Squirt

MOA

We took another trip to the Mall of America today. Dora and some of her friends are there every Saturday. This time I brought backup.

Clearly, Bee had a great time.

Gracie rode the Carousal, and insisted that she ride the "Kitchen" (chicken).

Although she's never seen the show, she wanted to meet the Wonder Pets. The duck stopped to say "Hi" to Bee, and made her cry very hard. Duck clearly felt bad, so Gracie gave him a hug and said "I sorry."

Gracie loved meeting Blue from Blue's Clues. She danced with her and had a great time. I tried to get a video of them dancing, but the camera didn't start recording when I thought it did. We went back to visit Blue a second time after we met everyone else. I think this is my new favorite picture.

Dora was very impressed that Gracie has a Dora stuffed doll, so Gracie showed her her Dora ponytail holders, Dora socks, and Boots stuffed animal. When Josey brought Swiper out Dora and Diego looked a bit scared so Gracie yelled "Swiper no swipey!" and they silently cheered for her. I think she won them all over.




This week's theme was "Get Physical with Dora." They had a couple of women there teaching the kids some dances and gave out free jump ropes and smoothies.

MOA has a butterfly area now and Gracie is into her "bugs are gross/scary" stage so I thought maybe we could show her that they are pretty. She was very impressed with the butterflies, but still wouldn't let one land on her. Progress, though!

That's as close as she'd get to the butterflies.

Josey enjoying the butterflies (and trying to get Gracie to let her put it on her arm).

Bee thought the butterflies were great (can't you tell?). A couple landed on her, and she didn't quite know what to think of it.

Little Pianists

The church I grew up attending is having their annual garage sale, so the girls, Josey, and I went out there today. We got such great deals, I felt like I was ripping them off! Here's our best steal of the day: a keyboard for 50 cents!

I think it's safe to say we've already gotten our money's worth!

Beach Bums

Tent

At our craft night a few weeks ago, I made a tent out of sheets using this tutorial. I was planning on putting it in our garage playroom, but it's been so hot lately that I wouldn't want to go out there to play anyway! I decided to put it in the girls' room instead.

Gracie loved it!

We decided that it will be a great place to read books together.

Say Your Prayers

For the last couple of months, I have been working in the two-year-old nursery at our church. I bring Gracie with me and love to watch her learn and interact with the other children. I've enjoyed knowing what goes on in our nursery, and being able to make connections at home. For example, they use antibacterial hand wash before snack time and today we were at a petting zoo. After petting the animals, I gave Gracie a drop of hand wash and asked her to rub it in "just like we do at church." We also have conversational prayer before snack each week in the nursery. A couple of weeks ago I decided to start praying with her before bed. A few days later, she asked Daddy to join us for our nightly prayer. Last week, Daddy was praying for us when she interrupted to thank God for "Grandma. Grandpa. Mama. Thank you God. Amen." Since then, she has been in charge of our evening prayer, with a few prompts from Mom and Dad. I recorded it tonight. She was a little camera shy, but this is essentially what we do before bed each night.

Trouble

Brianna now not only scoots on her elbows and toes, she gets onto her knees! She can also go from laying down to sitting up all on her own. If she is offered fingers to hold onto, she instantly pulls herself into a standing position. She has mastered "Da da" sounds, and moved on to "Ma" sounds and loves to sing. This video shows her crawling and scooting around. It wasn't as dark on the camera, I don't know why it looks so dark now~it's still cute, though!

Painting With Shaving Cream

Tonight's project? Painting, of course!

This time we took shaving cream, glue, and food coloring to create our masterpieces.

The colors turned out a little pastel, but I didn't want to add more food coloring. Hopefully the glue will help the shaving cream keep it's consistency and volume.

Gracie had a blast! She painted the paper, the wall,

her arm and belly,

the faucet~pretty much anything in arm's reach!

Dixie Cup Maracas

At the Mall of America today, we came across a great (not to mention CHEAP!) baby activity! The musicians gave the children Dixie cup maracas, and Bee loves them. It sounds like there is rice inside, although it could be made with whatever is around the house: lentils, beans, rice, popcorn, etc. They used packaging tape along the top, which works well to keep all the little pieces inside. The triangular shape is very easy for Brianna to grab, and she loves shaking them. I tried to get a still of her playing with them, but she shakes them so hard they all turned out blurry! Here is a post with a video of her playing with one at the mall.

Gracie the Explorer

Today I brought the girls to the Mall of America to meet Dora the Explorer and her cousin, Diego.

Waiting so patiently.

Musicians


Gracie was so excited when the music started!

Dancing to the music.

Bee got a maraca too!

Gracie thoroughly enjoyed the music!




Gracie meeting Dora and Diego.

Beach

Here's what we've been up to lately. Gracie's favorite summer activity is swimming.

Four Bucks

The best four bucks I've spent in recent memory: mini bubble gun. Gracie loves it, and can make the bubbles herself. She still has a little trouble with blowing bubbles and gets frustrated.

Best Buds

It Grew!

You may not be impressed, but I tend to kill all plants that I try to love.

Owie

Some days it's hard to be a mommy.