Regularly scheduled blogging about and photos of muddy small children will return later.
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Category Archives: fun
“Gingerbread” Houses at the Library
This morning, in a fit of desperation and desire to get out of the house and see other grownups I called one of my mom-friends to see if she wanted to get together and do SOMETHING outside the house. She mentioned she was considering going to the local library because they were having a “decorate gingerbread houses” activity for children 0-5, and it might be fun.
Half an hour later, the boys and I were at the library, plates, milk cartons and plastic knives in hand. We found a table, generously laid out with tubs of frosting, twizzlers, hand candies, fruit loops, candy canes and mini-marshmallows, and set to work on creating sugary masterpieces.
Once I got Oliver started he was quite adept at piling on frosting and decorations.
Patrick had a fair bit of help from me, and enjoyed sneaking fruit loops.
Our friends joined us, and we had a good deal of fun piling more candy, fruit loops, frosting, and trim on to our little houses. They were topped off with “rainbow snow” (colorful sugar crystals).
When we were finished, we went for a walk to the park, which had many huge puddles for the boys to splash in. Patrick face-planted in the deepest puddle (about 6-8 inches of water at the deepest point), and got thoroughly soaked so we headed home (it was also nearing lunch time).
More photos of today’s adventures and the inevitable consumption/destruction of the gingerbread houses can be found in the December 2012 Picasa album.
Doggy an da Egg
Imaginative play runs wild in our house. O has recently decided he is “doggy” and has taken to crawling around the living room going woof, doggy also climbs trees. O has also decided that “Baby Pa-kits” is “Egg.”
Pa-kits is the most energetic egg I’ve ever seen, perhaps we should call him Ludwig. Continue reading
Mud!
It has been raining the last few days. Instead of arguing with the boys about playing inside, they’ve been bundled in their rain gear and sent out to play. Our yard has become a mud pit and experimental zone.
See this dirt? It will be come mud, fabulous mud to be smeared ALL OVER the patio.
And mixed in the water table.
And liberally sampled by Baby Brother.
And then there will be a BIG WET PILE OF LAUNDRY.
And the boys will end up in the bathtub.
ergonomic tents
Gavin works from home most days so we’ve been working on making our home-office as ergonomically friendly as possible.
Last week Gavin’s new display stand arrived, it enables him to work sitting down or standing up, which is great for his posture and keeping his neck in good shape. It also means that Oliver and Patrick have an awesome box they can use as a tent.
Backyard Fun
Yesterday afternoon the boys were let loose to run in the yard while I cleaned up the kitchen (an unending task). After a time they wandered out of my immediate line of sight so I ventured out to check on them.
Turns out P had mastered the ladder on the climbing structure and he and O were taking turns climbing up and going down the slide.
This kept the boys happily occupied for nearly forty five minutes, until they were pink from the heat and I insisted they come in and have some water and a light snack before swimming lessons.
a morning walk among the redwoods
This morning we went over to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve and had a nice walk among the trees.
We walked about a mile, mostly on the Pioneer Trail which goes “from the park entrance to the Armstrong Tree and Forest Theater, returning via the same route.” The boys walked, climbed and explored among the trees. Continue reading
My Fantasy Playroom
Today one of my not-so-secret fantasies came true: I got a play room!!
No, not a “fifty shades red room of pain” room. Instead, I got something more practical: a room where I can stash most of the boys toys so I can have my living room back. The boys can play and at the end of the day instead of freaking out over the colossal mess, I can close the door and ignore it (at least that’s how the fantasy works in my head).
I’ve been dreaming of a play room since I found out that second child was going to be a boy. I was going to put both boys in bunk-beds in the smaller room, and turn the well-lit room with a lovely view into the play room/guest room. I figured Oliver would need to be at least four or five to be comfortable on the top bunk, so I shelved this fantasy for a later date.
This past Friday, Oliver announced he wanted to sleep in Pah-sah’s room. We made the twin bed cozy, put up his safety rail, and expected him to decide he wanted to move back into his own bed by Saturday morning. Saturday night Oliver again demanded to sleep in Pah-sah’s room, and then he started demanding his “tiny bed” be moved in as well. O continued to sleep in P’s room in the big twin Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, all the while demanding his “tiny bed” be moved.
Today we complied with his request. Early this morning, while Gavin was teleconferencing with the W3C, the boys and I swapped the twin bed and Oliver’s bed, and moved his dresser.
sim pool NOW pees!
Today, in a moment of weakness, I caved to the toddlerists demands of “sim-pool now pees” and inflated the “sim-pool” that P got for his birthday.
We set the pool up on the patio with the canvas drop cloth underneath it, stripped the boys down to their sunhats (“we get nekid”), slathered them liberally with sunscreen and let O loose with the hose.
The water was cold, but that didn’t stop O from splashing around like mad. It DID stop P from getting anything more than his toes damp, he mostly clung to me and wailed at even the thought of being put in the water. Continue reading
