Balloon Art

We went out to Texas Roadhouse on Tuesday for dinner. Tuesdays is their Kids Night and they have some kind of Kid entertainment going on. This week they had a balloon guy there. Justin told him he wanted a red balloon and got a really cool Lobster hat. There was a tail on it too, but that didn't survive the meal and ride home. It was pretty funny when Justin would wear it because he would knock into people every time he moved his head.

Here is Jessica's balloon creation (she was still sleeping the morning I took these pictures so she is not modeling hers for you). Not sure what she asked for, but I think what she got is pretty cool (please ignore the mess on my table and imagine it is not covered in clutter).

Splash Park Fun

Justin gets out of camp at 12 and Jessica doesn't get out until 4, so we have some time to kill in the afternoons this week. Today Justin said he wanted to go to Miles' splash park. Um, well, Miles park is 40 minutes away so I talked him into going to HIS splash park- 10 minutes away. Justin had a GREAT time. He loved standing under the buckets and then as soon as the bucket emptied he would take off into a victory lap around the area- very funny. He wasn't so good a judging where exactly to stand. Many times he would stand there and wait so patiently and then the bucket would empty just behind him or in front of him. Like this:

But every once in awhile he got it just right...

Victory Lap!

After playing at the park for awhile he decided that playing in the little creek nearby would be more fun. Especially when you can build a dam.

Now, let me explain the next picture. It goes like this

Me: Justin, look at me J: No Me: Juuuusssstin J: what? Me: Look up! J: No Me: ok, give me an angry face (he happily complies with three different variations)

He stopped building the dam soon after when a little girl came up to him and told him he would kill all the minnows if he continued. After thinking about this for awhile he called to her, "eh-scuz me? what's a minnow?"

Showbiz Kids! This Old House

Jessica's big show was last Friday night. It was a very hot night with no AC. The kids did great under the conditions (and so did the audience). This was the first "show" of Jessica's that we have brought Justin to in a long time. The show began at his usual bedtime so we were a little nervous. But he did great, sat in his seat, sang along, laughed at all the right places. Here he is with his buddies handing out programs at the beginning.

The show begins with introductions, here are the skunks!

This old house is yummy....

My skunk!
The show was great and you could see all the hard work the kids put in paid off. Jessica had a wonderful time- thank you Mrs.B!

Lazy Days of Summer

Last week went over to a friend's house to go swimming in the afternoon. I love these lazy days of summer. The kids just playing with their friends and swimming all afternoon. We had a great time. I tried to get a pic of all 6 kids jumping in, which they were doing just before I pulled out the camera, but alas two of them bailed out when the camera arrived.

Long time no blog

Hey everyone, sorry I have been so blog quiet lately. We have had a very busy two weeks. I was teaching photography for Dee's Step Forward program at Elms College in the mornings. Jessica was off to Showbiz kids in the mornings. Marc was doing shuttling/ Daddy duty in the morning and then going to work at 1pm, not getting home until around 11pm. Add to that the wedding I shot on July 4th and see why my personal blog has been neglected.

Anyway, with all of this our house slowly fell into disarray- to say the least. Finally on Monday night, the kids wanted to play on the computer after their showers and I told them they had to clean the basement/ playroom before they got screen time of any kind. Well true to their nature, everytime I send them to clean up they often get involved in playing with the toys, forgetting cleaning of any kind. In fact it is kind of what we do when we want them to go play we just ask them to clean and we don't see them for hours. One time recently I sent them upstairs to get dressed and two hours later they came down- not yet dressed.

So down they go at 6:30pm and I called them upstairs to go to bed at 7:45pm, and the basement was in fact worse than when I sent them down. I told them that they could not watch TV or play on the computer until they cleaned the basement. Now, let's be clear, when they get up in the morning they go straight to one or the other- sometimes they come in to say good morning, but not always. Marc and I, since we value sleep above all else, do not stop this habit and many times we are in bed until 9:30 or later- shhhh don't tell.

Just to make sure they got the message I hung these signs on the TV and computers:

Just so you know what we were dealing with here is a picture of the disaster (it actually got a little worse before it got better).

So Tuesday morning begins and Justin gets up first. He wanders around sort of aimlessly until Jessica wakes up and they head to the basement. Um, not to clean but to play. When I get home from teaching they head downstairs to clean, but alas they play. By late on Tuesday they are running out of room in the basement and come upstairs and set up a new game in the family room using the boxes that Grandma Sara mailed.

Miracle of miracles Tuesday ends and they did not play on the computer or watch TV at all and we were home all day. They played VERY NICELY with each with only one altercation.

So we go on to Wednesday. The rule is still in place. And Wednesday passes without any TV or Computer time as well. Mind you this system is not for the faint of heart. I know many of you would have a hard time with allowing a mess to stay there for days on end. Not me! My kids were playing amazingly nicely together, they were not zoned out in front of a screen, nor were they constantly asking for screen time because they knew I would say yes as soon as they cleaned.

Well by Thursday it was a little much for me. I was having a tough time getting to my computer without risking my safety. I finally made them put away the beads and a few other things. Finally by Thursday evening the cleaned everything. I told them they could each keep one toy out- Jessica = polly pockets and Justin = magnetix. Then they screen loaded (Marc's analogy = sort of like carbo loading before a big race).

That was my week- 3 days of the kids playing so nicely together, while I tried to keep my head above water with the photo class and proofing pics. I am home this week so hopefully more to blog about.