Living Sand Review

One of Monster's favorite items he got this year for Christmas is the Living Sand. This stuff is truly amazing. It is called sand but it does not feel really like sand. It has a soft feel to it and you can mold it! The best thing is it will never dry out! I have had it out now since we got back from Houston and never once have I covered it and it doesn't feel dry at all. It is very hard to resist too! Every time one of the family members walks by, they can't help but play with it.

It came with this tub, all the pieces you see and 4 lbs of the sand for $60! Great price if you compare it to some others we had looked at before. 

We play with this daily. I think this is great for sensory. I wasn't sure how Monster would respond to it since he is not a fan of getting his hands dirty, but since it doesn't leave anything on your hands when you are done or while playing with it, he loves it! 

From this picture you can tell the texture of the sand. Not like real sand at all but still has somewhat of a sand feel. 

You can find this product at: The Gadget Experience

Most places have it for $79 or above. They have it for $59.99. For a product that your kids will enjoy for quite some time and it will never dry out, I think that price is worth it! 

They have a ton of great information on their website about the product for any questions you might have! Please check it out and see how wonderful this product really is! 

*I chose to do this review. Monster got this product for Christmas from his Uncle Michael and I wanted to share it's awesomeness with everyone. :) 

Cookie Making Day

We had so much fun with our friends today making cookies. The kids had such a great time. The boys played outside till it was time to decorate while the girls actually helped cut out the cookies. This group of kids are such great kids.

Tomorrow we have nothing planned. We are going to play catch up with all our school work and do a fun art project. 

Dallas Zoo Trip

Yesterday we took another field trip! This time to the Dallas Zoo. Monster had a great time. He loved all the animals. He told me his favorite was the birds and now he has decided that he wants a pet bird. We went the zoo with several of our  homeschooling friends. I am glad we have such a great group with a great range of kids. They all get along great. The zoo was a big success. 

Monster petting the goat. 

He loved getting to feed the birds and "hold" them. This face was because he saw all the birds flying around! 

Monster and his new friend! 

Monster even loved the snakes! 

Monster on the elephant! 

Even though it is blurry I had to share this one. This little animal was following Monster back and forth. It was so cute! 

Today we are going over to a fellow homeschool family's house to make cookies! Monster is very excited! 

"Ice" Skating in Dallas

Today we went on another field trip. I think that makes two for us so far this year! ( I haven't even posted pictures of the first one yet!) We decided to take the children to the Klyde Warren Park in Downtown Dallas. It is a neat little park they built on an overpass. For the holiday season they brought in an "ice" skating rink. You might be wondering why I have the quotation marks. Well, we live in Texas not New York. Our weather here is forever changing. I mean just last week we had an ice storm and then this week we are out in the 60 degree weather. See what I mean. So, you can imagine that an outdoor ice skating rink just might not work here. Well, instead of using ice, they used some kind of plastic that is super slick. We all still used ice skates, but it was way harder than regular ice skating! The children loved it though. We ended up skating for a bit, then headed over and played on the little playground. The children had a blast. We had lunch in downtown, then walked over to Neiman Marcus and the children played in their tunnels they have going through the windows! They LOVED it! I didn't get any pictures of that on my camera but I did on Instagram if you follow there. ( www.instagram.com/kwood1983 ). Here are some photos. (* you will only see photos of Monster, not of our friends due to safety and privacy)

Wordless Wednesday

"Snow" play

I found this really neat idea over at 1+1+1=1 ( I really love her blog!!!). I thought even though she used it on her youngest that my Monster who is nearly seven would still like it. I wasn't 100% sure since Monster tends to not like things on his hands, but I wanted to try it. He did last about ten minutes before he decided he needed to wash his hands. I told him I would leave the activity out for the week if he wanted to explore it more. Right now I have a lid on it but like in her post I want to also let it dry out and try the vinegar with it. I think Monster might enjoy that a lot more. So the set up is really easy. This can really be used for most ages as long as they are not at that stage of putting things in their mouth,

You need a large enough box. I used a clear plastic one from the dollar store.
A can of shaving cream.
A box of baking soda.

Put all the can of shaving cream in the box, use the baking soda and mix it in the shaving cream. Then PLAY!!!! I think it would of been a little bit easier for Monster with a larger box, but this is what I had on hand.

Still iced in!

Today I ventured out some ( in our yard) to take some new pictures of the ice we have. Hoping tomorrow with the weather warming up it will melt so we can get out of the house!

Iced in and no where to go!

Since we are ice in we brought out the window clings I bought back in Houston. Monster enjoyed this, however not sure if because the window is so cold or what the manger one won't stick. :( Hoping once it warms up above 20 degrees they will stick better! 

Daddy and Monster making my birthday cake! Monster told me that because I haven't blown out my candles yet I am not 30 yet. I like his thinking! I just may not blow out any candles this year!

Woke up to....

ICE!!!! I let Monster for outside for just a little bit to feel the branches covered in ice. He also walked out into the yard and said the ice was crunchy beneath his feet. It is pretty I will say that but I hate it. I hate cold. I hate being cold. I hate that I can't go anywhere. I hate that it iced today of all days. Why is that? Because today I turned 30 and I am stuck inside... :( but thankfully I am with my husband and son and we are warm and have power!!! A lot of people are without power in our area and we were lucky that ours stayed on! My awesome husband and wonderful Dad bought me a nice new camera for my birthday. I took some pictures of the ice with my new camera! Enjoy! 

And we are BACK!!!

These last few weeks seem to have flown by. We have been super busy with getting work done and having fun in between. We also went on a field trip and a trip to Houston for Thanksgiving. Here are some update! 

We went to the Galleria in Dallas to see their HUGE tree and do some shopping. 

We went to Sea Life Aquarium in Grapevine for their homeschooling week. Monster LOVED it. Totally worth the drive and we will be going again. I have more pictures to post of this but they are on my other computer and I will do a post on that separate when I get them off. This place was great for kids!

Monster also did some work while we waited for Sea Life to open.

While it was cool weather, we went to the park several times and collected lots of large acorns. They are huge. 

Monster on our trip to Houston. 

Monster working in his Thanksgiving lapbook. I pulled things from several websites, so once I get a chance to write a post about the lapbook I will update with links. I am working on putting his Christmas one together now. 

While in Houston we kept the twins busy with lots of crafts on Thanksgiving day. 

We took Monster to Holiday in the Park at Six Flags over Texas this past weekend. He loved it. He rode several rides and had a lot of fun. Thankfully we got to do this before we got the cold weather! 

Yesterday, we went to have lunch with Hubby and stopped by the mall to have some dip and dots. Thankfully we did this yesterday while the weather was 79. Today our weather is below freezing! 

Monster's holiday picture! Thanks to my sister for getting this picture for me!! My mom and sister put together the bow ties and suspenders for the kids!