Cub Scout Parade 2013

Buddy got to March in his 1st Parade as a Scout.  He was very excited.  Daddy got to March with everyone and got them all lined up.

Waiting to get in line after the fire engine.

Princess also go to march with the Girl Scouts, and Munchkin tagged along with the Girl Scouts, but I don't have pictures of any of that.

Good Start to Summer

Some days I have plans for doing fun stuff and some days I don't plan at all and it turns into a good day. 

Wonderful unplanned Summer Picnic lunch in the park.

My cute little helper,

 This is my kids favorite game at the playground.  They take off their shoes and put them around the merry-go-round, then they get on and turn it.  They try to pick up the most shoes they can while going super fast.  They usually fall off a few times, but so far no one has gotten hurt.

 Their game is against the rules though... Really no Running on a playground?  Improper use of equipment?  No bare feet?... oh well.

Last Day of School and Port Discovery

The last day of school was a 1/2 day and there were some pool parties.  However, the thought of keeping track of 4 kids, 2 of whom can't swim without any help on a hot summer day had no appeal to me.   I decided to go to Port Discovery (the Children's museum in Baltimore)   The kids love that place and it is all inside, plus when most school kids still have another week it is completely empty in the afternoons.  We arrived at 1:15 when all the school groups were leaving, and only shared the place with a few other families. 

Amazingly we only went to 3 or 4 exhibits. 

I love the water area, they have a plumbers park with water flowing out of the floor and the kids can attach pipes to direct, block and divert water.  It amazes me to watch Buddy's engineering mind at work.  He and Princess were directing Munchkin and had a whole system worked out to make a high fountain.  They got soaked but loved it.

 This little guy I tried to keep dry, he carried that little spoon everywhere and love pouring it over and over.

We eventually moved to an area that had 2 staff people and they were taking notes as kids played with hammers, screws, dowels, boxes with holes, and some wheels.  My children had never seen this before in all our times there.  They honed in on it and the 3 big kids stayed there for almost 2 hours.  I left them together and let Simon play in the toddler area.  I came back to check on them every 20 minutes, but they didn't want to leave.

 

They built a combine

 They built a lawn mower

 They built a horse with wheels for legs.

 

They had stumbled upon a prototype area where the staff was testing a future exhibit. The staff loved the 3 kids.  They were the perfect testing demographic of ages, plus they had a long attention span, big imagination and were comfortable telling adults what they were doing. They even loved it when my kids broke stuff because then they knew it needed to be built stronger to withstand childrens museum use.  The kids loved it and the best part of all is that the staff person took my email and will send me an email next time they need stuff tested.  WIN.

 

This guy loved the one-on-one attention of the toddler area and the train.

We ended our day with a some pictures, a walk around the Inner Harbor and dinner, and almost pefect last day of school.

 

Teacher gift bags

The school sent around a notice saying that the room moms were collecting money for the end of the year present.  (after they sent around asking for money for the end of the year teacher lunch, the end of the year party, etc.....)  When you add all this up for 3 classrooms and 4 teachers it gets expensive.  I decided I would make something.  I sew, not a problem. 
So I found these bags.

Cute right! 

I could make those.  Little did I realize how much time it would take to piece  4 of these bags.  But I persevered and I succeeded.  I was sewing on tags late in the night before the last day of school.

 

 

I actually love the finish product, expecially when full of books.  The handles are nice and long and go over your shoulder very well.  They are lined with a heavy twill so that they will withstand the weight of lots of books.  Maybe I will make one for myself,  probably not, they were a lot of work.

 

The feedback from the teachers was that they loved them.  So even though it was a lot of work, they were worth it.

Free Play

I am a type of parent who usually lets the kids come up with their own versions of play.  I don't play with them all the time and it is fun to watch them come up with their own games.  I have no idea what they do, but I love to hear the giggles and come into a room to find this.

I have no idea what he was doing in the laundry basket, but he was smiling and having fun.  His big sister loves to play with him. 

 While his bigger sister was curled up in her bed playing a game on the Kindle....

We have a Wolf Scout

Buddy is in Cub Scouts and loves having some all boy time.  Daddy is his den leader and he achieved his Tiger Badge at their end of year picnic.  There were 2 boys at the picnic, so not many, but they had a good year.

 I love his smile in this picture.

 The biggest scout there.  btw, I made this hat a long time ago  (in 2010) and he even wears it once in a while.

 our little Scout hung out at the beach too.

 Munchkin got a little cold during the presentation part, but she looks cute in this pic.

Spring Program

The 2 middle kids took part in a Spring Program at school.  It was all about the parables of Jesus and they had lots of fun.

 

I have some video of it, but Blogger is giving me a hard time uploading.

Leave me a comment and I will email you a link of the video some other parents took. 

 

New Truck

Daddy's car died a few weeks ago, so we had to buy a new vehicle pretty quickly.  It is really hard to find a 6 passenger vehicle at a reasonable price.

We ended up with a truck and the kids LOVE it.  Especially Scout who given any opportunity will climb in and "drive tuck" 

We have already taken it camping, and loaded it well. We will probably get some type of cover for the back, but it is a fun truck. 

Buddy's Field Trip to the Maryland Science Center

I don't normally get to go on big field trips.  Daddy goes on them, Grandpa has gone on one this year.  I get to go on the preschool ones where siblings are allowed.   I finally arranged for Daddy to take a day off work and I got to spend the day with Buddy and his class.  It was great.  There were enough chaperones so that I got to wander around the Maryland Science Center with only Buddy.  We had tons of fun.

Buddy on the Nail bed. He loved it.

 Using pulley's to lift his own weight, notice his legs wrapped around the post to try and help him.

This was the coolest experiment with liquid nitrogen and water.  The placed the big trash can on top of the pan.

 After a few seconds it made a loud bang and shot into the air.  Notice it is not in the picture, it was more than 3 stories in the air, above the top of the building.

 Digging for dinosaur fossils.

Look, my head is smaller than the dinosaur footprint.

We had a great day, and I am hoping to do more field trips next year, it is a lot of fun to wander with just one child.

Threading the machine

I have a mischievous 2-yr old who is fascinated by my sewing machine.  This week it was attempting to thread it.