bendaroos

ali had received some bendaroos (waxy, thin, colorful strips that can be molded into different shapes) for her birthday, and we decided to use them for one of our craft days.

there are instructions on how to create different flower arrangements, etc, 

but after a few minutes i discovered the kids did not have the patience for structured creating...

and neither did i!

so i let them have at it:

things started off simple...

(the one tutorial i did follow...sort of...and gave to ali, who wasn't all that impressed!)

after awhile, ali and jax moved on to other things,

while sydney's creations started becoming more purposeful--

a ship,

 

a bracelet for mommy,

and she even made separate bouquets for her daddy and i during rest time.

these literally entertained her for hours!

thanks, aunt stacy!

Good, Clean Fun

My friend, Heather sent me a list of sensory ideas to do with the kids, so we made "Clean Mud" yesterday!

I grated a bar of soap into our would-be sandbox
&
helped the girls tear up a roll
of toilet paper to add to it.

Then, we added warm water and squished it together

until it was the consistency of thick cool whip.

Their faces say it all--

Of course, I don't know what kind of fun any mud is
if you're only playing from outside of the box...

This is more like it!

Ali quickly got tired of being dirty, or clean,
or whatever you want to call it,

and it just wasn't fair to make Sydney play by herself...

Even if she was enjoying it!

But like I said, it just wasn't fair to her...
or to me,
who apparently is still a kid at heart

Ali wanted nothing to do with us or our "filth",

but we're working on her...
She'll get there.