Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Week In Review: July 14 - July 18

Another busy week with quite a few theme days. Take a brief look at our week (apparently I was horrible about remembering to take pictures of everything the kids did):

We had a Pasta Play Day. Read more here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/07/pasta-play-day.html
Another Safari Sandbox. The kids buried the animals and would have other kids find them.
Only here would you find a pool noodle and a jump rope being used as a reminder of where the kids shouldn't walk so they don't get hit by someone swinging. This has actually worked really well!
Even though Monday was extremely busy, we took advantage of the hubs early off work day and went downtown for dinner and a leisurely walk along the Principal River Walk.



The boys had A LOT of questions about why the river was "so big" and why they couldn't just jump in. We were able to get close to the water and the boys even received a few splashes from the fast flowing Des Moines River.
H skipping, jumping, and running.
Happy to report we were not attacked by the bird that's stalking this bridge. Good things because I HATE birds and would have freaked if it would have swooped down at us!
A nice and cool day was perfect for hours of jumping in the bounce house and a movie in the afternoon. Read more about the kid's Movie Day here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/07/movie-day.html

The boys helped daddy with yard work.

Elizabeth helped me unload the dishwasher.
The kids loved Camping Day! Read more here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/07/camping-day.html
The kids spent all week running around the backyard. They've enjoyed having the new swing set and making up games of chase this summer.
Elizabeth insisted on having her hair in clips instead of a "pony pony." But she needed ALL of the clips she has in her hair. At once.

Elizabeth dragged her bin of hair things out and of course the boys picked things to wear too.

In addition to cleaning the house every night (vacuuming, cleaning the toys, cleaning the kitchen and bathroom floors), I've added cleaning up the backyard and setting up the next day's activities. It was such a gorgeous night, that while I set up Wheelies World, I enjoyed a drink on our patio. Everything has a perk to it!

I brought the tunnel outside for the kids to crawl through, but it caused a few problems so it was taken back to the basement at the end of the day.
Painting bird houses on the patio.
A certain Little Miss found our change bowl and helped herself.  She took all of the change from the jar and over the next several days we found change in bags, in piles in corners of the bedrooms, in the yard, in a wagon, and under her pillow.
The kids had a blast learning how to fish during Fishing Day. Read more here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/07/fishing-day.html
The ground squirrels have been crazy this year! We've had a surplus of them around and the kids love watching them. A few of these little guys are not shy at all and helped themselves to the kid's toys. They used Wheelie World as their own playground, climbed up slides and then slid back down, ran up and over balls. On Friday morning, as I was getting Fishing Day set up, two of them had a game of chase and tackle happening. I was shocked when they used my legs to run through, ran over my feet, and one tried to hide behind me. I have never seen them not be afraid of people, but these guys have no issues playing alongside the kids in the backyard....although they are smart enough to run away when being chased!

There won't be quite as many theme days next week, but the kids will have a couple of days of free play, where I have nothing planned (but plenty of back up plans in case the kids aren't getting along) and the kids are left to their own devices. While there's plenty of free play within our theme days, it's so important to have days where the kids are just left alone and to come up with their own themes to play along to.