Chuck E. Cheese/ Bella's bday party

Chuck E. Cheese is one of those places that you don't go to all the time.  In fact, since Amara has been around, we haven't had any occasion to go...until now.  Our friend Bella was turning 4, and we were invited to come and play!

We jumped at the chance to come and play and headed up to Sawmill on Friday afternoon, present in-hand, for the birthday party.

The first car she hopped into was actually one of those that takes your pictures--but ours was blank, as she had already "moved on" from that ride by the time the picture snapped.  Same thing with the larger booth that takes your picture--well, it might have had the side of Eric's head in it.

She enjoyed the clock/ swing contraption, but had no interest in doing it a second time--but REALLY enjoyed tossing skii ball with dad.  He shared his technique with her, which she quickly ignored--and found her own way (typical).

The best part though, had to be her fascination with Chuck--she insisted on standing on stage with him whenever we were eating with Bella and the family.  She'd take a few bites, then want to go back up and stand with him.  LITERALLY, she was the only kid up there--and the rest of them couldn't get far enough away from him, but not her.  She was even going as far as to offer him cups and plates (note, on his thumbs, since i couldn't get him to hold them) and play with him.

We were able to pull him away from Chuck just long enough to sing to Bella and wish her a happy birthday, grab a piece of cake, where she insisted on "sitting with the Bella" and we headed out the door.  OH, also, must note--props to Jason and Sylvia, without their mystery orange drink in the kid cups, Amara wouldn't have had such incentive to figure out the straws, that is a first!  AWESOME!

Peonies

As far back as I can remember, we've always had peonies.  Mom has called them 'pine-ys' and that's how i've known them, until likely a few years ago--when I learned the name pronounced 'pea-o-nies'...though my mom still calls them 'pine-ys.'

Peonies have always had a very special place in my heart.  I can remember cutting them and taking them to the Grove City Cemetary and putting them on Grandma & Grandpa Jahn's graves.  I can also remember driving around and that being one of the first flowers I really recognized--and thinking how neat it was that so many houses had them growing and HOW they chose to grow them.

Some were in rows, others in clumps...some in beds, others as accents, and some yet--way, way out away from the house--which I never understood.  They were too far to be able to smell them, and it seemed likely no one would trek out there to cut them either.

Cutting peonies has always been a treat for me.  My mom would cut them, wrap the stems carefully with wet paper towels, then foil, and take them to Granny.  Later, she'd do the same for me--once I had the condo.

In the last few years, mom and I have even expanded her Peony collection and she's added a couple new varieties.  Growing up, we mostly had white, with one brilliant raspberry colored one--always the treasured flowers of the bunch, though, not as fragrant as the white.  Those were the ones that made the whole house smell amazing.  Eric and I chose to use them as the ONLY flower for our wedding.And now...I got to cut peonies from mom's yard last week with my little girl.  The flowers at the top (where Amara is in the background) were cut by us.  Hopefully, she will love these as much as we have, and signs are good--i've had a vase of these magical flowers in her room since they were in bloom, and when the petals fell off the first batch, she asked me to "put them back on."   I've been replacing her bouquets as new flowers bloom, and I think this year, we'll all be a little more sad to see them all go.

New friends: worms

So, Eric and I have been in the process of landscaping the back of our house for a couple weeks and of course, it's in various stages of 'torn up' from day to day.  Eric has been out sodding the area a bit a time, and we're planning on getting the shrubs in, then all the fixins' later.

On one particular evening, it had rained, and we were out playing while Eric sodded.  Amara decided to get in on the game and was putting sod pieces into the wheelbarrow, when she discovered worms.

She was immediately entranced. (and note the crazy hair from playing in the sprinkling rain)

I guess it's true what you hear, kids aren't innately afraid--they learn it from grown ups--because she was not scared AT ALL.  Daddy picked them up for her and put them right in her hands.  She'd comment on dirt they were 'eating,' or that they were rolling around, or wanted off, like nothing of it.  (I, on the other hand, don't particularly care for worms, but did my best to hide it--and quickly got my gardening gloves on before offering to help.)

One particularly funny moment came when she was trying to transfer the (sticky) worms from one hand to the other.  She couldn't seem to get one hand to turn and the other to stay still.  She eventually got it, but it was cute to see her processing it and figuring it out on her own.  She would kind of lean her body to one side, or tilt both hands at the same time--dropping them...but was finally able to master her task. 

After that night--she's always looking for worms in the dirt.  I'm not sure if that one worm character is still on Sesamie Street or not, and trust me, I don't want a worm farm in her bedroom or anything, but I think it's pretty cute how gentle she is with all creatures, and that she doesn't rush to squash them like I otherwise might have...now, we LOOK for bugs, not try to avoid them.  It might be a long summer :)

Stacking/ Cheese

Mornings, and getting to be there when Amara wakes up, because she is SO happy and sweet, are definitely one of my favorite times with her.

On this particular day, I was working from home, so although my mom comes over to be here to take her to a class, or just back to her place, I get to be there for one extra wake-up time.

We had come into the play room, and were playing with all her stuffed friends.  Sitting them up, lining them up (she's into this 'lining things up' thing right now) and having a great time.  Without warning, she want and got her Buckeye rocker, and starting piling the guys in there.  She was stacking them higher and higher and before we knew it, she was before her stacking masterpiece of dozens of stuffed guys!

She was so proud, I grabbed the camera to capture the moment, her proud moment, and thought to say "say cheese" which she did.  I told her I'd print this for her to put in her playroom (which I need to do) but what a sweetheart...and really good at stacking!

Mother's Day Cont'd...

Considering our energy depleting time at the World of Bounce early on, naptime came a little early on Sunday.  After that, we decided we'd run to some garden stores and begin the purchasing of our (EPIC) list of shrubs and perennials for our landscaping refresh.

Unluckily, the store we hit (which we only went to because we had a coupon and thought we'd check it out) had 1 of things we needed 4-5 of.  So relatively empty handed, we came home--but not before stopping for a baby cone.


It was still kinda' chilly (as Beanie says) so with jackets on, we headed outside to play and enjoy the sunshine. 

When we had the yard marked for lines last week, they left these little marker flags all over the place--which quickly became one of Amara's favorite things...as she can not only wave them and chase Ily with them, but put them in her play house and catch some air in them!

We also decided to do dinner outside (hot dogs) and enjoy every drop of sun we could...not to mention, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get Amara to come in on super nice days like this.  She's really into the 'if it's bitesized, that means I can shove 47 in my mouth, right?" phase--so we have to be careful with those.

It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun--even more warm weather just around the corner, can't wait!

Happy Mother's Day/ World of Bounce

I know I was not the ONLY mom at the world of bounce on Mother's Day, because we weren't the only ones there ;)  HOWEVER, Eric did set  us up for a great time!  He planned for us to go when they opened on Sunday morning, so as soon as Beanie got up, we got dressed and headed over.  Luckily (for a change) it is in IN Grove City, and our commute time was less than the time we stayed (which isn't always the case!)

We'd been talking about trying out the W.O.B. for a few months now--but their site http://www.worldofbounceparty.com/open_play.html always said "ages 2 to 90" or something like that.  Well, a couple of my friends informed me they'd seen MUCH younger kids in there, so I figured why not.

When we got there, I think there were only like three other people in there, but by the time we left (maybe 45 minutes later) it was getting busy.  When we walked in, there were SO many inflatables--I think 4 giant ones, and they all looked fun!

Without any hesitation, Amara took off up the big ladder/ steps.  I was only there behind her for support, but she held the rope and went up like a champ, and I bet it was a full story high!  At the top, she plunked right down and zipped down the side, crashing into the wall with laughter at the bottom.  Around the side and through the tunnels with no problems at all, only surfacing to yell "Again!" when she popped out.

I think we tried that particular course a few times before moving on.  They also had a GIANT slide--maybe 2 stories that I had to carry her up--but she LOVED going down!  The attendant told her to turn around and slide on her belly, which she did--and couldn't wait to get back to the top.

They also had something called the Colosseum, which had goal posts, basketball hoops, and a lot of open space and balls, which she loved.  We all had a fun time together in that one just jumping and putting on super-sized boxing gloves and falling and laying on the mats together.

The last bounce house thing was another obsticle course as such--it was smaller, and I think a little more closed in, where she couldn't see as well.  She didn't spend much time in there, but she did like the tunnel--well, going in was fun, whatever was on the other side made her turn around and come right back out, with dad chasing her ;)

After about 45 minutes, we were all sweaty and thirsty.  We headed out for a quick drink and apparently, Beanie was ready to go--since she grabbed her shoes on the way...we got them on and headed out the door, still very early on a Mother's Day Sunday, to enjoy the rest of our day.

Thanks Beanie and Eric for giving me such a great Mother's Day and moreover, the AMAZING reason we have to celebrate it.  Love you both.

water table

 

Grandma Jackie's neighbor's granddaughter Abbie has this table.  I KNEW it would not be long before one would show up at their house also.  However, Abbie's table has sand in it--and I'd bet a hundo, Amara's never will.

The table can hold sand or water--or both on the two sides...and it even has a tiny umbrella so they can play outside.  I've mentioned how Amara loves the outside AND water, so this is a great solution.

The kid is obsessed with water.

Anything water...

This table, for example (according to mom) will occupy her for the majority of several hours--assuming her clothes get changed out and she has a snack.

I'm really glad for her love of water (like my own) and think that it's adorably sweet that mom encourages her playful side and doesn't worry about the details.

I'm sure Amara will wear this table out, long before Amara grows weary of it ;)