our favorite things

Sure, flying airplanes and dreaming about Africa is exciting, and it does take up alot of our time. But so do alot of other things. As crazy as they make me, I love being a mom and seeing my children get so much joy out of simple things. I am not especially talented or creative (no sewing machine, unfortunately), but give me some macaroni noodles and glue, and we can have fun.  

we like (make that love) to eat. especially carrot cake. 

we play so hard we fall asleep at the table. (actually, only charlie does that.)

we love to play dress-up!

we love to go to the panaderia on saturday morning and pick out a breakfast treat. 

we love giving hugs! especially caroline. she's a hugger. except sometimes its more of a surprise choke hold. if anybody is sitting down, she'll come up behind you and give you a giant hug around the neck. and if you're on the floor, theres a good chance she'll sit right on top of you. 

occasionally we do school ;-). no, we do school every day. it just doesnt always go quite as calmly as this picture implies. our best time is during caroline's nap, because she can be quite distracting. I have much respect for homeschooling families with lots of kids, because i really cant get anything done with caroline around. i am so glad we will be out of the baby/toddler stage by the time we get around to serious school.

we like to be silly with daddy.

we like to play outside. (although we are ready to play outside without snowpants. as i write this, we're well our way to reaching the predicted 6-8 inches of snow)

we love to color. if the kids have a favorite activity, its probably coloring. 

play music

play pretend

do crafts. (when mommy has the time to prepare/clean up from a craft!) This was a rainy Saturday morning (which is why they're still in their pyjamas!). We painted and decorated Easter eggs. 

Nana brought a fun craft, cute little birdhouses to paint and hang up. alas, then she got sick and couldnt participate. but we loved the birdhouses :-)

we got a box from Kiwi Crate (www.kiwicrate.com), a really neat company that sends themed craft boxes. you can get a subscription, and every box you will get a new box. they're really inventive and good quality, and we enjoyed our box. it was spy themed, so the kids made masks, periscopes, and wrote secret messages in invisible ink. 

we really enjoy friday family movie night. The kids and I make a fun simple snack, like these necklaces. They strung them up themselves, with cheerios, pretzels, and cookies, then munched on them during the movie. 

Last week we made jello jigglers. Not a big jello fan myself, but they had fun cutting out the shapes themselves. We also made dirt cups, with gummy worms, that one was fun.

Hannah is learning to tell time, so tomorrow we are making a dessert pizza clock.