Summer fun

May 14, 2010

It was finally hot enough to break out the kiddy pool and have a fun sprinkler day. It was Isabel's first time in the pool too. She wasn't too much of a fun at first but it didn't take long for her to discover how much fun it could be. It was pretty cute seeing her in her bathing suit too!

Picnic Day - Davis April 17, 2010

We love Picnic Day up at UC Davis. We're amazed that every year when we're preparing to go and thinking about what was so fun from last year and we need to do it again, we always find something totally different and have a blast. So last year we loved the SPCA dog shows and animal things. This year the highlight was the entomology department. Sooo fun. Davis, of course was packed! So we squeezed into the department to look at, touch and hold lots of fun (BIG) bugs! The walking stick bug was pretty funny...the members let the kids hold them and the kids would say "WOW! look at this praying Mantis!" and the members would say "IT'S NOT A PRAYING MANTIS! IT'S A WALKING STICK!" I commented "You've had to say this more than once?" We were there a while and I think they must have said that same phrase a good 30 times at least :)

Both Rebekah and Isaiah held the walking stick but when it was Isaiah's turn the bug kept "walking" up his arm and ended up front and center on his face. He started to freak out and the member of the entomology dept started to get scared that the beloved bug was about to be squished...so we tried keeping him calm long enough for the bug to be returned to safe keeping. The bug was literally the length of his face. I so wish I would have got a photo!

The toxicology dept handed out cotton candy...the kids loved that. It was Isabel's first taste. She was so tired by the end of the day that she just held it and started at it. Goodbye Davis...until next year :)

GAK, flubber's cousin

Several weeks ago I found the old movie "Flubber" with Robin Williams. I remembered liking it as a kid so for 24 cents (score!) I got it from a thrift store. The kids did love the movie and so the next day I thought it'd be fun to make "GAK"....we called it "Flubber's cousin". The had a lot of fun pulling a squeezing and stretching this new creation..but by the end of the day I remembered why I've never made this before with the kids....It gets on EVERYTHING! What they discovered was that if they left the gak in a ball and came back an hour or so later the gak would take the form of whatever it was left on...say, the nice tablecloth...or the hose outside (that dripped onto the concrete and the dirt). So at the end of the day we said goodbye to the Gak, we'll see you again in another 6 years when I muster up the courage to do this activity again :)

Cinco de Mayo

So we're loving the new cupcake cook book called What's New Cupcake. So fun. On May 5th we had a little party and the kids looked through the book and decided that they wanted to make alien cupcakes. What a mess! But it was fun. Then in honor of Cinco De Mayo we made sombrero cookies and paper bag pinatas. It was a fun (sugary) day!

Earth Day!

For Earth day the kids learned more about recycling and taking care of the earth. Here's their art project...Mr. Earth.

Savanna - an African grassland

I'm tyring to make up for lost time with this blog so here's another post of a school activity. In science the kids were learning about habitats. As part of the grassland habitat lesson we expanded it to the Savanna. The kids tried making the Martha Stewart pipe cleaner animals...not as easy as she claims. They turned out pretty cute though. The kids had fun!

and No, that's not a monkey hanging from Isaiah's arm...it was supposed to be a Giraffe but to him it was more fun to make him into a "circus giraffe".

Last day of school!

For the last day of school we wanted to something really fun. The units were all finished and projects completed so we opened up our Smithsonian kit and the kids chose what crystal they wanted to make. Isaiah chose the Emeralds (green - his favorite color) and Rebekah chose Pink amethyst (Pink- her favorite color). It was really cute seeing them wearing the kid size safety goggles and mixing the solution. Now we wait!

Father Son Campout

Last weekend was our wards annual Father Son campout. Isaiah talks about this ALL year. We found giant marshmallows at the store. They were awesome! I've never seen marshmallows that big. So he was excited to take those to make giant s'mores. They had a fun time. On the way they found a black widow crawling out of the tent, EEW!

They went fishing and flew a kite (spiderman kite of course). Isaiah tried convincing everyone that he is indeed, the Hulk. "See my muscles?!" and tried kissing a huge toad. :) Sounds fun!

Yoda

This last Christmas I made the kids all Yoda hats. They really liked them (especially Isaiah). The other day while Isabel was eating Isaiah found the hats again and was sure Isabel wanted to wear hers. They do look pretty cute huh? :)

Zoo trip

Okay...so it's been a LONG time :) Here's some updates...School's out (woo hoo!) Rebekah is going into second grade and Isaiah will be starting his Kindergarten year this August. Isabel is almost 16 months now and as cute as ever!

So as our first act of fun on summer break we went to the Sacramento zoo with a few friends and had a great day. Rebekah loved playing "the navigator". She was glued to the map for the first hour or so we were there! As soon as we'd get to one animal she'd say "Okay, now we're going to go the the....." I had to remind her to enjoy the animal too once we got there then we could move on. :)

Isaiah was really enthralled with this exotic talking parrot there. That was the longest we stayed at any animal (and he begged to go back after we were all done -so we did). The bird was saying really cute and funny things. He'd mimic what sounds the kids were doing. Isabel was really enjoying it too! She was trying to sing along with the bird when it would sing "Lalalalala". I wish I had my video camera!

crafting

Here's a couple of things I finished this past week. I was trying to figure out something fun to do with the empty formula cans and this is what I came up with. The little one is a free sample of formula shortly after she was born. I like it with all the crayons!

Mom and I have been scrapbooking once a week. We've been trying to conquer the Disney trip we took last spring! It's coming along. This is just one I made of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Gotta love the cricut!

The yellow bookshelf was from Shannon. It was white before. So I painted it yellow (the color is actually called "uplifting") I like it. Steven added Bead board behind it. It turned out pretty neat!

Marine World

My family took me to Marine World for my birthday this year. We had a ton of fun! The kids were super excited to see all the shows and the animals. Rebekah was tall enough to go on a lot of the rides. Isaiah was too terrified to even try the simple ones. He did warm up to it though (at 8:00 at night - the park closes at 9:00). But it was neat. We got to pet a Sting Ray and Ride an elephant! Jacko the Walrus was mine and Isaiah's favorite. He was just so fun. He would follow Isaiah. We got some neat pictures. He's the walrus from the film "50 first dates". Pretty neat to meet a "celebrity". :) The butterfly exhibit was really cool. Butterflies were just swarming every where. The kids loved meeting Bugs Bunny and Batman. It really was such a fun day. We were pretty pooped by the end!

Sizzlin' summer paper chase

So we just finished the scrapbook shop hop. It was Rebekah's first year and boy was she excited! We had a great time. It was a lot of fun getting to visit and see all the different stores and things they had to offer. We're overloaded with ideas! Now we just need the time to do them before we forget!

Fourth of July 2

Fourth of July evening we went to my sister in law's house for a BBQ and fireworks. Rebekah loved playing on their quad. She looked so little on it! After a while she got a little too comfortable on it and made a fast really sharp turn and it toppled over on her. I came running to see if she was okay. I lifted the quad off her and she jumps up and says "I'm okay!" She starts to get back on and I said umm...no. I think we're done for today. She says "it's okay, now I know just not to do that anymore".

Later in the evening we played with sparklers and small fireworks and just enjoyed the company of our family. It was a good day. :)

Fourth of July 1

This fourth of July afternoon we stayed home and pulled out the slip and slide for the kiddo's and Rebekah was dying to sell otterpops. So we helped her put out a stand and an umbrella for shade and there she stood for a long time. Our street was dead. Not a car or a soul at home. After a while of nothing we told her that she might have fun playing with Isaiah in the slip n' slide. She argued that she might miss a sale that way but ultimately we won. She and Isaiah had a lot of fun playing in the water.

Sunday's vs. Sundaes

So we had this FHE on keeping the sabbath day holy. It was an object lesson. You start out with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Then you ask the kids if ketchup would be a good topping. Of course they say no, right? No...not my kids. We found every condiment we had and asked our kids one by one if that would be a good topping. We said "well, we like mustard don't we?" They said "yes" so obviously it must be great for ice cream! We put on every condiment and showed it to the kids and asked them if they wanted a bite. I was expecting them to see the horrible color it had turned into and they would say no..but they didn't. They were over joyed to try this ice cream. It was soooooo yucky. The look on each of their faces was pretty funny. So then we talked about how some things are good for some things and not so good for others. Then we changed it to some things are good to do on Sunday and some things are best not to do on Sunday. Rebekah got it but Isaiah kept trying the ice cream and each time he'd make a disgusted face. It was like he couldn't understand why he didn't like this ice cream. It's ice cream I HAVE to like it! :)

Isabel is growing!

These are some photos we took of Isabel last month. She was four months old in these pictures. I'm so amazed at how fast she's growing. She's quite the rolypoly now. As soon as you set her on her back she's over on her tummy in an instant. I love how she's always holding her hands. She is so sweet! And aren't her little feet so cute?

Picnic Day

We went to picnic day this year in Davis. I love picnic day. It's so fun. The day started with a very interesting parade. Each department, club and group had either a float or some kind of display for the parade. The kids loved it. Then each department has a fun educational presentation with activities and lots of fun stuff. The kids had fun doing all the craft things and playing games. The weather was perfect. It was a great day. We walked all over campus and by the end of the day we were totally pooped!