the bug collectors

connor and dahlia have been collecting bugs. mostly ants and roly polies. they got these plastic bug containers from kira's birthday party to keep their bugs in. they go outside and check under rocks to find the largest roly polies.

i don't love the bug collecting as much as the bird watching but it is cute to have them playing outside and exploring. connor is especially excited about his roly polies. he has named them joey, chloe, and zoe.

last day of school

today was just crazy busy. i woke up at 5:30 to make sandwiches for dahlia's class picnic. i had to make 36 sandwiches and i really underestimated how long this would take me. i figured around an hour. nope. after an hour i only had 12 done. i had to rush to finish before her class would get to the park around 9:30. of course it rained this morning just to make things more difficult. connor still had a fever today so i felt bad making him get in the car to go deliver sandwiches with me. i made it on time and then rushed home to finish painting the ready set summer sign.

connor helped me hang the sign inside the house since it was too wet outside. the kids had a minimum day and i had to be at the school by noon to pick them up. the last day of school is so surreal for me. it never feels relaxing like i think it should.

they had fun running through their sign and then they got presents for finishing the school year. legos for everyone. our planned trip to disneyland after school got cancelled because connor is sick. his fever spiked to 103.5 so we all got in the car and went to the doctors. of course they didn't tell me much. he has a cold.

man. what a long day. i can't believe it is summer break.

mind blowing science

mason got this cool science kit for his birthday and after school today we got to do some experiments. the first one we did was to make some slime. this is easily accomplished with some cornstarch, food coloring and water. this was dahlia's favorite activity. she could not stop playing with the slime.

our second experiment was called color changing liquids. this involved mixing citric acid, and baking soda to water colored with red cabbage powder. it was a really fun activity that had the liquids changing from purple to blue or red depending on if you added citric acid or baking soda. it also made the liquid fizzy and more fun. they were super excited about this one.

our last experiment used cross-linked polyacrylamide crystals, red cabbage powder and water to make colorful jiggly crystals. basically you just add colored water to the crystals and wait until they absorb all the water and become soft. this project takes quite a while so it was the last one we did today. we still have a lot more projects to do.

mason exclaimed that science is his favorite and he loves his mind blowing science kit.

playing outside

now that the tree house is done the kids play in it all the time. they love it. i love our summer days at home. the kids play outside and i sit in a beach chair and read a book. today was perfect. the kids were so good and played together all day. we had swimming lessons in the morning and the rest of day was dedicated to relaxing. a perfect way to start our weekend.

enjoying the sun

what a fun day we had. jen, bodhi, and kira came over yesterday and the kids went to the little gym for a summer camp day. they love the summer camp days because mason, dahlia, and bodhi get to be in the same class. kira took a separate class with jen and connor stayed with me. i was hoping to enroll connor in the camp days but we are not quite done potty training so he can't go just yet. maybe before the end of summer i can put him in.

after class jen and the kids came to our house for a sleepover. it was so fun. we love having them over. we set up the little pool in the backyard and they all had a great time swimming.

later the boys played super mario bros. on the wii and the girls played with their dolls. jen and i cooked a delicious salmon dinner with couscous and carrots.

after the kids went to sleep jen and i wanted to watch jaws. this is my favorite movie. we didn't get too far into it before jen was falling asleep though. figures. man, one of these days we are going to get through a movie without falling asleep.

this morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast of homemade waffles before saying goodbye and rushing off to swimming lessons. i am so excited it is summer and can't wait to have another sleepover.

swimming in pajamas

the kids were so funny today. dahlia wanted to swim so i set up the big backyard pool for her. mason and connor said they did not want to so they never put their swim suits on.

while i was fixing lunch somehow mason and connor ended up in the pool having a splashing/wrestling match with dahlia. all while wearing their pajamas. they were cracking me up. they were completely soaked.

it was so nice to see them all playing together. lately dahlia has been feeling left out because the boys always want to play video games and she doesn't want to.

of course swimming in your pajamas is not the most comfortable thing in the world so it soon ended up that they abandoned the pajamas and were just swimming and running around the yard in the nude. these silly kids. it totally reminded me of when we were potty training dahlia and i would just let her run around naked in the yard. so funny. we are really enjoying the warm weather. it is so nice to be outside all day. yay for summer.

first day of summer

so what do you do on the first day of summer? you swim of course. we had a great idea of setting up the little pool under the playset slide so we could make our own water slide. the kids thought this was so much fun. they had a blast going down the slide. even mason joined in.

their granny is visiting so she sat outside with us and watched them swim. later we went in and made salmon for dinner. we had a movie night and all watched life of pi. dahlia wanted to show granny the movie that daddy worked on. miles did the special effects for some of the water shots including the whale shot. dahlia loves to watch "daddy's movie." it was a fun visit and a great start to our summer.

basketball hoop

we got a new toy today. we got a basketball hoop. miles and i are going to sign mason up for basketball next year instead of soccer and miles wanted him to practice over the summer. mason didn't end up liking soccer very much. bummer.

miles loves basketball and plays every week with his friends so it will be nice for him to be able to practice also. miles brought it home and spent the afternoon building it. it is huge. i didn't realize how big it was going to be. we still haven't found the perfect place to put it. right now it is at the top of the driveway where i usually park my car during the day.

the kids were having fun playing in the box it came in while miles was putting it together. what is it about kids and a large box?

they were so excited when it was done and they could play. we don't have a kid size basketball yet so they were using our soccer ball. lets hope they don't get bored with it too soon.

hanging with the cousins

dahlia and bodhi hanging out after a dip in the pool.

it's slime

mason and i went to a mad science party at his school a couple of nights ago and mason was inspired by the scientist guy that did a performance on stage featuring simple experiments.

so this morning miles pulled out our magic school bus chemistry set that mason got for christmas and we did some experiments of our own. mason picked experiment number 34. how to make slime, and then number 35, turn your slime into a bouncy ball.

the experiment basically uses borax, glue, and water to make the slime. you can add food coloring to color your slime. we made ours blue. then you add corn starch to turn it into a bouncy ball. the kids loved this experiment. it was super easy and they could do most of it themselves. they were so into it. they had to put on their goggles before we started. the ball we ended up with was pretty sticky. i looked online and saw some that looked way better than ours. ours was pretty flat by then end of the day. if we do this again i think i might try a different recipe. it was fun though.

indoor picnic

dahlia has been obsessed with picnics lately. everyday she drags out the blanket and declares it is picnic time. today we switched things up and had a picnic on our kitchen floor.

she spread out the blanket and decorated the center with fake gold coins from our pirate bag. i filled little bowls with healthy snacks and the kids sat around eating and playing. who knew snack time on the floor could be so fun.

pajama tea party

dahlia is sick so we stayed home today and had a tea party in our pajamas. it was fun. i made some sun tea and we filled a little plate with animal cookies for the party. mason, dahlia, and connor all loved the tea. of course i think they put a little bit too much sugar in it for my taste. it was not the most elaborate tea party we have had but it was such a nice way to spend a sick day.

mud soup

we had an unusually warm february day today. dahlia and connor decided that it was a great day to make mud soup. they put on their play clothes and i turned on the hose for them. they love to make a swamp in the dirt by the garage and play in it. i figure it is pretty harmless and who could resist two crazy happy kids jumping in muddy puddles? i am happy to see them outside again after it has been so cold and we have been playing inside most of the time.

connor was cracking me up. after they filled their swamp with water he ran inside to get his bathtub boat. he was driving his boat through the mud soup. dahlia got a spoon and i saw her taste it. eww! of course all the fun had to end with early baths and hot cocoa after the sun went down and it got super cold again.

a wagon ride

jen came over with her kids today so they could play with dahlia and connor. mason was at school so he missed them. jen works afternoon hours right now so she only has her mornings free.

the kids spent the time playing in the sandbox and getting wagon rides. they were so cute with the wagon rides. only three could go at a time so one person would wait at the "station" (swing set) while the others went around the track a couple of times. poor jen was pretty worn out after they all got a ride.

backyard fishing

we had lunch plans today to celebrate ray's birthday but they were cancelled because he was sick. to cheer the kids up we set up their favorite pool with a slide and they swam for a while. when they were cold and tired they took a short break to warm up and snack on chips. then they jumped back in the pool and i filled it up with all the toy fish from their bathtub. they used their butterfly nets to catch the fish. it was super cute and they loved fishing in the pool. the kids were so silly and insisted on wearing their swimming vests while fishing. just to be safe.

later the kids helped daddy with the barbecue and we grilled chicken for dinner. i love these summer days when we are all at home and get to be together outside.

we heart summer

the kids goofing around in the backyard pool. these are my favorite summer moments. i get to grab a book and lounge in a beach chair while i watch them play. it is impossible to do without a smile on my face.

almost summer

we are super excited for summer around here. the weather has been really warm and today we set up the blow up pool after school. dahlia and connor had a great time swimming while mason and i watched. after swimming we all enjoyed some super drippy watermelon. yes. it is definitely feeling like summer.

memorial day weekend

on sunday the weather was so nice we decided it was time to pull out the blow up pool. the kids had a blast playing in the little pool with bodhi. they loved it. it was really nice to have to sit outside with them and watch.

we had a busy weekend with lots of house guests starting on friday. by monday afternoon everyone had gone home and it was just our little family. we blew up the big pool so mason could spread out while swimming. it was fun. miles and i started planning our next big project. a tree house. yes. we have lots of plans for this summer. it is almost here. i can't wait.

sand box

we finally put some sand in our sand box. we had filled it up for mason's fifth birthday party and after a year it was a disgusting mess so i cleaned it out and it has been empty for at least six months. i was super excited about filling it up again. summer is coming and the kids love to play in the sand. miles doesn't like all the sand that ends up in the house but i say who cares. they are only young once. i like that they are happy to play in a sand box. why would we deny them that joy because of a little mess? besides, miles doesn't clean up around here anyway so i don't really know why he would be complaining.

he was a good sport though and took the kids with him to the hardware store to buy the sand. the kids had a great time helping him put the sand in the box. as soon as he poured it they jumped in and started building sand castles. i am excited about summer. we are going have so much fun here.