It's not a mess, it's creativity in action

In Rexburg, we did "school" every morning before early naps and watching a show. Just the basic singing songs, checking the weather etc etc. Miles and Gwen just loved it! However, as it got closer to moving, Miles started to get sick of it, so we stopped. Now that we're settled here and trying to solidify a routine, I miss having that structured "learning" time. So instead of the same "school", we have an activity we do before mornings naps and shows. Sometimes we're pretty easy going about it and just pull out the play-dough, bring out the blocks, or make bird feeders again (which the kids never think is as cool as I hope they would). But thanks to Pinterest, some days are pretty awesome.

Mixing the colors for our sidewalk paint

Check out these two blonde Jackson Pollock's in action :)

"Alright, your toys are trapped and you have to get them out! Here's your tools."

Miles got pretty capable with that hammer as time went on. It was really cool to watch.

One day we tried to make bouncy balls. The recipe sounded so easy and fool-proof. It was an epic fail. I didn't even take a picture of the disaster, it was so sad.

Today we made baked cotton balls! Crazy huh? All you do is mix equal parts of flour and water and add food coloring to make your "paint". Then the kids made "pies" by dipping cotton balls in the paint and putting them in the cake pans. Then you actually bake it in the oven!

I made the comment that Gwen's looked like a blackberry pie, so Miles insisted that his was a Green pie. Sounds appetizing.

So once Gwen is down for her morning cat nap and Miles is watching a show, before I get to shower and pretend I'm a girl and not a dish towel, I spend a good 30 minutes cleaning up. Today I even broke a sweat trying to get the "blackberry pie" off of the nice, clean, upholstered dining room chairs from my folks. Who needs a gym right? It ends up taking a fair amount of effort on my part, but it's oh so worth it.