A spoonful of outside cures cabin fever

It is amazing how a child in a bad mood turns completely around when they get outside. There is so much to do and explore. So many things to learn, so many lessons to teach. I love getting outside with my kiddos. We go everywhere. Just being outside makes us all in a better mood. It's been frigid out doors lately so I must admit, I think we all have a bit of cabin fever. Today, was such a gorgeous day. I packed us all up early and out we headed. I took the kids to the Leeds park today. If you have never been, you are missing out. The slides are taller than waterslides and it has a toddler park and a merry go round...a bridge over water to another older park and a walking trail through the trees. We spend a lot of time there when we go.

My boys aren't so much into the slides and such, but they love the swings and the merry go round. Their favorite thing by far is the water where in warmer weather I let them take their shoes off and walk around, but in cooler weather, they get sticks and play in the water from on top of large rocks.

There are snails all along the water's edge and the boys enjoy trying to get them. Lucas caught one. He was so proud...and then he tried to eat it soooo back it went!

We always bring bread or crackers when we head out and today we fed the fish cheese crackers, much to Lucas's dismay. He was trying to go in after the crackers. There are TONS of fish and the water is so clear you can see to the bottom and watch them all attack what you threw in. By the way, we are down one race car, Austin has no coordination :)

Here are just some other random pictures from the park. We spent a great deal of time filling up chipmunk holes, blowing dandelions, playing pine cone baseball, looking for bugs (and naming them), looking for leaves for my butterfly craft we are doing tomorrow and a bunch of other "nature" type things :)

There is a small gazebo on the side of the park that has the smaller park. We got there everytime and the boys love walking along the benches and looking for spider webs (ewww). Austin apparently took a "cat nap" and ended up playing race cars on the benches for a while.

The picture below is hilarious to me! It was a bit muddy out and Austin realized he had mud on his shoes so Austin told Lucas to "come over and get the mud off my shoes"...Lucas walked over and was trying to brush the mud off brother's shoes. Lucas seems to be Austin's little gopher. Bossy Little Austin.

We ended the day on the swings and the slide on the smaller park. The boys love doing the "superman" on the swings and were kicking their feet wildly to bonk eachother. They were full of giggles over that.  The big metal slide terrifies Lucas, but Austin LOVES it.

Austin was being so sweet and trying to tell Lucas he wasn't afraid and he was trying to show him how to do it. Austin climbed all the way to the top and said (and I quote) "It's easy Luke Duke! Just hug your knees and say WHEEE!" and he went down the slide. It was so cute. Lucas did end up riding the slide down and he enjoyed himself.

 All in all, the trip to the park today was rewarding and a great time to be together enjoying eachother and this gorgeous day. 

Get out of the house! Go explore and teach the kiddos that being outside is awesome. Not only do they get exercise...it's a great time to step back and watch their little faces light up when they find something new or take a huge jump off a rock and land it. What a great day.

Christmas Trees

This idea came to when I was deciding what I was going to do with the huge pile of christmas tree trimmings we have outside. I thought this was so cute. The boys were also excited to decorate their own christmas tree considering that the real tree decoration was such a plethora of ridiculousness!

You will need:
Toilet paper tube
markers
tree trimmings
poof ball
craft stick
glue stick
scissors
pipe cleaners, beads, glitter etc...for decorating


I started by poking/cutting holes in the toilet paper tube so the trimmings could be shoved inside. I gathered up a bunch of trimmings and cut them to size.

The boys then colored their tubes with whatever colors they wanted.  They shoved the trimmings in the holes in no order whatsoever and I fluffed them up a bit....considering they looked like a hot mess :) lol I guess that's the beauty of kid crafts huh?

We then took pipe cleaners and strung some beads for "lights and garland"... I wanted to glue pom poms for ornaments and use some glitter on the branches...but when I realized what a task this was with luke...I changed my mind.

For a star, I took a craft stick and glued a bright glittery pom pom on the top and had the boys shove it down in the tube. It stuck really well because all in the tube was the bottoms of the trimmings so it held it in place.

I "strung" the garland and lights around the tree and tied them at the end.

well, there they are in all their "glory" haha! The boys had fun doing this craft...Lucas LOVED stringing beads, so we will probably make some bracelets later today. This was a silly way to use up some old trimmings and get the boys' hands going this morning.

Taking a new perspective today

Today has been one of those days when nothing seems to go right. There is a laundry list of things I need to do (including laundry). There are not enough hours in the day. I feel neglectful of my kids because I had to finish off some soaps I am making for my sister. I feel neglectful of the house because I want to make up for the time I didn't play with my kids today. It's a vicious cycle. I feel like I know one word and that's "No" normally followed by "LUCAS!" The kids are pushing my buttons continuously today. It's like they know when you are busy and that's when they need one million things and whine about one million things and find one million things to break or destroy, eat, vomit on...etc.  I am the mom today that has used TV as a babysitter...add another guilt to the list. Our Christmas tree is naked from the middle down...we are down 10 ornaments, Luke has (for the second year in a row) pooped out the metal topper on our ornaments which was sort of an unwelcomed surprise. I'm testy, the kids are whining and I still feel like "if I could just get one more thing done today, I will feel better" which I know is not true. 

It seems like such a stupid thing to whine about... I am blessed to be at home with my babies, taking care of the house... I love it but things just seem so overwhelming on certain days. Some days I am flying through the day, everyone is happy, things are going great and others I want to crawl under the bed with the door locked and go back to sleep. That's not possible and I know it. In my head sometimes I go to that place and giggle to myself at the ridiculouness of it all.

The joy of the day I guess is the little things. The stuff you got done and even the stuff you didn't get done is not important at the end of the day. It's that you are there... being with your kids...giving them that assurance you are just a "mommy!" away. Helping them learn trust and skills they need can't make it without.
When put into perspective, I feel better. I guess I need to take my own advice and realize I am important and my job as a mother is important. To be thankful that I have dirty dishes... it means we have food. To be thankful I have an unmade bed...it means I have somewhere to lay my head at night. To be thankful for the loads of laundry I need to do, the messy yard, the kitchen that's a disaster area....it means I am blessed. Most importantly to be thankful for those two sweet boys that sometimes get under my skin, that argue every word I say, that make messes, question everything, get dirty... it means I am a mother. No matter what, that won't change and I am thankful for that.

Impromptu Quiet time forts

I don't know what it is about throwing a blanket over a couch that gets my kids so excited. It's been a loooong day and I am ready for their bedtime. I needed a little bit of quiet time myself. I took their favorite blankies and covered both couches with them (one for each kid). The boys were so excited. They each had their own little fort for reading books, playing with racecars etc. They were almost giddy about having their own space. They played a bit and then started visiting the other's fort and started playing together. Thankfully they played quietly for a while and my head stopped hurting :) Of course, I had to snap some photos.

My sweet boys playing

I love taking time during the day to just stop and watch my boys play together. They don't do it very often, but when they do, it's adorable. They have their own little language and they understand eachother. Austin has recently started to realize Lucas can play with him and he's not a "baby" anymore. "MOM! Luke is a BIG BOY!!" as he likes to say. Not long ago, he used to just call him a baby. Anyway. They have started being really loving towards eachother and they call eachother friend every now and then. I am so looking forward to the day that they actually play together for more than 5 minutes without falling apart and fighting. So here's a few pictures I snapped of them being silly and cuddling :)

No mess "paint" for outside

This is probably the easiest, cheapest and cleanest things I like to do with the boys. You have to do it when the sun is out and preferably when it's warm-ish as they will get wet.
You will need:

water
bowl
paint brush, sponges, washrag (anything that will soak up water)

Yes, that's it... No special materials, just plain old water and imagination. My boys love to "paint" the house, the patio, the deck, eachother... if the sun is out, the "paint" will go away in a matter of minutes. The boys like to watch how it appears and disappears. Definitely an easy thing to do and will occupy their little minds for a while.