A Surprise and Some Spontaneity

Any guesses what we saw today that prompted the boys to pull out these new toys when we arrived home?

We started taking our dear Greta to a chiropractor this week.  We are very hopeful that this will help with all of her colic and severe food sensitivity issues.  (I'm currently off all dairy, wheat, spices like cayenne and chili powder, chocolate, soy and peanuts.)  I'm new to the whole chiropractor thing, but both of my sisters just love him.

On our way home today the most impressive motorcade passed us going the opposite direction on the freeway.  I phoned my husband to see if there was some kind of high-profile funeral going on or something...  That's when we found out that we had just driven past the president and his entourage.

Doing some quick thinking, I realized that he must have flown into the small airport near our home.  So much to the delight of my boys, we made a quick detour to check out AirForce One.  Let me tell you, that is one REALLY big airplane.

After gawking for a while, we headed for home where the kids played AirForce One pilot and motorcade over and over again.  Looks like we are primed and ready for our study of the U.S. presidency and elections later this year!

Hurray for everyday, or in this case not-so-everyday learning opportunities!

Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful Christmas present that came in handy today!

Creativity Inspiring

 

We've recently come under the spell of this incredibly creative book.  It is always a good sign when an adult is just as captivated by a children's book as they are.  Rich and Greta inspected this book for a good part of the morning a few weeks back.

We found ourselves chuckling at the ingenuity and inspecting each page to see what everyday items were used to create the pictures!  I love books like this because it encourages us to think outside of the box and use objects we have around the home in open-ended ways.

Of course sometimes this creative 'out of the box' kind of thinking backfires.  For instance, last week my three year old took the baby Jesus doll that he made in Sunday School out of a nylon and was using it as a slingshot and/or lasso.  For some reason that just seemed a wee bit disturbing to see him whipping it around and racing to attack his brothers...

What everyday objects do your children play with and transform into something else?

Exploring the World of Walt Disney

I can't help myself...

Life is full of learning opportunities and with grandparents taking us to Disney World for a Christmas gift this year, I took advantage of the opportunity to help prepare them.

So while I was speeding my way through The Unofficial Guide to Disney World with Kids (which I highly recommend), the boys were learning about the man behind the kingdom...

I just love how there are opportunities to learn, discover and enrich our lives, especially when it comes to special trips!  They learned about Disney's creativity, entrepreneurship and of course his art.  We had a geography review as we mapped out our trip (heading to St. Louis first and then Orlando).

Knowledge enriches life.  It adds a layer of enjoyment and it is a delight to cultivate the habit of discovery and exploration in my children.  And of course it is fun for Rich and I as well!

It was so cool to hear their squeals of delight every time they found a photograph or statue of Mr. Walt Disney this last week.

Speaking of learning enriching our lives, Treyton was so excited to see a 'real' portcullis as we passed through the castle. Sure we got some strange looks as he kept shrieking "Portcullis, mommy. There's a portcullis." But as I thought back to our time learning about that last year when he was only two years old, I couldn't help but smile and thank God for the opportunity we have to learn as a family! 

Although I was sick all week, we had a fun time.  I'm super proud that we made it through without losing any children.  And the sling totally made the trip so much more fun.   Greta was able to nap as we hopped on and off rides! And having grandparents there also meant extra hands so we were able to pass her around for some of the more 'exciting' rides!

Getting to see their eyes open on wonder and their imaginations run wild was a real treat!

Today was a mountain of laundry, restocking the fridge and getting Greta back on track.  Tomorrow {hopefully} finds us resuming our normal routine!

While Disney World was fun, I must say I'm enjoying the peace and {semi} quiet.