First Grade Field Trip

Such excitement this morning from my buddy.  He was happy to sit with me on the bus and was so proud that I was the leader of our group.  We went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity over at Thanksgiving Point.  

Cameron having fun in the pile of foam blocks.  The kids were absolutely bonkers.  I only had five kids to keep track of, but it was next to impossible because a couple of them would just wander wherever they wanted.  Yikes.

Cameron was having a blast gathering up play food in this area.

Taking a quick break to pose for a picture for Mom (Cameron played so hard he wound up with a big hole in the knee of his pants!).  Right after this we happened to see Cameron's cousin, Madeleine, who works at the museum.  I could only say hello for a minute because one of my group started heading the wrong way and I had to run.  First graders can be fast!

Looking through the microscope.

The kids had a little classroom time (hooray for everyone being enclosed in one room for a half hour!) and then experimented to see which objects would sink or float.

Cameron drying off in the wind tunnel after playing at the water station!

Here are the three goofy boys I was in charge of (not pictured: the two girls in our group, because I could never get all five of them in the same place!).

 When we actually all made it back to the bus, I gave everyone in my group a high-five because hooray, we all made it!  Even though it was still noisy, the bus ride back was noticeably a bit quieter due to the kids being exhausted.  Cameron said, "I'm just going to rest with my eyes open," and he put his head down and just stared out the window quietly the whole way back!  He did say he had a great time, though, so it was worth the craziness!

January Recap

So much snow on Monday!  The kids already had the day off of school, thankfully, so we hunkered down and only ventured out once the roads were plowed to buy some milk (well, and take Cameron to McDonald's for lunch, because he even sang a little made-up song, "We're going to McDonald's" all morning, and who can resist that?).

Parker pulled Cameron around the back yard on the sled.  They had a great time.

One of the cutest Family Home Evening lessons ever - Parker spent a long time coloring a bunch of figures and taping craft sticks to the back of them.  He put on a little puppet show of the story of Jesus' birth with Cameron's help.

Just because it was cute, Cameron eating a chocolate muffin as a "night-night snack."  Growing boys are fun to feed.  (Chris always jokes he should ask for a raise!)

I finally bought some sodium hydroxide ("lye") and made fairly decent pretzels!  I had been disappointed by the ones boiled in baking soda.  It was kind of funny to clear out the kitchen, warn everyone, and don gloves and goggles, etc.  Probably not something I'll do too often, but I never post what I'm up to on the blog, just about the kiddos.  I'm usually up to something completely random, too! 

 And finally, I thought this was sweet the other evening - everyone just hanging out in the living room together.  The boys were super interested in learning a game Chris had bought ages ago at the DI but never opened.  That sums up all we've been doing during this cold, dreary month!

Cameron's First Tooth Lost

Wednesday morning around 3:00 am, Cameron woke me up to tell me his tooth was "very wiggly."  I told him to go back to bed.  He was back some time later, exclaiming, "My tooth is out!  This is so cool!"  Even though I was tired, I was flattered he woke me up to share his important moment. 

Here the cute boy is showing off the new gap in his teeth!

The Tooth Fairy always brings a little something for the very first tooth, and Cameron went to bed last night very eager to find out what he would get.  First thing this morning, he was bouncing around with a new little Pokemon toy.  It's kind of sad for him to be losing his baby teeth, because then he won't be little anymore... but he is pretty cute with a missing tooth, so I guess that's okay, too!

Something Sweet, and Something Hilariously Disturbing

As I was changing Cameron's sheets the other day, I noticed a new sign Parker had made for him that Cameron had taped above his bed.  It features a red panda hugging a giant panda, and says, "This is how we love each other."  (Don't read too much into the grumpy face the panda is making - I guarantee Parker picked it for the animals and not the expression).  It was cute.  Then in contrast, Cameron showed me his picture from school.  He had drawn a happy snowman on one side, and then he turned it around and yelled --

 "I'M A NIGHTMARE!"  I laughed until I had tears in my eyes!  Cameron had written, "My snowman is a killer ninja."  I can't help but wonder what his teacher thought of this!  I put it right on the fridge and it makes me chuckle each time I see it.  (I don't know what that says about either of us!) 

Cameron really is a sweet boy most of the time.  He likes to hang out in large boxes with his stuffed panda bear.  He gives good hugs and is goofy.  He also has a stellar imagination!

Kenzie's Solo

Yesterday I walked over to the middle school during Kenzie's band class to watch her perform her solo.  Each of the kids had to either perform alone or in a small group.  I don't remember ever having to do something like that in band, so I was impressed with how well she did!  That's scary to be in front of everyone like that.  Also, this marked an important milestone for the month - I was finally able to leave the house because I wasn't stuck home with a sick kid!  Cameron threw up at school last Wednesday, and everyone except Kenzie had a turn with some form of the stomach bug over this past week.  It is now quiet and boring in the house again during the day, but it means everyone is feeling better and off doing their thing, so I'm glad!

Happy New Year!

This face!  Cameron was super excited for our little New Year's Eve adventure yesterday - we stayed in a hotel a whopping 20 minutes away from home so we could ring in the new year going swimming and having someone else prepare breakfast!

As soon as we checked in, we changed into our swimsuits to go play.

The pool water was an okay temperature, but the pool was incredibly tiny and it got very busy!  Apparently everyone else had the same idea for New Year's.  

Kenzers at first said she didn't want to go swimming (to which Chris replied, "Who are you?") but it only took a few minutes before she was swimming all over.

After swimming, we picked up an exciting meal from Del Taco and we hung out watching TV for the rest of the evening.

 Cameron still likes to try to wedge himself into the cooler to watch TV.  He does this every trip. I'm surprised he still fits!

 This is our family's idea of high adventure! 

Cameron all set up with his stuffed animals and his Pokemon book.  In the morning we brought breakfast to our room, watched cartoons, and then packed back up.  There was a Megaplex just down the street from the hotel, so we stopped to watch Ralph Breaks the Internet.  (Every time I would start to think that movie was boring, Parker or Cameron would giggle like crazy, so that made it cute).  Then the best part was, it was less than 20 minutes back to home!  We had everything unpacked in record time, said hi to the cat, had some lunch, and spent the rest of the day ignoring the fact it's back to school and work tomorrow!  Here's hoping 2019 will be another good year for us!