Best-Smelling Sand EVER!

Today is a BUNCO night for me & I cannot wait!  With soldier man away though, it means a no-nap day for the kids so the sitter has the easiest job of putting the kiddos to bed at 7:00 (& getting paid $30 just to sit on my couch for 3 hours, not chasing kids... lucky, lucky girl).  So, I had to get creative with something to do during with what would usually be their nap time to avoid meltdowns & whining in the darkest hour.  And Moondough it was -- who knew flour, baby oil, a container, & some cups & trucks could provide so much fun!  And it smelled AMAZING!  Even I couldn't keep my hands out.  Unlike regular sand, it does not stick to your hands in a grindy way & like play dough, it is moldable so you can create things.  Our no-naptime went great & the sweet tween can sit comfortably on my couch tonight thanks to the Moondough & a fun couple of hours outdoors!

To create, 8 cups of flour & 1 cup of baby oil -- just mix together!

D pouring the flour, times 8.

Next comes the oil. 

The fun part... very texture friendly for kids!

Playing dunptrucks in the new sand.

More outdoor fun!

 My Deacon... flour & all!

Can't be in the desert without a little water going!

Sweet K loves the outdoors!

A Little Pre-Church Play

Church services here start a little, well, ALOT later than we are used to.  11:00 a.m.  By then, we usually are already 4 hours at least into our day.  We were a 9:00 a.m. church-going gang, & now we struggle with what to do with our time. Even with making a (larger) Sunday breakfast & being lazy in our pajamas later than most other days, we are still ready to go somewhere by 10:00.  Just ready to be out & about.  So, Sundays before church have turned into a little morning playground time.  All dressed up with no where to go!  The crazies look like fancy pants on the playground, but it's on our way & something to do before heading to church.  And hopefully it wears them out a little so that they are more calm walking into church (puh-lea-se!).

The Dandelion: The Military Child

April is the month of the military child.  I stole this from a friend of a friend, because it is so true.  

The official flower of the Military child is the Dandelion. Why? The plant puts down roots almost anywhere, and it's almost impossible to destroy. It's an unpretentious plant, yet good looking. It's a survivor in a broad range of climates. Military children bloom everywhere the winds carry them. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong, cultivated deeply in the culture of the military,...... planted swiftly and surely. They're ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands, and new friends.Experts say that military children are well-rounded, culturally aware, tolerant, and extremely resilient. Military children have learned from an early age that home is where their hearts are, that a good friend can be found in every corner of the world and in every color, and that education doesn't only come from school. They live history. They learn that to survive means to adapt, that the door that closes one chapter of their life opens up to a new and exciting adventure full of new friends and new experiences.  

My crazies didn't get to choose to be part of this ride, but they have done amazing!  The description above describes both of them well making me one proud momma.  We are thankful for the adventures that the military takes us on & I'm so grateful to be able to celebrate them for their bravery & courageousness.

Watercolors

So the wind won today.  The skies are flying here which left us indoors for the afternoon.  I had to get creative with ways to exhaust the crazies energy so they'd be tired by bedtime.  We had tons of fun "camping" & "flying on a plane" & finally they landed themselves in the tub.  I got a muffin tin, shaving cream, & food coloring to make bath time more enjoyable for them & last longer with them contained, for me.  We've done bath painting before, but never with the "fluffy paint" so they really had a blast drawing on the walls, themselves, & each other!

The ingredients

Fun colors... I used the neon coloring & loved the springy look!

 A new texture for K

This feels AWESOME Mom!

Coloring a tank in the field... can't you see it!?!

K enjoys just coloring letters aka known as big circles that she calls a letter!

Sunshine on the belly!

A tank with a gunner on top... he gives me some challenging requests these days!

Tumbling & Twirls

Thursday are Kennedy's day to shine -- she has both gymnastics & twirling class during the morning.   She doesn't stop moving.  The whole time.  In either class.  Gymnastics is set up with various stations where she rotates from one activity to the next learning different tumbling moves along the way.  She loves the balance beam the most & tries to hurry to it as quickly as her feet will go.  Twirling class is an introduction to dancing class where she does all types of dancing with her instructor who she LOVES.  She loves watching herself in the huge wall mirror -- her expressions are priceless. It is an entertaining couple of hours for me watching her move & I can't wait to see how she excels in both!

Working the beam.

Listening to her instructor about tumbling.

She sticks her tongue out when she concentrates. Hard.

Learning the handstand.

Time to twirl -- she gets so excited!

Learning some ballet move.

Practicing the twirl around.

Love this little face.  It's priceless.

Purplicious Treats!

We've been learning about how mixing colors makes new colors & the crazies LOVE it.  They think I'm some sort of magician with the paint.  Seriously.  They also LOVE this book we have called "Pinkalicious" & found its sister book "Purplicious" in our library this week.  Whatta you know... it mixes colors to make purple!  So, we threw ourselves into the kitchen to put the mixing into action & whipped out some purple rice crispy treats... although K got blue-dye-happy & they ended up looking more grey by the end!  It was fun to make & to eat anyway & a perfect way to spend time on our no-nap day!

A fun little read!

D throwing in the butter.

And tossing in the marshmallows.

All melted so each kid dropped in their colors of blue & pink!

And whalah!  A nice purple sweet surprise!

D can never get enough of the rice crispy treats... he loves them best war & gooey!

K loved that they were the same color from the book!

Lil' Slugger

T-Ball season is in session & that is where we spend our Tuesday evenings now.  Deacon loves the company, likes the water breaks, & thinks the actual sport is okay.  I think it's a little too slow for him in the attention area, but he likes to keep up with his friends so thankfully that keeps him afloat.  He also has a personal caddy if there is such a thing in this sport, Kennedy.  She loves to fetch any missed balls while he gets his water break on.  It's an entertaining hour for sure.

Warm-Up Chant

Stretching it out

When he throws, he does well

Mandatory water break in this heat, although tonight was windy & comfortable!

Kennedy aka as his personal caddy

"Green Monsters!"

The Count is ON!!

So the Army Man has deserted us the desert.  Middle of the Mojave. For a month.  No, he had to head to Ft. Bliss to train a unit there.  And here I am running his Army, so we filled out our countdown.  Fortunately, I haven't had to use it for Army Man since he returned from Iraq last July, but we love to use our board to countdown everything from Christmas to birthdays to moving days.  I filled a glass full of kisses & they know "A kiss a day brings Daddy their way"!  So, the count is ON... I think I get more excited about the days decreasing than they do!

Our countdown board & kiss glass 

60 kisses -- don't mind the martini glass -- it was the first glass I ran across in my search for a clear glass to fit all of them!

 Starting... NOW!