More Fun at the Museum Campus

On Monday November 12th, the kids had a day off from school for Veteran's Day. The Museum Campus had free days going on, so we spent the day there. Our first stop was the Field Museum. You can't tell what the kids are looking at down this hole, but it was an Egyptian sarcophogus. More impressive is Max's natural B-Boy moves. He spins and poses like he was born in the 80's. Grandma let Max get a brontesaurus from the Mold-O-Rama Machine. He was thrilled and is still carrying that thing around!

After lunch, we headed over to the Adler Planetarium. The kids put on their astronaut costumes for the occasion. We are getting good use out of those!

The kids made the Adler Times!

A Little Cocoa and Some Conversation

Maddie got to go to The American Girl Place with Mommy and Grandma on Saturday, November 10th. She enjoyed seeing the American Girl Revue, although was a little scared when the villain appeared. Her favorite part was the Afternoon Tea afterwards. They had a seat and service for her Bitty Baby doll. First they serve your choice of drink. Maddie chose Hot Cocoa. Next they brought over cute scones and tea sandwiches. They have a little box on every table that contains conversation starter questions. Maddie thought this was great. She just kept sipping her cocoa and drawing new questions for us all to answer. Some of her answers were really cute!

If you could have 100 lbs of anything, what would you choose? "A 100 pound Lolly. You would have to climb up the handle to lick it!"

What is your favorite place to be alone? "At home because that's a safe place."

What food could you NEVER give up? "Soup."

Who would you choose to star in a movie about your life? "My friend Emma."

What kind of vacation would you choose: the mountains or the beach? "The beach so I could collect shells."

For the last course we were served a selection of sweets. They brought Maddie a special heart shaped peppermint cake with a candle on top. You should have seen her face light up at the sight of that!

Making a wish! <

>Blowing out the candle!

Madeline's Spacey 6th Birthday

On November 7th, my little shining star turned 6! She was so excited that she crawled in bed with us super early to chat about it. "Geuss what? I'm 6 today!"

It was a school day, so we let her open one present before she walked over. She was happy to unwrap the astronaut helmet she has been wanting. It goes well with her other astronaut gear from Halloween!

After school, Maddie had her best school friends over for a Space party. The kids all became Rocket Scientists. Emma, Maddie, Brendan and Lucy are pictured here with the first activity of the day: Pop Rockets that we made from construction paper and film canisters. We set them off out back and the kids LOVED counting down and watching them blast into the air. In the picture, Maddie and Lucy are also holding the rockets Maddie gave out to her Kindergarten class. They were from Oriental Trading Company and had space coloring sheets, stickers, and crayons inside. They were so cute, and a big hit with her class. I used a label maker to put "Happy 6th Birthday Madeline" on the sides. Blast Off!

Next we made Alien Glop! This was Maddie's favorite thing. The glop is solid if you squeeze it or poke it, but oozes out if your hands if you release pressure.

Then we had chocolate Moon Landing cake, complete with a space monkey and mars rover. We thought, why not put all of our favorite space things together on the cake? It's a party!

Maddie wanted to have vanilla star cakes also, because she remembered her friend Brendan saying that he only likes vanilla cake. I love how thoughtful she is!

Floating in Space and Catching Planets. Okay, jumping on the bed.

The gift bags were fun. I made a "How to Become a Rocket Scientist" Pamphlet that listed the experiments we did and explained them. I went a little crazy and explained how the "Newtonian Pop Rockets" are an example of Newton's Third Law and how the "Non-Newtonian Glop" defies Newton's Law of Viscocity. It turned out really cute. Also included were pop rocks candy, milky way bars, moon pies, earth chocolates, glow bracelets packs, and the new Planet Heroes movie.

Before bed, Grandma read the kids "Priscilla and the Pink Planet." Maddie loved her star balloons and new space pajamas. She went to bed a very happy astronaut girl!

Max's Perfect Fall Day

This Saturday, November 3rd, Todd took the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo before going to work. Max was so happy to have a daddy day with the animals. It was beautiful and sunny outside with the leaves crunching on the ground. The air was brisk and fresh. But the best part was watching two happy kids monkey around. I love this time of year.

Dad Saves Halloween!

On Halloween, October31st, the kids got to wear their costumes to school.

Above is Maddie and her best friend Brendan after school. He was an astronaut too, under that coat!

To the right is Emma, Max B., and Maddie.



I was really sick today, so I was not sure if I would be able to take the kids out trick or treating. I was just about to drag them out around the neighborhood when Todd showed up at home to take the kids out! They were so happy.






Our neighborhood turned out to be great for tricking and treating. There were quite a few young kids out and about. There were many houses decorated and a lot of families sitting out on their porches handing out candy. The kids had full bags after only two blocks! Max kept saying, "Okay Mom. Just two more houses!" And then Maddie would pipe up, "Nooooooo. I want to go to lots more houses!" She didn't understand that Max wanted to go to "two more houses" all night! We finally got them back inside to warm up with some hot chocolate before bed. (Hot Chocolate is Max's favorite drink lately.) ............... Trick or Treat! Dad saves Halloween! ...............

Boo! at the Zoo

After the film festival, we dropped Todd off at work and went over to the Brookfield Zoo for their annual Boo! at the Zoo celebration. The kids wanted to be in the costume parade. They had fun marching around with all the other kids in costume. Ace and Digger from the Planet Heroes were leading the parade. We walked up to see them and Ace waved at the kids and said, "Hey, two little astronauts! Cool!" After the parade, the kids got to drive cars on the Fisher-Price track, then play with all the newest toys from their toy line. The Planet Hero toys and the Kid Tough digital cameras were the favorites. After that, we went to see the preofessional pumpkin carver Steve Dahlke. He was working on a gigantic turtle pumpkin. It was a fun day, especially since the zoo gave out awesome treat bags on the way out that entertained the kids on the way home.

Chicago International Children's Film Festival

On Saturday October 27th, Todd and I took the kids to the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. The "Would you like to Swing On a Star?" showing was at the Wilmette Theatre and featured Laura's Christmas Star (Germany 2006, 61 minutes) and four short films: The Adventures of Chi-Chi (Korea, 2007, 4 min), The Flying Girl (Germany, 2005, 5 min), Bear Factory (USA, 2006, 2 min), The Little Shooting Star (Germany, 2005, 6 min). The kids loved the movies. They got to dress up in their astronaut costumes for the event and got a lot of compliments.

Maddie has the first Laura movie, "Laura's Star." It is about a girl rescues a fallen star who has lost one of its points. She helps it heal and they have magical adventures together. It is the perfect Maddie movie!