Balls and Pins

 Call us crazy but we wanted to try something new for the kids for playgroup. Who knew that a bunch of preschoolers would have so much fun bowling. They all loved it. They played 2 games and stayed focused the whole time.The concept of having to wait and take turns was a little hard at first and occasionally someone would bowl down the wrong lane but they all carried their own balls and pushed them down all by them selves (not that it's to tricky but for preschoolers I am willing to offer up credit where credit it due) This ally offers a special summer deal where kids get 2 free games every day during the summer and I think we all agreed that we will be filling in our to hot to play outside days with bowling.

I just have to brag a little but Kyle who was the youngest one there by 2 years won both games and both lanes! I am not sure how he did it but I was impressed! 

Glitter, food, and eggs

One of the things I love about our playgroup is that everyone is always up for a good party. Easter was no exception. I love celebrating with friends on a special separate day from the actual holiday. I know I said that I hate taking from the sanctity of the holiday, but if it's on a separate day and the focus is all about fun with friends isn't it okay? I think so! So Party on!

This year Stacey hosted the party and it was a blast. She had some fun activities planned for the kids and even bunny shaped pasta for lunch. The kids started out by decorating bunny rice crispy treats. I am not sure if there was more munching or decorating going on. Can't put candy in front of kids and expect that they won't eat half of it. That's all part of the fun!After decorating the treats there were butterflies to decorate with fun glitter glue pens. It was a huge hit! what kiddo doesn't love something they can squeeze and spread it all goopy around and sparkles add an extra little bonus.

Everyone was pretty full and satisfied from the bunny treats but they gave a good effort to eat a little lunch. After they all had a few bites they took a few minutes to unwind and watch a little Easter Charlie Brown movie while a couple mommas hid the eggs. A few of the kids tried to escape and I am pretty sure I made a little enemy with Lauren when I caught her halfway out the door and told her she had to come back in, hopefully though before she's 4 she'll forgive me.

 (Kyle might have had a little help with his)

The kids had a great time and I think the older they get the funner throwing parties get (duh right?). It's just different to experience it than to just think it. Love our playgroup. Love our friends. Love parties and can't wait for our next on.

Easter 2012

Somehow even though in my head I was planning and prepping for it Easter snuck up on me. Somehow I managed to pull it all off. I owe a small thanks to Target's dollar section. The kid's baskets were a huge hit and 90% of everything in them was from the dollar bins. Call me cheap, but seriously I don't want the kids growing up expecting a big hoopla like Christmas. We already take away from the sanctity of one holiday, I would hate to ruin 2 of them. Don't get me wrong. I love to "spoil" the kids, but there is just something about when they ask about what they are getting as if that expectation is already in their heads that they need to receive something for the day to be special. YUCK! I want to raise them with stronger morale than that. 

 Alright now as I climb down from my soapbox and slip back into the holiday spirit, I'll tell you all about our fun day. We did keep it low key with baskets, church, and an egg hunt. Kyle was SO excited. All he talked about for days were the eggs that the bunny left for us. Every time he'd see an egg and even now he gets excited and starts jumping up and down while chanting egg.

We decided to skip the big dinner this year since we have no table to eat it at (it broke in storage). We just felt it wouldn't be the same. All the same though we spent the day loving on each other, squeezed in a little family nap, and played games together. A beautiful Sunday.

Toddlertime

With Lilly in her co-op now 2 days a week it has given me some more time to spend one on one with Kyle. Ziff and I have both tried to take advantage of this and we have both found that Kyle has mellowed out a little in the past few months. One of the things we wanted was to get him into some of the classes we did with Lilly. She did some swimming, yoga, and art classes and through them she has met some of her closest friends. So with this great experience to back us up we enrolled Kyle in his first class.

It's called Toddlertime and just focuses on him. He gets a little free time to play with the other kids, then a story and snack, a little art and then some kind of music and movement or free play at the end. It's only an hour long so after dropping of Lilly we go and have some fun in class and then we get to go home and still have and hour or so to play and read together. On the weeks that I teach the co-op Ziff has had the opportunity to take Kyle and I have to say I think they both really like having that bonding time.

Kyle has a place where his sister isn't there and it's just kids his age and it's all about things that are focused on his age group. Looking back at before he started I can see that he has started to blossom and come into his own a little more. He knows when we pull up to the building where he is going and when his feet hit the sidewalk he starts running.

 

It's good to have the opportunities to focus on each child as an individual and give them the opportunities to experience their parents attention in a one on one level. Since he seems to enjoy it we have signed him up for another round as well.

Dancin' Dumplin'

Lilly has been asking for a while now to take dance classes. We finally decided to take the plunge and enroll her and she LOVES it! It is more of an intro to dance but a great stepping stone into other dance classes. A dance leotard is required and Lilly was pretty excited to get one. She wore it for the next 48 hours. Her teacher has said she is very focused and through watching her I have noticed she won't move on until she has mastered something. All of the kids were asked to walk on a line and most of the kids just kind of stumbled across it maybe walking on it and maybe not, but when it was Lilly's turn she moved slowly and made sure she stayed on the line like she was asked.

Her teacher has been teaching for many years and has a natural way with the kids. She teaches them skills that will carry with them into other dance classes and she makes the class fun. After class she becomes a chatter box and before we get home she has recounted her whole class for us at least twice. It cracks me up because it seems like as soon as she gets in her seat and has her snack in hand, she gets that green light to release all of her information. At nap time and bedtime she'll recount it again for me as I lay her down and spend a few minutes asking about her day. She has already asked if she can keep taking the class forever so we have signed her up for another 4 week session after that we'll see what happens and decide if we'd like to move her into a more specific dance class like ballet or tap.

 (Lilly is the only one who was able to hold her whole body up and lift one leg)

I am not sure what her future holds. Maybe she will become a ballerina and we will get to sit front row and watch her dance Swan Lake or maybe she'll tap on Broadway or maybe she will become a doctor or even a housewife, but what I do know is I love to see that smile as she runs into class and her focus as she tries diligently to get each move just right. That right there is priceless.