Today was a day when we took advantage of our proximity to DC and the wonderful museums it has and visited the museum of Natural History specifically to spend time in the butterfly tunnel. I love that we could leave the house at 3, ride the Metro in, and go in just to see that one exhibit, and then leave. We’re studying butterflies in Science this week and I was so excited about the opportunity for the kids to see them up close and personal.
There were over 200 butterflies in the tunnel. They were beautiful!
This one was amazing. When its wings were closed it was a dull, greyish brown color. Then it took flight and we could see its beautiful blue color. It was hard to capture opened, but Scott got a shot of it when it briefly landed on the floor…not the best backdrop, but still it was an amazing sight!
I was surprised by how much fun the kids had looking at the pictures on the charts and trying to identify the butterflies they found.
We were able to see chrysalis, and even saw a butterfly shortly after emerging from one and another that was almost ready to come out. You could see the wings through the outside. We also were able to learn the differences between moths and butterflies. In my book, it was a total success of a field trip!
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My girls, especially my youngest, love to change clothes. And often. It borders on ridiculous. I knew if I didn’t document it, no one would believe me.
So, take a look at Thursdays attire here at the circus. (I will mention that we never left the house today).
The day started at 7:00am, didn’t have the camera ready then, but here she is at 8:30am. (wearing the clothes she wore last night plus a coat)
11 minutes later at 8:41am she is sporting her “bubble bathing suit” (so named b/c of the polka dots on the ruffles)
This lasted all of 18 minutes because by 8:59am she traded swim suits with her big sister
By 10:57 am, she added her winter boots, hat, and mittens. She was determined to go outside, but didn’t make it past the door. (hmmm… wonder why)
At 11:17am (20 minutes later) she discovered the too short Winnie the Pooh sailor dress from last summer that I keep trying to hide and she keeps discovering.
Thankfully the scandalous dress didn’t last long as she changed into her lady bug pajamas at 11:42am.
15 minutes later at 11:57am she again had donned the hat and boots and was ready yielding a rather dangerous looking light saber.
She then changed into her leotard and accessorized with my high heel shoes at 12:33pm.
She napped in her leotard (hence the 3 hour reprieve on outfit changes). Upon waking up at 3:33 she decided to change back into her lady bug pajammies.
By 5:20pm however she was back into her sisters bathing suit and they were having swim class on the living room floor (note her sister is wearing her brothers bathing suit…apparently all bathing suits are up for grabs here).
At 5:40pm, I discovered her sporting her Dora and Boots undies, but decided it best not to post such a picture on the internet.
Since Daddy was coming home soon, I prompted her to put on some clothes. Here she is helping with dinner at 6:10pm in an actual shirt and pants!!
But, Daddy didn’t get home in time to see his daughter in real clothes because by 6:38pm she was back in the “bubble bathing suit”
She ate in the bubble suit and kept it on until bedtime when she changed into her “footie pajamas” at 8:04pm
13 hours and 13 outfits changes…seriously, this kiddo has more costume changes than a Broadway star. And I promise, this is a normal day…including the multiple changes and the preference for swim suits and pajamas…
I’ve seen various posts every now and then linked up to I Heart faces weekly photo contests. And I’ve thought about entering, but then never did. When I heard the theme this week was “I Wanna Dance” I knew I had to link up a picture from our impromptu New Years Eve dance party in our living room. The hardest part for me, was picking which picture. Hope I made the right choice.
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Thought you might enjoy a little simple math to recap the week here at the circus.
Add together the following totals….
- 2 major snowstorms
- 33 inches of snow fallen
- 1 official blizzard
- 20 cups of hot chocolate drank
- 2 types of cookies baked
- 1 Daddy sized igloo built
- 0 power outages
- 1 sleepover with our cousin
- 1 awesome aunt snowed in with us
- countless icicles growing
= Memories to last a lifetime!!
Took the kids for a walk to the park. Nothing exceptional about that, except I realized when looking through pictures that exactly 2 years before I had done the same thing.
We were compelled to go because of the exceptional weather.
Funny how life repeats itself.
Only it doesn’t.
2 years ago, we didn’t wear jackets.
In fact, if you look close… some of us weren’t even wearing shoes.
This time, however, we were all able to walk on our own. And we thought jackets were a good idea.
2 years ago I was a little more lax about letting them get near the water.
The difference between then and now is kind of funny.
Same date, same month, same state, same park…very different extremes. 
(Click to make me bigger)
Most years when I put together our family scrapbooks, our “Fun in the Snow” spread looks something like this. Notice the grass poking through the snow and the pathetic little snowball snowman my son built?
But, this winter has been crazy! We had a record breaking snowfall in December. Then, last week we got a good 6 inches of snowfall (which in any normal MD winter, would have made us giddy with excitement). And today we were blasted with another record breaking and historic snowfall. 
In a way I feel kind of sorry for our kids, because at this young age they are already seeing the most snow they will probably ever see at one time. It’s all down here from here. No worries, though, we’ve documented it well and are fully enjoying some fun in the snow. I am so glad that this year I snagged some boots on sale on Black Friday. I def got my money’s worth out of em!
(click me and I’ll get bigger)
I looked at my daughter this morning and noticed her belly had gotten much bigger. “What is in your jammies”, I asked.
She informed me that she too had a baby in her belly.
If only my pregnancy could be so short and my delivery so easy.
This week my baby girl asked me to put her hair in two braids.
When did her hair get long enough to braid?
She was quite excited to pose for me afterwards.
Doesn’t she look so grown up? Seriously, when did this happen?
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My oldest two have gotten into the habit of “e-mailing” each other at the beginning of nap time. And by e-mailing they really mean they are drawing pictures and writing messages back and forth to each other. We’ve worked out a system in which they are allowed to e-mail for the first 30 minutes of nap time. Then, they have to have quiet time in separate rooms for the remaining hour and a half.
I have become a huge fan of the e-mailing time. It is quite precious as a mom to hear them whisper and slipping messages to each other under their doors. It is the most peaceful, argument free time of my day. And sometimes I permit the e-mail time to extend past the designated 30 minute time slot.
These e-mails are not paper less however and quite a lot of drawings and messages are created each week. I simply can not save them all as we’d be drowning in paper trails.
But, from time to time I set aside some gems that I simply can’t part with. Some for sentimental reasons, some because I am impressed with the art work, some because they just make me smile, and serve as momentos of days gone by.
Here are a few recent ones my son drew for his sister.
I loved this one because it was obvious, to me, upon seeing it who he drew. Can you identify the princess he drew for his sister?
Then there is Dora’s mom. This one gave me quite a startle. It was one of the original e-mails he drew months ago. I had no idea Dora’s mother was so heavily endowed!
I know I have mentioned baby Eli here before. Eli is one of my children’s cousin’s and he is adored here at the circus. In fact, both girls have renamed their baby dolls Eli. And my son has taken on the roll of Eli’s dad.
Here is a picture my son drew of my daughter when she had baby Eli at the hospital.
On the left side, you’ll notice the doctor and my son holding baby Eli. Then there is my daughter on the hospital bed in the middle. And lastly there is my daughter holding baby Eli.
I greatly enjoy seeing the drawings my son makes for his sister. I never know what he’ll come up with next.
Isn’t it funny they call this e-mailing instead of letter writing? Sign of the times, I suppose.
Didn’t take many pics around the circus this week, but when I downloaded pics off of my camera this afternoon, I stumbled across this gem from last week.
Please help me pick a title. My brain is a bit mushy this Friday afternoon. Winning caption gets put at the top of my post! I know that’s an honor your all scrambling to achieve, so please… tell me your thoughts and brighten this circus mom’s day with some comment love!
And while your thinking, I’ll throw this one in for giggles as well.
