My Rainy Day Playtimes

Toby shows off his lost tooth.

It's raining again today, which prompted me to turn to the computer for ideas on what to do with two restless kids while trapped indoors. Here are a few pictures of what we've done this month on particularly rainy days.

Norah makes a pattern.
Does anyone else see a potential sandwich shop employee?

Sometimes mud soup is necessary.

Toby explaining why the living room is such a mess--
we took everything out of his room for a good spring cleaning.

My Grandfather Knows...

... bowties are cool.

My May Visitors

We enjoyed a visit from my parents earlier this month, which included watching the kids' swim lessons, lots of park time, shopping, a retirement dinner for my uncle, and a kids' movie night with Nana.  I think spring is the best season to visit the East coast because the pleasant weather puts the fresh-out-of-hibernation/grumpy New Englanders in a good mood.  (This good mood has usually melted with the humidity and heat of July and August, and only resurfaces for a few weeks amid the leaves changing colors in the fall.  Just giving a fair warning to those of you considering the East Coast as a destination....)

My Garden Know-How

Everything I know about gardening I learned from ... the back of the Miracle Gro garden soil bag.
So if my garden this year looks like it was assembled by a 5-year old and a 3-year old, well, it was.
Here's hoping we get a tomato or two out of the effort.

My New Boatlaunch

There's a state boat launch area a stone's throw from our backyard where we like to go sometimes. We have flown kites in the parking lot (our yard has too many large trees where kites get tangled), ridden bikes around it, and the kids love throwing rocks off the dock.
This winter they remodeled the boat launch and put on two new docks. We spent a while there the other day, throwing in rocks and marvelling at the beautiful evening weather.

My Cannon-baller

Weekly swimming lessons have ended until July.
Toby is allowed to sign up for the next level (3).  I have been really impressed with Toby's bravery and fearlessness in swimming in the deep end this session.  He can swim the length of the pool with only a foam noodle for assistance.
Here are 3 pictures of him doing a cannon ball.

As expected, Norah will be continuing in Level 1 for at least another session.  She spent 6 weeks of swimming lessons hanging on to either the wall or her teacher. But she was very happy doing so, and is excited to return to Level 1 later this summer.

Norah (2nd in line) waits to jump to her teacher.
Toby (2nd from left in background) at the deep end.

My "Rock" Climber

Thought you might want to see the resident "rock" climber at our house...

My Favorite Tear-Jerker

We watched Tangled tonight.  For the second time.  The first time we watched it was Norah's first experience with a movie theater.  She had a lot of fun, with the exception of the dark being a bit overwhelming.  The movie made me cry.

It got me again tonight.  The parents in the story--without a single word between them--get me choked up every time.  Call it Disney sentimentality, but the scenes where they lift the lanterns (that's not spoiling anything if you haven't seen the movie) are some of the most beautiful in the whole movie.  In any Disney movie I've seen in quite a while, actually.

I just loved snuggling up with a kiddo on each side and watching this fun, sweet movie.  Now that I think about it, the characters without any lines steal every scene they're in: the chameleon Pascal, the horse Max, the parents, the mime...  

If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it.  Then you can trade chameleon jokes with my kids.  They'll love you for it!

My "Carpooling" Fairies

Two big milestones occurred in the Strawser household last night.  Toby lost his first tooth (the legit way, as opposed to the painful way), AND Norah gave up her pacifier.
The tooth fairy and the pacifier fairy carpooled to our house.  Very economical of them, I'd say.  Each child got a dollar.  Oh, and apparently the kids convinced their fairies that this was a major deal and not just some silly old routine visit, so they each got a new Leapster game.
:o)

My Zoo Field Trip

Earlier this month we went on a field trip with Toby's class to the zoo in Providence.  It was a lot of fun for everyone.  We were paired up with Toby's best buddy Elijah and his big brother.  We saw lots of animals (the anteater being the only one I managed to snag a picture of), ate lunch together, and topped the day off with a ride on the carousel.  I loved seeing Toby hang out with his best buddy all day.  They seem to have a lot of fun together.  Well, they run around together a lot, which is often the most common activity among 5 year old boys.  So I equate that with fun.

Seeing the elephants walk around.

They're watching a black bear napping in the sun.

Spot the anteater!

Toby saying "oh well" because his horse was broken and wouldn't go up and down.

My Chefs in Training

I've often mentioned how much I appreciate having a live-in chef, right? It's a fantastic arrangement!
However, there are some times when the chef brings home a meal that's not quite cooked, in which case the chefs-in-training get a little worried...

My Drummer Girl

One morning last month after getting Toby on the bus Norah and I decided to hang around outside for a bit. Norah got her homemade drum and some drumsticks and marched around the yard for a good long while.

It's hard to guess what kind of mood Norah will wake up with. Some times it's this one. Other times I can get Toby on the bus and get to a second cup of coffee before she even crawls out of bed. Both moods are equally enjoyable!

My Little Words

I'm reflecting this week on little words, and the importance they play in different situations. Think about the words on, in and down. Here's a scenario where these little words lead to uniquely different consequences:

In our family's bathroom the medicine cabinet is situated above the toilet.  At times it gets a little crowded when two or more people are trying to brush their teeth, and sometimes a toothbrush gets knocked out of the cabinet by overzealous little grabbing hands.  The following words may or may not have been uttered in our bathroom at one point or another:

"Was that Daddy's toothbrush that just fell on the toilet?"

"Did Daddy's toothbrush just fall in the toilet?"

"Who saw if Daddy's toothbrush fell down the toilet?"

Each of those statements might have been followed by various scrambling actions to rescue the toothbrush, if possible, or else a scheduled family trip to the store for a new toothbrush.  Which, by the way, end up frighteningly similar to trips down the Band-Aid aisle.