Poking marshmallows with toothpicks

So we are home this week with Lana on Spring Break. We didn't have anything planned, just a non-eventful "staycation". Monday was beautiful, except Tanner wouldn't let me run my errands. He threw a fit before I even got him out of the car in the Target parking lot. (Something about me not letting him bring his ginormous Little Tykes car into the store.) I just buckled him (and Lana) back up and went home. I made the kids play outside in the back yard and then later that afternoon we played with the neighborhood kids at the playground.

Tuesday I thought we'd try again. We were almost out of the house. I was in the bathroom doing Lana's hair when all the sudden I noticed how quiet it was in the house. Tanner?? Tanner??!! What are you doing???!! I come out to find him covered in a white powdery substance. No, not anthrax. Turns out Tanner discovered a open box of baking soda. Looking back I should've taken pictures but I was more concerned about getting it vacuumed up before the kids tracked it all over the house. Tanner already knew he was in trouble and headed straight for his room and closed the door. Luckily the rest of Tuesday was uneventful.

Today it is too cold to really enjoy being outside so we've spent all morning inside. The kids were getting a little crazy and I needed a few minutes free of crying, whining, tattle-tale-ing, screaming, etc. So I pulled out a bag of those nasty mini fruity marshmallows that the kids love so much, some toothpicks and let them go to town.

Lana made all sorts of contraptions.

• Rockets
• A compass (she didn't know what it was called, she called it the thing that points the direction)
• A rocket with a compass
• Shapes of all sorts
• A snowman
• And a whole bunch of hammers

Tanner enjoyed poking the marshmallows and making hammers (he was the one who first figured out the hammer shape and then Lana ran away with the idea).

And then of course, he devoured his creations! 30 whole minutes of peace and quiet. Totally worth cleaning up Tanner's spit out, mushed up marshmallows he left for me on the floor.