Disney on Ice - Princess Classics

A mommy daughter date...

Disney on Ice...Princess Classics

Really does it get any better than Disney Princesses? Well for me...yes, but for little girls I think not!

Alayna and I had a great time...earlier that day I had finally showed her on my computer pictures and video of what we were going too! She was so excited. She was thrilled to dress up. She sat so still while I curled every inch of her hair. I should have taken a picture earlier in the night before all the curls disappeared but she looked adorable. These are a few of her little friends from our old ward. I personally LOVED it. I can't wait to make this an on going tradition.

What boys think Barbies are for...

So Alayna and I were attempting to "sew" barbie doll clothes for all her naked barbies...Am I the only one that get's tired of seeing naked barbies? So I figured I have tons of scraps of fabric from making my pillows, that I can come up with something. Thanks to Aunt Krista who helped make them much cuter...but in all this "barbie" talk Jake decided to put her to good use...

I asked Jake, "What are you doing Jake?"
Jake responded..."I'm golfing with "Wayna's" Baw-bie's"...you can mom, it's so funny!" (That's his new line to say to everything..."It's so funny!")

He was very pleased with his hit from the Barbie...It really is so fun to see the difference between Alayna and Jake.

So as we are entering the "winter season" which means we are indoors more the kids are actually playing with there toys. Except I heard these words from Jake, "Mom I want to play with a new toy...one with train tracks" I was laughing to myself thinking..."A new toy with a train track?" But then I realized that I had purchased 2 toy sets like this over a year ago. I forgot to give him one for his birthday so I said, "Hold on I'll be right back..." Jake and Isaac (he was over playing w/ Jake) just stared at me...Jake asked if I was going to the store to buy him one...I said no. I climbed up on the ladder in the garage and found it. I came inside to two boys jumping with excitement screaming, "Yeah, Play with new toy!!"

I can't even tell you how much joy and fun this added to our day! Jake was in heaven. I must ad that these pictures were true faces of excitement...he didn't even pay attention to the fact I was taking pictures! The best part about this new toy is that he will appreciate it from now until Christmas...and then on Christmas he will be ready for more new toys to enjoy!

Trying to be FUN...

Okay, so this post is a shout out to Missy. (Yes, you Miss!) I know you are laughing but let's just say you have inspired many. Let's just say that Missy wins the award for being "the BEST and FUN Mom of the Year!" (really, Miss it's true) Anyways, I was telling Missy a few days ago how I hear Alayna say these words in each prayer..."Pray that we can have fun...that we can do something fun...that mom will do fun stuff with us..." So I took the hint that YES I need to improve in the FUN department.

Well thanks to Missy as a good role model I can hopefully only do better. So last week I had had a VERY busy week. Where it required my kids to go to bed early, wake up and be perfect, obedient, cooking, cleaning, etc. So I finally got to a point where I was living, "Groundhog's Day" it seemed exactly the same. I needed something FUN to break it all up. So on Wednesday Jared ended up having to work and the kids were VERY disappointed because they were planning on going for a bike ride to the park with Jared. After dinner I was about to put them to bed and I just couldn't. As I looked in there cute little messy faces I thought, you have been SO good and we really should do something FUN together as a family. Ya know, enjoying each other! So I told them that as soon as Daddy got home we were going to do something FUN and they could stay up late!! (That's a big deal at our house because their bed time is 7pm). So I thought about how it is GREAT weather and that is going to change so I had an idea to head to the park with our flashlights and play! They were all in screams and excitement. We piled in the car and headed for the park to enjoy every minute of chasing each other, sliding down the slides and really laughing and having a great time. I must admit I had the "fun" feeling. It felt great to enjoy the laughter, fresh air, and the complete joy on the kids faces. We of coarse had to end the night with ice cream cones!

So a few days later I was exercising with my sister and friend. I was telling them about the FUN friend I have that truly inspires me to be a little more FUN. (Yes, you Missy!) So we chatted for an hour or so on really how our children anticipate and enjoy the simplest things in life. And if we as the mother have excitement and spontaneity then the kids will really have a FUN childhood. So we brainstormed several ideas on how to relax about bed time and loosen up and do FUN things! So here's to reporting to Missy...not that you were expecting an update!

This is an idea from Shandra who has done this every November with her kids. She makes individual "Gratitude Tree's" for her kids. And each day in November the kids write down something they are thankful for. I took a picture of this on the first day to simply document the activity, but since the kids have added several leaves to our tree, listing things they are thankful for. It really is something SO simple that the kids anticipate and look forward to each morning!

On Friday night I didn't want to cook. I wanted to do something FUN...so I spoke with Jared and he agreed that as a family WE needed to do something fun together. I told Alayna and Jake that we had a special "family date" to look forward too. So as you can see Alayna was all smiles for a date...a cute thing that I have apparently taught them is that on dates you were your nice clothes. Alayna has worn this same black shirt on every daddy daughter date for about 2 years....thankfully it's not getting to small yet! So as we were driving in the car on our date I had the kids ask me questions to try and figure out where we were going.

Alayna said, "Why are we going right now?" I said, "Well, our tummies are hungry and it's dinner time." She paused and thought up her next question..."Is it somewhere we've been just a few days ago or a really really long time ago?" Good question...I said, "We haven't been there for a long time." She said almost in a disappointed way..."Oh, I know where we are going, The Mayan." I laughed...and asked, "Are you said or happy!" She gave a HUGE smile and giggled. She was very pleased! So I had to capture her SMILE!!!

This was Jake trying to smile for me...notice the ball...he had to be bribed to put on "date" clothes...this kid it's impossible to get him to wear anything OTHER than basketball shorts and a t-shirt! So thanks to Aunt Ashley she pulled out the fabulous bribe technique with a new basketball toy! It worked great...

This was just a funny picture of Alayna at the Mayan. She no longer thinks this is a FUN place. She decided that everything "scared" her!

So much for trying to have a FUN evening. Either way, I have now a daily fun thing that helps encourage conversation with the kids about being grateful and we've done two FUN activities already in the month of November! Now, PLEASE let me know some other simple, quick FUN activities...I have to do it enough to make it a habit. But the best part of these days have been Alayna's prayers at the end of the night, she has thanked Heavenly Father for Mommy and Daddy DOING something FUN with them! Really does it get any better than that when your children recognize the things we do for them day after day...I think not!