Soccer

Both kids started soccer yesterday and had so much fun! And the best part? They play on the same team! 

First day of school

The big day was finally here. M has been looking forward to this since last fall!

L was very excited to show M the ropes!

The day went great! They even got to see each other on the playground!

Best 3 letters ... ZOO

Missouri Botanical Garden

Mad Scientist

Okay so maybe not a "mad" scientist but certainly a scientist. 

The kids spent a few nights at my parents and while they were gone I took the opportunity to declutter the playroom. They had stuff everywhere and I w as sick of having so much un-played with stuff. I wanted the items shoved in the closet out in the open and to get rid of some other items they had out grown. In the process of emptying the game closet I came across a gift L had received for Christmas. 

It was a science experiment kit which can be found here. 

 I simply placed it on the shelf with some of the board games I also  

freed from the closet.

 L noticed it almost immediately and wanted to dive right in. Sadly he had to wait until after rest time to add any water to it but I did let him explore the items in the box. 

 Finally, it was time to play!

I added some food coloring to a few containers of water and 

let him do as he pleased.

M even watched for a while 

  

I was a bit unsure how long this would hold his attention and was absolutely shocked that after a little over an hour I had to tell him time was up because it was dinner time. Seriously, over an hour? Who knew some colored water a few containers, a funnel and and eyedropper could be so entertaining? The set comes with some cards that each have different experiments on them and we are both very excited to try another one! I think next were are gonna clean dirty pennies!

Cookies

The other day after much whining because we were not grocery shopping at the store that offers a free bakery cookie to kids L decide we needed to make our own M&M cookies. So what did I do? 

Well I gather up the ingredients and cookbook  

and the 2 cutest assistants I could find and we went to work making cookies!

The dough sure looks yummy for our chocolate chip and M&M cookies.

and the finished product look even better.

These were so yummy and the time spent with the kids was priceless. 

Want to make your own? We simply used the Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and substituted 1/2 of the chocolate chips for M&M's. I have also made this same recipe with Heath bits instead off the chocolate chips and they were super yummy as well!

No more "B"

M was a binky kid, or "B" as she called it. I knew they day we had to get rid of it was fast approching and I was NOT looking forward to it. However, that day came sooner than expected. On July 12 it was a normal Thursday night until it was time for bed, *insert ominous music here* and we could not find the last (useable) "B" anywhere. Needless to say it was a rough and late bedtime. But, she did it about 2 hours later than normal but she fell asleep without her "B"! So the next night it was off to Build-a-Bear to make a new friend to put her last "B" (which was broken and unusable) inside. 

First she had to pick her animal

And then add her "B", some stuffing and a special heart. 

She did not like how loud the machine was. 

Showing her excitement.

She could not give her monkey a '"bath" and hold her ears but never fear big brother was there to help.

After picking out an outfit it was time to name her. She deiced to give her a B name and after saying no to my first suggestion of Beatrice she was super excited by the next B name I could think of. So without further ado meet "Betsy"

Things were still rough for the next week and she wanted nothing to do with Betsy at bedtime but her "B" was soon forgotten once we were on vacation and there more important things to think about, like staying up late, sharing a bed with L and watching a movie every night while they feel asleep. Now she love Betsy and sleeps with her almost nightly.

and because I can, here is L with Blue (which has his binky inside) that he got in November 2010 when he was 2 years 9 months old and gave up his last binky.