Jon & Kate Plus 8 - Color Me Gosselin

Color Me Gosselin
In an effort to get everyone out of the house and have some fun, Jon and Kate take the kids to a crayon factory.

~*~

This has all the makings for disaster - Kate and coloring items. A mixture that I don't think is going to work out so well.

Since it's winter time, the kids are cooped up inside and are starting to get cabin fever. But since there's a fresh layer of snow, the kids are bundling up and heading outside. Hopefully they can burn off some energy.

Jon and Kate get the kids all bundled into the snowsuits. Seeing that they have 8 kids to bundle, I completely agree that it takes them forever to get them all ready. Kate says as soon as the kids head outsides, she runs back into the kitchen and makes some hot chocolate. As they all get ready with boots and head outside, someone undoubtedly has to go potty. While I admit that sometimes they are lazy parents, but that is a *lot* of kids to get ready.

The kids had a blast playing outside. Since the slide had some snow on it, they could slide down their slide extra fast. Looked super fun.

In a way to get the kids out, Jon and Kate decided to take the kids to the Crayola Factory. The first thing the family did was go into a private room and get served lunch. But the cutest part about lunch was when Joel announced to the camera that he has a "wiener" and so do Daddies.

After everyone had finished eating, the kids got a sticker and a tour through the factory. They started with a demo showing the kids how they made orange crayons. I loved that episode of Reading Rainbow, so I'm sure the kids loved seeing it in person. Each kid also got to have a package of crayons that they saw being made, too.

During a potty break, Kate's shrill yelling returned. Then she determined that they were *not* going to do anything messy. So the kids started to do modeling clay. She refused to let them have fun or use markers. Um, doesn't Crayola make washable markers? Poor Collin started eating his modeling clay though. Good thing it's non-toxic! The kids look like they are having fun making sculptures and playing with their clay. A meltdown starts when Mady gets upset when she can't use a marker.

Kate interjects about her stain removal process. She claims she spends an entire day on stain removal and doesn't want the kids to look gross. They're little kids! Let them have fun!

The family realizes it time to move to another station to play and they head to puppet making. The little kids seem happy to glue some stuff and color some more, but Cara and Mady didn't seem happy that it was kind of crowded. So Kate first sends Mady to time out. The poor girl was just completely overwhelmed and ended up crying it out on a bench with Jon. He lets her vent and then she returns back to crafts. Cara then has to go to the bathroom and Jon takes her. Mady tries to get back into crafts and Kate kind of dismisses her, she starts crying, and Mady gets sent back to the bench.

The meltdowns continue as Cara gets mad that she can't do a station that she wants to do. Kate explains that it's due to the fact that she has 3 year old siblings. Somehow, I think Kate can be more accommodating and let the girls do a more grown up station nearby. The other kids continued to meltdown and they determined it was time to leave. More than likely a good idea.

SassySarah's Review: A good idea gone bad with a control-freak mom who won't let her kids have fun. One thumb down.