Squeezing in as much fun as we can before school starts!

I am devastated that school starts in 3 weeks. It's not an exaggeration. It makes me so sad to have my kids away from me for so long everyday, so sad that I may or may not be crying a little right now (for the second time today) just thinking about it. I'm a little obsessed with them. It's probably unhealthy, I know. I'm sure it stems from my weird childhood or something, but whatever. Anyway, we've been trying to squeeze in as much awesomeness as we can until September comes to ruin our fun.

 I love Science (like elementary school science, not like fancy atoms and protons) and forcing it on my kids has made them love it just as much as me! We made sure there was a science center before we moved here, and we've been spending lots of time there. They were really into this exhibit!e

 Robert and I took the kids to a play at the local theater. Noelle thought Little Red Riding Hood gave a dazzling performance, and now all she wants to do is be one of the little women in their next play, Little Women.
Robert says she and I are exactly alike because as she was loudly whispering in his ear during the play that she wanted to be in the next one, I was loudly whispering in his other ear that I was going to start my own children's theater and direct a play. Good thing he's supportive cause Noelle and I are both serious!

 Stanton on the other hand does not want to be in a play. He barely wanted to be in this picture. I love his cute little personality!

 The next day we spent another Saturday at the lake. We can't get enough paddle boarding!

 Winston is a sand man himself. He goes in the water for a dip, but then returns to his digging, rock collecting and castles. The best part is he cuddles with me on the beach blanket, in exchange for snacks.

 Noelle learned how to swim, and now she's so happy she can join Stanton in his underwater exploring.

 They discovered a bug deep under the sand. It looked like a lady bug mixed with a bumble bee and a cockroach. It had a fuzzy belly and made weird clicking noises. We were all sure it was an unidentified species, so I told the kids they could name it since they discovered it. They chose to call it a "lady bumble cock" because of the other 3 bugs it resembled. Try as I might, they would not change the name. They saw nothing wrong with it, and I wasn't about to explain why.

 I gave Noelle a pedicure and the boys foot massages. I was a popular mommy after that!

 Later that day we tried some experiments with dry ice. We'd visited the library science show earlier that week and saw Radical Rick making cool stuff with it, so we decided to give it a shot. I poured the dry ice gas over their head, which they thought was very impressive.

Then Stanton wanted to try pouring it on my head. He poured too much and instead of just the gas, all of the water and a little chunk of dry ice landed on my head.

 We also looked on the NASA website to learn how to make a dry ice meteor with finger nail polish remover, vinegar, cornstarch, syrup and dirt. It was a flop. Thanks for nothing astronauts.
After that failed experiment, we wanted to do a big grand finale. I found easy instructions on how to make a dry ice bomb. It sounded exciting and easy, and it was on a kid's website, but I didn't know the extent of the danger. I did have a moment's pause when I read that it's illegal in a number of states, but not ours, so we pressed on.
Luckily, as I shut the kids inside to watch from out the window and threw the closed container outside, the lid popped off and dry ice flew out, making our little bomb a dud.
We read afterwards that it can burst your ear drums and bloody you pretty badly, so I was SO thankful it didn't go off.
We ended our dry ice fun by making very safe, giant, soapy dry ice bubbles.

 Our next week's experiment was more of a mess than a success. We made dryer lint clay, and it was pretty disgusting. It reeked like burnt hair, probably because I had to cook it, and we actually did find tons of mine and Noelle's hair weaved through it, grossest clay ever.

 One morning I woke up to a little family band. Winston was playing the maracas while Stanton was practicing piano and Noelle was practicing violin. It was all just loud, screechy noise, but it was sweet to wake up to, almost as sweet as the breakfast in bed they've made me three times this week. They come up with toast with honey, an orange, a half eaten yogurt and a Diet Coke. It melts my heart (:

 The other day we took a little drive to the largest patch of sunflowers in the world.This is only like a tenth of it. They go on for miles and miles. It's incredible!

 We tried to sit down for a picnic, but you can barely step, let alone sit because every inch is covered with flowers.

We watched bees and picked up lady bugs and had a perfect time in nature together! Stanton took all sorts of pretty pictures, like this one. He wants to be a photographer and an inventor and be in the Navy. He told me all about it while we walked through the flowers. Noelle told me she wants to be a paleontologist/artist/mom when she grows up, and Winston just says he wants to have a beard like Daddy. It was a GREAT day!

 And sometimes you see something that you just have to sneak up on and take a picture of because it's so sweet, there are no words and you just don't wanna ever forget it!