Today is my Rainbow!

Toast is boring

 and we like to paint.....

(don't worry, it is food coloring and milk)

Why Ginnie, you are being so good!  

You wouldn't be trying to distract me from anything, would you?

And there she is, sneaking!

Ew.

Does this happen to anyone else?  The screw just comes loose.... a lot.  We go to open the door and the handle and top cover pop off.  :/  It is a quick fix and I thought I had time to fix it before I took the toast out.

It took a little longer than I thought.....  Oops.

We salvaged some pieces and rounded it off with some more natural food, ha ha.

This rainbow day is the beginning of many more color days.  Yesterday was an impromtu green day with mint chocolate chip ice cream (a treat after 3 doctor appts), a strawberry/spinach green smoothie, and green jello.  The kids just assumed we were having color days from now on.  So today we are doing a rainbow day (reviewing the colors, primary, secondary and even tertiary).  

This also buys me some time to think of other color day ideas!  

Feel free to post any suggestions!!

Rainbow Pancakes!

Notice anything..... unusual?

How about now?

WHAT?!? That is just CRrrrrAZY!

I think you know what happened......

I will do anything to be the favorite.

It is true.  

I added Fruit Loops to the pancake mix.  

But She did it first!

It really doesn't matter who came up with the idea,

because my kids think I'm magical!

HA!

Slave Labor, errr...... Little Helpers!

Summer Days

Thank you Target 75% off toy sale!  See the Buzz Lightyear rocket shooting up!  HOURS of fun!

We found a kiddie pool that I could empty easily if I couldn't be outside with the kids.  Our bigger one stays up all summer and scares me with Ginnie.  The hard plastic ones are too heavy for me to flip.  The small blow up ones are a pain to store.  I just ask the kids to step on the sides and it is emptied!

Sweet Boy!

They love my watered down, cheap, Popsicles.

And Ginnie's favorite- Fish with Bubbles! (those are yogurt covered raisins)

Little Hands, Big Help

It is not easy doing every day chores with one hand. (I just can't put down this baby!  It is half her wanting and half my wanting.)  I have always had the kids help with chores before, but it is hit and miss if they have the right attitude.  We talk about the Biblical reasons why we should be happy to help, the "family works together" reasons, and even health reasons (we don't want a messy house full of germs and bugs!).  But they are young, and I know that I can't expect them to be happy about cleaning all the time.  I rarely am! 

So, to make things a little easier, I have started making the chore list with them.  We decide together what we want/need to do and write it on the board.  I love this idea, but I needed something immediate. 

After we list the chores (even babysitting Ginnie while the others clean is a note worthy chore because she is a tornado!) the kids get to take turns crossing them off.  I had no idea how much they would love that! 

After our chores were done, I walked into the dining room to find this little note.  Made me giggle.

Little Mommies

We needed to give Maggie a bottle to make sure she would take one for a babysitter.  

Livia wanted to do the honors.  

I didn't think to ask Ginnie.

But Ginnie knows how to get what she wants.

Looks innocent enough, but she was scooting Liv out of the chair.  

Liv was gracious enough to share.

And Maggie was gracious enough to survive.

Livie Lou is SIX!

Yes, the day after Ginnie's b-day we did it all again!  Troy took off work and we had the whole day planned.  First, a surprise breakfast of monkey bread (we didn't have time to pick up eggs yet!) and gifts.

Then, a trip to the (remade- mini version) Enchanted Forest!  I have pics of my Grandparents taking me and my sister there (don't know if my brother was born yet).  Here is the info on the history.

It was WONDERFUL! 

We got there with enough time for the kids to explore a little.

Before Storytime

Then we took our coloring /activity book/ maze guide to find all the hidden characters in the maze.

How cute to stumble upon Hansel and Gretel snacking on the witches house?

We had lots of time to check out all the animals in the huge petting zoo.

There were even pony rides!

Oh, they are adorable!

SHE is adorable!  Ginnie was happy enough to hang out and watch the pony rides.  "No thank you."

We even brought a huge birthday cake!

Just kidding.  But we did cash in on a groupon to Caroline's cupcakes (formerly the Baltimore Cupcake Factory).  We ate a picnic lunch then sang to her again over the cupcakes.

Then we jumped on the hayride to circle the farm and find faces in the trees!

That would be enough, but Liv needed some new shoes.  So we went to the mall with the carousel (White Marsh).  It was still a little early for dinner, so we dropped the big kids off at the kid room at Ikea while Troy and I shopped with the babies.  We got new storage units for the girls room.

Then, the same as last year, we celebrated at Liv's favorite restaurant.  P.F. Chang's.  She loves some egg drop soup!  It was a little hard to put a candle in the soup so we waited until dessert. 

It was a good first day of being Six.