Trip to Boston Museum of Science

Warning this post is very pic heavy. In honor of Alex's 4th birthday we took him into Boston to the Museum of Science. We all had a lot of fun!

Climbing into a beehive

Checking out the bubbles in the Mathematics exhibit

Pretending to be a rabbit

Electricity in a plasma tube

"Cliff" 65 million year old Triceratops skeleton

Measuring his hand in a T-Rex foot print

Dad and Alex with a Triceratops model skeleton

Measuring the length of a dino

T-Rex

Close up view of frogs

Gecko exhibit

Giant grasshopper

Brushing some giant teeth

Giant Lite Brite

Lots of Alex's in the Optical Illusion exhibit

Robot Alex in the gift shop

A Birthday Sensory Bin

 In honor of Alex's 4th Birthday coming up this week, I whipped up a little birthday sensory bin. It is all from stuff I had around the house, but it is a great hit with him. He has been playing with it on and off all day.

So what's inside?

• Some colored rice from a previous bin
• Multi-colored pom poms
• Birthday candles
• four silicone cupcake liners 
• Some marbles
• Some alphabet blocks leftover from Alex's 2nd birthday cake
• A few little spiky balls
• Ice cream scoop 
• A empty spice container
• Kaleidoscope 

 Alex likes to make "cupcakes" for everyone in the house.

My Baby Started Preschool!

We "unexpectedly" enrolled Alex in preschool for the rest of the year. We went in a couple of weeks ago for a tour and he fit right in and loved it. Since they have open enrollment they said "He could start next week." What?! I don't think I'm ready. LOL He is ready though, and we knew it was a good decision. He needs more peer interaction. His first official day was Valentine's Day, which he loved because they had a party with plenty of Valentine's and sugary treats. The school was so fast to notify the other kids/ parents of Alex being a new student that he even got lots of Valentine's. He did great! The next couple days went well too. He did cry a couple times because some took the color crayon he wanted (only child not use to sharing),but overall he did very good. He is already on vacation. That's ok....I need to ease into this school thing. He is my baby on his 1st day.

Alex checking out all his Valentine's.

The Valentine he made Mommy and Daddy at school.

This week is birthday week. Alex turns 4 on Sunday! We plan on taking a trip to Boston to the Museum on Science. I hope to get in a few other birthday surprises too.

Groundhog's Day

Since Groundhog's Day is a couple days away, we decided to do some groundhog related activities. We talked about what a groundhog is, and how some people think that they can predict the weather. We are hoping for a early spring.

Alex did some worksheets from 2Teaching Mommies' adorable Groundhog Mini Unit.

We did a cute groundhog face craft that is made from using mostly hearts. I cut out all the shapes and Alex glued them on and added the whiskers. I saw this craft on Pinterest, the original post and directions are from here.

Alex is fascinated with cutting so I let him practice cutting some scraps with his preschool scissors. I think we need to invest in a better pair. Anyone have some suggestions for a pair of good beginner scissor for a 3 year old?

Of course we read a couple of groundhog books that we borrowed from the library.

I Heart Faces {Oh So Silly}

 My "Oh So Silly" little man, modeling some Mr. Potato Head glasses.

Check out all the silliness at I Heart Faces Photo Challenge

Valentine Tree

It was a really cold rainy day today, so we decided to stay in our pj's and do a little Valentine craft. We made a Valentine tree using some various stamping techniques.

The "tree trunk" was created by Alex's hand and arm print. The red hearts were made using a potato stamp.

The other light purple heart was created from a heart shaped tp roll.

We also read some Valentine books that we borrowed from the library.

Valentine Sensory Bin

We were long over due for a new sensory bin. Since Valentine's Day is coming up I decided to create a Valentine/heart themed one.

I had everything on hand, some left over from last year's Valentine sensory bin. Inside the bin there is:

• Red, pink and purple pom poms (thanks to craftprojectideas.com)
• Cotton balls
• Red and purple sparkly pipe cleaners (thanks to craftprojectideas.com)
• Small heart boxes
• Some hearts cut out of craft foam
• A small mailbox
• Some last years Buzz Lightyear Valentines

It was a hit and Alex is having a great time exploring and playing mail man, delivering Valentine's.