues in the Park

It's always hard when Steve goes out of town for work, but last night ( the 14th) we took our minds off missing Daddy by having dinner with my friend M and listening to a great band perform in the park.

At first it was chill-out time on the lawn chairs,

but pretty soon the kids were up and running around the pavilion. For some reason, Jared didn't want to eat hamburgers at M's house earlier, but he sure had no problem eating this free hot dog. He actually almost ate the entire thing - something highly unusual.

There was some dancing, a little singing, and a whole lot of running around. The band, Chicago Express, played a nice selection of oldie R & B cover songs like Sweet Home Chicago. I think Alexa had the most fun playing with 3 month old baby R.

After five or six songs, the kids were ready to head to the playground. It was a hot, sticky day and everyone was soon all sweaty and dirty, but we sure had a lot of fun!

Wonderful Wacky 4th of July

Our 4th of July celebrations really took place the day before on the 3rd. We didn't do anything fantastic, although we were able to watch fireworks right from our front lawn, but there was a heck of a lot of cleaning going on that day. Before I had kids, I actually liked cleaning. Now- not even close. I usually set a timer to motivate myself to get things done quickly. But having a houseful of people over does wonderful things for your motivation.

So, while I started with the kitchen, the kids thought up thier first project for the day. Painting. I love when they paint, I really do. They've been painting, at least finger painting since six months old, but some days it can be a whole lot of mess to clean up. We don't have a room just for art, so that means art takes place in the kitchen. Still, I figured it would keep them occupied.

The painting quickly turned into painting their dinosaurs. Note to myself - buy Alexa a ceramic model to paint.

They've been staying away from completely covering themselves in paint - something they would always do a few years ago whenever they'd paint - but, wouldn't you know it, I turn my head for a minute and I see this.

He said he was a goblin. So, after washing him out, I tried to get back to business. Between me taking the kids to the library to check out more books and get a prize from the treasure chest for their reading program, and Steve taking them to several stores during the afternoon, we were able to divide up the work and get most things ready for the 4th.

Steve was so anxious to make smoked ribs. He'd been talking about it for weeks. He had done a trial run with one slab, and it turned out awesome. That evening he mixed up the rub, with help from Alexa.

We usually watch fireworks on the 4th, but our village decided to change their fireworks date to the 3rd, I guess because of the rain. We were all ready to sit as a family on our front lawn, where we can see the fireworks being shot off from a nearby quarry, but Alexa wasn't having it. She's scared of the noise, so as soon as they started, she ran inside with Steve, and Jared and I watched them together.

While Jared sat on my lap, I pretended to be Dr. Claw and he was Batman. I told him how I had Mad Agents down in the quarry and how they were going to set off a bomb to destroy Gotham City. When the finale happened, I told him that was the bomb going off, and his eyes got so wide! Then he said Batman had a special button that would restore Gotham City.

On the big day, we went to church (getting there a bit late so Steve could flip the ribs once in the oven), and then came home to lunch and some last minute getting ready. Thankfully the kids occupied themselves with reading....

...and other playing. Jared had been dying to play in the next-door neighbors yard, so we went over for a little while until family started arriving.

Most of the afternoon, really, was a blur for me. Between getting things for people, making sure the kids were ok, setting up for dinner, and a dozen other little things, the day flew by in an exhausting haze. Here's a few pictures I managed to get off in between the craziness.

The kids also set off some smoke bombs and snakes with Grandad, there were badminton and bags games played, and I had some time to talk with my family. Steve's side of the family left early to watch fireworks in another town (Jared had actually fallen asleep at 7:30, something he hasn't done since he was one), so we needed to stay back, but my side of the family stayed with us. We had a great time talking and hanging out.

The night ended on a not-so-great note, however. Our central air went out, just as everyone was leaving. We do have window units upstairs, so Steve and the kids slept up there, and I slept downstairs (I know it's weird, but I actually would have been cold!).

Happy 4th!

A Weekend of Pretend Play, Naps and Movies

This will be a quick (well, probably not that quick!) recap of our weekend, yesterday and today.

No, I don't really tie my kids up! As you know, Jared loves Batman and all his villains right now. So, lately I've had to be Poison Ivy. He actually wants me to tie him up, drag him up the stairs to my "greenhouse," and then on Saturday, I picked herbs and other plants from my greenhouse, boiled them up, and then cooked up Batman for a Batman stew. Afterwards, we laid together and I told him a story of how I (Poison Ivy) became Poison Ivy, which I'm sure was quite different from the story made up in the comics.

So, Saturday, for the most part was a really nice lazy day. Steve made bacon and pancakes, the kids watched a Scooby Doo movie, Steve got caught with the budget, and I was able to do some reading. Steve took a nap and I feed the kids lunch, we read some more Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and then we played doctor. Alexa loved playing in the traditional way, taking temperatures, blood pressures, giving shots, and listening to heartbeats with her doctor set....

...while Jared played a little more unconventionally (he's using the injection needle as a missile below).

Later that afternoon, Steve took the kids to order storm windows for the upstairs while I took a much needed nap. For the past month, we've been constantly on the go on the weekends with family stuff, so it's been so nice this weekend to just do nothing scheduled. Later that evening we picked up some movies and a pizza, and watched Mulan. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I'm not a big animation fan at all, but it really was pretty good. Later that evening Steve and I watched The Young Victoria. Lately, I've been falling asleep in the middle of movies, but I stayed awake for this one.

Sunday was once again satisfyingly lazy. After coming home from church, we ate and took more naps (the adults, anyways!) I honestly can't remember much more that we did other than the kids watched Mulan again, and we picked up a chicken dinner from Jewel so I didn't have to cook.

Monday was a wonderful stay at home day. We didn't go anywhere. It was marvelous! I've forgotten how important it is for me to have days like this, frequent days like this, to feel sane. The kids excelled in pretend play this day.

First thing in the morning, the kids went upstairs to play music together, Jared on his drum set and Alexa on the guitar.

They haven't made concoctions lately, but Jared said he just had to make a new recipe today, so that's what he did. Here were some of the ingredients: turkey meat, water, juice, a very ripe banana, cereal, a little donut, chocolate sauce, and tied up Batman and Spiderman.

Jared's new villain costume. He calls this the Wizzar.

There was riding bikes in the sprinkling rain....

....hiding in their "cave" the sandbox...

...tracing letters (I bought her a Kumon My Alphabet Games book. She's also told me yesterday that she wants a maze book, too)

...showing me his rock collection...

...jumping on the bed...

...and giving their stuffed dog, which they named Bono, a bath.

Steve stopped home briefly to take a quick shower (he'd been playing golf all day with clients) and brought some co-workers with him. The kids were so hyper-talkative, it was funny. They usually are shy around strangers, so I don't know what brought this on. At one point, one of the men asked Alexa how old she was. "Four," she says. "Oh," he says, "so you'll be going to kindergarten next year then, right?" She thinks about this for a minute. "I don't think so," she says. "When I get older, I'm going to heaven. Heaven is a wonderful place because that's where Jesus is." 

I can't believe we did this, but we watched two movies in a row - Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword, and the Wizard of Oz.

Today was our Junior Farmers program. We had a lot of baby holding from chicks, to ducks to bunnies.

And before we left, they asked to run up the stairs and across the bridge.

When we got home, we had lunch and I read two more chapters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Violet just turned into a blueberry. I checked some e-mails and blogs while I ate, and the kids got into a lot of mess. I thought they were just giving their pretend dog a bath again, which they were doing at first, and used a half bottle of conditioner to do it, but then they drifted into my bedroom, quickly got my nail polish and mascara and painted "masks" all over their bodies. While I cleaned them off and the mess in the bathroom, they watched a little of Arthur and Word Girl on PBS.

After that they painted two water color pictures a piece. Alexa is now using the hair dryer to dry her dog, and Jared is lining up all his weapons on his bed. And I need to sign out because I'm being called to play the Joker.

4 Year Old Family Party

The day after the kid's real birthday, they spent the entire day with grandparents. I dropped them off at my mom's house in the morning, where they went to the library and playground. I went home and WORKED. I was sooooooooooooo exhausted at the end of the day from cleaning. But the house looked really good when I was done, and I told myself that it probably wouldn't get such a thorough cleaning like that again for another month.

Steve's parents picked the kids up at 1:00, took them to yet another park, bought them an ice cream sundae and took them to their house for more playing. They made dinner for us, and when Steve took the kids to the store to buy stuff for the family party, I went to my monthly book discussion group with a group of homeschool moms.

On May 1st, everyone came over at 1:00. Steve used his smoker for the first time, so we had smoked sausages and brauts, and he cooked chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I had made a broccoli salad, Steve's mom brought a bean salad and we had corn on the cob. Simple, but I couldn't work up the energy to do anything else.

The rain held out until right before everyone started heading home, so I breathed a prayer of thanks. Our house is really tiny, so there was no way everyone would have fit inside. The kids all played well together in the sandbox, on the swings and slide. I think they played catch for a while. Actually, I feel like I was running around most the time and don't really know what everyone was doing.

The kids were so excited about opening up presents this year. Some things they received: Jared- bike, books, games, G.I.Joe dress-up, squirt guns, Lego sets, a Slinky and new P.J.s. Alexa received a lot of the same, plus a big bubble wand, and other dress-up things.

Of course, the huge present for Jared was his long awaited drum set. He actually said he wanted Steve to set up his drum set before he'd eat any cake. That is just unhead of around here.

My friend stopped by with her kids. I snapped a sweet picture of her and her new baby girl.

I hardly took pictures throughout the day. It was just too hard with all the running around. After most people left, Steve's parents stayed and we had leftover BBQ. I read to Jared while everyone else played a round of Alexa's new game, Mouse Trap. It was a tiring but fulfilling day. I've added a few pictures here of Jared playing his drum set for the first time.