Kids' Choir

 Ahhh, the dulcet sounds of angelic little children singing . . .

. . . and then there's my kids.

Marking Territory

 Boys can be disgusting creatures. 

I know that God is, well, God, and He doesn't make mistakes, but honestly, there is a particular part of a boy's anatomy that looks like it was just stuck there as an afterthought, and every male since the dawn of creation has decided to mark his territory with said anatomical device.

One of my children (of the male variety who shall remain nameless) decided to mark the Legos in time-honored marking fashion.

(Can we all say EWWWWWWWWWW together?!)

I only discovered this when I happened to pick up some Legos and noticed a (sadly) familiar odor coming from the Lego box.

So how exactly does one (meaning me) wash a large storage tote full of Legos?  After doing some research, I decided to try dumping them in a laundry bag and washing them in the machine.  This probably would have worked quite well if it weren't for the fact that the drawstring came undone halfway through the wash cycle.

It took me eons to get all those stupid little plastic torture devices out of my machine.  (I thought about having the aforementioned Lego-Marking Child get them out, but then I had visions of him crawling in the washing machine and getting stuck, and I need to use my machine on a fairly regular basis.)

Once I finally got all the Lego's out of the washing machine I plopped them in the sink and washed them bucket by bucket.

It was a bit horrifying to see how filthy the water got after just one batch of Legos.

Once they were nice and clean I scooped them out with my sieve/sifter thingy and swished them around a bit to get the excess water out.

Then I put the whole batch back in the traitorous laundry bag and hung them over the fence to let them dry.  (Which took days).

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Did you know Legos were specifically designed to drive mothers crazy? 

They are colored with garish hues interspersed with small pointy pieces specially camouflaged to meld with your carpet and lay in wait for your unsuspecting feet.  They have crevasses created to hold water so that they never ever EVER dry and are always ready to shift and dump icky water on your floors.  They have magical abilities that enable them to wander through your home and show up where you least expect them (such as a freshly baked loaf of bread).

Infernal, evil toys.

Lil' Pumpkins

I know, I'm SO behind with blogging!

(And also these pictures are terrible because I took them with my old camera and the flash wasn't working.  Pretend the grainy photos are for "artistic affect".)

Hey look, they have the same expressions!

Discovery Center

For Peter's birthday this year, my Mum paid for him to take monthly science classes at the Children's Museum.  While Peter is off learning about the circulatory system or the endocrine system, I take Miss Boo and Gabe into the regular part of the museum for a few hours of play.

They really enjoy it, and I enjoy getting an hour or two of knitting time in while getting to feel like the world's best mother.

The outdoor section is closed after November due to the horrific winters we suffer through here in the Frigid North, but up till then the kids think it's the coolest part of the museum to visit.

Also outside is a "dino-dig" area, complete with the necessary tools and implements for uncovering dinosaur bones.

The little boy on the right is Caleb, Peter's friend who also attends the home school science classes.

 

"Look Mom, I found a skeleton! It doesn't have any guts!"

Miss Boo likes playing dress-up, especially as the Postmaster (or is it "post mistress"?).  I suspect she likes bossing people around and delivering obscenely large bills.

The last time we were there she wore her special birthday earrings (courtesy of Auntie Angie), and stopped random strangers so that she could show off her bling.

 

 

It's all in the Family

 

 I bought the kids a set of Knifty Knitter Looms from JoAnn Fabrics, and Peter and Boo work on it occasionally when they're driving me nuts and I make them sit on the couch and knit.

(Well, that's my reasoning.  What I actually tell them is that it's time for "Fine Motor Skills Development.")

They don't seem to mind too terribly much, especially when it's time to finish the project and they can finally wear it!

 

(Boo's working on a scarf that she'll most likely finish when she's in high school.  I don't truly mind because then I won't have to worry about sharing my stash with her.)

Our Local Library

I know I've mentioned it before, but I have to say again how thankful I am for our local library.  It's not only large, but it's also part of a huge network, so I can get practically any movie or book through inter-library loan, saving me lots of money (which I then have to repay due to damaged books/movies from my kids.)

Their wonderful children's department has all sorts of fun crafts and reading incentives.

They have adult incentives too (although these I gladly have to pay for.)

One night I took the kids to the Pajama Storybook time.  They were very excited to be able to wear their pajamas and took great care (great, agonizing, time-consuming) care on exactly which stuffed animal to bring.  As fitting their personalities, Gabe brought Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch), Boo brought her Hallowed (i.e. Hello) Kitty, and Peter brought his roaring dinosaur Rexie.

Amy, the director of the children's department, is a fantastic reader.  The kids were transfixed.

Peter especially like the story "Where the Wild Things Are".  For some reason I've never read him that one.  I could see that he felt a kinship with the boy Max.

Or perhaps he felt a kinship with the wild things.  That's more likely, actually.

Invited for Dinner

The kids invited me to "dinner" up in their play fort, so I grabbed my camera as proof that I can occasionally be a good mommy and play with my children.

We had cheetos (confiscated by the kids from my cupboards without my knowing it),

and snow peas, also confiscated. 

Now I know why my plants don't seem to be producing that well this year.

Yarn Dyeing

Two years ago I hosted a "Yarn Dyeing" party, and this year since I'm teaching a few little girls in our church how to knit, I figured it was time to host another one.

We used the Knitty directions for dying yarn with Kool-Aid, which is wonderfully easy and creates bright colors perfect for kids (and it's relatively cheap!)

It cracked me up, because the girls were very careful to pick their favorite colors and apply them just so.

 

"Oh no, I got a bit too much green on the green part!"

The boys, on the other hand, were not as particular.

Not at all.

It was a bit like being in the middle of a water fight involving flying splashes of psychedelic colors.

Once the yarn was dyed, I zapped it in the microwave for 2 minutes at a time until the colors were set.

Then we set the yarn on the porch to dry. 

It was a very pretty sight, I must say!