Butterfly Wonderland!

Having a day off in the middle of the week is something I am not used to and I wanted to do something amazing with it. Veterans Day was on a Tuesday this year. I asked my little man what he wanted to do. I suggested the zoo. "No". Maybe we could go to the mall. "No." Then I remembered this great place he went with his grandparents- Butterfly Wonderland. "YES!"

There is a room full of butterflies of every color flying all around. It's a misty, warm, outdoor-type area filled with flowers. We loved seeing all the different types of butterflies and trying to find them amongst the foliage. 

We had to be careful not to step on any butterflies. Somebody was a little wound up and had a hard time walking slowly. We didn't stay long in that room, but we did go back a second time after a snack.

There is also a pond with some really big fish. He loves watching fish!

There is another room with ants and bees. The bees have a tunnel that goes outside. It was really cool watching bees take off and fly away and then other bees flying in and walking along the tunnel to the hive. Bees pretty much freak me out, especially since I'm allergic. However, I think it's important to not pass on fears to your children, so I acted very brave and showed him how cool these insects are. Plus, there was a pretty solid piece of glass between me and their stingers. 

They also have a small room with aquariums and even a pool where you can touch sting rays! He was too antsy to wait for the sting rays to come swim by his fingers, but he enjoyed checking out the tanks of fish.

Of course we had to visit the gift shop!  It takes a lot of self control not to buy a bunch of stuff for this little cutie. I do like to find one thing that he will actually use or play with. We settled on a stained glass coloring book. He's already done a few pages with markers. I want him to try using watercolors next.

I would have loved to take more pictures of the butterflies, but it's hard to keep my eye on the camera and a bouncy little 3 year-old. 

Some of the things I did not get pictures of are the 3D movie, the room with butterflies just emerging from their chrysalises, and the cafe. I recommend Butterfly Wonderland to anyone! We had a great day!

~Me and my Hunny Bunny

Railroad Park

We are a quarter into school and it's finally Fall Break!! I'm very excited to go to some fun places with my Little Hunny Bunny this week. Today was our first adventure- McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. What an amazing place! I highly recommend going there if you have kids or like trains. This weekend is a special event and most of it is FREE! 

There's a big train that they turned into a museum! As you walk through the different train cars you get to see some interesting things. 

The rooms are pretty cramped. I bet sleeping on a train is interesting though. Not sure I'd want to be on the top bunk. I can imagine falling off if the train stopped.

They have an indoor model railroad building that has trains of every size. It's very impressive. Preston loved that Percy kept going past and there were some of his favorite characters on the trains- Buzz and Woody, Mickey and friends, and Lightning McQueen and Mater. There were spots where you could turn things on by pressing a button. One of the sets had a carnival and if you push the button the rides turn on- people spinning in the teacups and a hot air balloon spins. Being interactive really takes it to the next level. 

The people that work on the trains are in the middle. We got to see them putting trains back on the tracks. What a cool job! You get to be creative and play with trains all day. One of the sets wasn't finished being built. I think it would really neat to build the scenery.

Each section is huge and even has tables in the middle that you can't see as well. The glass around the outside is low enough for small children to walk around and see it all though.

Preston loved playing on the train car. I put him in his Thomas outfit on purpose and he got a lot of comments on it! I was a little nervous to take him because he's been sick and he was sound pretty stuffy this morning. He also had a ridiculous fit over a sock before we left and I asked him if we should just stay home and go another day. He really wanted to go and I'm glad we went. He was very well behaved and we had a fabulous time!

They had a bunch of tents set up outside with more model train sets. This one was his favorite because it had buttons that let the kids control the trains. Do you see Thomas? Preston is controlling him! 

We rode on a carousal, which costs 2 tickets a person. He doesn't really like to ride the horses so we sat in the covered wagon next to another little boy who ended up crying most of the ride. 

We rode the train ride twice. It was quite a long ride, taking us all around the park. There were a lot of birthday parties going on, kids playing in bounce houses, and people having picnics. It even went through a tunnel. The train ride also costs 2 tickers per person. You can get a book of 12 tickets for $10.

To my surprise, while walking around, we spotted robots! Some schools were showing off what they do in their robotics clubs. 

A high school made a huge robot that picks up and throws a big ball. The student was telling me that for the competition there are 3 robots on a team and they have to put the ball in the goal. We also got to see VEX and VEX IQ robots. The robot on the right is VEX and was picking up and tossing the small blue balls. One school also had Lego Robotics (I think it's Lego at least) and they let Preston drive it! He did a nice job waiting and even asked nicely "Can I have a turn?". 

We ate lunch there. They have a snack shop that has cute little kid meals. He got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apple juice, chips, and a toy in this cute box. His toy is glow in the dark fangs, so stay tuned for that! 

I wanted to stay longer, but he was getting cranky and it was nap time. A group sat next to us and had brought their own lunches, which is smart. They did have a stroller though, so it's easy to carry a small cooler around with you when you are just pushing it around. I was very proud of Preston for walking the entire time and not whining about it. 

What a great day! I'd love some suggestions about other places we can go over break. When I asked him where he wanted to go he said "the zoo", so we might go there. Please let me know of any other great places to take a 3 year old!

~Me and my Hunny Bunny

Busy Saturday

What a busy weekend we had! I hosted a baby shower for my friend Stephani on Saturday, which was a blast! Thankfully, the wonderful Nermina took my little Hunny Bunny Friday night and kept him Saturday morning. I was able to get all the shopping done, cleaning, baking, and decorating. Ok, ok, Allison helped a lot. She was the decorating genius. I also had help from Jennifer and Naomi, who were also in charge of hosting the shower.

Look how cute the favors that Jennifer and Naomi brought over! I got the picture frame idea from Allison, who did the same for me at my shower. 

I really missed my little peanut and was so happy to see him when Nermina brought him home. She got him a new book, which he sat for at least 10 minutes and read to himself.  

The book is based on the Planes Fire and Rescue movie, which he saw with Stephani and Gerrit. It also comes with a CD! I love listening to him make up stories. He's so clever and cute!

After the shower, which by the way he thought was his party and was sad when I told him it wasn't for him, we went to church with Uncle Big Guy and Aunt Allison. We go to Sun Valley and absolutely love it! We've been going on Saturday evening and it's been awesome. It really works with our schedule and gives us more time on Sunday together. 

After church we had tacos for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. They were left over from the party. We did a cupcake cheers. They are blue velvet!

Before bed, the Perfect Gentleman helped us clean up. He was confused for awhile and thought that if there were still decorations that the party was still going on. I explained that the people make the party, and since everyone left it meant the party was over. He kept talking about the decorations though, so we took the balloons off the ceiling. He liked walking around with them. 

I look forward to another wonderful weekend!

-Me and my Hunny Bunny

Preschool

The beginning of the school year has begun and it has kept us busy. That's probably why it's been 6 weeks since I've blogged. My little guy has started school too! He is officially a preschooler! This is him on the first day of school.

He absolutely loves it! When I pick him up he wants to keep playing. He loves going in the morning and gets excited about playing with his friends. His teacher, Ms. Lucy, is amazing! Preschool ends at 2:45, but I usually don't get to pick him up until 4 or 4:30. Luckily, his teacher stays and does after care for the preschool kids so I get a chance to talk to her each day. 

We've been working on spelling his name. These letter Legos are really cool! I bought them at Lakeshore and have used them in my own kindergarten classroom. Preston knows the letters of the alphabet really well, but we need to work on writing them. He had homework to write his name this week, so that's perfect!

Sometimes I bring him back to school with me, or he joins me in my class over the weekend. He loves the calendar. However, I think he likes the pointer more than anything. When I pick him up from school, he's almost always carrying around Ms. Lucy's pointer. The other day he told me he was looking for the eyes. Or the I's. Not sure which. 

He likes to play on the computer. This is the first time he's used a mouse though, so he struggles a bit. I put him on ABC Mouse, Starfall, and Destination Reading. He loves it all! I have to help him a lot because he keeps clicking both buttons, but I've already noticed a big improvement. There are computers in his preschool class too!

I remember when he was a baby and I would bring him to school to get work done. Once he started crawling I would just be chasing him around or strapping him in the stroller with a snack, so not very productive. Now he plays with all the toys in my room and even cleans up after himself. He even helped me get my Fundations magnets ready during the first week of school. Fundations is awesome by the way. 

The only problem we've had at preschool is that sometimes he doesn't take a nap. This isn't a new problem. It happens once in awhile at home and it happened sometimes last year with the sitter, but the end result is always the same. No nap = cranky, whiny, mess of a kid. We have a rule that if he didn't take a nap then he doesn't get to watch TV or a movie and he can't play on the tablet (he calls it the "game"). Sure, I could just let him watch a movie and not deal with Mr. Cranky. But then it would OK to not take a nap. He also falls asleep early and I don't get to hang out with him as long, so I love when he takes a nap. Being at work all day is hard and I cherish all the after-work time I get with him.

I'm excited to spend the weekend with my Hunny Bunny!

Library in the Loft

One of my Hunny Bunny's favorite things to do is read. Lucky for him, both of his parents are teachers who have hundreds, if not thousands of books! Most of these books were at school when we had our own classrooms. When I went to teach technology and my husband went to administration we brought all the books home. Luckily, for me and my little guy, my husband turned our loft into a wonderful library! We have one red accent wall and some big black bookshelves. It's very cozy and we like hanging out in the loft. There is a small couch up there and a little desk. Most of the books are even sorted by author or subject so it's easy to find the one we are looking for.














Besides reading, we play up in the loft! There are dominoes, cars, Legos, a marble track, and other educational toys. He likes to take all of the letters out of the puzzle pieces and say the names of them as he throws them on the floor. Cleaning up isn't as fun.  The little Legos are difficult for him to build with, so he prefers to play with something already made. He is starting to learn how to fit the marble track pieces together and really enjoys watching the marbles travel through along the paths. Since the loft is on the 2nd floor, it's nice to have a space for him to play if I need to be upstairs. We have a CD player up there too, so he can listen to some jams!

So what does he like to read, you may be wondering? Well, here are a few of his favorite books.

1. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is a cute story about a raccoon going to school for the first time and the mom giving the baby a kiss on his hand so he won't be sad about being without his mom for the first time. Adorable, right?
2. Brown Bear Brown Bear is a classic by Eric Carle. We have a lot of Eric Carle books and love them all!
3. The Ancient Egypt Explorer is a nonfiction book with turning wheels that shine a spotlight on one thing at a time. We don't read all of it, but he's really into real books like this. He also loves books about space and dinosaurs.
4. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb is by Al Perkins. I've had this book since I was a kid.  We like the steady rhythm in this book.
5. All of the David books are great, but David Goes to School, by David Shannon, is probably our favorite. This is one of the books my son can read by himself and there are only a few words on each page.
6. Green Eggs and Ham is another classic that I've had since my childhood. Dr. Seuss is a genius. I pause at the end of some lines to give my son a chance to chime in, and he usually knows the words. When I say "I will not eat them here or there" and pause, he says "I will not eat them anywhere".

Here are some of his other favorites.
1. Cool Cars is more than just a book. It comes with 12 figurines and a playmat map. The map folds up and everything fits inside the book when it's time to clean up, which is great.
2. Big Machines! Big Buildings!, by Kevin Lewis, reminds me of the nursery rhyme- This is the House that Jack Built.
3. Diggers, by Jane Horne and Fiona Boon, is cool because it's in the shape of a tire. It features a few construction vehicles.
4. Another book he can read by himself is Five Ugly Monsters, by Tedd Arnold. It's just like 5 monkeys jumping on the bed, but better because it's about monsters. We like to find the kitty on each page.
5. A cute song book is Jesus Loves Me by Tim Warnes. This is one of the few books that actually belongs to my son, as it was a present to him when he was born. Don't ask Dad to read it though. He can't seem to get the tune.
6. Last, and most recently the #1 book, is The Spooky Sound, by Melissa Lagonegro. He's been really into spooky things lately. I like this book because the thing that sounds spooky turns out to be {SPOILER ALERT!} the sheriff, who is driving and snoring in his sleep.

Well I better go. He's getting out the alphabet puzzles again. "T says tah. T is for tapping toes"

This is us cuddling in the loft!

-Me and my Hunny Bunny

Kid's Play Fridge

For Christmas, I made a play stove for my son and got him some play food. He likes to pretend to cook while I'm making dinner. Grandma got him more play food.

He had all that play food, but no place to put it. So, it only seemed fitting that I design a fridge! I started with a tall box. This box is from our swimming pool and is really thick cardboard.

I cut a door in the front with a 1-ish inch edge around 3 sides. I cut it all the way to the left edge so it opens at the fold. I had another box to use for the shelves. I cut the shelves out of the sides of the box and cut slits in the big box. 

The shelves stick out just a bit from the slits. I taped them down. For one of the shelves I tried a different approach. You can see the cardboard sticking out of the side. I cut a longer piece of cardboard, put it in, folded it, and taped it down. Not sure which shelf is better. They both seem to be holding up just fine and after I was done you could not see the bulge of the extra cardboard.

 I made a handle out of cardboard as well and used Velcro on the handle and the box to keep the door closed. You can see the handle hangs over the edge of the fridge door so the Velcro touches. I have 3 shelves in the fridge. 

Next, I wanted to make the fridge pretty, so I got some butcher paper. The kid picked red. I used packaging tape, which is a little shiny, but got the job done. 

I used gray cardstock/scrapbooking paper for the handle. I'm OK with leaving the shelves the way they are, but if you plan to do this project you may want to paint or decorate them before you put them in. 

Here is the masterpiece, with the door closed and open. The red box on the 3rd shelf there is perfect because it slides out a bit and can store a lot of play food. I am thinking of adding some sort of shelf to the door, like real refrigerators have, but haven't come up with the design for that yet. The fridge is really sturdy and my Little Chef just loves to play with it! 

-Me and my Hunny Bunny