On Thursday night, the kids and I were invited to an advanced look at the Maryland Science Center’s new fully interactive exhibit Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World presented by Terminix.

What a night.

Hosted by Harry, a Chinese praying mantis, and his insect friends, Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World! takes visitors on a unique multi-sensory journey through the habitats, sights, sounds and social structures of some of  nature’s smallest and most important contributors.

Your kids will adore it.

{My boy’s favorites were the scorpion and tarantula. Shocking, I know.}

My advice? Visit on a weekend when the special programming is in full swing.

On weekends trained entomologists from the Audubon Insectarium, allow you to get up-close-and-personal with the stars of the exhibit… the bugs!

Their specially designed interactive games and competitions had us in stitches. What kid wouldn’t want to know how far they can spit a cricket? Or root for their fav roach in the Roach Race, or  hang out in the Bug Petting Zoo?

Or even try an insect delicacy cooked up by the Bug Chef? Yes. You read right. THE BUG CHEF. If bug cuisine is on your bucket list, then this exhibit will be right up your alley…

{See how much I love my readers?  Yes, I ate a bug for my blog. It was, not surprisingly, rather crunchy. My kids haven’t kissed me in days.}

Important deets:

Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World! will be open during regular museum hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Please note special weekend programming.) Entrance to the exhibit is included in museum admission. For ticket and admission information, call Maryland Science Center at 410-685-2370 or visit www.marylandsciencecenter.org for more information.

Why is it that I am so busy from an overabundance of work/family obligations that I can’t find time to eat yet don’t manage to loose A STINKING OUNCE?

Why is it that I can clean for days to prepare for my in-laws visiting but my mother-in-law can find hours worth of things to clean while she is here?

Why is it that my son claims that he brushes his teeth every morning but that his toothbrush is a permanent, hard, cementy mess that wouldn’t even be fit for scouring toilets?

Why is it that when I actually have quiet time to sit down to write a blog post I find that I have nothing to say?

ANYONE?

IT IS A FLASHBACK FRIDAY, GANG! I’m gonna be honest, I am so busy prepping for Momz Share tomorrow night that I won’t be able to do a full post.  Hang in there with me, promise it will be back to normal on Sunday…errr… Monday!

THINGS I STILL DO FOR MY KIDS BUT AM ASHAMED TO ADMIT (Originally posted in June of 2009)

When it comes to my kids, I have a secret. Well, actually, I have a couple.

I am ashamed to admit it, but there are a couple things that I do for my kids that are totally UNCALLED FOR.

There is no need for me to do them.  I totally realize that my kids are growing up and that I need to promote their independence.

No need to preach, I GET IT.

But still, I find myself performing some of the same tasks day in and out that I KNOW that they should be able to do by now. For example:

START THEIR APPLES-  This is stupid. But, okay, here it is. When my kids want to eat an apple they still ask me to start it for them. What I mean is, well… they want me to take the first bite for them. They  claim it is too hard.  Yes, I know they are lying through their little Chicklet-sized teeth. I  know what they really need is to “man up” and conquer the apple on their own. I know that it is clearly a toddler right of passage and that my boys are technically the “big kids on the bus.”  Shut up.

SLEEP WITH THEM – I don’t do it all the time, alright? Okay, who am I kidding? There are many a night that you will find me curled up under my (um, I mean THEIR) blue dinosaur covers waiting for sleep to engulf me while my poor husband spends the evening watching Rocky movies shivers all lonely-like and forgotten in the parent’s room.

PUT THEIR SHOES ON- Oh holy moley, people.  Don’t get all shocked on me here. Sometimes it is just easier AND FLIPPIN’ FASTER than waiting for the little monsters to accomplish it on their own. I just want to get out the door, okay? Is that too much to ask? I just want to get out the door and to work on time, or to the grocery store this year, or to the pool before night falls. Am I asking too much?

DRY & DRESS THEM – Now, in my defense, this is purely a survival technique. If I don’t dry them off and dress them immediately after they shower then we will have nothing less than screaming, wet, naked banshees streaking through the neighborhood house for the rest of the night. Boys love to be naked. And they love to scream. And to run. It is the stuff of nightmares.  I have to put the kibosh on it before all hell breaks loose. Really, it is for your protection. Not mine.

So there you have it.

Now you know.

DON’T FORGET: I’m hosting a Blogher2010 cash sponsorship giveaway from SEED!  Find out more here!

We play a little game in my family to express our love an affection for one another. I don’t quite remember how it started.  I think we saw it in a movie and the boys picked up on it somehow.  Or maybe they invented it.  Who knows?

Anyway, it goes something like this:

Tiny Ninja:  Mom, I love you more than Twizzlers!

Mom:  I love YOU more than chocolate!

Ninja:  I love YOU more than ice cream sundaes!

and so on and so on…. Of course, my mom got involved and everything went crazy from there.  (Naturally!) Now it sounds like this:

Young Jedi:  Mom-Mom, I love you more than cricket heads!

Mom-Mom:  I love YOU more than turkey buzzards!

You Jedi:  I love YOU more than dog breath!

So that is how we express our love for each other. You should see people’s faces when they hear us in the parking lot at WalMart or at the movie theater!

Priceless.

(BTW – I love my blog readers more than fish guts and chocolate cupcakes!)

Costco.

I love Costco.

Costco has done more for my children’s food palate then Rachel Ray ever could.

My kids are picky eaters. They are the kind of kids that won’t eat if one food on the dinner plate has dared to encrouch on another food’s territory.

Oh no. Food does not mix and mingle with one another. It is the number one food rule in my house. The corn is eaten alone. The potatoes are eaten alone.

We do not mix in this family.

But I digress…

For whatever reason, my children’s staunch food rules are abandoned when they pass through the doors of Costco.

In Costco, the little rascals will eat anything presented to them by a stranger in a hair net.

It is unbelievable. They’ll try anything. And the little buggers will LIKE IT!

They’ll try spiced turkey sausage with feta cheese, smoked bruschetta on french bread, grilled steak, chicken quesidillas, casseroles, 28 different kinds of cheeses, blended fruit drinks, exotic vegetables, and the list goes on and on…

So my husband and I invariably end up sprinting around the store scarfing up warehouse sized packages of EVERYTHING that the kids tried, enthralled with the miracle of food diversity we just witnessed our children indulge in.

Oh happy day!

And then, when we get it all home and serve it to them ourselves… they don’t eat it.

I’m seriously thinking of hiring someone with a hair net to come over and feed my children.