A Day Out with Dad

The alternate title of this post was "Mommy finally got a nap". 

Boss has been gone a lot for work and I have been exhausted. So when he got the opportunity to be home he offered to take the babies out for the whole day!!!!! 

Before I get to what they did, let me tell you what I did... 

STAYED IN MY BED!!! 

I didn't cook a meal, pick up a toy, wash a dish or fold one piece of laundry.

 No diapers were changed, no counter was wiped, no floor was vacuumed and no bed was made. 

I RESTED 

and 

IT....WAS ...GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!!

I look forward to another day like this...actually a week. I need a good weeks rest right before I have my baby. But for now, it was just what I needed.

Thanks Boss! That was a wonderful gift!

So where did they go?

Boss took the babies to The Museum of Science in Jacksonville and then to the zoo. After that they went to Costco and they were literally out all day. I missed them so much (between naps, of course).

Here are some pictures from their trip:

The Five Senses

Today we had a lesson about our five senses. I have been wanting to do this for some time, but today I prepared this lesson for our homeschool co op so we also did it at home.

Mr. Potato head guided the way. As we went over a particular sense, we gave him the corresponding part. 

I'm not sure what happened to his butt:

First we tested our sense of smell. I filled jars with mint, coconut, vinegar, flowers, and lime juice. We talked about each scent and if it was a good smell or bad smell.

Sniffing the mint. She said it smelled yucky:

Son smelling vinegar:

Princess liked the smell of coconut and also the feel:

She guzzled the lime juice:

Next we worked on our sense of taste. I had sour, sweet, bitter, and salty items to describe and then taste:

Here is Princess tasting the lemon: (sour)

And a tortilla chip: (salty)

She ate a handful of cocoa powder: (bitter)

For touch I made a sensory basket. It included alligator bones, feathers, cellophane, burlap, stones, textured paper and a bunch of other items:

She hated the way this twine felt:

Son enjoyed banging stones together:

We also used our rough and smooth boards:

For the sense of hearing I got out our sound/no sound eggs. We shook each one to decide if it had sound or not. Some were filled with beans, rice, or coins and some were empty:

Son just pulled them all apart:

We also played our instruments. We started out softly and then played louder and louder and louder until Gizmo started howling and we were all screaming:

When we got to sight, we got out our old school view master. I also put 5 objects onto a table and then removed one when Princess had her eyes closed. She had to remember which was moved. I spy and pin the tail on the donkey are great activities to go with this sense too:

 This was the best activity we have done in a while because both kids enjoyed it. Son destroyed a lot of things, but I think he had fun while doing it, so I call it a success!

Nine (and a half) Weeks to Go

Nine weeks to go in my pregnancy. It seems like FOREVER and I feel like its time to get prepared....mentally and otherwise.

 I have to dig out the baby clothes that I have been saving and also the toys and then pack a few things for the hospital. I need to buy diapers and a special going home outfit for the baby. And then there's the whole thing about all my kids not being able to fit into my car. 

Hmmmmm....not sure how that will work out yet.

I'm trying hard to keep up, but the endless piles of laundry and toys on my floor make it hard. Boss got me one of those clamps on a metal stick so I don't have to bend over to pick things up. It's kind of hilarious actually.

I am sure with Christmas coming, the weeks will zoom by. 

So here's what we have been up to:

We went out on Veterans Day for several free meals. TGIF had a great lunch for veterans and Son was loving it there because there was a TV at our table. 

I love that so many restaurants celebrate this day and I know it means so much to many veterans to feel appreciated and honored:

On Thursday we had a Play Doh day at our homeschool group. It was a lazy plan on my part because I didn't prepare a lesson in time, but it worked out great.

I took about 20 cans of Play Doh, natural materials like rocks, shells, leaves, and sticks, googley eyes, pipe cleaners, straws.... Anything I could find. The kids used them to make unique creations:

I also set up a table with laminated mats that had instructions to complete the photos:

Here are two mats that Princess completed:

The kids played grocery store that day at home. Princess's favorite saying that day was "It's 100 bucks, honey".

Last night we went to Clark's Fish Camp for dinner. The boys wore matching shirts. The funny thing is that Boss has had his shirt for several years and I found Son's shirt at a yardsale:

And here they are in a sibling selfie:

Pirate Gathering

Yesterday was the pirate gathering downtown. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was nice to just walk around and see all the pirates.

Even better was that Princess loves mermaids. LOVES them. So imagine her surprise when she found a real mermaid today.

A pirate and his fake monkey. This was fun, but the babies spent almost all of their time ignoring pirate stuff and chasing dogs:

Parrot head. I paid $5.00 for a very blurry photo, but it was worth it to see Princess get to put the bird on her head:

Arrrrgh:

Who knew we would ever find the wienermobile again???? And wiener is a difficult  word to spell. Somehow it seems that the "I" before "e" rule should not apply to this word:

We went to the park afterwards for some Dino riding fun: