2/25/11: School Vacation Week = Fun and Sleepovers

School vacation week, a time for fun for kids and tired parents. We have been keeping busy during the vacation with our trip to the Shriner's for the petting Zoo, Disney on Ice, two trips to Chuck E Cheese, a trip to the Discovery Children's Museum in Acton and a failed attempt at a trip in to the Museum of Science in Boston. We tried to venture there today, but there was a ton of rain, the garage was full, and the place looked packed. A bad combination. Most of our activities were still on also so we had those this week too.

The kids had their first sleepover. Lauren slept in Evan's room. It was so adorable to hear them talking. I almost wished I had put a video camera in there to record it.

Here we were at the Discovery Museum in Acton. We have been there many times, note the difference in these photos from a visit in 2008. In this one Lauren is behind a bubble.
And playing in the water area.

We then went to Friendly's for some food. Ok, can I ask but is it not true that every Friendly's has terrible service??? I have never been to one and gotten out of there in less than an hour.

2/20/11: Shriner's Petting Zoo and Indoor Rides

We went to the Shriner's Auditorium again for the Petting Zoo and Rides. We had done this last year too. As I complained last year the value was not great but the kids did like it. Luckily I had coupons for the kids to get in free and when we walked in someone was leaving and gave me 12 tickets they weren't going to use. The lines were long for animal rides such as pony rides, camel rides and elephant rides and it was $8 to get a picture sitting on a pony which Lauren wanted to do, but luckily I reminder her she has taken a lot of pony rides and this was just sitting on one not even taking a ride.

Then there were rides. Here is Lauren having fun.
And the kids on the cars. Of course they picked the Fire Truck and Evan rang the bell the whole time.

Evan feeding the animals.

And the one horned Cow.

And Llamas.

2/19/11: PTC Sponsors FIRST FTC Competition

My company PTC is sponsoring the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge so I was able to participate in the last event at North Andover High School. This is a competition for High School students to build a robot and compete with it in the ring and in many other categories which I as a judge interviewed and judged them on. These included Innovation of Design, Design aspects, Motivation, Connection with the community, Think - for their Engineering Notebook, and Inspire as a combination award of who placed highly and did well in matches. Here is one robot with a PTC logo on it. Vision for FIRST: "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders." - Dean Kamen, Founder It was so nice to see so many young people interested in science and engineering. It is great we have something like this for young people. Many of the groups we spoke to were very inspiring and were very impressive individuals. I know it must have been intimidating to have a panel of 3 judges asking them questions, but the enthusiasm for their robots showed through. And for me it was nice seeing some young ladies involved also. Being one of 3 women in my Aerospace Engineering classes I knew what it was like being in the minority in an Engineering field. Another PTC Logo.
HAX a very cool robot.
My husband and kids came to watch. Who knows maybe Evan will get involved in the Junion FIRST LEGO League. What fun, hopefully I will get to participate again.

2/18/11: Toy Story 3 on Ice Fun

We had a great time at Disney on Ice as we always do. Toy Story 3 was a big hit with the kids so they were really looking forward to this show. Lauren was so excited to get dressed up like Jessie and Evan as Woody. They looked adorable and Lauren was dancing happily during the show. I especially liked the Barbie and Ken section of the show and when Buzz spoke Spanish. It was really funny, I heard many adults laughing hysterically.

There is still time to go to the show and enjoy the fun. You can still use my code of MOMTOY to get discounted tickets as I posted earlier.
What a fun show for everyone, especially with school vacation. I highly recommend taking the family.
Lauren hugging Jessie during the show. She didn't let go of her the whole show. It was adorable.

Evan intently watching. Evan had Buzz with him.

Here is a slideshow of the show.

2/9/11: Slacker Mom or Burnt Out?

Lauren had her Valentine's Day party at daycare today and it exposed something about me which gave both me and my daycare provider a laugh given the former Gilda. The day has come that I was the slacker Mom of the group. Lauren came home with her bag of loot from the party receiving books/candy/cards/goodies from all the kids, and what had I sent? A simple Princess Valentine with a glitter sticker. But am I the slacker? It could be viewed that way, but instead I think I have gotten a little burnt out. There are so many parties and things going on. Evan has a party at school, Lauren has a party at school and at daycare. I was just happy to get the kids to write out that many Valentine's. Between all the kids at school, daycare, and friends there were so many. I do remember in the past us making cute little heart pins for everyone at daycare. But, that was when I just had the kids at daycare to give to.

Note that I am the one that has volunteered for every party at preschool over the last 3 years, and goes crazy planning birthday parties. I always ensure there is a theme with matching music, cake, handmade candy, decorations and well thought out crafts/favors. I made personalized CDs the last two years for Lauren's birthday and last year made my most challenging cake.

And even made two cakes for Evan's birthday and cupcakes for the party and for the fire fighters.

And one year took hours to make this invitation with Evan's face.

I went as far as to have toilet paper with paw prints on it for Evan's 1st birthday with a Blue's Clues theme. I make sure to do crafts for every holiday, scrapbook for both kids, and blog about them.

I continue to stay involved now by being part of Evan's kindergarten parent teacher association. I volunteered at the Holiday Fair, designed the buttons, and now got signed up to be the coordinator for the Art Fair.

This is a lovely flashback picture of the kid's first Valentine's day together.

Luckily this morning as I lay in bed I remembered it was the Valentine's party today and made sure to switch out the all brown outfit with a red dress. Wow the embarrassment if I forgot to put an appropriate red outfit on her too. (Note again I am the one that makes sure the kids have outfits to match every thing we go to - Zoo they wear animal clothes, Disney obviously character clothes, etc). It gives me a laugh that I am maybe relaxing my expectations of myself and don't have to do it all. I have been known as an Activity Mom, but a slacker, I think not. I guess we are all entitled to have an off day.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. :-)

2/3/11: Lauren's 1st Baton Lesson

Lauren had her first Baton lesson today. Mommy twirled as a kid all the way up through High School and was really involved in it competing in State, Regional and World Championships. The kids saw the Batons in storage and thought it would fun to try out. It was hard to find some places that taught but we found one. And she is twirling with another ex-twirler's daughter that Mommy twirled with. Here she is ready to go.

Learning to roll it down her back.
Learning to twirl.
Up above the head.
She is starting to get the hang of it.
Going around in a circle.
This is fun!
Being silly.
Rolling it in to her arms.

Here is some videos:

Doing horizontals:

Their Routine: