Loving this Rain

Yesterday after dropping Owen off at preschool, Ethan, Eliza and myself decided to suit up and go for a walk in the rain. Well, I walked, they rode.

Every time I see a photo of Ethan like this I am reminded of how much bigger his world is getting

and how with each passing day he is drifting a little further away from me,

growing up a little more.

For now, I enjoy each of these moments we have together.

playing with monster trucks

walking through puddles

splashing feet

and stopping all that fun to find the wonder of a snail on the trail.

He is a doll.

And then there is the little blondie.

She was thrilled to get out of her car and run

and splash around

back and forth

splashing

She even found a monster truck for herself.

I love the way the rain misting curled up her hair.

What did I ever do to deserve such joy?

It was a blessed rainy day indeed.

Wordless Wednesday

What's Cooking Mama?

This weekend my kitchen really flexed its muscles. I feel like I had the oven going non stop. First up was homemade cookie dough.

Chris's brother is getting married in two weeks and I found these cookies on another blog and thought I would try making them for my mother in law for rehearsal dinner favors.

The dough sat in the refrigerator until Sunday night when I rolled them out and baked them.

They turned out really good. I didn't ice them because I was really just wanting to try the cookie recipe and try out some different cookie sheets for baking as a practice run. I will need to do about 100 cookies and there is always these three children under my feet so we will see if I actually follow through.

Next up was apple cupcakes. I have been receiving Family Fun magazine ever since Ethan was a baby and they always have a monthly treat on the last page but I was always too tired to give anything in the magazine much thought when I worked. Well, not anymore! We made our September treat this weekend.

Complete with homemade buttercream icing - YUM!

Then I headed into dinner Saturday night which was pork tenderloin. This recipe is so yummy and tender! I have made it a couple of times now and we all just love it! While I was working on dinner, the children were working in their kitchen.

They were taking Chris's order and delivering him his food on a scooter. I told them they were like a 50's car hop.

After dinner was cleaned up and baby in the bed, this mama headed out for some mama time with a dear friend. Much needed laughter and soul recharging.

With Sunday brought church and another afternoon of baking. This time homemade granola.

This was so delicious! I am on a mission right now to revamp the way the boys (Ethan especially) eats. When he tracked out I made a commitment to pack his lunch when he tracked back in due to him learning he can choose corn dogs, french fries and ice cream everyday - all washed down with chocolate milk. Hello???? Veggie???? Are you out there???? So I borrowed The Sneaky Chef book from my friend Sarah and have been looking at things I can fix that will ensure he gets veggies in him where he least expects it. Peanut Butter and Jelly muffins anyone? So the above granola is packed full of healthy stuff for him and the best part is he likes it. Mix it in a cup of yogurt and there is breakfast. And I should add, a breakfast that will actually stick to him instead of catapulting his blood sugar levels and then leaving him to crash an hour later.

Eliza loved it!

She is inching away from me

because I told her to sit down to eat. She is afraid I am going to take her granola. :-)

There - sit down

on a bag of apples no less.

Hope your weekend was just as nourishing.

A Day at the Museum

The company Chris worked for just recently became corporate sponsors of the Museum of Life and Science in Durham for the 2010-2011 year and with that sponsorship comes free passes to the museum. Since Chris's last day was Friday I wanted to squeeze in a trip to the museum with the kids while it was still free. Free = Great!

So Thursday I packed a lunch for each of us and we headed out for a fun mama day. And it turned out, this was one of those days that I really rocked the mama 'hood.

The first thing we all did was a dancing/music room thingy (using my best technical terms, of course). The kids (and myself) dance and run around in this room and each of our footsteps triggers different tones of music. Way cool stuff.

Then we headed outside to search for the dinosaurs. Stopping just long enough to check out the caboose parked out back

and make a dash through the farm yard. Hello Mr. Piglet.

One of the highlights of the day was finding all the maps around the museum and locating the "You Are Here" point.

Ah, ha! We made it. Keep your eyes open.....

because you never know what you may see.

Love his little head cocked way back to look up at the T Rex.

They were very interested in all the signs and wanted me to explain what they were talking about. Very inquisitive little boys.

Checking out the nest of dinosaur eggs and the little one that just hatched.

Fossil digging

Baby can hang with the best of them.

Then we headed off the Explore the Wild.

When Ethan came here in kindergarten with his class none of the bears were active so it was really cool to see them up and about this time.

Learning how duck feet work.

Telling me all about the wolves.

Let's go Catch the Wind.

Changing the sails on the boats changed the way they moved.

Watching their boats out on the "pond."

Lunch time before heading inside.

One more stop for the melody makers.

Rockin' out on the dust pans.

Oh yeah!

At the space station exhibit inside the hubble thingy. :-)

This was Owen's favorite thing. It was a satellite demonstration and the children put little balls in the field and no matter where the ball landed it was drawn back towards the center like a satellite signal. (whew! that was a mouthful!)

This was baby's favorite thing. She would stack these little discs

then she would throw them onto this orbit thing and if they landed just right they would orbit and if they didn't quite make it just right they would be thrown out of orbit.

on the moon

on the moon when Ethan was 18 months old

(in the middle)
They were all looking through the microscopes at crabs, butterflies, scorpians and such when Owen very excitedly exclaimed "THIS IS SCIENCE!"
Very cute.
Both boys loved this ball game thingy. It was kind of like skee ball.
And she liked watching the balls speed down.
But she really loved the kitchen area.
Part of her Christmas is probably going to be revamping the boys current kitchen set with new veggies and such for her to play with. Melissa and Doug make these awesome velcro fruits and veggies that the boys used to play with at Grandma Mary's house when they were little but I never bought for them. I may get some of these for her. Very cute stuff.
Another very cool exhibit they have is a hand washing station. The children use a special soap, wash their hands then put their hands in a black light and it shows where they missed. Lots of great learning opportunities with these exhibits. I told you I rocked the mama 'hood on Thursday. :-)
The last place we stopped before heading out
was the block area.
After 4 hours of walking around and doing all that great mothering,
the brown leather sofa was calling my name.
So that's where I planted myself so my children could finish up their explorations. It was absolutely a fantastic day in the life.