Playgroup

Last month, we had our weekly playgroup at the Johnson County Museum, a quaint little place not too far from home. They had a traveling exhibit for the kiddos which had all sorts of fun things to do.

There was a sale at the boutique...

Drama: Life in the ER...
Starring: Dr. MacArthur, a world renowned neonatalogist/OBGYN who thought she could start over in LA after losing her husband to another woman in Seattle...
Dr. Jacobs, a world class fertility doctor...
Dr. Mia Wallace, a brilliant therapist...
(ok, I know, this is so NBC's Private Practice, but I couldn't resist. This photo is just oozing drama)

Dr. Jack Wallace, world class pediatrician

Whose career came to a screeching halt after dropping one too many babies on their heads.

It's all good.

There was so much to do...guitar solos in the theater...

Fishing in princess crowns...

Golfing...

Little Odie is starstruck...

We could sit and watch these guys all day...

Jack: "I'll distract them while you make a break for it."

Am I a bad mom because I thought this was hilarious and stopped to take a photo before rescuing my little boy?

Aidan's Bear

Aidan brought this cute little class book home from school to keep for the night. It chronicled the day that the kids brought their bears to school for some fun activities. I happened to be working in Aidan's class that day, so I got to help the kids measure their bears. Me being the uber-organized person that I am, I packed one of Aidan's teddy bears in his backpack the night before school. I forgot to tell Aidan, and he saw it and thought that Jack had stuffed it in his backpack, so he took it out. As a result, Aidan didn't have a bear, and had to use a loaner Mrs. McG had brought. You can see that he made the best of it.

"His name is Ad. He is a Panda Bear." This is how kids begin to write...sound out the consonants, then add the vowels later.

Aidan's photo was definitely the silliest out of his class.

Over the Rainbow...

One of our favorite family outings is to go downtown to see the latest free traveling exhibit at Crown Center. Right now, it's 70 Years of Oz, which featured the cutest Wizard of Oz set, with a yellow brick road, the witches castle and the famous hot air balloon. There was some pretty cool movie paraphernalia too.

We started the trip with lunch at Fritz's, the best place for kids in Crown Center. It's heaven for any kid who loves trains. For those of you who have never had the pleasure, you order your food on a phone at the table, then it's delivered via train! They recently renovated the place and it's better than ever!

Taking a nap on the train...

Here's our stop!

The hats are one of the best parts! The food isn't all that spectacular — you definitely come for the atmosphere!

Getting the food off the patented train delivery system...

On to the 70 Years of Oz...look, it's Dorothy's house!

Can my kids ever take a serious picture?

The witch's broomstick. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get my kids on it for a photo op. Bob took a picture of me on it, but it turned out looking a little strange. A grown woman on a broomstick just isn't as cute. I'll leave you to use your imagination.

The witches prisoners...release the flying monkeys!

The yellow brick road....

Apparently, all is not happy in the land of Oz...

After the exhibit, we headed up to the Crayola Store. We never buy anything, we just go for the free coloring. Aidan was very proud of this dinosaur until Jack came along and left his mark. I love the look on Aidan's face.

We wrapped up the day with some ice cream at Sheridan's.

Our Furry Little Friend

I know this isn't a major event, but it was still a fun little moment! We found this little caterpillar crawling into our garage...he nearly got smooshed as we were racing off to who knows where. I just love this photo of Aidan and Mia...

I know it's out of focus, but dang it I still like the photo.

Aidan's Valentine's Day Party

We find ourselves double booked frequently these days, but fortunately (here's to that silver lining everyone talks about) now that Bob's "available," we double teamed the Valentine's Day festivities. While Mia, Jack and I went to a fun V-Day playgroup party at the library, Daddy got to go to Aidan's class party. I instructed him to make himself useful, but he said that the moms had it pretty much covered.

Decorating sugar cookies, a perennial class party favorite...

Another use for those conversation hearts after they get stale...

Anatomy of a Valentine's Day Cookie

Start with the most delicious sugar cookie recipe ever (for example: Jenni Mac's Recipe)

Whip up a batch of the pinkest, most sugariest frosting.

Add the love of a sweet 6 year old boy.

Stir in some sassiness...

Mix in some Grandma lovin'...

Nets about a million of these little babies...which we ate ALMOST ENTIRELY BY OURSELVES!

Just thought I'd throw this in...Grandma made these with the kids so we could deliver all of our love notes to each other over the weekend.

Mia-isms

Mia is a chatterbox. For those of you who will say, "Oh, Olivia, she gets it from you!" I thank you for listening to my incessant blathering. I still don't think I talk that much, but whatever. I'm working on the whole self-awareness thing.

So. Driving Mia home from school with no other children in the car is like a written invitation for her to spout out any and everything that hits her little brain. Here is a transcript from this morning's drive:

Conversation #1:

Mia: "Mom, guess what my favorite color is?"
Mom: "What?"
Mia: "Rainbow. I love all the shiny rainbows!"
Mom: "Ohhh! Pretty! I love rainbows too!"
Mia: "Mom."
Mom: "What Mia?"
Mia: "Are rainbows alive?"
Mom: "No, not really, they're made of light, air and water."
Mia: "Are rainbows real?"
Mom: "Yes, the are real, but you can't really touch them with your hand. They're just pretty to look at."
Mia: "I wish they were alive so I could touch them and catch them in a gigantic bucket!!!"

The fact that rainbow is Mia's favorite color is just so, well, Mia.

Conversation #2 (sparked by Mia getting stickers with planets from the nice lady Emily at the bank)

Mia: "Mom, guess what my favorite planet is?"
Mom: "What?"
Mia: "Earth. Because Jesus made it so special! Every planet is special. Especially Mexicans!"

I'll leave you to comment on that one. I don't even remember having a discussion about Mexicans with Mia, but apparently, she believes that they have their own planet and that they're super special! Wow!

Conversation #3

Mia: "Mom. Guess what?"
Mom: "What?"
Mia: "Jesus is the most specialist guy EVER!"

Aw!