Super heros

So given the day and the way the kids look, it might appear as if they are all ready for Halloween... But, this was just a cool super hero birthday that we attended a couple of weeks ago.  The kids had so much fun dressing up and acting out with their 'super powers'... That IS what 4 & 5 year old boys do best!  Happy Birthday Ben, you had a cool party!

All dressed and ready for action- Spider Man & Buzz Lightyear

 Superhero line up... I think if there were any bad guys in the area, we were all certainly protected!

 One  of the many Spider heroes at the party!

 They were given super power silly string and homemade capes with their initials just in case any bad guys arrived... J & the birthday boy were having a super power showdown...

 Oh look, there were 'bad guys'- GO SUPER HEROS!

 Buzz was off to 'Infinity & Beyond'!

 Time for rest... There looks like a conflict of powers here?!

 Gathering for the pinata

 Birthday boy, aka Shark Boy showed us his strengths!

 Spiderman concentrates hard with his tongue out.

 Lavagirl enjoying her candy!

 Cake time...

 Candle blow out

 So tempting at eye level!

 Presents!

It was fun to see all the excitement and independence in these growing kids... B is the first kid in our playgroup to turn '5'!   Sniff, sniff- they are soon to be 'school aged kids', where did the time go? 

Blueberry man...

I haven't featured little guy in awhile... 

He is our easiest going baby so far and loves life!  He is also usually a pretty neat eater, but this particular day I made blueberry pancakes with extra blueberries on top & he went crazy over the little blue fruit!  He also thought it was funny :) that we were laughing at him.

Hi!

Look, I had fun squishing it around my tray too.

 At least he was wearing blue!

Birthday Balloons!

It has been awhile, but I am at the start of catching up from the beginning of the month.

Ever since we moved to NM when I was 6, my birthday was celebrated in part with birthday balloons... hot air balloons in sky, that is!  My birthday always falls during the balloon fiesta because it is held during the first 2 weekends in Oct and the weekdays in-between.  I can remember a half a dozen girls and myself running outside at the crack of dawn after my birthday slumber parties each year to see the balloons fly over head.  It was always crispy cold and we were a little goofy crazy from staying up too late, but we were determined to see my birthday balloons :). 

This year, we decided to wake the kids up while it was still dark, put layers of clothes on them and show them the amazing sunrise balloon lift off.  I think they liked it and I had a wonderful birthday spending it with our family!

We watched the 'round' balloons blow up in the dark as the sun started to come out

 Kyle liked keeping warm with dad

 They rose with the sun... it is not too often that we see the sun come up!

Kyle loved his birds eye view of everything.

 some of the 'round' special shapes start appearing...

 This is as good as it gets with all three of them in the same picture.

 What a fun morning

 There was an eyeful of new things to look at for little J.

 The bigger balloons started going up, Noah's Arc was the kid's favorite.

 Little J spent some quality time with me.

 Big J with his favorite balloon.

 Collage of some of the pictures I got of the balloons, it really is an amazing experience if you have never been!  Let this serve as a postcard to all my out of state family and friends, come stay with us to see for yourself!

  

Box House

We have had this huge box hanging around our house for about a month... It served as a great fort, pretend ship or what ever else the kids used it as.  While it was quite beat up, J mentioned that we should turn it into a 'real house'.  So that is what we did... a little taping on the corners, a couple of nuts and bolts to secure the roof and a few cut outs for a door and windows and we had a house.  One interesting thing about art class is that J wants to paint and craft everyday... Because of the mess and the curious babies, I usually tell him no, but I thought painting our new house would be a great group project. 

K had fun, but his attention span was short lived as he wanted to mix the paint with dirt and water...  It gave the house a little texture!

 J painted the door red...

 ... And took his time paying close attention to the details.

The fun didn't stop there!  I had just bought diapers and wipes and was clearing the boxes out the night before we painted the house, when I got an idea.  I quickly and easily turned the boxes into a kitchenette and cabinet to go inside their new house.  Everything used just happened to be laying around our house... some spray paint, extra cabinet handle hardware,  blocks for the facet, water nobs & oven buttons (hot glued gunned on for clean removal), yogurt lids for the stove and a cooling rack for the oven shelf.  After the spray paint dried, it only took about an hour to put together (I did it after the kids went to bed :)!

It is fully equipped with a refridgerator, stove, oven, sink, towel rack and storage!

 All closed up.

 The kids were happy to find it in the morning.

Finished house with everything put together... Not sure how long it will last with 3 rowdy boys, but at least we had fun putting it together :) and hope to use it as a playcenter for our preschool next week.  

Museum Day

This semester, we enrolled big J in an art class held at the local museum.  He has enjoyed the experience as they learn about art, artists, museum artifacts and do other preschool type activities.  The first day, I attempted walking around the museum exhibits with K & little J, but I don't think 1 & 2 year olds care too much about artifacts!  Lucky for us, there is a kid's science museum right across the street so we walked over there the following week and came out with a family membership.  Since then, I go 'play' with the young ones while J is in class and the situation is win win for all of us! 

With his painting smock on, he is ready to begin class.

The little ones look inside the classroom with curiosity to see what it is all about.

 The theme this particular week was Rock 'n Roll and J and his friend M's artwork were featured for the all the museum lookers to see. 

 J with teacher and friend.

 Playtime at the kid's museum!

 The kids are allowed to touch nearly everything!  Kyle liked to smell everything of course.

 Lots of hands on water experiments... I still could not get K to look at the camera, he was in day dream heaven at this place!

 They have a tot room with all kinds of science toys for the littlest ones.

 Ball tube drops...

 cause and effect machines...

 Light switches that they can actually play with over and over... K is definitely our scientist!

 J is a watcher, he observes everything!

The air blower... They both enjoyed this and even had a brotherly team going!

 The magical floating ball impressed them both!

 Kyle would agree that airplanes are much more fun to watch than art sculptures!

   After class this particular day, we came back to the kid's museum to meet some friends and eat a picnic lunch.  J had a little mommy helper :)!

 K loved the rolling slide

 and J went digging for fossils with his friend J!

 Little J played with his little friend, they were holding hands!

 We couldn't leave without making a stop at the bubble table!

This is a great way to spend one day each week, there are many parts of the museum that we haven't even seen yet!