Bolling With 5

Friday, April 17, 2015

Scrapbooks & Diaries!

Scrapbooks & diaries are what little girls, age 6, are into these days. OR at least my little, 6 year old girl is into these days!

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, she is my daughter after all!"

Lilah enjoys all of the activities I did as a child and STILL do as an adult (sometimes). She's a keeper!

During an unexpected "snow day", I took the kids to a new place in the Tanglewood Mall called "Mommy Time!" Yes, I really am this behind on my blogging. Sigh... Mommy Time is for busy moms who want an opportunity to leave their children in an indoor playground, up to 2 hours, so they can shop or finish their business - all while having both the parent and

the child happy and stress free. Parents are also welcomed to stay. I chose to stay! I enjoy watching my children enjoy things.

The indoor playground is a quality indoor playground, with soft contained play structures, slides, and imagination-inspiring play areas for children ages 3 to 12.

My children did enjoy it for the first hour, but we purchased a 2 hour visit. By the end of the first hour, Ty was ready to go. The first hour occupied him simply because it was a new experience, but most all of the play structures (other than video games and a chalkboard wall) were geared for the younger children.

The twins were content to stay the full two hours.

I guess for the darkest/coldest of months, this venue is another viable option for something to do, but I also thought it was a tad expensive. I think my bill was $32 for 2 hours of play! A little steep if you ask me.

I also would not recommend leaving your child there, unattended. I had to break up an actual argument that was ensuing. Had I NOT been there, I am not sure who or how it would have been handled. Jax was minding his own business, playing video games on a bean bag, and some kid just came up to him and started wrestling with him for the remote.

I was thankful that my children could at least experience it once because they had been asking for a while if they could go. I highly doubt it's something we would do again! Mommy Time did accomplish somethings though: it got out a TON of their bottled up energy AND I was able to organize my junk bag and coupon book.

You can view a short 15 second instagram video of their time spent there!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

The Best Birthday Gift E-V-E-R!

Back in February 2013, we had a brand new (less than two months old) trampoline that pretty much blew away with the wind. You can read about it here. Since then, the kids and I have been BEGGING, literally BEGGING, E-V-E-R-Y single holiday for another trampoline and every single time Darren has said, "No!" I know my husband. It's the VERY RARE occasion that he tells me "NO" to anything, but he wasn't backing down at all to this "No!", so I knew the chance of ever getting another trampoline would be very minimal. After getting our puppy, Sadie, and a fence, Darren expressed an interest to get an in-ground trampoline. We called around and got a few estimates and we were in the process of really finalizing the details, but then we realized that Sadie would probably destroy it. The in-ground trampoline was going to run between $4,000 - $5,000, and the thoughts of having it destroyed by a dog eliminated the entire idea. SO... Darren eventually said, "Because we have a fence now, I guess we can get a trampoline. At least it won't stick out like a sore thumb like it would when we didn't have a fence." I'll admit, the trampoline is obnoxious looking, it's also a tad redneck, but it is THE BEST GIFT any parent could give NOT ONLY their child, but themselves too!!!! It's great exercise for the kids and a FREE, built-in babysitter for the adults.

We bought the trampoline at Sam's Club. It's a 15 foot, round, trampoline. I can't recall what we paid. Possible $199 and then we paid our handy man $100 to put it together. The kids HAD NO IDEA. Literally, NO IDEA. Their birthday had come and gone. The original plan was to have it put together on their actual birthday and when they got home from school they would see it, but all of those plans were destroyed because it was cold and raining the day of their birthday. So... almost one week after their birthday, our handy man arrived to put the trampoline together.

Back tracking... for a moment... The twins' birthday is ONE of the few days that I offer to take them to school as a "car rider". On their BIRTHDAY, I drove them to school and to make conversation, I said, "What do you want for your birthday!" I had been asking this same question, over and over, weeks prior to their special day and neither had anything substantial that they were wishing for. Well Lilah did, but they were unrealistic requests (a mini fridge, a bathroom in her room, night vision goggles, and an iPhone). However, on their actual birthday, they BOTH said they wanted "a trampoline". The thing is... they knew their daddy would NEVER agree to having another one after our first one blew away with the wind. The craziest part about the below video is that Lilah even requested a trampoline with decorations all over it. Those were my exact plans from the moment Darren gave me the go ahead.

After our awesome handy man put the trampoline together, I hung their birthday balloons all over it. I ALWAYS wait outside, for the bus to arrive, but this day... I didn't. I was worried the bus driver wouldn't drop them off, but she did and the kids let themselves inside. I was outside, sitting in the grass, near the trampoline, waiting to capture every bit of their reactions. Upon entering the home, I could hear their little feet scurrying throughout the house and them saying, "MOM, we're home!!!!" They told me later they were so worried I wasn't home.