A Date with Our Girl

While deliberating in Steve's office as to what to check off our summer list after my run Friday morning, we came upon an advertisement for a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  One of Steve and my shared interests is musicals, if you can believe it. He has recently been playing the entire 90's movie production of Joseph for Maggie on YouTube, the one with Donny Osmond, so she has also become quite familiar with the music.  These days, she can be heard belting out  "Jacob and Sons" at any given moment in our house, and in fact, she actually insisted that I sing her entire Curious George bedtime story the other night to the tune of various musical numbers from Joseph. (My theory is that this particular musical was somehow ingrained into her psyche since we went to a performance when I was 8 months pregnant with her.)  So, of course, we had to take her.

That evening, we took a break from painting her room purple, #25 on the list (more pictures to come later), to take off on our first-ever parent-daughter date.

  After the sitter came for Bode, we whisked her off to Perkins, as she requested pancakes for supper.
Although she was sad for a moment, missing Bode, she soon recovered when her rainbow pancakes were served.

Missing Bode.

She ate ALL of that.

We had really good seats (second row!) at the Rochester church for the performance...until two women came and sat directly in front of us.

It got a little long, but Maggie sat very well through most of it.  While she was a little annoyed that the play didn't match the movie exactly, she still loved Pharaoh's performance the very best.  We are paying for the late night a little bit today with some fussing, but the hug and thank you from Mags today was well worth it.  Love her!

Hopscotch, Zoo, Paint, and Swim

We've done a lot of little things on our list this week.  I don't feel like searching for all the specific list numbers in Bode's dark room while he's falling asleep right now, so I'll just list the activities.  I don't think you'll mind a bit. :)

Play Hopscotch:  I tried teaching Maggie the real rules, but she said, "Oh, I've got it, Mom."

Color with window markers:  You can buy window markers!  They're different than dry erase - a little more opaque and stay on better.  We started with scribbles.

Then Bode moved on to mixing pears with dried peas.

And I started bribing Maggie with potato chips to practice writing letters and numbers. Hehe.

And then Bode moved on to transferring ground coffee to different containers using a spoon.  Hey, he's working on fine motor skills.

Minnesota Zoo: On Tuesday, we were able to join up with one of my college friends, Jackie, and her two children.  It has been a long time since I've gotten to hang out with Jackie, and I've never met her kids!  Alexis is just a few months younger than Maggie, and Zach is just a few months younger than Bode.  The older two got along great, and Jackie and I had a lot of fun catching up and comparing parenting stories. :)

Bode was too fast.

The girls enjoyed the splash pad.

Make paint:  I used a recipe I found on Pinterest using salt, flour, water, and food coloring.  It really wasn't the best consistency.  Perhaps it would have turned out slightly better if I hadn't used ultragrain flour, but it was still fun.

Paint a rock caterpillar:  Using our homemade paint, the kids painted rocks and we put them together to make a little caterpillar.  He looks quite at home in our landscaping.

She was being so silly.  This was the only somewhat normal photo I snapped by her caterpillar.

Paint with water on the driveway:  Self explanatory, right?

Bode wasn't feeling it.  He had more fun sweeping our driveway.

Splash in the kiddie pool: I really enjoyed this one while it lasted, because I just laid on our lounging chair, watching them have fun.  I really can't remember the last time I relaxed on the outskirts and watched them have fun in the water without having to partake.

Eat at the A&W in Spring Valley:  This is a really fun old-fashioned drive-in.  We chose to eat outside rather than have a mess in the car.  And it's been around since the year you were born, Mom!  So not very long. :)

I just had to snap a picture of my water cuties showering off after Bode's parent child swim class.  Aren't they precious?

I let Steve step back into the parent role during Bode's class since the instructor lady told me last time that Bode is a different child (not in a good way) when I'm the one in the water with him.  Ahem.

And Maggie got some one-on-one instruction in the water during Bode's class time from a lifeguard with whom Steve has been working on football kicking skills this summer. This 2013 Stewartville grad reciprocated by offering to give Maggie some extra private swim practice.  His mom is the manager at the pool, and I think Maggie's less-than-stellar report card prompted the offer.  We'll take it!  I'm optimistic that the private lessons will help as Maggie is capable, yet resistant. I might have been a lifeguard and WSI certified, but it's helpful when the directions aren't coming from Mom.

Gibbs Takeover

Saturday evening to Sunday, we played host to Steve's brothers' families. Our house, which we never really thought of as small, definitely could have used another room or two for the six adults, four children, three dogs, and one cantankerous cat.
It was wonderful having them!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

I must have accidentally deleted this post before publishing, but had to reshare.

Maggie recently acquired a Disney princess kite that was just BEGGING to be flown, so when Steve returned home after two days at football camp, she was more than ready to give it a go -#72.

Also crossed off on the summer list recently:
story time at the library, where they also planted flowers,
a bonfire,
and s'mores.

Oh, and Maggie completed her two week swimming lesson session. She had so much fun, she gets to repeat the same class next year! ;)

Bode had more fun in the car than watching Maggie fly a kite.

Planting flowers at the library with Maggie's ECFE teacher.

In line to jump in.

Happy Father's Day!

Our Father's Day started with Steve taking the kids to the backyard to try out their new set of golf clubs he found at Menard's yesterday. He is determined to make golfers out of them so that he has an excuse to go in the future. I could just see his hopes sinking lower as Maggie showed she has clearly inherited both my skill and passion for the sport. Bode, on the other hand, may just prove to be up to the task if he can learn the difference between the ball and Asia's dumps.

We enjoyed some time at the pool during the early evening and came home to grill with my parents and sister. We had homemade ice cream (#71), and then Maggie and Bode modeled the adorable clothing my dad brought back from Scotland.

Digging by the fence at the pool was just as much fun as swimming.

Homemade ice cream.

Modeling gifts from Scotland - the Rutherford plaid (my maternal grandmother's heritage).

Silly faces!

Happy Father's Day!

Summer List: #21, 42, 92 - Trip to MOA

After my morning run with Bode in the jogging stroller (Maggie kept herself occupied in Steve's office at school with my KindleFire), we stocked up on some play money at the dollar store in order to bury it in the sandbox - #92 on the list.  Maggie took it to a whole new level, calling the coins "gold doubloons" and pretending we were pirates.  Arrgh, matey!  We ended up finding 13 out of the 16 I buried, along with an extra coin from the previous owners, before the novelty wore off.  Not bad.

A gold doubloon!

And Bode...this boy.  I wonder what goes on in that head of his.

After Maggie's swimming lessons, which ended at noon, Steve decided he'd be done with work for the day and we left for a surprise trip to the Mall of America.

We had an issue with a messy shirt.

Our first stop when we arrived was Sea Life, #42.  Steve and I went maybe once when we were dating (I think it was called Underwater World then), but we have never gone with Maggie and Bode.  Maggie was a little timid in the all-around aquariums, but Bode ate it up!  He was touching everything, running everywhere, and totally into it.  Maggie's favorite part was the seahorses.

Lastly, we went to Nickelodeon Universe (#21) to use some points on our previously purchased wristband.  Blue's Clues is always a favorite.  We also tested out Big Rigs, and the merry-go-round.

All in all, a fun Friday!