Family Fun and Museum Halloween Fun

Some days I just need a little bit to breathe and regroup after dinner. This is usually when the kids have energy off the charts. So Jim has taken the three older kids on some fun outings to bike and skateboard. They love their daddy time!

Jake doesn't have a bike, but he likes to push his Tonka truck while wearing a helmet just the same.

 

Nicole was the star student last week and she made this fun poster with some of her favorite pictures. I love how she chose one with her Uncle Daniel, that was sweet. She also chose one with her cousin Carter when they were at Marbles. Boogie boarding, frog catching, swimming, Chuck E Cheese, artwork, and at a fire truck were her other pics.

A museum had their Creepy Halloween celebration. So the kids all dressed up as animals for the costume contest: Nicole was BATgirl, Mike was a dinosaur, Jake was a bee and Diana was a spider.

 

There were several dozen animals for the kids to touch, look at and learn about. They had reptiles like this blue tongued big lizard and a bunch of others that Jim knows from Arizona days (and he had most of them as pets at one time or another). Spiders including my alltime favorite bird eating spider, a flying squirrel, rabbits, mice, snakes, and any other rodent they could bring.

 

Mike giving Diana her personal tour. He was so sweet to show her the fish and turtles.

Posing for pictures at the costume contest booth.

The kids LOVED petting the different turtles, big and small. They had one of those huge dinosaur looking snapping turtles (not for petting of course!)

We went at the beginning of the day and had everything prettymuch to ourselves and a few other families. The kids colored, glued and had fun trying to use q-tips to make skeletons.

Diana keeps getting bigger! She has mastered the stairs, but would rather fuss until someone comes to help her down. I have had to stop Mike from trying to carry her down (that was quite the heart attack!) and Jake from "helping" her down. She has so much joy in her, she loves dolls and stuffed animals that move or make sounds. She loves going down the toy aisles playing with the animals at the store.

Pie, Bentonville Battlefield, Soccer

 Seems like I get a super craving for one of these lemon meringue pies each pregnancy. I was very glad that all my substitutes worked to replace the shortening, milk, etc. I thought the crust was a lot better sans shortening.
  

We drove an hour to Bentonville Battlefield for their Fall Festival. It was in the middle of wide open country, much more the true south than our citified area. I love wide open spaces for my kids!

There was a small museum you can see in the background and it had weaponry from the war as well as an artillery shell lodged in a piece of wood from the actual battle. This was the last battle in the Civil War and the largest battle in NC. A much bigger piece of history than I'd thought. It was good for the kids to show respect for the graves and markers of the soldiers who fought and gave their lives for what they believed. We tried to share on a simple level the circumstances of the Civil War and teach them that when people think about they war and the many people that died they are sad. That we should try to talk things out before fighting, but that there are times when we need to fight for important things like liberty. Nicole was really listening, the boys not as much. But still a good opportunity and you have to start somewhere!

 

The festival focused on the everyday lives of the people in the era instead of the battle, which was perfectly age appropriate for the kids! They had corn shucking and whatever it's called when they take the corn off too. This was by far and away the favorite activity. There was a tour of the home used as a hospital but the kids were too young to do that.

 

They had a log cabin with people set up doing things inside, but they didn't have any tours or explanations for the kids to hear so that was disappointing. I had to recall my pioneer knowledge to make it worthwhile history-wise for the kids.

 

 

They had a slave cabin pictured in the background. I was able to teach the kids on a very basic level how important it is to have freedom. So it was a good outing, unique and fun. Probably not something we'll head out to see again unless the reenactment they do looks good.

Mike picked me a ton of dandelions when we were talking the battlefield looking at trenches and the cannon they had set up. He made me a beautiful bouquet, it was really sweet! His new favorite color is yellow!

Nicole had her last soccer game yesterday before our outing.

 

She told me that she thinks she likes basketball more than soccer. Trying not to show how pleased I am that she likes bball, I say "Really?" She responds that "Yeah, the treats are much better in basketball." Well, I'll take what I can :)

Fall fun and Chemistry Day

We bought pumpkins for our front porch. But the boys had other ideas. Jim checked on the kids one night and they had apparently snuck downstairs and brought them up before falling asleep.

 

 

Family neighborhood walk before Saturday conference. There were actually fish in the little stream! Michael was completely ready to jump in the stream.

 

Jim took Nicole shopping for longer gym shorts since the ones she has are two years old. He said he was ready to rip the store apart since all they had were skimpy little things. He eventually got a pair of boys shorts for her and they look great. He was also apparently quite distracted while on search. The kids all brought him toys they wanted. First they displayed Nicole's pet purses.

Mike's remote control car and Jake's plane. Nicole even memorized prices for me. Jim was a star taking the kids all morning to games and the store while I was at the temple.

In the afternoon we went to the Chemistry Day at the Natural Science museum. We took a carriage ride around Raleigh too. This draft horse used to work in Ohio.

The kids were amazingly good and calm. We learned a ton of history about the area and Jim and I both said how surprised we were that it was so enjoyable (we actually could listen!)

 

There were all sorts of experiments- most of them over the kids heads- but there were several the kids really got into. Nicole listened really well and I was not surprised to see how interested Michael was too. He loves magnets and there was an experiment where they took bran flakes, let the kids smash them up, put them in a baggie with water and then dropped a magnet in to see how little pieces of iron from the cereal went to the magnet. The kids got to see biodiesel fuel lit on fire (really liked that one!) and they actually liked the solar panels that ran fans and cars. They are putting on gloves for the next experiment in this pic. Gloves that were WAY too big.

They mixed glue, water, borax and food coloring.

To make a cool gloop!

Mike decorated his booster seat and clothes on the way home with his gloop. yikes. Jake, though, was able to wait and play with it at home. A really fun day for all of us!

Growing and grateful for a good doc

The kids usually catch your average spotted frog or toad, but they found a tree frog this week! He was awesome and barely escaped being Jim's pet. I loved his green coloring and cool toes!

 

Nicole was so proud of their discovery! She had her 7 year checkup this week. I took all four kids and it wasn't so bad. Seriously. Either my perception is skewed since I live in constant chaos or the kids have matured just enough to mostly listen and be somewhat quiet. I thought about Joe who his doing his Peds rotation at med school. What a nightmare we would be! :) This doc has seen us since we moved here and has always been capable of handling the kids, especially Mike, which is a miracle. Even through distractions, the doc picked up on a slight crease on Nicole's nose and asked me if I've noticed any allergies or if she rubs her nose. Before he got two words out Nicole totally rubbed her nose! and he laughed as he finished the sentence. Even though there are no other signs like a runny nose or sneezing, apparently this barely visible crease (called allergic crease I think) is a sign for us to be aware of if things get worse. Anyways, I couldn't believe he could see that with all our distractions! Nicole continues to grow bigtime. She is 57lbs (77th%), 53.25 in tall (99+%) with a 14.1 BMI. Less than a foot to go before she looks me right in the eye. Yikes! I was most grateful for the conversation about eating green vegetables the doctor had with her.

Diana demonstrating her "no hands" water drinking style. Also known as a "pre-bath" at dinnertime.

Serious playtime. The kids insisted I watch their puppet show of their cars and shark. Mostly consisted of attacking each other, so enlightening and sweet :) I pulled out the bird hand puppets and hope they will do more flying than attacking now!

The train table had to go upstairs after Diana enjoyed using it as her personal party station for a week. Everyone tells me she looks so much like Michael, and it is so interesting to see how those two really love playing together. No, that is not a shiver of apprehension, she would have already shown signs of being a hyper-diaper like Mike was...right? :)

Mike loves taking pictures. There were 87 pictures on my camera (And I've only used 6 for this post- and 3 of them he took!). He and Nicole had their doc appointment together and again I was amazed that the dr picked up on a point in Mike's behavior, especially that as soon as the doc would pick him up or hold him that Mike would rev down from his constant movement and not struggle to get away. The doctor asked some questions like if Mike gets all revved up sometimes and has a hard time relaxing again. I said YES but less frequently as he's gotten older. He said it seemed Mike was a sensory-seeking kind of kid. So he recommended giving Mike a deep, secure hug or letting him bounce on a mini trampoline for a while and that would help him. He didn't see any problem or long lasting issue, just that as Mike develops the ability to relax his brain and body those are ways I can help. It also explains why at the beach sometimes he would lay down on his stomach and close his eyes telling us he needed to rest even though he wouldn't go to sleep- it was just so much sensory processing for his eyes for hours on end. And also why when I got him sunglasses the problem went away. Pretty interesting stuff, and I can tell you the hug idea has already worked great...so Mike's stats are also on par with his previous growth. He's 45lbs (71st%), 45in tall (84th%) and a BMI of 15.4 (48th%). Michael had to get 3 shots and I had all four of them get a flu shot too. Mike's build is so muscly, it was funny to watch as each nurse took an arm so they could each give a shot at the same time (so it only feels like 2 shots instead of 4) and his arms were totally flexed and defined. So different than his siblings who are toned from play, but not with defined muscle. Anyways, the kids took turns getting shots, and it was hardest with Nicole, who treated her one shot like some kind of trauma with massive sobs and wails. Looking back, I should have had her go first. I just thought that if she saw how it was no big deal (Jake and D barely made a peep) that she wouldn't freak out. Well, you win some and you lose some I guess :) The lollipops at checkout were the perfect win.

Monkeys, planes, trucks...

 

Michael got to be line leader in preschool, which means he got to take the class mascot- Curious George- home for the weekend. He also got to be at the front of line which is big stuff in the preschool universe. Mike felt on top of the world and wore his favorite shirt to school :)

 

 

This is the look that says "I may be getting into trouble soon..."

 

 

They were supposed to be cleaning their room and when Mike told me their room was empty I didn't expect the bathroom to be full! :)

 

 

If the Nicole and Michael complete their chore charts for the week (includes things like brush teeth, piano practice, make bed, fold laundry, etc) then they get a prize at the end of the week. It helps with the motivation factor, especially since I don't want to give them an allowance that makes them think they'll be paid their whole life to make their bed. These cinnamon rolls look more like alien life forms...but that didn't bother us!

 

 

Home Depot had a free workshop this morning and we all went as a family. The three oldest took turns making these planes with Jim.

 

 

Along with the fire planes, they gave us free lego kits (and I know these things cost about 5 bucks) and the kids LOVE them since they're on a big lego kick right now. Awesome.

 

Home Depot also had a fire truck there and since most people were still working on their planes the kids got the truck to themselves to a while. They were SO curious and thrilled.

A K-9 was also there and as you can see Jake could not keep his eyes off the dog for a second. Both the boys got dog kisses which they loved. And just as a side note there was a random Chikfila cow there, but no other promotional stuff from them like free chicken or a booth or anything. Just a random cow walking around giving high fives to kids. Of course the kids still loved it and just had to go hug the cow for some reason. Pretty cute stuff.