So I worked about 40 hours this week with the kids, so any downtime was spent sleeping or eating. Hence the reason this post is so late. Oops!
Monday: Well, the bathroom exploded, so we didn't do much of anything, but we did get supplies to being working on a fabulous summer mural! I had originally planned for W & DK to work on it, but DK just scribbled all over it & made W mad, so it's W's little masterpiece. [:
Tuesday: Happy Make an Instrument Day! We didn't really make instruments today, but we did make funny sounds with our mouths and tummies! [:
Wednesday: Happy Sea Turtle Day! Also, Happy Lucky Penny Day! Today, we headed to our local public library for storytime, made these neat sea turtles with plates & paper, ate delicious ice cream, and graced the world with a few extra lucky pennies on our way home!
Thursday: Happy Tiara Day, Morse Code Day, AND Brother's Day! I made easy tiaras out of pipe cleaners for DK and me to wear. They were a little itchy, so they didn't last long. DK helped me make a nice card for Brother's Day. W had a really hard time not peeking in on us while we were making it, though. He felt super left out until DK gave him the card, then all was well. [: We headed over to some friends' house for a playdate late morning/early afternoon and missed our nap time. Fortunately, the kids weren't total monsters until about 2pm. Once DK went down for a nap, W and I worked on some Morse Code in honor of Morse Code day! It was fun writing words out & seeing if W could decode them. [:
nani
Originally, I wasn't supposed to work Wednesday, so I hadn't found any great holidays to celebrate. Fortunately for us, it was ridiculously hot, so we were able to simply celebrate summer! We splashed in the kiddy pool, blew giant bubbles, made a sticky popsicle mess, and treated ourselves with delicious watermelon! Some days are just made for those kinds of things! [:
-Nani
Alright, these holidays are obviously pretty neat and the kids are loving them, BUT I really need to learn to do some better planning. We did make it to the train museum, but it would have been nice to make it on Train Day, instead of getting there right as it closed. Also, this week is Peace Officer Appreciation Week, so we decided to make some sweet cards for the police station down the road! It was also National Chocolate Chip Day, so we baked them some chocolate cookies, as well. Unfortunately, I didn't plan well enough because we got to the station 10 minutes after they had closed up shop for the day. Bummer. Fortunately for us, there was one very nice officer in the parking lot who was kind enough to find and friend and come talk with us. W had so much fun dressing in his policeman gear and talking with the officers! They truly are nice guys, despite how we all feel about them when we're breaking the rules. [: The lesson learned from this was to check closing times for businesses from here on out! I need to stop getting their hopes up, and then not being able to do what we had planned! Luckily, W & DK have great attitudes about most everything, so they're really understanding. W asks a lot of "Why or why not?" questions, but we get through it!
-Nani
Monday was Dance Like a Chicken Day and Crazy Day, but the kids were not too pleased with anything I had planned. I picked up the kids from school & DK was already in a terrible mood. Apparently, they don't feed her enough at lunch/school. With some yogurt and a cheesestick in her belly, she was ready to play again, but it was a nasty, rainy day, so we had to stay inside. Luckily, W had a nifty tent that was easy to set up, so we "camped" in his bedroom for the afternoon. I turned on some chicken tunes & we danced. In fact, we were able to pull in some other poultry dances, as well! They sure know how to rock the Ostrich Dance! [:
Also, here's a picture of their Mother's Day gift for Mom. It's sweet and sits right on their fireplace as you enter the house!
-Nani
Mother's Day is right around the corner! Oh, and I forgot about it. Well, I really just forgot that I told the kids' dad that I would come up with something for the kids to make for mom. Oops! Well, it's a good thing Pinterest exists! Actually, I didn't use any ideas from there, but it got my creative juices flowing! I decided to head down to our local, trendy art supplies store & use that giftcard that has been hiding in my purse. I purchased three small, square canvases and some nice acrylic paint. I decided the kids would be making super awesome fingerprint flowers on two of them & we'd write something witty on the center one. Well, witty for a 5 & 2 year old was "We LOVE Mom!" [: They're cute, but I'm not entirely please with the final product. Oh well, when kids to art, you let them make the decisions, right? Besides, it's for their mom and they made it, so she'll love it either way! Well, I didn't take a picture of the final product, but I'll snag one next week after it's revealed to mom this weekend.
Besides Mother's Day projects, we also made our trip to the Tennessee Central Railway Museum. So. Boring. Sorry kids, but Nani didn't do so great with this adventure! I guess they have docents who are there early in the day, but that doesn't work for families like us who attend preschool until 215. Also, those really neat trains that one dad was telling me about, well they're only open if you have a docent with you, so we just admired them from afar. Oh well, they had a few neat things. Maybe we can make it there earlier one day, if I can convince Wonderboy to give it another try...
-nani
Alright, as we all know, things don't always go according to plan, which is exactly what happened today! DK went down for her nap a little later than usual, so we weren't able to leave the house until 330, so we didn't make it to the Train Museum for National Train Day until 355. Turns out, the train museum closes at 4 (or 6 if you ask the lady). I decided that we obviously could not just go straight home after trekking the kids around the city for the past 30 minutes, so we headed over to Dragon Park!
Also, while we weren't really able to celebrate this holiday to the extent I would have liked, it was also Lost Sock Memorial Day. For future reference, I will be better prepared for such a craft-inspiring holiday. Why I didn't think of making sock creatures before 10 minutes until having to leave to pick up the kids, I'll never know, but I'm set for next summer! [: Here's a nifty "Wanted" sign I found on Pinterest!
-nani
**I just wanted to clarify that the holidays I've decided to celebrate come from various Googled sites that list random holidays. There's a chance we're not celebrating them on the official days (Lost Sock Memorial Day was definitely right), but it doesn't matter because we're just having a blast with it! [:**
I'm taking care of two sweet kids this summer with high energy levels and curious minds, so I've decided to dedicate our summer to the holidays no one really remembers or even knows about! I've got the whole month of May planned with holidays that are fun, educational, and thought-provoking! To start off our summer of holidays, we celebrated No Socks Day, World Red Cross Day, and National Teacher Appreciation Day. Of course, I made sure we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day, since I'll be one in the future & my former teachers mean so much to me!
Well on Monday, I decided we would go ahead and make our cards for Tuesday. W was great at asking questions to better understand what the Red Cross does and why we were making cards for them. On Tuesday, we headed to the American Red Cross downtown to deliver our card and some cookies. We were greeted with grateful hearts and warm smiles! They even shared some snacks & juice with the kids! Oh, and mustn't forget our strict adherence to No Socks Day!
-nani
Wednesday: Happy Sea Turtle Day! Also, Happy Lucky Penny Day! Today, we headed to our local public library for storytime, made these neat sea turtles with plates & paper, ate delicious ice cream, and graced the world with a few extra lucky pennies on our way home! 
Thursday: Happy Tiara Day, Morse Code Day, AND Brother's Day! I made easy tiaras out of pipe cleaners for DK and me to wear. They were a little itchy, so they didn't last long. DK helped me make a nice card for Brother's Day. W had a really hard time not peeking in on us while we were making it, though. He felt super left out until DK gave him the card, then all was well. [: We headed over to some friends' house for a playdate late morning/early afternoon and missed our nap time. Fortunately, the kids weren't total monsters until about 2pm. Once DK went down for a nap, W and I worked on some Morse Code in honor of Morse Code day! It was fun writing words out & seeing if W could decode them. [:
