marshmallow mania

So, I eventually got what Maddy had, and it's taken a few nights of 10 + hours of sleep to help me shake it. Needless to say, we're all slowly getting back in the game. Slowly.

Luckily, we were all healthy enough to attend The Polar Express at the Meyerhoff on Saturday morning, and it far
exceeded our expectations. It was incredible, and it will definitely be a part of our holiday activities for years to come.

Today, while my husband sat in the cold, cheering for a losing Redskins team, Maddy, Owen, Cora, and I spent some time making goodies for my sister and brother-in-law before running to the library and to our pals' house for dinner.

Knowing that we didn't have time to make today our full-fledged Christmas cookie-baking bonanza day, I thought that we'd sweeten up my sister's Sunday with some Rice Krispie Treats.

But before we melted our marshmallows, I let my little engineers have some fun building and letting their imaginations run wild.

• Marshmallow Mania: I had a bag and a half of tiny marshmallows, so before I hit the stove top, I asked my helpers if they had ever used marshmallows like building blocks. As Owen tried unsuccessfully to stack several, I brought out the toothpicks, stuck a marshmallow on either end, and Maddy said, Hey! It's a barbell!

Maddy's marshmallow frame

I added two other toothpicks with a marshmallow in between each, and Owen said immediately, Now it's a triangle. I know!

And that's all we did for awhile--stood at the counter building things with marshmallows and toothpicks--in between eating them, of course.

Cora's marshmallow-toothpick letters

I found it really interesting to see how they handled it--Maddy went right to making a marshmallow-toothpick frame, and Owen just kept connecting, and connecting, and connecting. He helped me with my 'table' and then went back to making his marshmallow chain.

Cora has begun a 'C'-making roll, so she first made what she called a 'Y' (it really resembled a 'V' but then turned it and said, Mommy! Here is my letter 'C'!

As the marshmallows began to diminish and the toothpicks started to be used as tiny pokers, we finished up our creations and turned our attention to melting some of our (untouched--I promise!) marshies and making some Rice Krispie Treats.

This kind of free play for our little ones is so important, not only to work their fine motor skills but to stretch their little imaginations as well.

And that was it for today, just some sticky, sweet marshmallow fun!