Mommin' It Up!

July 26, 2011July 27, 2011

A Day at the Museum

Yesterday the kids and I ventured out to our local children’s museum, the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, to check out their new Mindbender Mansion exhibit. We LOVE the Boonshoft and go several times a year, but it’s always more fun with friends! So I “twisted” Cortney’s arm and she and her boys joined us as well. We had an awesome time! First, we hit all our regular exhibits, like the zoo and the Cassano’s Pizza making-station and the pretend Animal Hospital, then we ventured to the main exhibit hall to see Mindbender Mansion.

Mindbender Mansion is full of brain teasers and interactive challenges. I gotta admit, some of the brain teasers were even hard for myself and math teacher Cortney, so it is fun for the whole family! There are also several group activities that are really fun, like this fast-paced shape sorting – putting food shapes on “cafeteria trays” on a conveyor belt! The kids LOVED this one.

sorting shapes on a moving conveyor belt

We spent almost an hour in just Mindbender Mansion itself. Everything was SO hands-on and easy to manipulate, the little kids even had fun playing the activities that were age-appropriate as well as the ones that were over their heads, and all the kids had a lot of fun working on things together.

joshuaevan — Joshua and Evan working together

We easily could’ve spent at least another hour in just the Mindbender Mansion exhibit, if I hadn’t had the baby with me. We might have to go back and check it out again before it moves on. The four kids and two moms in our group had a blast using our bodies and brains and working together!

carter — Carter, our littlest Mindbender

Mindbender Mansion will be at the Boonshoft through August 28th. If you haven’t experienced it yet, go for it! We had a blast and learned a few things too!

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This post was sponsored by the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. The opinions expressed therein are all me, baby!

July 25, 2011July 24, 2011

VB-YES!

Last month, I sent Joshua and Sophie to Vacation Bible School at our church. VBS at my church when I was a child was pretty much the AWESOMEST week of the whole summer, so I was psyched for them to go. And, they L-O-V-E-D it. It was in the evenings, and even though they got home past bedtime, it was ok with me because they actually slept in for once in their lives! They learned songs about Jesus, did crafts, made friends, and had an amazing time. In the mornings at home, they’d sing me a duet of the songs they learned. And Bobby and I, we got a few semi-quiet evenings at home with just the baby. WIN!

Since VBS was just the 2nd week of summer, I’ve been longing for it. It was over far too soon.

So I decided to become a VBS ho and send my kids to another VBS. At my brother’s church. After all my sister-in-law is in charge of the preschool program so I know they’ll be in good hands. Tee-hee. I guess I’m not really a VBS ho *yet*, I mean I think two VBS’ is marginal, but three would be down-right skanky. So I am just marginally skanky right now. In terms of sending my kids to multiple church programs.

Hmm. That last paragraph is all kinds of messed up.

Once again, my little VBSers are LOVING it! And I am loving dropping them off every evening and running off for a couple hours of semi-freedom.

So…any of you locals have a good VBS coming up in August? Maybe in the daytime? 🙂

July 22, 2011

Our Baby of Perpetual Anger

Jonah baby turned seven months this week. Seven months! How has this happened? I still feel like time should be passing half as quickly as it does. But alas, he’s growing up. And it’s kind of ticking him off!

You see, although my other kids waited until the ripe old age of eight months or so to crawl, Jonah wants to crawl NOW. (Like how I put my Pilates mats on our hardwood floor to aid him in his ambitions? Also, please note crap under coffee table!) And he is so close. Every day I think, “It will be today.” He can move around a lot and he’s getting pretty fast, but he can’t quite crawl and do it exactly how he wants to yet. And it’s making him MAD and cranky and generally discontent. He also doesn’t like it when I get in his face and take away whatever thing he’s reached that he shouldn’t have that his negligent siblings have left on the floor…oh, the baby proofing is giving me a serious headache!

Jonah-Jo is no longer content to be contained in his swing or exersaucer, he wants to be on the floor trying to get his crawl on at all times. But since that often involves him fussing through the process, I’m ready for this milestone to be checked off the list! Even if it does mean me scrambling after him more and more, I’m ok with it, if it means him fussing less and less.

I’d also be ok with hiring a nanny to supervise this milestone, but …I guess I’m just gonna hafta power through it.

And also, we’re starting Ferber again tonight so that this kid might actually SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! His sleeping has taken a real dive since this mobility thing started, and Bleary-Eyed Mommy is much less tolerant of Angry Baby than Well-Rested Mommy is.

Wow, that just gave me a great idea for a brand of dolls.

So, what milestones made your baby the most frustrated? (Not to mention you!)