Up to NO Good

and apparently enjoying herself immensely!!! That Katie girl, I tell you, she is something else. Today she has eaten her breakfast, licked my breakfast bowl clean (head in it like Winnie the Pooh- and it was honey cinnamon oatmeal, in case you were wondering), from breakfast and any other thing see ate managed to make her hair ‘stiff’ with food, dumped over half of her sister’s orange juice on the table…to end up on my floor, climbed up the bathroom drawers to inspect and dismantle her daddy’s wallet (I was showering at the time and saw her but wasn’t in any position to do much just then), was escorted out of the bathroom to return 10 minutes later and managed to climb up to the actual counter, again using the drawers- where she was found standing and going through the medicine cabinet, from said bathroom counter got the top off of her toothpaste and was sucking it out (There was a reason the toothpaste was no longer on the counter top but in the upper cabinet. Oh, and it was the kiddy toothpaste so no worries that she ingested more than she would have in brushing her teeth.), finally ate her lunch (Hasn’t eaten much lunch for several days. She even asked for seconds – gasp!), and managed to get her short arms around the wall where the baby gate was placed to reach into the kitchen pantry and help herself to two Oreos. Would you believe all of this happened before noon? Some days….

A ‘Cool’ Experiment

Not long ago, while studying Pluto (an ice planet) we were able to make our own homemade ice cream. The whole point of the experiment was to show, in a rather tasty fashion, how things freeze.

We had wanted to grab one of those nifty soccer ball-like contraptions to make the ice cream in…but as that was not something we could do without ordering it we went with the old school way the book described.

We took two Ziploc plastic bags…1-quart and 1-gallon size. In the gallon size bag we put a certain amount of rock salt and water and in the quart size bag we put heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Each bag was sealed individually and the smaller one placed within the larger one.

A few minutes of shaking, watching the salt turn from a solid to a slushy mess and we had some not so bad tasting ice cream!

It was still a little troublesome trying to explain to such a young one about freezing point depression and have it make sense as some of the high school and college students who learn about it have a hard time wrapping their minds around it as well. We did what we could.

What she’ll remember? 1) That Pluto is an ice planet (ok, it isn’t a ‘planet’ technically anymore. Nevertheless she’ll remember it does not have a hot inner core as the rest of the planets do). 2) That making ice cream ourselves is fun, yummy and we should try experimenting making some other flavors as vanilla is good but other kinds are even better! : )

A Compliment....of Sorts

Kiersten - "Mom, you know what's weird about you?"

Me- "Uh, no sweetie. What's that?"

Kiersten- "You look like you shower every day!"

Me- "Thanks. I think."

A Little Rest

does a body some serious good. Well, at least that is my line of thinking! : ) I have struggled with anemia as I do every pregnancy. Each time it just seems to start earlier and hit a little harder. Yes, I am taking an additional iron supplement (not faithfully, as that has its own issues).

As a result of the anemia there are days an hour or two after lunch I am spent and with Katie already asleep I let the other two kids’ watch a cartoon or two while I rest and then they come to find me. Yesterday I set them up to watch a few episodes of the old Muppet show (the variety one they used to play on prime time back in the day) and laid down.

When the show was over Kiersten came to find me and tell me it was done…my cue to get up. She mentioned being cold and snuggled right in under the covers. When she didn’t come out of our room within 5 minutes Isaiah came in to investigate. Ever the meddler he snuggled in between the two of us with a warning from me to not be crazy (as in this is most definitely NOT play/wrestle time).

Within a few minutes they had fallen asleep and so had I. I startled myself awake not too long after they joined me and found it funny that the troops were so tired they too needed a little rest (something they NEVER admit to when you ask them). There is simply nothing like a small nap or rest time to do a body good. :)

And the Biggest Man...

is 5 years old! What a sweetie he is. There are so many things that I just cherish about him. His little skip/hop thing he does. I suppose it is more like a prance. And there is that most contagious giggle he gets! He is so easy to please and for the most part easy going.

We ended up having a family birthday party on Easter, the weekend before his birthday, and then an immediate family (just the 5 of us) celebrated on his actual birthday. These pictures are from the party we had on Easter.

He had wanted a Geotrax cake but that just wasn’t something I could find or pull off so I went ahead and did a Thomas cake. I asked him if that would be alright and he was more than fine with it. : ) That was our ‘theme’ if you will. In previous years it has been Cars and then Hotwheels, Cars, Hotwheels…you see where this is going. It was a surprise to get a different request this year, but one I was happy to oblige. He’s getting bigger, taller, and skinnier (if that is possible).

It was a good day and so was his actual birthday. We’ll have to remember to not be suspenseful with his gifts next year and just let him open them all first thing in the morning. We had let him open 2 gifts before we went to church and were saving the others (don’t ask me why) until later. He just couldn’t get those off his mind and immediately when everyone was home from church he tore the last few open. He was so quick with everything I didn’t grab a single picture of him that day! : )

I did make him carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting so we would have cake on his birthday. You just cannot have cake or some special treat on your actual birthday even if the big party was early! He in no way minded having 2 parties and thus having his special day strewn out over a week. Spoiled little thing…but he is just 5 and so cute. We’ll let it slide this year. Next year? Who knows?

Out on the town

A few weeks ago one of the local museums had a community day where it was free to the public. :) Since it tends to be around $10/person or so normally and we had a nice invite the older 2 and I went off to see what it was all about.

It would be a neat place to visit without the children to see and read a little more of the history of boats and such but as it was we had a really nice time. This particular place has a wonderful 'water' room. It is set up so that the kids can freely play with boats, floating fish, locks and dams- while wearing waterproof smocks, of course!

Isaiah was in seventh heaven. That child loves the water. I think this room was second only to taking a bath - meaing if he could have gotten in the water while he played...oh boy, we would have to move in!

Isaiah played with these little floating fish and the net for quite some time. He didn’t like it when the fish got pulled into this drain at the end of the table though. He would work feverishly to pull them out and make sure they didn’t end up there again. This little boy whom he played beside looked like he could almost be Isaiah’s brother! Too cute.

Kiersten also found things she liked in the room. There was this wind maker that you could use to direct the wind in the direction of your boat so that it would sail. She tried several boats out as some tipped right over and others were just right.

She also took interest in this pipe building area where you redirect the water through various pipes to get it to come out where you want it too. She was working hard to build this connection so that it reached to the top of a wheel that looked like just like ones on paddle boats of old. She wanted to make it spin and knew she needed to get the water flowing from the top of it.

The museum was a success just because of this one room. We stayed in there for almost an hour and a half and the kids could have stayed longer. Made me start to wonder if a family pass would be worth it for during the winter when we need to get out and do something fun. The room has a closed door so all are confined…which will work wonderfully for when we bring Katie. Though if she comes with us I fear another set of clothes will also need to accompany us as I do not see her leaving that room anywhere near dry!