Showing posts with label Rylee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rylee. Show all posts

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Gingerbread Houses

We recently went on a play date over at Amy, Rylee, and Tyler's house to make Ginger bread Houses. We had such a fun time. On this occasion there were several little kids close to Holly's age.
She had a blast. She was familiar with the space, as we had been over a few times in the last several weeks, and also her BFF Chloe was in attendance, Chloe and Holly in particular had a great time playing dress-up. They got into all of Rylee's "big girl" toys and tried on necklaces, and tiara's and bracelets, it was so cute to watch, here is a VIDEO Snippet:

Chloe & Holly Dress Up Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8p3YTZHbKg

The two of them were chasing each other around the house, I was so surprised that Holly actually wore the tiara, but she saw her self in the mirror and liked it and put it on herself.Mean while, Mommy started construction on the Ginger Bread House. The plan was to have the mommies construct hardy houses, which we would freeze to "set" them, and then we could all decorate them together.Here is Katherine, Chloe's mom building her house, and next to her on the right is Finn's grandmother, who was as sweet as pie! I decided to build my house with awnings rather then the traditional style of plain roof.Monica on the left in the hat, whose Daughter Vivian is 3.5 years old and buddies with Rylee. Vivian was helping her decorate and build. It is wonderful to see how involved the little ones can be, with just 1-2 years more of maturity on Holly.You can see all of the kids playing in the living room here, Finn and his Mom Kate are in the back, Nicole and Jayden, That's Mia with the pink sleeves, and a new Mommy friend, Sabrina, with her two little ones, Hayley and Austin (just 9 months) there in the back. Sabrina is talking with another new mommy friend Michelle I think, she has a Son Juneau around 4 and a daughter Elsy just over 1. Austin was quite adorable trying to walk around and explore, Hayley was a little shy and wanted to stay by her Mommy. It was great having both younger and older kids in the group, it was a good mix on this day.I was on a quest to get a video of Chloe saying "Hi Holly" She is talking quite a bot now, and she knows Holly by name, and says Hi, Joel wanted to see this, but doesn't get to play with us much. I must have taken about 20 video's before I got this one of her dashing through the Hall Saying "Hi Holly" she doesn't speak on command yet.

Chloe's "Hi Holly" Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC-ysHURPDE

Here Austin has found the Tiara that Holly has left behind. his mommy reported he was quite familiar with them, since he does have an older sister with her fair share. It will be neat to see how the second child develops differently with an older sibling to push them along.Here is sweet Jayden coloring with Chloe. He is way over two by now, a few months I think, yet he is very patient with the younger kids, and such a doll. We enjoy playing with him.This cutie pie is Araliya, it was great to see her and her Mommy. Alex works during the day, so unless she is hosting a play date at her home, which amazingly she does often, we don't see her out and about much, this was a treat.Alex, her mom was having a bad day and had Built a very beautiful and elaborate Ginger Bread House, and it sadly collapsed during the final touches of decorating. It was such a tragedy, but she handled it with grace!Here is Holly playing dress up again, this time she found some wings and decided to flit around the house like a little butterfly. It was fun not having to watch her every moment, because she was so much more familiar with the place.Here and Chloe of course did find numerous ways to get into trouble, but Katherine and I took turns keeping an eye out on them both, and they were usually together finding some type of mischief, like climbing up on these "Big Boy" scooters. I did however get the cutest video of all. Holly was there next to Chloe and then decided to run out of the play room, and i caught on Video, Chloe for the first time asking "Where's Holly?"

VIDEO Chloe on Scooter "Where's Holly" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G03CBfqrNkY

And Alas, he is my masterpiece! Can you tell that this was much more about Mommy Decorating a Ginger Bread house, then letting Holly do it on her own?? I did let her pick colors, and toppings.And although I placed most of the large items, she did help me add sprinkles, for some walls and coconut for snow on the ground, and even a few M&M's on the roof. There was a Ginger bread mini man on the other side, and she picked two chocolate windows also.I would have let her do much more had she wanted too, but she really just wanted to munch on a few M&M's and then run off and play more with her friends, so I let her, and I would be back and forth between decorating and watching. When we were done we placed the finished products in the freezer to "set" before taking them to the car to take home and let the kids all play together some more. How nice to have this space for a project like this.You get an idea of a few of the other houses the mom's made and the different kinds of architectural designs each choose! Isn't Holly so cute on that horse? It is way too big for her, but she insisted on climbing up.The she wanted to sit on the exercise bike, but was too small to get on it herself, and it wasn't easy to stay on the seat if I helped her. But she saw the other bigger kids do it so she had to try.This of course is more her style, a tight little squeeze into the Lego Wagon, what a silly girl she is, she will climb into just about everything. Have I mentioned I had to confiscate her Shopping Cart at home because she climbs in, and its on wheels and tall!She also learned about pulling on and off bracelets while were were playing. She kept asking me to put them on for her but then with just a little bit of practice and patience she figured out she could do it all by herself.Causing trouble again, the girls got into Tyler's room and pulled out his guitar, silly bunnies, its not music class. I had to keep a close eye out, didn't want them to sit on it or break a string. they actually did very good playing with it gently. And I am sad to admit that yet again I didn't have any photo of our hosts Tyler and Rylee. They are such cute sweet kids too, for sharing there home's like this. But since Holly is so much younger, they don;t interact a lot with each other, so its hard to get a picture. Oh well, maybe next time!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Off to India

We recently headed to Franklin Park in Alameda to hang with our Mommy Friends and have a Happy Send off Party to Robin and her family who just left to India for two years.Here she is with her new baby Scarlett Mae and off playing in the park somewhere is her older girl Maura. We were sad to see them go, but they are sure to have a great adventure in there new home.Here is Holly in the swing next too Eliana. Swinging high, Daddy is giving her a push. She loves the swing and was having a blast.There is Rylee climbing on a car shaped structure. It was a lot of fun for the kids to ride on and play and climb and hang they all loved it.Here is Rhonda and Teagan. It is neat that she was here, because we met her through a different group, but she knew all of these mom's from when Teagan was little.There in the background is Gigi, Simone's Mommy. She is expected her second soon now. And Ryan Teagan and Rowan's dad having a snack, They had some great food.Here is Maura Robin's older one. She is so adorable in that hat. Holly saw her climbing up to the table and wanted to follow in suit, but we were able to catch her and redirect to the play ground.There was this "Climbing Slide" that was fun, and she went up to the top of the platforms, but the other slide was too high for her to do on her own. There in the background are Simi (Simone) and Jayden.Little buddies, who get to play together often. They are very cute. Jayden is just two, and I think Simone is 3 ish. Simi had the cutest whisker's painted on her face.Here is Tanta Kat helping Holly with some climbing. She didn't have the greatest of balance up on the bars there. She was having a lot of fun running around the park following the older kids.Here is Camille, Gigi and Melanie chatting it up while the kids play. There kids are all a little older around 3 ish, so the worry of falling off the slide isn't there any more. While I hate seeing Holly grow older, There are some things to look forward too also. Here is Liliana posing for the camera, such a sweetie. And there you have it. Our good bye party int he park for Robin and Family. They will all be missed.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Pumpkin Carving

Last week we went over to Tyler and Rylee's house for a Pumpkin Carving Play date. What a great idea that was. We picked up some Pumpkin's at Berkeley Bowl that morning and headed to Alameda.When we first arrived Holly wanted to explore the entire house, but the first room she went into had her enthralled. We just recently got her a play kitchen at home, and she is very into imaginative play.Tyler and Rylee had a very cool house, a big playroom in the Garage, there Kitchen in the living room, and two fun bedrooms. Holly had a lot to look through and didn't know which way to turn first.Here are some new friends, Mom Sarah and month old baby Yemaya. Its so hard to believe Holly was ever so tiny. She loved to look at the baby, but soon she fell asleep wrapped in her Mobi Blanket.Next Holly hit Rylee's room. Here she is playing peek a boo from her closet. She is into closing doors at home, we had to put tape on the inside of the door so it wouldn't click shut.She also found this neat princess castle and fun My Little Pony's to play with. When we first arrived Rylee was being very sweet and sharing all of her toys with Holly but was a little shy,Here is another doll house and a fun little car for some dolls, I don't know what type they are, Holly isn't that into them yet. Rylee is three, so for now Holly was more curious about the colors and parts.This might have been her favorite thing to play with. In Tyler's room we found this. We let her pluck the strings a few times, but then she wasn't being gentle we were afraid she might break one, and had to put it out of her reach.Tyler is fiveish and had a lot of big boy toys in his room, so we didn't think it was a good idea for Holly to spend too much time in there. And certainly not unsupervised.Here is Tyler helping with the Pumpkin Carving. We played for a little while before we got started. We were a little early, so we waited until a few more kids came and then Kat and I took turns watching Holly.Thankfully Kat did the messiest part, gutting the pumpkins, she cut the tops, and pulled out all the insides and then scraped the sides clean. That's also part of the play date that was so great, not having to clean up the mess.Here Holly is looking deep into our big pumpkin, she was very curious about what was going on. I had her sit in my lap during the big event so she could be part of it. She was very curious.We even convinced her to stick her hand into the smaller Pumpkin and pull out some of the filling, but then she got a seed and tried to eat it, I suspect it would have been ok, but I was worried about it being a chocking hazard.So we quickly took it away. Getting her hands all squishy and messy was not her favorite thing, but she has a tendency to repeat things at times even if she didn't like them the first time.So in her hand went again. It was a great sensory activity for her. But then she had enough, She wanted to wiggle off my lap and go run and play some more. So we left Kat to finish up the dirty work.Tyler was getting tired of digging out the insides too. He called his mommy over to finish up for him so he could run and play with the other kids. He came back later though when the fun stuff started.She took one more look inside the pumpkin and then had enough. Mommy wanted to squeeze her and keep her on her lap, but she could not be contained. So off she went.Here is Amy our host with her daughter Rylee. She didn't want to get messy either , but she was willing to use a spoon to scoop out a little bit of the mess. But that was about all she wanted to do with it.Later it was my turn, and i decided to clean out the insides a little bit more. Kat did an amazing job, but because my Pumpkin was so small, I wanted to get all of the little strings and lingering pieces.So I grabbed my little munchkin and let her help me some more. It wasn't as icky now that it was mostly cleaned out so she didn't mind as much. Here is Liliana and she is helping to carve out the bottom of her pumpkin. Her mom decided to cut a whole in the bottom so that she could place it over the candle.Holly was off finding other stuff to get into. I am not even sure what she is playing with here, or if it is something she is supposed to have. But she was very curious about it.Then she was back int he playroom. She really liked this little bowling set, taking things in and out of containers is one of the things she likes to do, she is good at putting them back when she is done.Here she is trying to play with the big kids, they were all back in Rylee's room and on the bed. She doesn't know how to jump on the bed yet, but she was trying. She would stand up.Then drop down to her butt in a sitting position, then get back up and fall down again. Whens he landed she would bounce a bit, which she thought was really fun. She was distracted by her snacks too.She liked following the big kids around and was trying to make friends with them. She didn't understand what they were playing, but she was very observant and liked to watch.Unfortunately they weren't so excited to have a little "baby" around. they were playing some type of chase, hind and seek game. First they tried to hide in the closet, but Amy said no, she was worried about little fingers getting pinched by the door.Then they went into Tyler's room for a bit and Holly stayed behind to finish her snack and keep jumping on the bed. Eventually she went looking for them around the house and to check in with Tanta Kat.Here Liliana and Rylee are hiding in her closet again, i love Rylee's sunglasses. I think they were also doing some type of dress up and they were collecting toys like a scavenger hunt.I love Rylee's toddler bed. it is actually a mattress and box spring on the floor, I think its a full size. It was a great height for Holly to climb on and off and not to high if she rolled off the side.
Eventually Liliana and Rylee locked Holly out of Rylee's room. it was there secret club house, and according to Liliana, there were "no babies allowed" Holly totally didn't understand, she kept trying to open the door and they would shut it on her. Eventually I took her into the other room so she could say hi to Eliana and Jayden. I totally understand why the 3 year olds wouldn't want a baby following them around, especially now that Liliana has her new baby sister Julia.
Holly didn't really seem to mind as long as I redirected her, so we went to check out the vampire pumpkin that Tanta Kat had carved, and gave her some Pirate Booty to snack on and she was content.It was Mommy's turn to carve her pumpkin. Holly was eyeing the front door, making smooshy faces at the screen, so Liliana let her out. She is big enough to reach the knob, and told her to go and play.Luckily Kat was keeping a close eye on her followed her outside. She was so excited to run around int he cool breeze and play, so she let her walk around for a little while.Then she brought her inside to play with Jayden. He is only a few months older then Holly and was so sweet to her. he was shy and sticking with Mommy at first, but later he warmed up and the two of them had a really fun time.This is Nicole, Charity and Marlem, Mom's of Jayden, Liliana and Mia carving pumpkins with me. there were a few dads at the party, so they were able to watch the kids while the moms carved.Here is Amy and Tyler carving his pumpkin. He did such an amazing job. he drew the face and the shapes himself and even cut them out. The pumpkin walls are thick though, so he needed a little help from mom.Here is Holly checking out my work. She likes to check in with me every so often, especially after she has been far away, like outside with Kat, so she ran over to visit and get a mommy hug.I think she was getting a little tired. She sat in Kat's lap and watched me carve for a little while. She liked seeing what was going on and wanted to know what everyone was doing, grown-ups too.This is Sarah with her finished pumpkin. I know she Will get some great pictures of Yemaya's first Halloween and this pumpkin, it was such original.Here are Holly and Jayden playing in the kitchen. It is amazing how quickly she catches on to knew games. She totally got the idea that it was like a breakfast bar, and each person wa son either side.She would help cook and Jaden would get the food from the cabinates and the dishes from the sink. They were such a quite team. I wish I had room for something like this.I think this is the cutest picture of Holly and Jayden. It looks like Holly is peeling some veggies here for a stew. They were so cute playing together. She had a lot of fun with the kitchena nd her new buddy.
Later she was up on my shoulders while we were saying good bye and she loved the view, the whole solar system was hanging down from the ceiling and she wanted to touch the sun.
Here she is in Tyler's room. He had a more traditional toddler bed, a single size with a bed frame and a tent. She had fun crawling into the tent. Come to think of it, he probably had this bed because he was grown up enough to sleep on his own.
I am totally just speculating here, but Rylee might still need mommy to lay down with her at night when she goes to sleep. I only speculate because we have been debating on what type of bed to get Holly.
Now I am thinking that I totally need to get something that is big enough that I can lay down comfortably next to her while putting her to bed. Otherwise we won't transition to it or use it.Here is Mia playing in the Kitchen. She is looking so grown up these days. It has been such a long time since out last play date together. She is in preschool now, so her and Holly keep missing each other.Here we are back outside again. By this time Holly was getting a little restless and wanted to go home. Mommy was finishing up the final touches on her pumpkin, so Tanta kat brought her outside to distract her for a few minutes. With so many people it was also getting a little warm inside, which was another reason for her being ready to go. I am sure the long sleves and jeans didn't help matter's any either.I love the idea of having the cash register in the kitchen, I think it is actually supposed to be like a cafe kitchen. They have a set up like this at Habitot, of course more elaborate, but Holly doesn't understand the register part yet.Here she is playing with Rylee's make-up bag. It had a cool hand mirror and a blowdryer and a brush and some other fun stuff, like pretend bottles of perfume or shampoo I think.Mostly thought she was just emptying out the bag. Soon we were ready to go and made the round and sad our good byes, it was getting late and was time to pcik up daddy from work.Here are our final pumpkins. I was inspired to do a "Muno" pumpkin in "costume" with his star eye. Kat had a vampire with bat eyebrows that I added on for her. We were so happy with the finished product.Just before we left Amisha and her daughter Eesha arrived. I was sad that I didn't get more of a chance to chat with them before we had to go. This is Charity's Pumpkin, we were amazed at what a good job she had done.
The headless horseman riding off into the sunrise, it was very cool, especially with the opening ont he bottom. Here is little Eliana so cute in her princess costume saying goodbye to us.
And finally Holly's way of telling mommy it's time to go. Emptying out every last item from her diaper bag. She did this while Kat was taking the pumpkins to the car, I literally turned my back for maybe 15 seconds and it was almost empty.