Saturday Adventures: The Children's Museum

Chris and I have lived in South Dakota for almost 5 years and we realized that we just about never leave Sioux Falls.  Ever.  We have no reason to.  Everything we need is here and, well ... there's not much elsewhere.  But there is a children's museum in Brookings that I've heard is fantastic.  And we've never been.  So on Saturday, we packed a lunch, grabbed the boys and made the hour drive north to Brookings.

(And in case you're wondering, South Dakota is a terribly boring state to drive in/through.  Even if it's just an hour.  Good thing I had good company!)

First up was the farm & grocery area.  It was amazingly interactive!  Carter was a bit stunned by everything at first, but eventually warmed up to "playing".

Brooks did a good job shopping.  With the exception of Teddy Grahams and margarine (which I made him put back), he picked out all real, whole foods.

There was this wonderfully tall climbing thing (descriptive, huh?) that had petal-like platforms and netting around.  Wish I had taken a picture of the whole thing - it reached all the way up to the 30' ceiling!  Brooks was quite intimidated by it and didn't want to go in.  But after some convincing (and me agreeing to go with him) we made the climb to the top!  I was super proud of my normally-cautious child.

Carter and Daddy climbed up a little ways, but soon left as there were several "big" kids running over Mr. C.

The water room was, as expected, a BIG hit!  In fact, after we made our way through all the rooms, we stopped one more time to play in the water!

And there was lots of music opportunities.  Brooks has taken a huge interest in music lately, so it was fun for him to play and explore the different instruments.

A whole music room!  With the SDSU marching band music playing!

Every Saturday, they have crafts available for the kids to make.  Brooks was designing a quilt square. 

In the little cafe, they serve SDSU ice cream.  And so to end our day out, we enjoyed a special ice cream treat!  It was delicious! 

Carter clearly liked it!! :) 

Yep, we wore them out! 

Normally we enjoy our Saturdays at home, just being lazy.  But I'm really glad we ventured out.  We'll definitely be going back to the Children's Museum - it just wish it wasn't an hour away!

Just like Daddy ... uh, sort of.

This evening Brooks went to the bathroom and like usual, spent a ridiculous amount of time in the bathroom. That boy can procrastinate like no one else - even when it's just washing his hands.  After about 30 minutes (no joke!) I went to check on him, fully expecting to see him naked on the floor playing with bath toys.  (Trust me, this happens often.)  Instead I found this......

And I'm gonna be honest.  In that matter of about a minute, I went through a range of emotions, starting with Anger.  What did you do??  You were supposed to be washing your hands!  Then it turned to Annoyance.  Do you know how wasteful that is?  Then it was slightly amusing. I should get the camera!

That was all when I thought it was soap.

It was not.

That, my friends, is hair product.  Lots and lots of hair product.  From what we gathered (and from what he told us) after washing his hands he found Chris' hair product in the cabinet and decided to "style" his hair.  He wanted to be just like daddy!

And again, I was amused.  Aw, that's sweet.  He wants to be just like his Daddy.  Then I came back to annoyance.  Seriously, you were supposed to be washing your hands.  And do you know how wasteful that is??  And then Chris finished up the emotional stages by being upset.  (My Scandinavian husband is rarely angry, so we're just gonna go with upset)  You see, he was the one given the task of removing all that hair product.

To put this in perspective, when Chris does his hair in the morning, he puts a small amount of this gel in between his fingers and works it through his whole head of hair.  Brooks took several handfuls and smeared it in one spot.  I'm assuming this is a petroleum based product, because even when Chris washes his hair, it takes several days for it to come completely out.  So yeah, this was going to be fun to remove.

First, Chris took a paper towel and wiped off as much as he could with that.  Then he put Brooks in the shower and washed his hair ....... FOUR times!  Then he tried combing out the rest.  And even after all that, there is still so.much.left in his hair.  And it is SO greasy and nasty!

Chris attempted to "style" it.

What you're seeing here is completely towel dried hair.  It's not wet, it's greasy!   Blech!!

Oh, and what does Brooks think of all this?  He looked at his new 'do in the mirror and said "Whoah!  I look COOL!!"  

Fantastic.  At least someone is excited about this.

We did explain to him about 42 times and in 17 different ways that he is NOT allowed to put Daddy's gel in his hair by himself.  If he wants to style his hair, he NEEDS to ask Daddy for help.

So, we will wash it again the in the morning in hopes of getting more out before church tomorrow.  (Ahhh, church!)  But as annoyed as I am about it, I guess I'm just thankful he didn't find the hair clippers and attempt to give himself a hair cut.

Mr. Personality

I'm gonna go ahead and say it ... I love toddlers.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  Babies are fun and all since they're so little and cute.  But I love when my kids hit this toddler age.  They communicate more, their personalities come out, they (generally) sleep more.  Yes, there are challenging times, but overall I prefer this much more than the baby stage.

Being that he's 16 months old now, Carter is officially a toddler.  And he's so.much.fun!  Here's what he's been up to.

Yes, that is my 16 month old fully handling a remote control car.  He is always trying to keep up with Brooks - and he's usually successful! 

Blueberry pancakes.  Nuff said.

Oh, and Carter has decided that he likes using a fork to eat now.  One night during dinner he was squawking and squealing and I couldn't figure out why.  He kept pointing to my plate like he wanted my food, but he had all the same food on his tray.  Then I realized he was pointing to my fork and wanted that.  So I gave him a fork.  He picked it up, scooped up his food and put it in his mouth.  Um, that's amazing.  I didn't have to teach him at all how to use it.  He just .... knew.  Smarty pants. 

While cleaning up the toys one night, Carter picked up a ball in one hand, picked up a second and stuck it in the crook of his arm, then grabbed a third with his free hand and carried them to the ball basket.  Not sure if all kids his age can do that, but I was impressed.

This kid LOVES his blanket, or "beh beh" as he calls it.  Loves loves loves his blanket!  At bedtime, he'll grab his blanket, rub his face in it and giggle.  He's loves that thing so much it makes him giddy!  But he's also laid back enough that he doesn't demand just that blanket.  He'll settle for a blanket from the couch, the tie blanket in the car or even a towel.  He just needs something to hold and snuggle.

Carter is not much of a hat guy, so I was kind of shocked to see him voluntarily wearing his fireman hat around the house. 

Oh, that face.  Cracks me up! 

Wednesday was his day to mop the floor.  "Hey Carter, you missed a spot!" 

Again with the hats.  He found Brooks' hat and put it on all by himself. 

Oh, and that stool he's kneeling on.  Yeah.  He's figured out how to push objects around the house so he can climb on them to reach things.  At 16 months, Brooks couldn't even walk.  This one keeps me on my toes.

Peek-a-boo!

Knob

This ......

 ..... is a door knob.  (Thank you Captain Obvious!)  To be more specific, it's the doorknob to our downstairs bathroom door.  And.I.HATE.it.  With all of my heart, I hate that door knob!

Now, before I continue, let me say that I normally don't "hate" things.  My mom said "hate" wasn't a nice word, and she's right.  And I generally try not to complain about our old, falling apart house.  Because if I mentioned everything on my "If this was my house, I would do _________" list, I would be complaining for a really long time.  It's not our house, we're not going to invest a lot of money in it and I'm learning to be content.

Anyway, with all that said ... I still really HATE that door knob!  Here's why.  It sticks.  And it doesn't turn properly.  When going into the bathroom, the door will only open if you turn the knob to the left.  It squeaks, it whines ... and don't even get me started on how ugly it is.

 I have a hard time opening the door which means Brooks can't open it at all.  And that makes it worse.  During the day we leave the door shut to keep a certain 16 month old out and keep him from unrolling the toilet paper, playing in the garbage, chewing on the toilet bowl brush ... ya know, stuff like that.  So every time Brooks needs to use the bathroom, he stands there knocking on the door until someone lets him in.  And then knocks on it until someone lets him out when he's done.  Then he'll come out, shut the door and ask me to button his pants.  Then he'll ask me to open the door so he can wash his hands.  He'll go in the bathroom, shut the door and wash his hands.  Then when he's done he .... you guessed it, needs to be let out of the bathroom again.

Argghhhhh!!  I HATE THAT DOOR KNOB!  And although I've patiently put up with it for the last year and a half, I lost all my patience on Sunday night.  "Chris!!  We NEED a new door knob!"  He knew it needed to be replaced ... we just didn't want to spend the money to do it.  But because my sanity is worth more than $20, he and Brooks took a trip to Home Depot that night and bought a new door knob.  And because he's amazing, he replaced that crappy old door knob with a new one that actually works.

(sigh)  I never knew a piece of hardware could make me so happy!  It turns to the left AND to the right.  I can open the door without fighting with the knob.  And now .... Brooks can open the door too.  When he used it for the first time he cheered, "Wow! I can open the door!"  Kid loves the new knob too!  And I'm not gonna lie ... I still get kinda giddy when I open the door.  It's just wonderful.

The Little Things

You know, I shouldn't really be surprised that God cares so much about the little things, but yet when He shows himself faithful and answers my (sometimes whiney) prayers, I'm still amazed.  A big concern for our family (as I'm sure it is with many families) is money.  We live on one income in a tough economy with rising taxes.  Our budget is juuuuust a little bit tight.  And I often find myself worrying about money.  Will there be enough?  How can we make more?  You know, all the usual "I'm depending on myself instead of God" stuff.  But three events have occurred over just the past few days to confirm that my worries are, of course, in vain and that God still sees me.

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1.  I need new clothes.  Now,  don't use the word "need" all to often (since most things are wants) but I really do NEED new clothes.  With our limited budget, money gets spent on other things, like ... you know ... groceries, instead of new clothing for me.  So my wardrobe has dwindled to only a few shirts that actually fit and have no visible stains on them.  So that's what I asked for for Christmas.  And Chris came through.  In fact, tomorrow we're going on a clothes shopping date.

But that isn't the God part.  Ok, well, maybe my husband offering to take me clothes shopping is kind of a miracle, but it gets better.  I wanted to shop at this particular consignment shop in town that has nice clothes for a good price.  (remember?  budget?)  And then, while checking my e-mail the other day I see that our local Groupon is offering a 50% deal to that exact store!  Seriously?  I know it may not seem like much, but every little bit helps with saving money.  So I bought one, of course, and I'm excited to go shopping tomorrow.

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2.  Chris was wanting a coffee warmer for work.  This definitely was a want.  But he sips his first few cups of coffee in the morning, and then chugs the rest of his lukewarm coffee before it gets cold.  He really just wanted something to keep it warm longer.  So we checked online and found that Bed, Bath and Beyond had one for $10.  "Go buy it" I told him.  It's not that much, we actually have a gift card to use there and I know he would really use it at work.

So he stopped in on his lunch break yesterday and told the store clerk what he was looking for.  She says "Well, we do have that one.  But we also have these other coffee warmers over here that are on Christmas clearance for 50% off".  And they were only $5 to begin with!  He went in planning to spend $10 and ending up buying just what he needed for $2.50!

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3.  Last night I had a "Mom's night out" with my friend Katie, something we do from time to time.  We usually head on over to Grille 26, grab a cup of coffee and dessert and enjoy some sweet "kid free" time.  Their desserts are a little pricey, but the $10 is totally worth it for the yummy cheesecake and good conversation.  However, last night we noticed that they have a "Happy Hour" special ... coffee and dessert for $5 after 9pm.  (We've been to this restaurant several times and have never noticed this!)  But it was only 8:30pm.  Hmmmm.  We asked our waitress if she would mind if we waited half an hour to order and she was more than happy to oblige!  So we had our dessert for half price.  Sweet!

Now, it might not seem like saving $5 is a big deal and in all reality, it's not.  But it's not the amount that matters.  Saving 50% off clothes or 75% off a coffee warmer is really God's way of reminding me that he truly does care.  We don't need to worry about money because He has it all under control.  (sigh)  So I'm learning to trust Him.  $5 at a time.

Resolutions Shmesolutions

So I'm not really one for making New Year's resolutions.  I don't keep them.  The perfectionist in me knows that I won't complete them 100% and perfectly, so I won't try at all.  (Note to self: resolve to be less of a perfectionist)

But that's not to say I don't think about things I'd want to do differently in the new year.  I think setting goals is good, I just don't want to commit to them (see above).

Anyway, one thought I had was to post a new picture every day on the blog for ..... get this ..... a whole year!  (sigh)  That's makes me tired and I can already smell the failure.  So perhaps I'll shoot for something more attainable.

I find myself quite often writing blog posts in my head.  And believe me, they're quite good. But I rarely write them down.  To me, a post must be detailed, contain a current event, be free from grammatical error and be somewhat entertaining to read.  (have I mentioned that I'm a perfectionist??)  I don't have time for all that, and therefore don't post as often as I would like to.

So here's my goal.  To post more.  (Vague enough for you?)  Really, I just want to capture more "snapshots" of our everyday life around here.  I think our day to day stuff is pretty mundane, but I don't want to look back and not remember any of it.  I will work more to post just a picture or two.  A short story or a funny Brooks saying.  Each post may not be long or even entertaining, but it's our life.  Take it for what it is.

And to kick it off .........

A series of pictures I call

"We have new Christmas toys??"