The Little Gym

Yesterday Shyla and I went to our local The Little Gym for our free introductory class.

Here's a snap-shot of what we did:

• To warm-up we ran in a circle. At this point Shyla was a little unsure of what was happening so I carried her most of the time. She warmed up quickly though!
• We played with shakers (which the kids handed out and put away) to sing a Name Game.
• We played with bean-bags (again, the kids were in charge of handing them out and putting them away) to practice body parts and balance.
• We did Donkey Kicks. This is one we'll need to practice with Shyla; every time she put her hands on the mat she also put her head down for a summersalt.
• There was free time in which we spent most of our time swinging from a bar, or swinging from rings, or walking on the balance beam (the high one, of course). The kids also learned a skill of swinging from a bar but keeping a scarf between their toes.
• We sang songs, hopped, clapped, and jumped.
• We popped bubbles with our fingers and feet.
• We played soccer with about 20 balls.
• Shyla sat in my lap and we stretched our feet out.

Here's what I liked:

• The instructor called all the kids "friends."
• Her age group is named "beasts."
• Although they gave us a tour and all the sign-up info, it was very low pressure.
• Shyla made friends with an older boy named Gabe who was there with his grandma.
• It was clean.
• Although it was organized playtime, the instructor was clear that the kids could be doing their own thing and learning on their own.
• The kids had to learn to take turns and wait in line.

Here's what I learned:

• A 45 minute gym class will put Shyla to sleep in a matter of minutes.
• Everyone notices what a good dancer she is and what strong arms she has.
• Donkey Kicks are not for pregnant ladies.

The future:

• I recently bought the Groupon for 4 classes so we will be going back 4 more times.
• I don't know that we will sign-up because of the cost, but it was a very enjoyable experience.

(There are no pictures from our class because it is a Mommy-and-Me class so I too was running around kicking balls and popping bubbles...just avoiding the Donkey Kicks.)

Spring Break Project One

Another goal that I had for my Spring Break was to create a place for Shyla to display her favorite pictures! Albeit, her favorite pictures right now are really my favorite pictures but one day, very soon I fear, she will have her own opinions about that too!

Her room is not conducive to placing framed pictures around. There is little counter-space and even the space that does exist is not safe from her knocking things off.

So, I made a trip to:

• Target
• Office Max
• Hancock Fabrics

And I bought these materials for approximately $12:

And about 1 hour later (while watching the documentary "Babies") I had this as a final product:

Not too shabby for my first attempt! Now I need Stevie to hang it up in her room so I can start putting pictures on it!

Next Monday(!) we should find out if Fetus is a boy or a girl. At that time I will probably make one for his/her room. We have decided that the nursery is going to have a UofA theme; red & blue for a boy and pink & white for a girl. Can't wait!

Spring Cleaning Part I

The title of this post is "Spring Cleaning Part I" in hopes that there will be a part II, III, and possibly even IV.

Before I get into the spring cleaning part of the post, however, I'd like to share this picture of my little lady:

I know some of you only look at my blog to see pictures of Shyla so here you go. I like to call this picture the "I'm practicing this facial expression as a toddler so it is perfection by the time I am a teenager" look.

Okay, now to toot my own horn for a few minutes!

Technically today is the first day of my spring break. I'm not teaching inter-session this time because I am pregnant and getting tired very easily. Also, I want to spend this time with Shyla and also preparing for Fetus to arrive in a few months.

When we moved last July we totally downsized in our master closet. In addition, with the upcoming arrival of Fetus, we can no longer use his/her closet in addition to our own. This meant I had to get organized and purge. And purge I did.

This is what our closet looked like last Saturday morning:

A few things I learned during this project:

• I own way too many clothes
• I should have bought stock in NY&Co. and The Gap years ago
• I have way too many clothes

That being said, I went through every piece of clothing in the closet (except Stevie's, of course) and organized!

The end result was a Trailblazer full of 4 huge bags and 5 medium sized bags of women's clothes for Goodwill. I dropped them off today.

Tada! Now my clothes can breathe and I can see the carpet!

I'm not quite done yet....I'd like to get a small set of drawers to put to the right of the jeans rack to utilize that empty space.

So, Spring Cleaning Part I down. A few more to go! Stay posted!

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday.

I'm not fasting because I'm pregnant. Not that I've ever actually, totally fasted but I have tried. But due to the fetus growing in my belly, I didn't even try this year.

So what am I giving up? Cold cereal. Yes, I guess you could say I'm going cold turkey on the cold cereal.

When choosing something to go without for 40 days, it's supposed to be something challenging. Sadly, going without cold cereal for even 4 days is killer on me. I love cold cereal, especially the sugary ones. I like cereal for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, and for snack (I would even eat it in a box...I would even eat it with a fox.....)

So wish me luck.

I don't know what Shyla is giving up for Lent, but I can tell you what she is not giving up: screaming at priests.

Back to Ash Wednesday. We went by St. Pius after work today where Father Harry was distributing ashes and blessings in the courtyard. Shyla screamed at him. Of course. But, as you can see below, she got her ashes and her blessing.

She's pretty amazing, huh?

In 2010 Ash Wednesday was in February. You can take a look at what we were doing here: Ash Wednesday 2010

Our Date with Lilly

On February 20th our niece and god-daughter turned 4 years old!

As our gift we arranged a "date" for just the three of us. Yesterday was our date! Chelsea stayed home with Zac and Shyla while we took Lilly out on the town for a morning of surprises!

Every good date starts with a flower. We picked Lilly up around 9 AM and presented her with this flower.

Our first stop was IHOP. She and Stevie "skipped" into the restaurant.

Lilly had chocolate milk and a Rooty Jr. with strawberry pancakes (which she didn't like), bacon, and eggs. She enjoyed playing on the placemat and even got a compliment on her behavior from another patron.

Then it was time for the main-event:

A first-ever trip to Build-A-Bear!

Here are the steps she followed to create her new friend.

She gave her a voice "oh, oh, oh it's magic, you know...."

She stuffed the "skin."

She picked out a heart and made it beat by shaking it.

She and Stevie gave the bear a bath.

Gave it a name in the computer and created a birth certificate.

And then posed for a few pics with her new bear!

It was a great morning and a great date!

The Girl Loves "Tweets"

She also loves veggies and fruits and pastas. But she absolutely loves "tweets." Not the kind on twitter, but the kind in which she is trying to say "treats" and it comes out like "tweets!"

These pictures were last weekend at our friend Ayden's 2nd birthday party where she was enjoying a cupcake. Really enjoying.

Backyard Work

The good news is that progress is being made in our backyard.

See: