Happy Halloween!

Gymboree

After spending years at Little Gym and loving it, we were excited to try out an open play session at Gymboree. It was ok for a one time thing, but I was much more impressed by the Little Gym as far as the equipment and staff. (This is from when the kids were 3, but I was short on content this month and I just discovered these photos from my phone.)

Running around exploring

Giant balance beam

This was one of those defining moments for us. They had this awesome small monkey bar set up. I encouraged the kids to try it. As soon as he started hanging, we got in trouble. apparently I was supposed to hold him rather than letting him hand from his own strength. This is the opposite theory of the Little Gym. At Little Gym they encourage kids to build up their strength and drop onto the mats when they need. Here they wanted me supporting their weight and not to let the kids fall on the mats. Maybe their mats aren't thick enough, maybe their staff isn't trained as well, it could be any number of things. How would you learn to do the monkey bars if you can't first learn to support your own hanging weight?

Wordless Wednesday

Horseback Riding Success

Yesterday's post just showed the start to riding lessons. Here are some more active moments.

The first step in learning to jump. It's a very small step.

It's harder than you might think to keep balance as a horse makes a sharp turn.

Hard work earns a ribbon.

Not to be outdone, he earned one the next week.

October Horseback Riding

Another season of horseback riding started. The kids were thrilled to get back out there.

 Sweet Daughter leading Max. I remember the first time this happened how scared I was and how intimidated she was, now we are both relaxed and she had no difficulty literally taking the lead.

Sweet Son leading Peter Pan. This horse was new to him this season which took a bit of getting used to.

Brushing her horse. I love how her long hair and the horse tail look so much alike.

His new horse is a bit taller. I love the horse brush he uses on the horse.

One of the instructors was sick so the kids had to share a lesson. Here they are both leading Max.

School Festival

A few days after the festival at Wonderful Husband's office, there was a festival at the kids' school.

Petting Zoo - trying to pet the bunnies

Trying to pet the ducks but not wanting the ducks to face them.

Craft tables

Game booths

Face painting to match her dress.

A mask so you won't recognize him!

More Perot Museum

Movement in a Science museum. These were just a few of the many activities for kids to run off some energy inside the museum.

This video wall taught many different types of movement. Here the kids are trying Tai-Chi.

She ran off to another exhibit. He stayed to learn a hip hop dance.

This wall lit up when it sensed something in front of it.

Wordless Wednesday

Perot Science Museum, Dallas

It feels like I write about Science Museums a lot. We love visiting them so of course we made time for a visit to the new Perot Science Museum in Dallas.

Going up one of the long escalators.

Dinosaurs in one of the main exhibit halls.

The children's area has many things to play with, but not much Science.

A picture of us on the outside. See the big escalator going up the side from the first pic?

Fall Festival

Every year Wonderful Husband's office has a Fall Festival. Here are some photos of everything they have set up.

Sweet Son going down the big slide.

Sweet Daughter going down the big slide.

This was at the end of the giant inflatable obstacle course.

Hi Giant Turkey

She's usually afraid of large costumed characters. Apparently this one seems trustworthy.

They also have many games set up and different food options - all free.

This character I know - it's Ranger's Captain!

The kids also had balloon animals made. She requested an alligator. He requested a shark. They were both happy with the result.

Pumpkin Patch

 Hay Maze Fun

 Scarecrow in the patch

 The spot they recommended for family photos.

My favorite Halloween photo. :)

A Tale of Two Beds - Part 17

Once again, here are the links to the previous 16 tales. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Frustration, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16.

 We really do let the kids have beds. Well, we started them with beds and only took them away when they were destroyed, BUT we let them earn their beds back. You would think they would sleep in them.

If you were going to sleep on the floor, would you move the bed across the room first?

I get why this happened. They even sleep in similar positions. :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

"I found a BIG stick!"

Daily Photos

We do many things that I don't actually get photos of (I know that's shocking). Here are just a couple that Wonderful Husband took when he was working from home. He likes to sneak up on us to get candid photos.

This is us doing pay day. The kids are paid in pennies for jobs they do. I know I've mentioned this before, but the way we do this is they don't get paid for doing their own jobs (putting away their clothes, cleaning their rooms, doing their dishes, etc). They do get paid for doing our jobs (folding towels, folding my clothes, dusting, sweeping, etc). Different jobs are worth different amounts - 1 penny per towel and 5 pennies for sweeping for example. Then on pay day they sit down with their banks. I pay out what they are owed and they put it into their banks one penny at a time. The banks have 4 different sections - save, spend, invest, and donate, in that order. So save always gets the most. After they put their money into the correct sections, we go through each section one at a time to see if they can make any exchanges. They are really good at recognizing how much each coin is worth and how to change them for larger amounts.

One of them loves doing paperwork. This is one of the rare moments when they are both choosing to do it for fun. We have way too many coloring and activity books. Even Grandma was surprised!

Christopher Columbus

Have you ever wondered how your kids interpret the things you are teaching them? I recorded my kids explaining Christopher Columbus. I'll do my best to type what they are saying but they are both talking at the same time. Remember they are only 4 years old. SS=Sweet Son and SD=Sweet Daughter

SD: What did Christopher Columbus do? He sailed on a boat to, to, to Texas, to
SS: To Europe and he told Europe about North America
SD: And he went to North America and there were people living there. So they said, "Get out people. Now I'm going to live here." and he told Europe about, about, what?
SS: Now I'm going to live here. Get out.
SD: About North America and then he went back to his house.

The kids really don't understand why this is a holiday that is celebrated here.

Pumpkin Science and Math

 We can't just play with pumpkins, we turn everything into fun educational lessons. Here you see Sweet Son picking the seeds out of a very small pumpkin with many lines going down the side.

Here Sweet Daughter is pulling the seeds out of a larger (but still small) pumpkin without many well defined lines going down the sides.

After cleaning out both pumpkins we counted the seeds. It was a lot of counting, but the kids made an amazing discovery. They predicted the larger pumpkin would have more seeds. However, the seeds are attached to the vertical lines in the pumpkins. So the small pumpkin with the lines had more seeds than the large pumpkin without. Science, Math, and a mess - pretty much a perfect lesson.

Rain!

We all love the rain. The best part is when we get to go splash in it. Yes, all of us splash in it, but the kids look better in pictures. :)

 Sidewalk puddle

 

Sitting in the puddle (I don't know why)

Yes we get extremely wet, but it's fun!

After all, we are just going home to get in a warm shower anyway!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

"Let me show you how to play it"