Basketball

Stirling recently started playing basketball with the parks and rec department here in town.  The "Tiny Tots" age group is 3 to 5 and these kids are pretty funny.  They have so little coordination!  There are basketballs rolling all over the elementary school gym and kids running into each other.  The kids are learning how to dribble, shoot, pass, and just plain hang on to a ball without dropping it!  They also play "Red Light Green Light" and "Freeze Tag."  Stirling has a lot of fun playing with Coach Sean and the other kids.

Our Latest Sensory Play

I made an ocean sensory tub with a beach made of oats and water made of hair gel.  We put in some little plastic sea creatures.  It didn't look cute for long.  It turned into a big mushy blob of glop that Stirling decided to put his feet into and required an extrordinary amount of cleanup

Purse Project

So I got a couple of gorgeous new handbags for Christmas this year.  They are both on the larger side as I transition away from diaper bags, so that I can still fit things in that the boys need.  But while having a larger purse is nice so you can fit all those items like wet wipes, a spare diaper, snacks and a matchbox car along with all my items, it does tend to get a little disorganized (ok, a LOT disorganized!).  So after looking around in the blogosphere and on Pinterest, I came up with an organizational system that I think is working fantastically- meaning, I can now find what is in my bag!  Here is my project!

Step 1: Dump entire contents of purse on floor in order to discover how much crap is really in there!

Step 2: Throw away most of aforementioned crap and decide what items are essential.

 Step 3: Find a small box and measure how tall it will need to be to fit in the purse.  Cut and tape box to fit inside.

Step 4: Cover box with super fantastic patterned duct tape.  I used zebra, and when I ran out of that used cheetah- you know, 'cause it's a jungle in there!  Then cut some small squares of cardboard to tape in box to act as dividers, using items you kept as a guide.  Cover those with super cool tape as well!

 Step 5: Admire your work!

 Step 6: Fill 'er up!  I have compartments for wallet, checkbook/coupon file, wipes/tissues/snack, sunglasses, keys/lotion.  

Step 7: Insert box into handbag and admire your amazing skills at organization!

Voila!  An excellently designed system in a lovely purse!

And P.S. I have been using this now for several weeks and it works great!  You could probably get really fancy and use fabric too, but I am loving the overall effect!

Elk!

In January we got up early, bundled the kids, though not well enough, and drove a few short miles to watch a  local herd of elk being fed by the DNR.  When we got there, we saw what looked like a few dozen elk eating the hay that a truck was spreading.  However, as we trudged up the hill for a better view, we realized that there were several dozen, and more kept joining them from the other hills.  I couldn't believe how many elk were arriving down the trails and jumping into the canyon to be fed.  It being only about 7 degrees outside, we didn't stay long since our poor little guys were not happy.  Next time we'll do full snow suits and bring a thermos of hot cocoa as well! 

Winter Play

Snowmobiling

We all did a little snowmobiling this winter.  Logan even took a turn around the house once.  He wasn't terrified, but wasn't excited about it either.  Stirling did some riding with us and we also hooked up a sled behind one of the machines to pull each other around.