A Fun Week

Dinner at the mall.  There were cute little tables for kids.

I was delighted to discover another free and indoor place to play here.

There is a soft play area at the mall.  

It is like the dinosaur area at the City Creek mall in SLC except it has a few animals and vehicles (fire truck, mail truck and police car).  The one here is also smaller, but also soft and fun!

The kids made bubble solution at the library for a preschool science activity.  Seth just loved it even though he was dripping a lot more than blowing bubbles.

Anika was very excited by the fact that we had made our OWN bubbles.

Bubble lovin'

Here's a picture showing what lunch and life is like here at our hotel.  The couch is moved a foot or so away from the wall so the kids can climb over and over and over it as well as play behind it.  The couch cushion and pillows are on the floor.  There are also dress-ups on the floor.  Our hotel room didn't have very many dishes, they are all glass, so I bought some kid-friendly dishes that I LOVE!  My friend, Audrey, told me about them and now I have an excuse to buy some :)  They are made from recycled milk jugs, but I especially love the deep, divided compartments.

My brother, Josh, happened to be near Alpharetta for a work trip this week so he 

stopped by and brought Koosh balls for the kids.  My sister was also here in Georgia on Friday, only for a stop in the airport.

We went to a special circus storytime where the kids got to have a stamp on their hand.  Seth was very excited.  

A clown from Ringling Bros is peeking out from his "backstage."

Sometimes it is really nice to have the kids just be quiet and watch a movie while I make lunch... especially if they aren't jumping on, pushing, hitting or fighting with one another!

Anika and I had a puzzle party.  The other day we did all the puzzles we brought with us to the hotel, but we didn't put them away before Seth woke up and pushed them all off into a mixed up mess.  So this is the picture after we sorted and did them all again.  This time we put them away right away.

Back to the mall, but this time to ride the carousel.

The escalator might be just as fun though!

Modeling the clown noses we got from the circus storytime.

Art at the library.  It doesn't get much better than painting and gluing.

Back the the library for a music show - just mom and Anika.

We also went to the YMCA four times this week.  I exercised while taking advantage of the free child care that comes with our membership.

Nathaniel came with us on Saturday.

Today/Sunday we went out for a little nature walk.  Anika was very into it and would say things like, "Come on, Nature Trackers!"  We walked through the "forest" behind our hotel over to an office park where we jumped over painted parking stall lines and found a partially frozen fountain to play at for awhile.

Anika randomly stated some of the rules to abide by during our nature walk.

She would say them in this way:

Rule #1 - If you see a wolf, run!

Rule #5 - If you see any sharks, run all the way home.

(Rule #5 was added at the fountain)

Summer Pictures

Playing Uno Attack at my first House Party, a Mattel game party.

Taking turns with intense Whac-a-Mole challenges.

Group picture with Shantel & Aaron, Jared & Susie, and Emily and Ben.

I found Seth napping in 1/4th of his bed and not on the mattress.  He folded up one side of the mattress and went to sleep there.  Funny... but not exactly safe.

Anika and Seth are using water to paint rocks with Zach and Addison.

One of my favorite simple, low-mess activities. 

We did this a lot last summer.

Addie lived a few doors down from us in Orem.  She is a bit older than Anika but they played a lot last summer.  Addie was patient and sweet with Anika, and fun for Seth too.  Sometimes she would knock on our door several times a day - even as early as 7 or 7:30 in the morning :)

Mud mouth.  Mmmm.

  

Anika is making "soup" by adding any collection of nature items to water.

She probably has some blossom petals, grass and rocks in there.  Maybe some pine cones, wood chips, dandelions or dirt too.

"Soup's On!"

Anika's Pictures

 These are some the pictures that Anika took with her disposable birthday camera...

Our potential house

Me in the front yard

Name that movie!

Our hotel living room with some princess coloring pages on the wall.

Party and Preschool

This past week we did A LOT of homework on houses (especially one) and then decided to buy one.  We made an offer on Wednesday.  On Thursday we were waiting to hear back, then Friday the seller said she received and accepted another offer.  We were not excited to start over and not sure how we felt about that.  We reconsidered other houses we had seen.  We found more houses to go see.  Friday we saw a house for the 4th time and did some serious number crunching on the updates it needed.  Then on Saturday we were just about to see our first of 4 new houses when our Realtor texted us saying that the seller of the house we made an offer on said the buyers backed out.  We saw the 4 homes and decided our offer still stands, and now we are under contract.  So as long as things go through, this will be our house...

Here is Anika sporting Nathaniel's belt.

I have tried to continue some sort of preschool with Anika in our hotel for a lot of reasons.  We review the pledge, alphabet and counting.  I have been following along with the preschool I was doing with neighbors, so we work on a specific letter and number (or two), learn the same nursery rhyme her preschool friends are learning, and then do some variety of random things I feel up to or that relate to the unit theme.  We have colored a lot of pictures, done puzzles and dot-to-dots.  We made jello.  We made bandaids out of felt to go in her doctor kit and also to use to practice prepositions. We have even had show-and-tell.

Making felt bandaids to practice prepositions

We went to the Belnap's house for Sunday dinner on the 12th.  Michelle invited me to her ward's playgroup. She also invited me and the kids to come play at her house one morning.  This is the family that Nathaniel stayed with while he was in Georgia working before we officially moved here.  Her husband is our Orem bishop's brother, and their daughter is in our Orem ward.  They have been a great connection to have here, and amazingly helpful.

Jello.  So fun to make, but just not healthy :(

We attended storytime at two different libraries this week.  Sadly it made me miss the Orem and Provo Libraries more :(  It was good to get out of the hotel though.

We tried to surprise Anika and take her to a bounce house play place for her birthday.  We braved the terrible Georgia traffic and made the 10 minute drive in 30 minutes only to find out that Monkey Joe's closed at 6pm; minutes before we had arrived.  But we went back Saturday morning which probably gave us more time anyway.  Anika has been asking to go to a bounce house play place for awhile... since early last August.  We went to one in St. George during our Hardman Family Reunion and she has been wanting to go back ever since.

We have been looking for fun and active things to do to get out of the hotel, so that was another reason we went.  We also started Kindness Cup (or should I say Kup?) that gets filled up with pom poms to earn a fun family activity.  Anika filled her cup and technically also earned her "birthday party."  So for three reasons we went :)  

Right now she earns pom poms specifically for happily listening when we ask her to do things.  It really works!  It has helped her a lot which has been really good for me :)  I hope it really helps her learn, too, and want to act this way without bribes.  It is sooooo much better to hear, "Sure, Mom."  Sometimes it seems to get her sweetness on a roll and then she does all sorts of nice things.  I feel like that is the real sweet girl I know.

Monkey Joe's was fun for me too.  I love watching my kids have fun, and it was so nice to NOT be in the hotel.  The kids were happy and pleasant and had room to move and run instead of whining, fighting, yelling, making messes and watching TV.  It has been cold outside and there is nothing to do nearby.  But we do have a nice view of our closed outdoor pool here at the hotel.

Sethy swimming with Mr. Crab.

Happy Birthday, Anika!