I Wish I Was One of THOSE Moms......

who lets her kids play with whatever they want and in whatever they want.  You know, the kind that doesn't mind the messes that all this "fun stuff" (like finger paint) seems to come with.  But, I'm here to admit, that I'm SOOOO not that kind of mom!  Oh, I want to be and I even buy all goods for these activities.  RELAX I try to tell myself!!  But old habits die hard I guess.
I am getting a little better though.  Playdough used to take me over the edge when the colors got mixed.  Sad, I know.  Now, I think it's kind of (I should probably emphasize KIND OF) fun to mix the colors and see what new color you get.  I used to avoid sand pits at all costs.  Now, I don't bat an eye when they both want to dive into our neighbor's sand box.......as long as we dump their shoes, socks, panties, etc. before they come back into the house.  WAHAHAHA!!  Ok, even I'M not that bad!!  I stop right after the shoes....and maybe the socks.
Needless to say when I saw this idea for "mess free finger painting," I nearly peed down my leg!  Yes, it involves REAL paint AND the girls loved it!!  Put whatever colors of paint you have on hand in a baggie (in different areas of the baggie), tape the baggie shut (if you have a Houdini child like I do, you can only be saying DUH!!!), and tape it to whatever you want with painters tape so it can be easily removed.  GENIUS, I tell ya'!!  I used red, blue, and yellow paint since I knew Grace would like seeing the different colors she could make.  When she made purple (her favorite color), she was thrilled!!  Anna liked seeing her handprints and thought it would be a good idea to try and taste it a time or two!
We tried this early last week and, while the baggies have moved from place to place, they're still up and sticking......to something.  Great idea!  AND no messes!!  WAHOO!!        

Water Bead Madness

The girls and I were first introduced to water beads a couple months ago at Mom and Dad's house.  Mom has some out for a decoration around Christmas and the girls didn't want to take their hands off them.  I also saw them again on www.playathomemom.com and, as luck would have it, we needed something fun to do indoors since the bug had invaded our house.
You can buy them at any craft store or Walmart in the floral area.  There's every color under the sun to choose from and we.......well got almost ALL of them.  :)  Why not??  They're $2 for a pack and they last a while so the girls can play with them over and over again.
I let the girls pick two colors each to start off and here is where I should've stopped.  The 4 bowls of water were enough fun for them.  They played and splashed around for a good 20min before we actually put the water beads in the bowls!  It takes 4-6 hours (depending on how big you want them) for the beads to plump up.  We put them in the water right after breakfast with a promise of playing with them right after naps.
Once they had soaked up most of the water, I let the girls scoop them up and I threw them all in the bathtub.  FYI - these do leave a bit of color behind so you might want to either scoop them out of the water yourself or put a towel under your bowls.  Anna LOVED scooping them into another container, dumping them out, and watching them bounce all over the place!  Grace was content keeping her two colors in her own container and picking up every one she dropped!  WAHAHAHA!!  No surprises there!
The girls have played with them 3 different times now and the newness doesn't seem to be wearing off.  They'll be a blast when it warms up outside too.  Plastic swimming pool + water beads + 2 girls who need to get out some energy = SCORE for Mommy!!  AND, if you love sand as much as I do (NOT!), put them in your sandbox as a substitute!!  Still fun BUT less mess!  WAHOO!!

Ripley's Aquarium at the Smokies

Two weekends ago, we drove down to Gatlinburg to take the girls to Ripley's Aquarium.  Grace hadn't been since the week before I found out I was pregnant with Anna and Anna has never been so we were excited to see their reactions to all the creatures around them!
They both ran from tank to tank barely stopping long enough to see whatever it is that was showcased in front of them when we first arrived.  Grace's main concern from the minute I asked her if she wanted to go was seeing the sharks.  I'm assuming this was the main reason behind her need to run, skip, hop, or gallop until we actually reached "The Shark Tank!"  There are two different areas where you can see different types of sharks.  A new area (or new to me) was an addition that houses nothing but sharks.  It included the giant "Jaws" head pictured below.......AWESOME!  The other shark area is completely enclosed above you and looks like you're underwater.  You can either walk or stand on the moving walkway which completely fascinated Anna.
We moved on to the giant tank holding (what seemed like) hundreds of sting rays.  It was here that Grace got sidetracked by her new, little friend standing next to her and the smell of the concession area.  I got out the lasso and pulled her along to the new penguin habitat.  This area was hilarious to me since each penguin had their name on them kind of like a bracelet!!  WAHAHA!!
We let the girls play around in the kids area for a bit before we headed out for lunch.  We went to the Hard Rock Cafe since we thought it would be fun for the girls.  Both girls ate great (sigh of relief) AND were well behaved (another sigh of relief).  We don't take them out to eat very often and it's SOOOOO nice when it works out for the best and the staff isn't ready to kick us out!
We loaded the girls up with their new stuffed sting rays and we were asleep within 10 minutes of our departure......well everyone except Matt that is!  If you're ever in the Gatlinburg area, you should take the time to check out the aquarium.  You'll see a bazillion different kind of fish, sharks, sting rays, jelly fish, barracuda, piranhas, GIANT crabs, a fun kids area and leave with a new souvenir!!  Well worth the time!