Make your own pizza!

One day at lunch E and I were talking about pizza. He was telling me that he didn't like a certain type of pizza so I asked if he would like to make his own pizza one day for lunch. He was very excited about this and asked about it several times since. So earlier this week we made our own pizza's for lunch. For the most part I think it went well. They both really enjoyed making them and E enjoyed eating his and ate all but two slices (minus the crust). M however did not try a single bite of her pizza. Normally she loves pizza so I found this strange. There are a few things that could have caused this. One was that she wanted to have more cheese. I told her she had to eat some lunch first if she wanted more cheese. She got upset and wouldn't eat at all. Later, she had a fever so I think she wasn't feeling well. That could have also played a big part of her not eating lunch that day. The other thing was, she loaded her pizza with everything and I'm thinking maybe she did it just to do it and not realize that she would be eating it later. I tried picking some stuff off of it but she was already pretty upset by it. Maybe we will try it again and see if she will eat it. If not, I will be prepared with an alternative. Now for the pictures. Enjoy!

First comes the sauce.

Next is cheese and other toppings.

Then it's all done. Here is E's finished pizza.

M putting on a little of everything.

The finished pizzas before going into the oven.

M adding more cheese after it was cooked.

E enjoying his first bite. Sorry for the picture mid-chew, E!

Of course I made one too and it was really good. I think Rob and I should start making them at home instead of buying the frozen ones or ordering from Domino's all the time.

Bugs part 2

We finished our bugs from last week so here are the pictures of them finished. I think they turned out great and are sooo cute!

Kids Town

Kid's Town is in Wheaton on Butterfield rd. It is just East of Danada in the plaza with Fox Bowl. It costs $10 per child and adults are free. It is on the pricey side but you get unlimited time so plan to spend a few hours there to make it worth it. Also, they give you a punch card and the 10th or 11th time is free. If you go, be sure to bring socks for the kids as well as yourself! I almost forgot to bring socks for myself. They do sell them there in case you forget. They do allow you to bring in food for snack or lunch as long as you don't bring in peanut products. This is both good and bad in my opinion. I know that there are many kids who are allergic to peanuts so it is nice that it is peanut free. However, E's favorite thing right now is pb&j. The first time we went, I did not know this and packed him a pb&j for lunch. This time I was not planning on having lunch there so it was okay. They do sell a few different kinds of snacks and maybe drinks. I'm not sure because we usually try to pack our own as much as possible. They also have a room for private parties but you have to book it ahead of time. One more thing before I get to the pictures is that they make it nice for adults as well. They offer free wifi, free coffee, and a lounge area with magazines. I did not use this area because I was busy following the kids around playing with them and of course taking a million pictures. The nice thing about it is that the whole thing is pretty open and not too large so if you do decide to sit and drink coffee and read a magazine, you can still keep an eye on your kids.

Okay, now for the pictures. They are always the best part, but the worst part for me. There has to be a better way of putting pictures on here. Anyway, enjoy!


The kids in the dance club room.
M doing her favorite thing, being a mini mommy.

The room that she was playing in had a doll station for changing and feeding. It also had a table for a tea party and a hair salon chair. But M's favorite part was the strollers and baby dolls!

She also found a shopping cart and had to load it with two of her favorite things, dolls and books.

Here she is reading to her dolls.

E playing with the train set.

In another room, they had a kitchen set and a washer and dryer.

M figured out that the baby's clothes came off. Here she is putting them in the dryer.

Now it is time for the babies to get clean!

The kids try out the different cars. Here is Police Officer E.

And Police Officer M

Fire Fighter M. They had a police station and a fire station complete with the proper dress up clothes, I jail cell, and a fire fighter pole.

Here M is picking out animals at the pet clinic.

The pet clinic included a fish tank that was built into the wall.

Something else I really liked about this place is that they had a climbing structure for the kids to burn some energy on. Here is E coming out of the slide and running to do it again.

Both of them climbing up.

E hiding in the tunnel so I couldn't take more pictures. Found you!

M making her way through the little obstacle course.

There was also a nice area for little ones. They had a jumperoo, a bumbo seat, and a bouncy seat. Here is M trying out the bouncy seat.

M playing in the padded area with baby toys.

There is also an art area but it is nothing to brag about. It has some coloring pages with crayons and markers and also a chalk board with chalk.

Here are the kids playing grocery store. Mostly, they all just wanted the money.

I want to go to Legoland!

Today E went to a friends party at Legoland. The parents got each child a one year pass! So nice! Anyway, I did some research on prices tonight and they have some good deals going on right now if you buy your tickets online. They have a special where you can get a one year pass for only $25! That more than pays for itself in two visits! But remember, that is online only! Also, they have a parent and toddler special (kids under 5) for only $16! That is less than an adult ticket. It is an $18 savings. However, that is only for weekdays and again, only if you purchase it online. Anyway, I thought this information was appropriate. Maybe we will go one of these days and I can post about our trip.

Also, keep a look out for some up coming posts (most likely this weekend). I have pictures of our finished bugs. I will also post about our trip to Kidstown in Wheaton and our "make your own pizza" lunch we did today. Also, maybe a trip to the children's museum on Friday?

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Maryknoll Park

It was a very nice day today, warm and sunny but not too hot! Anyway, I wanted to take the kids somewhere outdoors but I wanted to take them somewhere new. They love going to new parks. If I ask if they want to go to the park they always ask to go to a new park. I really need to spend some time on the park districts site to research new parks so that I have an idea of where to go ahead of time. Anyway, the newspaper happened to be sitting on the counter with a picture of a park in Glen Ellyn. So I looked it up and decided to take the kids there. I wish I had done a little more research on this park first so we would be prepared. It is right next to the splash pad (which was not open yet) so of course there is water. There was a sandbox with water structures in it. It looked like a lot of fun but I didn't bring the sand toys or dry clothes for the kids to change into. So we went home and got the stuff and headed back. There is more than just the sand and water, there is a tree house play structure and swings. There is also another part of the park that we did not visit because they were having too much fun in the water. Actually, that is the only thing they did except for the swings of course. M loves her swings!

Here is the tree house.


Here is the sandbox.
E playing in the water.

M sitting in the mud.

In the swing of course! They only had two baby swings and this really cool big swing. It was a big circle that you could swing on or jump on. It's kind of hard to explain and I wish I would have taken a picture. The kids didn't go on it because they spent most of the time in the water.

E showing off how wet he got!

It was a great little park with restrooms (luckily!) and a covered picnic area. The other part of the park included a 75-foot Berliner Cable Ride, climbing bounders, and net climbers. In case you are interested, the address is 845 Pershing Avenue in Glen Ellyn. It is right across the street from Health Track. Bring sand and water toys, or at least a bucket, and dry clothes. One thing I would have liked to see more of was some shade. There was no shade at all. However, some guys were there talking about where to put something so that the shade would fall in the right spot. So maybe they are getting shade! That will be helpful because the rubber got pretty hot. M wouldn't walk over it with her bare feet. I don't blame her.

Bugs!

This week our theme was bugs. Last weekend I went to the Downers Grove library and got a few books on bugs. The books I got were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider, and An Ants Day Off. We started the theme by reading the books. Then I asked the kids if they wanted to make butterflies. Yes! E asked if we could invite our friend K over to make butterflies too. So K came over and made coffee filter butterflies with us. First, you flatten a coffee filter. Then the kids color it with marker however they want. Then give it a few squirts with a spray bottle and watch the colors all blend together. Once they are dry, you scrunch it up and wrap a pipe cleaner around the center to hold it together. Then bend the ends to make antennas. E and K got creative and wanted more than one color for their antennas so I just twisted two of them together. The whole thing happened so fast that I was not able to get any pictures of the process but here is a cute one of three of them with their finished butterflies. The next day we made egg carton bugs. This project lasted a little longer so I was able to get a few pictures of them working away. I'm not sure M really got the idea but she sure did have fun with the paint.

E worked for quite some time on his bugs and got a really nice caterpillar and a purple bug with blue polka dots. I got a picture of the caterpillar but not his other bug. I actually still need to put on the antennas and eyes so once that is done I will take pictures and post them all.

Here is E working on his caterpillar.

Here are M's almost finished bugs. Again, I'll post pictures when they have antennas and eyes.

E's caterpillar. I ended up making one myself that I will have to post a picture of when it is finished. I couldn't help myself, I had to make one. It looked like too much fun. I did wait until E was working hard on his and already had it planned out in his head. While working at the preschool I learned not to do crafts with the kids because they end up copying you.

By the way, that one stripe is red so he is a patriotic caterpillar.

Moments like these

There are many moments that remind me (not that I need it) of why I love what I do. Thursday in particular was full of them. It started with music class. E joined us since he no longer has school. I was really hoping he would like it so I was very happy to see his face light up when everyone sang hello to him. I also caught him smiling and laughing when Ms. Christy would do something silly. I know I said this in my post about music class, but Ms. Christy is the best!! Anyway, I wish I would have had a camera to catch those smiles.

I was able to get pictures of some of the other things that happened through out the day. Like these next two of them looking at a book together. This was following a huge fight over the book but in the end they worked it out and here is proof of how happy they can be sharing a book.



This one is of M crossing her arms. I'm not sure what it was all about, but I saw her do it several time that day. By the end of the day, I just had to have a picture of it. This isn't a picture of her just randomly doing it though, I had to ask her to do it. Still funny. While I was trying to get this picture, they were throwing rocks into a bucket of water to make big splashes. I was standing a little close and got wet. I enjoy being able to laugh about these things.

This last one is the funniest. We were getting ready to go outside by putting sunscreen on. E, who is getting more and more independent, likes to put it on himself. While I was busy putting it on his face, I didn't notice that he was busy giving M the extra off of his hand. When I turned around, the baby doll was covered in the sunscreen as well. She actually had more on her but before I could get my phone for a picture, most of it got rubbed off. That poor baby had it in every crack and crevice on her head.