A Day Off From School

Since Amelia and Ashley go to a Charter School, they don't necessarily follow the same schedule as all the other kids around us who are in the District.  This can work to our advantage.  On Friday, the 9th, they were out of school so I decided that we should take a trip to the Dinosaur Museum.  I was crossing my fingers that there would be no school groups there or other large groups.  It worked out great!  I don't think we have been since Elliot was a baby so it was long overdue.  Essentially, this was Elliot's first trip since he didn't remember his first time and this was Micah's first experience.  For some crazy reason, I went on the expedition solo.  I was later chastised for not calling my mom and inviting her.  Oops.

When we arrived, Ashley was all the sudden frightened to go in.  I spent a good 5-10 minutes convincing her to go in.  We had just driven all the way up there and I had no Plan B for the day and was not about to just turn around and go home.  I told her that if she was scared of anything, she could just look down at her feet and we would hurry and get away from it.

We started off checking out the exhibits that were all about motion.  Amelia was really interested in everything, Ashley was still acting reserved about the whole thing, Elliot was happy to follow Amelia around, and Micah was just along for the ride.

Ashley really enjoyed all the hands-on exhibits so we spent the majority of our time at those.  She especially loved the giant magnetic wall with the dinosaur bone puzzles.  And since it was not at all crowded, we stayed there for quite a while so that she could finish a puzzle.  All the kids really loved the erosion table.  Once again, not crowded so the kids got to play to their little hearts content.  However, it was getting close to lunch time, so I cut play time a little short.  Also, this was Elliot's first big trip out of the house since being potty trained.  Since bathrooms aren't easily accessible at the museum, I knew our time was limited.  And we still had to go to the dinosaur bone dig and I knew they would want to spend time there as well.

Amelia was nervous to stand by the shark which Elliot picked up on and so he didn't want to stand there either.  Ashley sat against the wall as far away from the shark as she could be.  That was fine with me.  The kids also got a chance to talk to a real life paleontologist.  Amelia thought that was the best thing ever.  She could have talked to him all day if he had the time.  The kids kept talking all about Dinosaur Train and Ice Age.  I just had to laugh.  Luckily, this guy was really patient and listened to everything that they had to say.

Once we left the museum, we went to lunch at Arby's, the kids favorite place to go.  It was such a fun day!  Hopefully it has built my confidence a little in taking all four kids on a field trip by myself.  I'm hoping that we can do a lot more fun things this summer.  I've already got our next trip forming in my brain.

Silly Sisters

Amelia and Ashley are fairly close in age...just 21 months apart.  But, the way that their birthday's fall, they are just 1 year apart in school.  They started sharing a room when they were 4 and 2, and I think that has really helped them to develop their friendship.  Now, they ride the bus to and from school together everyday and Amelia helps to look out for Ashley.  Most days, it works out good.

At the end of February, the girls celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday at school by reading Dr. Seuss books, watching Dr. Seuss movies and wearing their pajamas to school. For some crazy reason, I told them that I would make them new nightgowns for the occasions. My mom had received boxes and boxes of flannel from a friend and so the girls were able to pick out their fabric from Grandma's extensive collection. I was grateful that I didn't have to buy the fabric! This time around, we went with long sleeves and these nightgowns go just about to the floor. I think they turned out great. Sure, I was up past midnight the night before doing the finishing touches (I actually had to sneak into their room after they fell asleep so that I could measure their wrists for the elastic in the sleeves.) but they were so excited to wear them the next day and that made it all worth it.

The girls have also been busy loosing teeth.  Amelia actually let me pull her tooth out.  She said that it was hurting and I told her that it would feel much better once it was out.  Just a couple of pulls and out it came.  It bled a little bit, but she was so glad to have it out that she barely noticed.

Amelia's unique and ever-changing smile.  Can you say "braces"?



Ashley's tooth had been wiggling for quite a while.  She doesn't really like me to pull her teeth out or even wiggle them so I never really knew just how wiggly it was.  During lunch at school the day her tooth fell out, she was complaining to one of the aides that it was hard to eat her sandwich because of her wiggly tooth.  So, she only ate her applesauce for lunch.

She made it through just about her entire dinner when she got the terrible look on her face.  I told her to spit out the food in her mouth and then I heard a little *clink* on her plate.  Her tooth had fallen out when she took a bite and then I think that she was chewing it with her food and it caught her off guard.  She was so happy that it was finally out.  There was a little bit of blood, but I got her to take a drink and that helped stop it.

 The tooth fairy was very clever with Ashley and gave her $1 all in nickels since she is learning to count by 5's in school.  It was so fun to see her count them all the next morning.

 I think that she looks so cute with her new smile.  She actually wanted to take her tooth to school to show all her friends.

Love these two crazy girls!

More Organizing

Back at the beginning of February, I still had the organizing bug and I did another cabinet in my kitchen. This one was long overdue too.

Among the contents of this cabinet was sippy cups, Tupperware, kid cups, bottles, breast pump, baby food mill, and who knows what else that really didn't belong.

 Step 1: Empty out the cabinet and wipe it out.

 Here is everything that came out of the cabinet.  A few things went to the DI and other things were put in a more logical place.

 Like the breast pump and bottles.  When I am nursing, I only pump a handful of times, which means that baby generally only gets a handful of bottles.  Why I've hung onto this huge collection of bottles is beyond me but I can't seem to part with them.  Instead, everything is now neatly organized in a tote and put away in baby's closet.

I decided to lower the bottom shelf one notch to make more room for the Tupperware.  (Most of my Tupperware was in the fridge when I took this picture.  Hopefully everything will fit when it is all clean.)  This gave me a little bit less room for sippy cups and kid cups, but they are all contained on one shelf and I figured that whatever didn't fit, I would just have to get rid of.  The top shelf is now devoted to things that I use on a daily basis but don't want stored in the pantry.  All of my lunch making supplies are right where I need them so that I can quickly put lunches together for the girls in the morning.  Also up in the cabinet now are things like butter and syrup.  Before, these things would just sit out on the counter and get in the way.  Now they have a home and I am really liking it.