Friday, January 28, 2011

Rice is NOT nice

I am slowly coming to the realization that Sydney doesn't care about rules.  It's not enough that I let her play with rice in the house but she has to carry it from the entry way to the kitchen while I was making (rice) dinner.


Oh, Sydney, Sydney, Sydney...

The rice didn't stay long in the pots.  She was actually trying to cover herself with rice.  Thankfully that's when dinner was ready and I cut her off before I could see what she would think of next.

This child is teaching me patience...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Rice is Nice

Out grocery shopping today I stumbled upon a gigantic bag of rice.  

Here let me put it in perspective for you:

I wasn't going to bring out the rice today but I needed to get some packing done.  Usually I stick around to see what happens but I've done rice before and I figured I should just walk away and deal with the results later.  All were happy (including mom who was thinking if I can't see it it's not there) until I hear Scott yell, "Mom, come see what Sydney do!"

That's when Sydney comes chasing after Scott with 2 handfuls of rice.  Hmmm...did we forget one of the rules of rice play?

Apparently she was lifting the rice up with her hands and watching it fall to the floor amongst other things I'm sure.  I'm pretty sure Scott had a part in this mess as well.  

Clean up! (one of many)  Scott got a lesson on sweeping rice into a pile for easy clean-up.


He was very proud of his huge pile.  I asked him if he was ready for me to sweep it into the dustpan and pour it back in the containers.  His response, "No.  I want to save it and bring it with me to Russia to show daddy."  So I said how about a picture for daddy instead.

I would like to give a big thanks to my vacuums today for doing a superb job cleaning up a few pounds of rice!

Sleepy time

I knew she was going to fall asleep early last night but I was not prepared for this:




If only I could sleep this soundly...

Let's wash away the flour...

Poor little animals.  They are covered in flour and need a bath.  Not to mention all the containers, spoons, and random objects subjected to flour play the other day.

Mommy really didn't want to wash them so guess who?!

As you can see it's a very logical process: 
1.  wash in soapy water
2.  rinse in clean water
3.  lay on the towel to dry

Excellent!  The sponge is being used and all things are starting in the right container.

Wait a second...things are going back and forth between the soapy water and clean water.

Sydney isn't even moving on to step 3, the dry towel!  She's in her own little world and might I add getting very very wet in the process.

Ok, so it didn't go as planned but things did get rinsed off including 2 little monkeys!  

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The day it snowed at our house...

Since the beginning of January a friend and I have been taking turns having "preschool" at our home.  I take the kids for 3 hours on Tuesdays and she takes them for 3 hours on Wednesday.  Every other week on our day we load the kids up and take them to story time at the library.  All month we have been doing winter/season activities.  

It was another rainy day so I decided to bring out the messy stuff!
I already had a container filled with flour so it became snow.  Yes, flour can be very messy but is super easy to clean off.

Sydney is patiently waiting while Scott brushes the flour off all 25 animals! 


Next up: Shaving cream...I mean another form of snow!  We have done shaving cream before but I wanted to make a marbleized shaving cream picture like I saw at Child Central Station.


So they spread the shaving cream and food coloring around and I pressed a piece of card stock on top.

Some ended up with more on their hands than their tray. 
 I wonder how long food coloring last on your hands?


The same website had made ghosts out of shaving cream and glue so I thought it would be fun to make melted snowmen.  No one else wanted to participate.  I made my own :o)

To end the day we traced ourselves.  The idea was to color our bodies and at least put a face on them but I guess that's too much to ask 2 year olds.  They then put on some winter clothes (hat, boots and mittens).   

How many mittens tall are you?
Well Sydney is 6 whether she likes it or not because I ran out of mittens.

Scott does have a face you just can't see the crayon.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sir Scott

Today I was approached with a request to re-create a Sleeping Beauty dragon.  

There were 2 requirements:
1.  It must be fire breathing.
2.  It must be, "really, really, really big" as stated by the child.

As you can see below an exact replica was made.  I mean really, they are mirror images of each other.  
The child was quite pleased with the results.  

After introducing him to this beast I realized I would not be a good mom if I sent him in to battle without a shield to protect him.  

The dragon sprouted wings mid battle.
It was a tough fight but...

Sir Scott proves to be victorious in the end!

And the celebration continues!

Book Worm

It takes time to find a good book and once you find one (in this case, Total Control by David Baldacci)...

It's hard to do anything else (like eat) when you have a good book.

It's always a page turner...



It's good up until the very end!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Free Art

The other night I was desperate for some peace while I cooked dinner.  It had been one of those days where nothing could go right.    I figured the kitchen floor needed to be washed anyways...

I put the kids in "messy" clothes
and said have at it!

The supplies:

The process: 

The spaghetti was a big hit.


Lots of spaghetti was cut to tiny tiny pieces.  In the background you don't see it but Ally is munching away on raw noodles that are flying to her rug.

Of course no project would be complete without painting hands...

 Do you know where this is headed?


The products:
by Scott

by Sydney
I was actually a little disappointed they didn't get dirtier and the floor never saw anything but spaghetti.  Sydney didn't have a spot of paint on her and Scott just a bit.  

Of course Sydney is a pro at painting her hands and only her hands.  She does it almost daily with the black (only black) paint I leave out at the easel.  Today in fact I passed by her deep in black paint and she told me, "Go mom.  I need privacy."  Ally was in my arms on her way to the tub and I'm sure she was thinking please help the child and save me from the bath. Sorry Ally.  I let Sydney carry on with her painting in hopes I could accomplish one thing that morning.  She had beautifully painted black hands (fronts and backs) when I gathered her up to wash them off.  I'm talking layers and layers of paint.  She still has black paint under her fingernails tonight.  :o)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A glimpse of everyday life...

There are so many little things that happen each day and I am lucky if I can take a picture so maybe one day I'll remember.

Chalk on the table

Lots and lots and lots of lining up animals, princesses, cars, etc.  Seriously this child can spend an hour moving them from table to shelf one..at..a..time.

Always random things needed for sleeping.  Perhaps this one was left as a bribe for me...

Rough housing! 

And of course driving from here to there, pausing to pose for yet another picture!