Definitely Wet and a little Wild! Our Wet 'n Wild Wednesday...

I've been telling the kids since last Wednesday that we would definitely, um...I mean, hopefully be going to Nana's house to swim today. We were planning on splashing around with the cousins, maybe play a fun water balloon game (I had a few in mind) but no, it didn't happen.

Myla had VBS this morning and I had lunch plans with my friend, Amanda. Why didn't we take a picture?! Grrr.... Anyway, so the plan to swim was always going to be a late afternoon/evening event.

But, at 2:12pm, this happened...

I was literally just talking on the phone to my dad, in sunny California, telling him that it might rain today. Within minutes of hanging up, it started pouring! (Don't worry, I was going a whole 15mph...slow enough to snap a quick pic.)

It came on so suddenly and it was a little scary to drive. 

Yeah, the swim adventure was not looking good at this point.

Once I got off the highway, it was a little better but still raining pretty hard. 

 Around 2:17pm...still raining...

Yep, gonna have to cancel swim plans.

BUT...at 2:18pm...not a drop. So strange. 

Well, maybe not?!

But, not so fast! Once I picked up the kids from the in-laws and got them down for nap/rest time, the rain picked up again. Lots of thunder...

So then this happened...

"MOM...", in the loudest whisper ever, "all of my babies are scared of the thunder so we are just going to come down here to rest, ok?"

Sure, ok...I was going to have to break it to her that we were definitely not going swimming so I let her comfort her babies and "rest" downstairs. 

So, moving on to plan B...I didn't really have one yet so hopped on Pinterest for an idea. 

SEARCH: indoor water activities

Found several fun ideas but then just decided to go with another simple water experiment. One every preschool or kinder teacher may know pretty well...Sink or Float?!

We could easily gather items around the house to predict and test. Fun!

Even did a Sink or Float activity this year with my 2nd graders using boats they made in science. Check it out HERE.

SINK OR FLOAT?

Materials

WATER
Large container (clear one would be best!)
Sink or Float Printables
Waterproof household items
Tablecloth or towels
"Little water lovers"

So, as Noah napped and Myla watched a movie, I made a recording and reflection sheet, and some prediction cards. So important to have that inquiry piece, even when they are little. Asking them what they think will happen is more engaging and also reveals if they have a clue what's going on. :)

Materials are ready!

So glad I thought to put this vinyl tablecloth on the table. You'll see why later. ;)

Once I had it all set up, it didn't take long for the kids to wonder what I was doing. 

M hopped right on up to the chair and said, "Ok, mom, I'm ready...what are we doing?"

After explaining to the kids, I had them each pick out 3 items to test. I did have to explain that we would need to use "waterproof" or "water-safe" items. We gave a few examples of what would not be waterproof...stuffed animal, mommy's phone, camera etc.

Once we had gathered our items, I wrote them down on our recording sheet. 

We chose a toy football, real apple, Jessie's (from Toy Story) hat, toy car, plastic golf ball, and a Lincoln log stick.

I introduced the sink or float prediction cards and we were ready to test our first object!

What do you think the football will do??

FLOAT!

I had Myla check off each item on our recording sheet to indicate if it floated or sank.

Next up...the Lincoln Log stick...Myla thought Sink and Noah thought Float.

FLOAT!

Apple! Noah was done using the prediction cards so Myla helped him out.

FLOAT!

Toy car...

SINK! 

Noah got this one right too!

 And then he got a little wet...

And so did his prediction cards. Maybe next time, we laminate them. :)

The most interesting object was Jessie's hat because it could float if put in this way.

OR sink if put in this way...

Hard to see, but we put it in the other way and it sank. 

So, the results are in...

Four items floated: apple, football, Lincoln log stick, plastic golfball

Two items sank: toy car, Jessie's hat (when put in the water a certain way and pushed down) hehe

And this is where it got a little wild...

Of course when you are around water you have to splash!

See for yourself...

Drinking water from the table? Yep...strange kids.

Soaking wet at this point...

I think they forgive me for not having a swim adventure, don't you? (There were some pouty faces and almost tears when I told them it wasn't happening earlier)

I'd call that a wet 'n wild time. :)

Once I got the drenched 3 year old off the table and dried off, Myla filled out the "reflection" sheet. 

We placed all the items in the container for her to look at and draw the items that floated and sank.

Way to go!

So, next Wednesday, we will see if we can fully submerge in some water but for this week, Plan B was a success!!

If you'd like a copy of the printables I made for this, you can find them HERE.

May I suggest laminating them and using dry erase markers instead?

Or else they will turn out like this...

Thanks for reading!!

Thoughtful Tuesday: The Trash and Thirsty Edition!

Our summer Tuesdays are all about serving others. As parents, service is a value we all want instilled within our kids, right? We want them to graciously lend a helping hand, offer up their seat, work hard and show compassion for others. Charity is something that starts at home and without charity, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:2, we are nothing. Ouch. I certainly don't want to raise "nothing" kids who may have faith but not have a gracious heart for others. It's the little things that we do that can turn into the big things. A simple act of kindness. (see last week's Thoughtful Tuesday HERE)

So, last night I asked M what we should do for our Thoughtful Tuesday. She didn't even hesitate to exclaim, "I know! We can go pick up litter!" Ok sounds like a plan to me.

I also knew we would be taking Sonic drinks up to Daddy and his coaches at the LHS Basketball camp. They work so hard, y'know, even in the summer. :)

Picking up trash and delivering drinks led to the title for this post...."The Trash and Thirsty Edition". I guess it's better than "The Thirst and Trashy" edition, eh??

Anyway, when I lay my head down to sleep last night, I had remembered Myla observing some construction workers near our house the other day. She noticed they were in all long sleeves. She asked why they were wearing long sleeves when it was so hot outside. "I bet they are thirsty!" So that gave me another idea....

We would deliver ice cold water bottles to construction workers! When I told the kids this morning, they thought that was a great idea! Noah exclaimed, "I'm gonna see a backhoe!!!"

And M started helping pack the cooler right away. 

We wouldn't be able to deliver before VBS so we put back in the fridge for later. 

But..we did have time to help mommy gather trash around the house! Convenient that it is trash day today!

He does want to be a garbage man when he grows up so this is perfect.

Leaving the trash can upside down like the real garbage men do. I wonder why??

While N and I gathered trash, M wanted to color a picture for her VBS teacher. Pretty thoughtful of her, I must say. ;)

Taking trash to the curb!

 Such a great helper :)

After trash was collected we were ready to get on with our day.

Dropped this sweet girl off at VBS for Day 2...

And took this little guy up to see Daddy and drop him off at Basketball camp for the morning session.    Y'know, to spend some quality father-son time...aren't I so thoughtful?! No, not really, Jeff said I could drop him by so I could go run some errands sans kiddos. I guess he's really the thoughtful one here. Thanks babe!

After I had run my errands, (gosh, 3 hours goes by really fast), I went by the house to pick up the cooler and trash bags. Then headed to the church to pick up Myla.  First stop was Sonic to get drinks to deliver to daddy and his coaches. Turns out only one other coach besides Daddy was thirsty....

Pointing out Coach Collier 

Delivering his drink...

Running around the gym...one of their most favorite things.

Saying goodbye to Daddy...

After a quick Sonic lunch in the car, we stopped to get gas then we were on our way to find some thirsty workers. 

We had the cooler in the front seat and our eyes peeled!

It didn't take us long to spot a few!

I had Myla count the workers we saw and we grabbed enough water bottles.

They stared at us strangely at first but I explained that we thought they might be thirsty and that today was "Thoughtful Tuesday". They were very appreciative.

 Big smiles made it worth it!

After our first stop, Myla got back in the car and said, "That was fun! Mom, we didn't even know them or anything!"

Yep, honey, that's it...we can help people we don't even know. 

Found another thirsty worker! He was nice to pose for a pic.

We did have a little talk about strangers and how all of this was ok since Mommy was with them. :) Probably an important detail.

We drove around for awhile and didn't see any workers nearby and decided we would stop at a park to pick up trash (and play). 

We so conveniently parked by an HV landscaper's truck. :) We gave him some water too but didn't get a pic. 

Picking up trash...

Park was pretty clean already...maybe picked up 4 total pieces. Way to go City of HV!

Noah just wanted to play....

We stopped to play for a whole 10 minutes before it got too hot,

When we were getting back in the car, Noah grabbed his play hammer out of the car and went over to this post and said, "Wook, Mommy, I'm working!"

So, we had Myla bring him some water. This was when I noticed the HV landscaper looking and laughing too..

Our last stop was at Briarhill MS, as we knew there were lots of workers helping renovate for the summer.

We only had 4 water bottles left in our cooler and passed them all out.

They were very happy and told us to come back anytime to which Myla said, "Ok, see ya next Tuesday!"

Once we pulled in the garage at home, I noticed that the kids, being kids, had trashed the back seat. Trash from lunch, trash from a couple days ago, trash possibly from weeks ago...mommies cars are always dirty, right? Or at least mine is! 

We gathered the trash to clean up the car. 

To reinforce our theme for the day, I told them how thoughtful it was to clean up our own mess and even when it isn't our mess (mostly it was Noah's) it is still thoughtful to help out.

That concludes our Thoughtful Tuesday. 

So the little things. The 4 pieces of trash we picked up at the park, the Sonic drinks delivered to Daddy and coaches, and even the bottled water delivered, all little things that hopefully make a difference. If anything, hoping it becomes a memory to the kids and a reminder in how they helped. It can be our simple gestures of service, of kindness, of love that are the very tools God uses to bless his children.

Before her rest time, I asked Myla if what we did today reminded her of Jesus. She nodded and said, "Yes, mommy...he helped people too."

Exactly, my love, He did.