Today we loaded the kids up after Noah was off to school and I was back from the gym and headed to the Amelia Park Children’s Museum. ( FYI they need more signs telling you exactly where it is!). This is their new location and they have a lot more exhibits they are trying to get sponsored…but overall it was a great fun few hours!!

Declan was the oldest kid in the place by far, but that didn’t really matter since he was VERY happy to play in the kid powered area.. air guns with soft balls, a ball vacuum and a huge  sphere that dumped them all on ya after it gets full..what more can an almost 7 year old want?

The guns:

Ziah..on the floor is one of the vacums!

Taejan made some friends.. he loved it that the place was filled with kids HIS size..lol

Declan, Ziah and Eric getting a load of soft balls dumped on them.. it was great!

Taejan loved the space shuttle in that area:

It’s so nice and open, very easy to see all the kids and what they are doing!

I wish we had one of these closer to us, but even with this being an hour away I think we will be buying a membership in the spring..the kids ( and Eric) just loved it!

The other day we decided to head down to Yankee Candle’s Flagship store. We try togo every year and I like to go before it gets crowded with holiday shopper’s! Noah was at school so as soon as the kids were ready we took off!

The kids dipped candles to use for Christmas gifts:

The kids saw, but would not talk to Santa of course. It was a fun and productive day!

Then Saturday Noah was off with his Youth Group on an Extreme Adventure. So we piled in the van again and headed to the Holyoke Children’s Museum. We had a blast!

(note to parents.. make certain newly potty trained kids go potty BEFORE they play in the water..LOL..hence Taejan change of clothing soon):

Taejan says “I drummer man”

Now he’s the climber man!

Near the Children’s Museum is a great Carousel! It used to be located at Mountain Park. I went there as a child..as did Eric. We took the kids over for a ride ( 6 tickets for $5!!) and some popcorn!

Can’t wait to go back!

Hope everyone is having a fine Monday! Thus far we certainly are…it’s library day so Eric took all 3 wee ones there, to the Post office, the park and walmart.. and mommy got some much needed stuff done!

Since Noah is now back in public school I’ve been shifting the Academy around to reflect the fact we have all wee ones learning here now..fist step was creating these little caddy’s for the kids:

There is one for each with a variety of items depending on their age and likes. These are for them to use pretty much whenever they want and especailly to keep them happy while they may be done with their current lesson but I may be working with another kiddo. I plan to rotate out the items in here as needed and I also have a small envelope on the side where the kids can store the reward coupons they have received until they are ready to redeem them!

Here’s Taejan’s(3 years old): He has tractor dominoes, sticks for building, craft sticks, playdough, a small 6 compartment tray, a bagged craft and a pack of tattoo’s.

Ziah’s ( almost 5): she has 2 learning games,sequencing cards,crafts sticks, a bag of buttons,playdough,a small 6 compartment tray, a bagged craft and a pack of tattoo’s.

Declan’s(6.5): He has 2 learning games, a wood model to build and paint, craft sticks, tanagram’s, Modeling clay, a pad of his favorite dot game,a small 6 compartment tray, a bagged craft and a pack of tattoo’s.

Besides getting things rearranged ( yet again) we’ve been happily busy with life, We decorated pumpkins at Owen and Lila’s, and the kids got to see the lambs and hang out with the tractors, no good pictures as i didn’t bring my camera but I have one from my cell phone:

We also had Book Club.. the kids read “The Littles” and they had to build a bridge.. this is from Think!

Declan and Corey did an amazing job working together.. they got well $1.74 I believe on their bridge!

Ziah and Bella worked together and I believe they got $.94!

We had Apple day and of course Karate, dance, acrobatics,Nutcracker, dance pictures, normal pictures and life in general..oh and I am getting up VERY early and loving the gym..just wait a few weeks and I should be really looking and feeling better!!

Today was “Apple Day” at our friend Amy’s house. We missed it last year so we were glad we got to go this year.. an added perk is the weather was just amazing for mid October!

Amy has a great backyard complete with a hiking trail and mountain stream.. the kids love it there!

Amy has a cider press so we got to bring apples and make cider..of course only Taejan had any interest..the other 2 were too busy playing with their friends ( they are so anti-social and shy..lol)

There were lots of Apple activities and snacks too..the kids loved it!

The kids also got an upclose and personal look at a duck( can’t remember what kind it is)..Cal(Amy’s oldest) and his Dad went hunting ( Cal tagged along I should say) and they came home with this!

Thanks again Amy for the great morning! Oh I also found out that the dad of 2 of the kids ( mom is Megan) is Noah’s History Teacher..how cool is that?