A New Adventure for Mimi

Mai must think we are crazy.  She joined Kathy and I for a fun Ikea play date but man oh man she was not used to letting Mira run around and play at a store in the way we do at ikea.  The kids really do make themselves right at home, climbing into the beds, playing with the toys, flipping through the books, hiding in the closets and making a huge mess.  We ensured her the girls do eventually clean up after themselves and since they have never actually broken anything the staff doesn't mind, we come a lot and almost always spend money.  The kids of course had an excellent time.

Ikea with Chloe

Cooking at Tyler's

Little Princesses!

The Routine!

 So the girls have gotten a little play routine down now when Chloe has been coming over.  First they decide to go into Holly's room to play, no mommies allowed, we have to stay in the living room with Baby Dylan.  Next they pull out princesses of some type, on this day I let them do the squeakies. After that it is usually some dress-up.  They decided they wanted to do a fashion show, I think they changed 4-5 times each and we had to clap after each outfit, sadly my pictures of most of them came out dark.  Lastly they usually end the play date making a big mess in the kitchen as its the one place I usually let them, it is fast to clean up.  Chloe has been coming over on Wednesday after Gymnastics which is also the night Tanta Kat comes over for Family dinner.  On this day she was still around when Kat came so the girls went outside for a few minutes and played with her while Kathy got Dylan ready for the drive home.  Speaking of which, he is so big now, he is playing with toys and sitting up.  He is pulling up and will be crawling soon.  It was a fun play date.  Holly tells me how she misses Chloe several times each week, so it has been nice to at least have one steady play date with her where we know we will get together once a week, its not as much as she would like or as much as we used to see her, but she is happy for the fun times she does get to spend with her.  As Holly would say, "It's hard to grow up and it is hard to say goodbye to your friends when its time to go" I've been trying to help her with her emotional self regulation and when she is sad or upset we try to verbalize her feelings and talk through them, I think it helps and she is picking up little mantra's for tough times like saying goodbye at the end of a fun day.

Happy 5th Birthday Griffin - 11/13/10

Happy Birthday Griffin, you are such a big boy now!Here is Amber and her new baby at Griffin;s Birthday PartyGriffin is playing in the kitchen brewing up a little snack.Holly decides she wants to use the tools and make something, Though I suspect she just likes the hammerWe are playing at Play cafe, a fun Birthday place.Holly likes the trains and pushes them into and out of the tunnelOne of her favorite things to do is go through tunnels when we are driving.Yikes!! There is Quinn wrestling a giant shark in the deep blue ocean watersIs he friend or is he foe, I don't know. Yikes.Holly decides she wants to play a game of hide a seek, can you find her?Peek-A-Boo she says when she jumps out of the cabinet.Time to cook mommy a fruit Salad, Yum YumWhat, wait, whats that!! There is a head in my salad!She just thought that was the funniest thing!Later she wanted to put on the cooks apron, But I suspect she thinks it is like a smock and she might get to paint if she is wearing it.Now that the shark infested waters have been cleared Holy can dive into the Ocean tooSwimming around and relaxing until she jumps up and goes Rawr!Another game of peek A Boo Holy hides int he play house.Here she is with a doll house, I think this one was one of the reason's I decided to suggest it to Santa for Christmas that yearHere is our Birthday Boy opening up a few of his presents.This time Holly picked a vanilla covered cupcake, and odd choice I know.She ended up like on most other party days just eating the frostingHappy Birthday Griffin, we had a wonderful time at your party!