Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Play, Museum, and Hike

Since I'm so behind on my blogging, I'm doing two in a row. So this is the second part.

We went with the Vegkins group to In The Heart Of The Beast theater in Minneapolis for a kids production. The performances are all hand made puppets and paper mache, this one was a glowing play called "Gnip Gnopera". Then afterwards, the kids got to go up on stage to see the puppets and set up close.


The weekend before, we visited the Children's Museum and their Grossology exhibit which the kids thought was pretty great.
All about molding! This machine molded and made a plastic spoon!

Grossology...a big burping guy.

Ava climbing a gross skin wall.

Yep! A giant Operation game!




We headed out for a Spring event at a nature center last weekend with friends. It was rain or shine...of course, it was raining. The kids look forward to this all year though so we had to go, plus I bought advanced tickets! It was still lots of fun and the kids didn't mind getting wet. Ava got to see her favorite characters from the movie Tangled plus many other characters and got lots of candy along the way.


We then headed over to Lake Maria for a dryer afternoon for my dad's birthday. They set up an egg hunt for the kids and we went on a big hike!






The kids have been getting to go to John's mom and dad's once a week while I get some cleaning done. They have so much fun hanging out with their grandparents and get to do fun activities there too. A win for all! One of their favorites was making red light/green light/yellow light signs. They still use them at home outside on their bikes. They also love having fun with Grandma, trying to beat Grandpa on video games, and helping to take care of their bird, Sam.




Art, Bat, and Geocaching!

Wow. Okay, so way behind on my blogging. We're still doing our thing. It's been an early and active Spring!
Ava's still loving her art classes she goes to every week. She also got to see her art hanging up at a near-by art center during their student week. She also got to make a paper woman wearing a kimono.

She took a paper mache art class as well, and made a cat and an awesome vase! She also made a vase while spending time at a state park with her grandma and grandpa. They look so cool up on the shelf!


Ava loves all things arts and crafts. I cut out some cardboard and taped it together for her to decorate her own doll house in her room. She spent hours working on it and it turned out so cute!



Ava working on a wooden person :)

Noah is back into all things water now that spring is here. It's nearly impossible for him to not get into water or to leave the hose on all day (we're working on that). He also loves learning about how things work. He loves robots, cars, machines, and building things (and taking things apart). He also spends a lot of time playing games online that have to do with figuring out how to build things or knock things down. I love watching his mind at work! He also is really getting into numbers and letter sounds and often times at night we play "I'm thinking of an animal that starts with a __ sound."

Noah and Amora learning measurements.
Amora has conquered the computers. We got a second computer the kids can use now. She can get to everything she wants by going under the favorites star and knows how to play all her favorite games already. She's also been getting to spend a lot of time playing outside with her siblings this spring and riding her trike as they bike and scooter around.

Recently, when the kids were playing with the neighbor kids, the boys came across a small bat behind the neighbor's garage. We thought he was dead but then when an adult got close he started chirping and hissing. He was clearly stranded, scared, and weak, so I got some gloves and put him into a bucket until we could figure out how to help him. All the kids were so interested in helping the bat. They named him Casey (we're not sure if he's a boy or girl bat). He was VERY sleepy and still probably in hibernation. I'm sure he was wishing he was back in his cozy home and not in a bright orange bucket. The next morning we brought him into a wildlife rehab center. Last I heard, he was doing well, but did have a tear on his wing and was dehydrated. So hopefully he will be released soon!
We visited the nature center after we dropped the bat off and the kids played rescue with the stuffed animals and vet/doctor kits.

Casey sleeping in his bucket.







We went geocaching with friends last week for the first time which was really fun! The kids loved hiking through the woods and off the beaten path to search for the hidden object. We found it and it was full of fun little things like stickers and small toys! Next time we'll have to bring more to trade in!