Our Freakin' Awesome Thursday!

Today was an awesome, fun, extremely busy day!  I started the day off with taking Naomi to the Lend & Learn library for their last day before they close for the summer (and possibly forever, if they don't get their funding for next year... Boo!!).  Because it was their last day for the year, they did a Messy Day outside, where they had tons of fun little stations set up for the kids to play at.  They had water tables with tons of toys, baby pools filled with toys and duckies and water, a couple sandboxes with toys, a station with shaving cream to play in, a long table covered with paper & paint supplies, a plastic tub full of bubble stuff & bubble wands (Naomi's favorite), cups & potting soil & flowers so you could plant your own flower to bring home with you, balls & a mini parachute, numerous mats/blankets set up with cars or giant blocks, and probably quite a few other things that I'm forgetting.  It was pretty much awesome.  Naomi and I spent most of our time at the bubbles station & paint table.

Bubbles!  Naomi's favorite thing in the world.

 

One of the water tables

Naomi's first experience with paint... she loved it.  (I just haven't been brave enough to try out paint at home, yet.  That, and we don't own any paints.)
Also, take note of how clean she is here.

Concentrating on her art.

And this is her "Cheese!" face when I am taking her picture... see how messy she is now?

They also had an ice cream truck that came and gave everyone free ice cream!  So Naomi had her first ever popsicle... she was not quite sure how to eat it off of the popsicle stick, so she eventually started eating it like an ear of corn.

hahaha Check out her hair.

Eating it like an ear of corn...

Yum!

 

Ok... there are a lot of popsicle photos.  But she's just so cute!

They gave everyone a bag of goodies as you left, and everyone went away with a prize (depending on a number on the sticker we were given when we got there), and there were bins & boxes full of free second-hand kids' clothes that were donated.  So we went away with some clothes for the girls, a bunch of new books, and a few other random toys.  Basically, it was awesome and Naomi & I had a blast.  We are doing a Messy Day in June with our playgroup, and I can't wait!!

Naomi went down for a nap when we got home from the Messy Day, and I got Aleta ready to go to our playdate!  This playdate was for the 0-1 age range in our playgroup, and although I could have brought Naomi with me (the mom hosting has a 2-year-old daughter as well), I wanted a little one-on-one time with Aleta.  And Naomi needed her nap, anyway.  So I took advantage of the fact that Jacob is off of school this week, and I left Naomi at home.

The mom hosting the playdate today made what she calls a "Redneck Waterbed", and it was awesome!!!  She got the idea from here... they explain how to make it on that website as well.  Anyway, Aleta was tired and fussy, so she cried as soon as I put her on it, but it was still an awesome idea.  Someday, I want to make one for Naomi... I'm pretty sure she would absolutely love it.

Some of the other kids enjoying the "redneck waterbed".

I also tried out the kiddie pool with Aleta, but she started screaming as soon as I put her feet in the water.  So we spent most of the playdate on the blanket playing with toys.

Some of the other moms/kids enjoying the pool.

Not the greatest picture of me... but I had been playing with my kids outside in high-80s degree weather all day.  So don't be mean!

Playing on the blanket.

When Aleta and I got home, she went down for her much-needed nap, and Jacob made dinner (spaghetti) for the rest of us!  Then Naomi and I left to go to Discovery Time at the library.  They had books out to read with your kids, some activities to go along with the books, and then some other things for the kids to play with.  Naomi spent the whole time crawling through and playing with the caterpillar tunnel... she loved that thing.  Every time another child would crawl through, she would giggle and giggle--she thought it was the funniest thing.  I tried to get Naomi to sit with me to read, but she just wanted to run around.

Happy girl!

When we finally made it home for the night, I gave Naomi a bath.  We added some blue food coloring to the water to make bathtime extra fun tonight.  Naomi thought that was pretty great!  (I took a little video with our flip camera, but honestly, I am just too exhausted from our day to upload it... so I will add it tomorrow.)

Finally, by 10:30, both kids were asleep, and our freakin' awesome Thursday was over!  Go ahead... tell me I'm a freakin' awesome mom... :)

Evidence that I'm not always a lame mom

I've been trying to take Naomi out of the house more often to do some fun things... I have been needing to make up for the fact that I've been a pretty terrible mother lately. And by "lately", I mean pretty much since I got pregnant with Aleta. I was just always so sick and tired, and then I had Aleta and I was just plain tired, so I have been a total slacker mom. I'm still doing a pretty bad job, but I am trying... that's the important thing, right?

One of our favorite things to do together is go to the Lend & Learn library. That place is awesome! It's open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays during the school year from 10 to 1. Basically there are 4 rooms full of toys that you can come and play with. The main area, kind of in the middle, has puppets and puzzles and blocks and cars and other things, along with a table to color or do art projects or eat snacks on. Then there's what I call the reading room with books and magazines and baby toys and comfy places to sit. There's a room with make-believe play stuff, like play food and dishes, a kid table, a play kitchen, a children's couch, a mailbox, a play store, baby dolls and accessories, and lots of dress-up clothes. Finally, there's Naomi's favorite room which has a couple slides, ride-on toys, little basketball hoops and balls, and some other toys. They also have a room full of toys that you can check out and keep at home for a month to play with. And the best part is that it's all completely FREE! Yeah... we love it.

Coloring at the Lend & Learn

Perfect-sized couch!

Naomi looks so big to me in this picture.

We have also gone to the mall a few times to run around and use up some of Naomi's energy (she seems to have an endless supply these days). On one of our outings back in April, I took Naomi to get sandals for the spring/summer. We tried on & bought some sandals at Sears and then wandered around the mall for a little while. As we walked past all of the coin-operated rides, Naomi ran right over to play on them. I found a few quarters in my bag, so I figured I'd be a cool mom and let her ride one! Naomi, who had been smiling and laughing and happily playing in the ride, totally freaked out when it turned on and started moving. It was pretty funny... but I was also quite annoyed that I wasted a dollar! At least I have learned my lesson... Naomi has more fun playing on the rides when they aren't on. And that makes it free, so really, I can't complain!

hehe... Her facial expression here makes me laugh.  She was having fun, I swear!

We've also been trying to get out to the park more often to enjoy the nice weather.  One of our favorite parks is Cosmo park, which is HUGE!  I only take Naomi to that park either when Aleta is at home with Jacob, or when Jacob is able to come with us, because it's way too hard to follow Naomi around if I also have Aleta in the stroller.  There are too many different levels, and I can't bring Aleta everywhere and make sure Naomi is being safe if I have both girls with me.

Cute/creepy? smile to show she's having fun!

This girl loves the slide!

Static!