Playing Catch Up

I always have great intentions about trying to blog about every week or two, but I never seem to find the time, so today I'm taking the time to do a little catching up.  

We learned a lot about winter weather in January even though our temps were more spring like! 

These were our snowman snacks:

The boys are digging in play-dough searching for marbles.  This was harder for them than I though it was going to be.  Super great for their fine motor skills!!

Snowman Pancakes!  Chocolate chips for the face, raisins for the buttons and bacon for the arms!  When we added powdered sugar it looked like snow!

 The boys have been having so much fun using marbles.  I saw this idea to make magnetic marble runs and knew my two kiddos would love it!  Right now we're using the refrigerator to attach them to, but I plan to buy a large oil drip pan to use in the future (which will be great for other magnetic activities, too!).  It was fun to see the boys move the tubes around and make them work.  A lot of problem solving going on here!

Teachable Moments: Kindness

After we went bowling Saturday night we ventured over to the arcade area.  We weren't going to spend any money on games, but we just letting the boys run around and pretend.  Elliott was fortunate enough when he pushed a button on the Skee Ball game that it came on - someone before us had left money!  It was a little funny because Elliott and Oliver didn't know how to play - Elliott thought it was like baseball and threw the ball at the cage!! Haha! 

The boys ended up winning 2 tickets (1 for each) so we went to the counter to see if he could "buy" anything with only 2.  

There wasn't anything we could get for only 2 tickets.  I let Elliott and Oliver know some options: 1) Some kids take home the tickets to play with and 2) some kids are really kind and give them away to someone else so that person can use them to get a toy.  Elliott thought about it for just a second and said he wanted to give it away! SCORE! He picked a boy about his age and handed it to him, Oliver followed him and did the same thing with his ticket.  The look on the other boy's face was priceless, we could tell he was surprised and thrilled! 

We've been really focusing on kindness this past week and this was a prime example of the boys finding a way to be kind.  As we were leaving the bowling alley we talked about how that was really kind of them and we discussed how happy it made the other boy feel!  

A couple of days before this act of kindness I found this Kindness Jar here.  We made one for our house and we've been writing down instances when someone does something kind.  As soon as we got home from the bowling alley the boys wanted to write down their act of kindness. I could tell that they (mostly E) felt so proud of showing kindness to someone else, especially a stranger, and I think it made a big impact on both of the boys.  

I just love teachable moments!  The boys made me a proud momma that night! 

Bowling

Saturday night we decided to take the boys bowling.  We've all been together before, but it had been awhile since our last trip to the alley.  Elliott was super excited because the previous week he had missed out on a bowling experience. 

Elliott has gotten a lot better at bowling since our last trip to the bowling alley!

Oliver was very insistent on carrying his own ball and doing everything on his own.  

He wanted to push the ball down the lane on his own as well, but he's not quite strong enough for that yet.  Each time he bowled we let him give it one good push and then we would give it another shove to get it down the lane. 

I tried to get a picture of the final score.  As you can see, I had the lowest score...I'm going to attribute that to using all of my energy to run my first 10K that same morning. ;)

Tulsa Air and Space Museum

On Friday we took a trip to the Tulsa Air and space Museum with our Play and Learn Group.  The boys were super excited to get there!  Oliver kept saying, "pay-pane" airplane, and when we pulled into the parking lot Elliott asked if we were at the "blast off place."  

First we went upstairs to check out some of the "hands on" activities. 

  

After we were finished upstairs we headed over to the Planetarium. The video that was showing was really above our kids' heads, but Elliott thought it was pretty cool.  He liked pretending that he was in a rocket ship flying through space.

After the Planetarium we had a picnic lunch inside the museum breezeway and then we headed inside the museum to check out the airplanes.

Elliott and Oliver climbed the little ladder behind the astronaut so I could take a picture.  Elliott was tall enough for me to get a picture, Oliver was not.  :)

 Lilly was pushing the buttons to launch the space shuttle.

 Elliott had a turn launching the shuttle! 

 Oliver took a turn!!

 Blasting off!!

 

15 Minutes Outside Challenge

At the beginning of January we read about a challenge of getting outside with the boys for at least 15 minutes everyday in the month of January.  So far we have done very well.  We have missed a day or two, but we have gone out on some of the coldest days in January. There have been days I've wanted to skip because the warmth of our house is just too inviting, but I really think we've all benefited from a little outside time each day.  Surprisingly, we've had mild weather, which has made getting out a little easier.  If you want to find out more about the challenge click here.

Greg went outside with the boys today, so I headed out with my camera! 

I like this shot because hit shows how tall Elliott is compared to Greg.  Elliott is getting very tall!

 Daddy chasing the boys.

 The boys chasing Daddy!

 Daddy down!