Stahl Weekend Get-Together

We had been looking forward to watching Hannah and Karter compete in their Destination Imagination (DI) performances near Kearney, NE. Since they were all traveling to a town about 2 hours away, we thought it would be a great chance to see H and K perform. This is something similar to what Brad did as a kid and loved, so it was fun getting a chance to see that side of his childhood as well. 

Grand Island is about half way to Kearney from Columbus, and has a Home Depot! AND we were there the first Saturday of the month. :) We had been hoping for months that we could time our city visits with a Home Depot workshop and it finally worked out. This was Makin's first-ever workshop! I wished Brad good luck handing both kids with hammers, nails and glue and enjoyed some Hobby Lobby shopping by myself for an hour. :) They were very proud of their creations. (Trojan horse piggy banks...of course!?) Makin's reaction was, "I got to use a hammer and nails!" Both were very excited that he got his apron and first pin. Lorelei was excited to add another pin to her apron. :)

We then made the next half of the trip and met up with the family after lunch. This is part of Hannah's performance. We were pretty far away from Kater's so I didn't get a good one. They both did a great job and will be coming to Kearney again to compete the beginning of April so we hope to meet up again.

The kids were very excited to not only see their family, but also SWIM. :) Two hours Saturday night and 2-2 1/2 Sunday morning. They had a blast. Their older cousins are SO good with them so they had tons of one-on-one pool time with cousins and grown ups. :) Bottom left is Brad throwing Lorelei to Hannah...so high Sarah didn't even catch her in the picture. :) Couldn't believe she let him do that so many times!

We had a late supper after swimming and then warmed up by the fire with some games. Grandma even learned how to play Candyland. :)

The kids got Grandma to play one more game before going out for lunch together before everyone headed home. Thanks for a fun weekend Grandma and Grandpa!

Dr. Seuss Week

Between my collection and the library we had about 16 Dr. Seuss books we could read this week.

Dr. Suess' birthday was March 3rd, so I decided to celebrate the week before. You need all the fun stuff you can get in this dreary winter weather! As always, pinterest made planning this week out way more fun.

I love Dr. Seuss books. There are some I can definitely live without, and I cannot believe how long some are!!! But still, they are amazing. We kicked off Dr. Seuss week by watching The Lorax for our family movie night. It was such a great movie! We had already read the book a couple of times and was fun to see what spin they put on it for the movie. We definitely recommend it!

Monday was One Fish Two Fish

Red Fish Blue Fish (Blueberry muffin), Fish Sandwiches and Pink Ink

We painted our hands to make fish and colored a coloring page that looked like the book cover. Lorelei decided to make hers look just like the book, including writing the words next to the fish. I meant to take a picture of her holding them both but forgot. Makin can wink while drinking pink ink. :) We also did an action activity from Dr. Seuss' ABC and had fun with those actions. In the pic they are being "Itchy Itchy Ichabod".

Completed artwork.

Wednesday Was Cat In The Hat

We painted cat whiskers with face paint, made cat hats (of course, you know we read the book each day right?) hat cat sandwiches, played pin the bow on the cat (big hit!),
and celebrated with Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes.

Thursday Was Green Eggs and Ham

This is probably the one Seuss book we do not have that we may have to look at adding to our collection. :) It is just fun! Probably one of the group's favorites for sure.

Real Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast

I will not eat them in a car, I will not eat them in a tree, I will not eat them on a train :)
Also had donuts treat that looked like the green eggs from the book. Yogurt/frosting to make green in middle.

This day we also did a little hunt themed like Wocket In My Pocket. The kids drew little monsters. I then made a list for them to do a hunt after I hid the monsters around the house. Example: Look for the Nink in the _____ and then they went to find it at its location when they filled in the blank.

Thursday evening Lorelei said, "We should have a green bath!!!" Brad googled whether or not our kids would turn green and it looked safe, so we decided to go for it. Makin said no way and got out of the tub while Brad added the drops. Makin then asked Lorelei, "Are you turning green?" and when she said no, he was super-excited to hop back in the tub after his sister had tested it for him. :) They thought it was tons of fun.

Fun School Work Seuss Packets All Week!!!

Friday was supposed to be a Horton Hears A Who craft, but we ended up running too many errands and didn't make time for it. Not sure if we will fit in later or not. They both loved both Horton books and love the repetitiveness. It was so much fun having so many special activities to brighten our week. Next week, however, is all blank paper and simple lunches for this Mom! :)

Gobs Of Fun

We had Tuesday off from watching extra kiddos, so we made the most of it and drove to Norfolk. Its about 45 minutes north of Columbus and has a Target. :) We were told about a fun play area downtown for kids and went there after a quick trip to T and the small mall play area. :)

We enjoyed a Starbucks treat and the kids got their first-ever SBX kid's hot chocolates. They were so cute about them and LOVED the little kid-sized cups that looked just like mine. It was so cute seeing them with their cups.








The ball pit was a big highlight. It was the first time they have played in one. :) This was both of their favorite parts of the day. Makin is throwing a ball in his pic. Of course. :)

They spent most of the time climbing, jumping, sliding etc. There was also an area with a large train table and lots of Legos. As well as some games like air hockey. The owner was awesome. She found out I was looking for blue cotton candy (Seuss week, more on that later) and called 5+ stores in town to see who had some for me. We enjoyed three hours here and it was such a great break from being home!

Parks, Hibernation and Super Heros

We were so happy to have temperatures reach the low 60s and upper 50s so we could get out and enjoy some sunshine. We spent lots of time at the park Tuesday and a little more time Wednesday at the park close to our house. We did some basketball, some chalk and lots of swinging. Lorelei is now asking to do face paint in front of the mirror...if you couldn't tell.;)

We learned more about hibernation this week along with the theme of The Bear Snores On (one of our favorite books!). Lorelei decided the space next to the words meant she should practice writing them on her own, so very excited she wanted to do that.

Lots of coloring and lots of games. We went through 6+ games in one day. Winter survival! Lorelei is liking having some extra time to herself after her quiet time and school work. I even decided to let her enjoy a few minutes of computer time, which she was thrilled about.

Loving playing super heros.

We enjoyed the bounce houses at the Y this Saturday. Lorelei loved the slide. Makin loved bouncing in the bounce house...but have you ever tried to take pictures of kids in those things!? :) He bounced A LOT. :)

Thankful we have found more ways to get our energy out this week. :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Lincoln Children's Museum

I have not had the privilege of gushing about Lincoln's children's museum until now. I went at least once in college and could not forget how amazing it was. I was thrilled at the chance to get to take my own children. We thought it would be a perfect winter activity and this weekend seemed to be a good fit. We braved the masses going on a Saturday but felt it was worth it so that Brad could be there for the fun.

Michelle Smith had given the kids birthday money with the intention of them using it for this museum, so we had it stashed away for the occasion!

Our first stops were the car fix it shop and animal care clinic. They were able to put tires on a car as well as paint a car on a giant ipad-type screen. They also got to pretend to bath, dry, feed and put collars on some huge stuffed dogs and cats. :)

I cannot say enough how much Makin loved how many cars/trucks etc they had there. Everything had buttons they can push and at least half those buttons made noises. Listening to him drive the ambulance, which had pedals that made screeching noises, was hilarious. He was just in heaven. He said his favorite part of the museum was the tractor. (Am I hearing cheers from the grandparents?) This tractor even had a big screen the driver looked at that looked like a field they were driving through. Pretty amazing.

Brad and Lorelei's favorite part of the museum - the water works. That's what Lorelei calls it anyway. :) They all LOVED making pvc pipe creations. Brad tried to get as many of the little fountains as he could going to one place so it was a strong spray of water. I believe he took into account making it tall as well? :) There is a reason they have plastic up that high to keep the water in! Lorelei was very intent on making her own and loved putting them together and came up with ideas such as wanting to connect the one she made to what Brad made. Makin was just super excited his dad was making, "the tallest one ever." Lorelei kept saying, "I love water works!"

On the third floor there were planes/trains/space and more. Makin loved flying the plane and driving the train. The Lunar Landing had awesome sound affects that made it sound like they were blasting off. Then also upstairs was a giant pin art (like you usually see the size of your hand) we had fun doing impressions with faces and hands, and then Brad lifted them each up to have a full body print. :) Pretty fun stuff! :)

Lorelei did her own face paint and was so proud of herself! (What a great yet simple idea!) She spent quite a bit of time in the Lunar Landing blasting off into space. She also pretended to fly a plane and made quite a great impression in pin art as well. :) Love that smile.

It was such a great way to spend time as a family and I'm so thankful we were able to enjoy it together.

Valentine's Week

We started off Valentine's week with Chocolate Day on Monday. National Chocolate Day is in July, I think, but it seemed like something perfect to add to brighten our winter and went along with Valentine's week, so we are making this our chocolate day. :)

We enjoyed chocolate pudding painting, chocolate play dough, and dipping snacks in chocolate.

Play Dough - smelled SO good!

We also read some facts about chocolate. A few you may like to hear...

-It takes 400 cocoa beans to make one pound of chocolate.
-US chocolate manufacturers use about 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make milk chocolate.
-Chocolate comes from a fruit tree; it's made from a seed.
-There are an estimated 1.5 million cocoa farms in West Africa (which is where 70% of cocoa is from) and  the average size of these cocoa farms is 7-10 acres.
-Each cocao tree produces approximately 2,500 beans.
-German chocolate cake was named for Sam German, who developed a sweet bar for Baker's Chocolate --  and was not from Germany.
-The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human body temp, which is why it literally melts in your  mouth.


Valentines Fun the rest of the week...

We made crowns and endless amounts of heart cut-out projects. So. Much. Glitter. We had lots of fun learning about symmetry with hearts too and it was an extra-special way to paint them! :)

I found some great vday games, many which used the Sweetheart candies. Which, I think taste awful, but they sure are cute.

The kids have been elated to get mail and packages! :)  (Thank you Amanda, Grandma and Nana!)

We were excited to get some snow and warm enough temps to enjoy it for a day! :)

On Valentine's Day we enjoyed a day "off" so the kids and I had a slow going morning and ran some small errands. As usual its all about an excuse for yummy food for us. :)

One of the few mornings a year they can have a piece of candy before breakfast. :)

We made our "Red Lobster" meal of shrimp scampi, (kids had fish sticks) and the biscuits tasted so much like the real thing! It was a great treat. We finished it off with dipping strawberries, pretzels and graham crackers in melted chocolate. We are so blessed.