water guns

this weekend we went to our neighbor's third birthday party and as parting gifts (instead of goodie bags) the boys were given pump-action water guns. thankfully, they didn't have to wait very long for the weather to get warm enough to let them use them outside. they were in heaven! and when manning woke up (he had fallen asleep in the car) we got out the bubble blower he had been given at the party. manning was blowing bubbles and the boys were trying to squirt them to pop them. some great outside fun! love.

happy birthday to me

this was a 'big' birthday - 35! as i get older, my birthday 'wishes' are less and less exciting. for the past few years i have just asked for sleep. since my birthday fell on a sunday this year, sleeping in was not an option since we have to be there by 8:30am. my parents sent some flowers with a balloon that arrived yesterday and were one of my first birthday wishes of the day. (matt said "happy birthday" to me over a sleeping manning who had woken me up at 5:30am.) i woke up to a white, snowy morning too.

my second birthday request was to not have to prepare any meals! and since i love, love, love eating breakfast out, we went out to eat brunch after church. the wait wasn't as bad as i was expecting but (as usual) my food was the very last plate to the table. it was worth the wait though and we had a lovely breakfast.

matt had his hands full with trying to keep the kids away so that i could nap. there was a lot of crying. when i finally woke up after my lazy afternoon in bed (i was only able to nap a short while, but enjoyed the rest). i found matt trying to work with manning sleeping on his arms. i carried manning off to his bed and matt was very grateful.

i realized that i should have taken my birthday picture before my nap because i was a mess when i woke up but a poor picture is better than no picture. this is how most of our attempt went...

and this was the best one.

it was seriously one of my better birthdays! i felt special, i got some rest and felt very loved. thank you for all of my birthday wishes! love.

here's a new one...

manning had napped and wasn't interested in sleeping (he had cake for dinner at a neighbor's birthday party). so he got a little creative. surprisingly, he is the first of the kids to do this!

when i originally came in to see what they were doing, i couldn't find him. but then a drawer opened and closed, so i went to get matt before i busted him. to our surprise, maddux was in their with him too! the video was after matt had asked them to get out. you can see that manning is having a grand 'ole time past bedtime. unfortunately, i didn't capture the drawers sliding open and closed from inside the cabinet. love.

children's museum of pittsburgh

we were originally going to go with matt on his business trip to chicago and then drive on to wisconsin to see our old house and visit friends there. but matt's recent trips to chicago left him feeling like the city isn't as safe as it use to be and the crazy weather this winter made us reconsider. matt was able to arrange his trip to only be monday through wednesday and he could take thursday off. we still wanted to do something special for spring break so i looked around a little and we agreed on the children's museum of pittsburgh for a day trip.

the kids were up until almost 10pm waiting for matt to get home last night so we decided not to hurry our departure. instead, we let the kids wake up whenever they did and left after everyone dressed. it was a later start than i had intended, but i think the later morning was great for everyone. we got to pittsburgh at lunch time and picked up a quick meal before heading into the museum. our local museum membership used to provide free admission but they dropped the reciprocal program a few months after we joined. i think it was worth the admission though.

they recommend that you start in the art room. there was a lot to do! there were several school trips there but it wasn't too bad. manning wasn't too sure what to make of it other than that it was fantastic and that he couldn't decide what to do first. while he was deciding what to do first, the big kids got to work on a screen printing project. they were to cut out shapes from newspapers and then get in line to do the screen printing. i think the finished products are great and am thinking about framing them. (i think you can guess which one belongs to which one of the kids.)

manning finally settled down at the clay table. i think it had more to do with the small stools to sit on than the clay itself. i don't really think that he liked the texture too much.

and then he started to wander again. i finally got him settled at a easel. he wasn't sure what it was so i had to put the first red mark on the paper. his whole face lit up! he would step back, look at his painting, review the color selections and make his next choice. he really loved the painting. we haven't done much painting at home this winter (it is a little stressful to have four painting at once), but i think we will next week. it just made him so happy! all four kids took a turn at an easel. they have drying racks for the paintings to dry while you finish your visit.

maddux was the only one willing to try the "invisible painting". they painted with a q-tip dipped in something that would repel the paint (i never asked matt what they did since i was busy with manning the whole time and just rushed over for a quick picture of them working together) before painting the whole paper to show their 'invisible' q-tip image.

the kids finished up with basket weaving. surprisingly, this was their second favorite part of our visit.

manning roaming around throughout the art area and coat room.

not a great picture of madelyn, but she matched the pink and orange streamers hanging from the ceiling of the art room. it was really more beautiful than the picture could capture.

i had heard about the 'ant farm' but it was even better than i expected. it is a crawling maze that goes up to the second floor. the kids can see in front of them, but not quite where they are going. the kids loved it! i was actually surprised that they were all brave enough to get to the top on their first try. manning would crawl along the bottom route back and forth without getting up too high for us to help him out.

not a great picture but maddux looked so grown up in this one. he loved this under lit building set (especially the orange lights).

i had forgotten that mr. rogers neighborhood is in/from pittsburgh and was surprised to stumble upon some of the original puppets from his show - including daniel tiger. maddux thought it was pretty cool.

giant lite-brite

manning found another love - the light box sand table. we, literally, had to drag him away.

a see-saw that made bubbles as they pumped it up and down.

the kids thought that this exhibit was pretty fun. you stand on a lit mat and 'dance' and the projector plays your moves back twice as a rainbow of movement. they were so silly and fun - all four of them.

maddux broke out his famous "chicken dance" but this wasn't the best one.

mason loved all the machines throughout the museum.

another cool exhibit, it was 'raining' letters/words on a wall. when you stood in front of it, they would 'land' on your head and arms.

a spinning sand table - the sand 'falls' as you spin it.

"the garage" was like a wheel fantasy land - all sorts of ramps, cars, wheels, pulleys, balls, etc.

maddux didn't want to sit in the front seat, but only the back seat of this orange smart car. (this is also the only picture of me - just in the refection.)

putting on the elastic spokes to make a balanced wheel was one of maddux' favorite activities. he was so focused on getting it to roll very fast once it was completed.

mason using a pulley to raise a ball into a ramp system hanging from the ceiling.

a trolley puzzle station.

there were so many movement exhibits that were unlike anything i had seen before. this one had metallic tiles that would tilt to make shadows that showed your face and movements like a mirror. i had madelyn give a demonstration.

manning was really taken by this 'rain' bucket. there are nails all down the sides so that when you drop in pebbles, it sounds like rain (think of the sound from a rain stick). the idea was to drop lots of pebbles at a time (which is what all the other kids were doing) but manning would only drop them one at a time. i think he liked putting the pebbles in the holes more than the sound they made falling down.

this captured the joy manning had playing at this sensory table.

i wanted to take pictures of the kids with these frames, but mason was the only one who would humor me. the best part was that manning thought the frame was a square hoola-hoop! he tried twice before i figured out what he was thinking and tried to get a video.

these were 'wish boxes' that the kids built. do you know which one belongs to maddux? he left it behind twice! one time he noticed once we were already in the car. he loved it so much that he wouldn't let me carry it for him but was also excited about all of the other things he could do.

the unanimous favorite was the "waterplay" room! i think that matt enjoyed it more that the kids. you could tell who were members because they were the ones who had their children change into bathing suits. our kids were soaked by the time we left! even with the smocks (well manning wouldn't wear one). manning liked playing with their 'snow' at the ice table more than playing outside in the real snow.

maddux spent almost the whole time at a water pump. the 'tree' it was under had balloon 'leaves' but we were never successful in getting them to fill.

this was one of mason's favorites in the waterplay room - a 'drain' that you could drop strips of plastic in/through - he was truly fascinated.

they, mercifully, had some blowdrying hoses to help dry off the kiddos. although, we could have been there all day and still not have completely dried off maddux (or madelyn). i literally had to wring out the bottom of maddux' pants and madelyn's jeans were still damp several hours later. so much fun though!

it was a really great day of family fun. it was our first outing without a stroller and it went much better than i had expected. manning also noticed and appreciated the change.

we were all taken by the yellow bridges - so pretty.

before we left town we decided to stop by ikea for dinner and some browsing. dinner wasn't the greatest but it was one of our best trips to ikea. going on a weeknight during the school year is a great time to be there - very few people. we were able to browse and explore without having to worry too much about the kids. maddux was also able to show us every single orange item in the store. he really liked this chair and curled right up in it - he shot his legs out when i tried to take a picture. this was also one of our least expensive trips to ikea. it always seems like there is something to find that we just 'have' to have.

today was such a blessing to our family. love.