Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Perpetual Motion - Open Gym

Twice a week Perpetual Motion in Woodbury offers an open gym time for toddlers.  The kids and I have been twice now.  I heard about it through my friend, Julie, who I met through our ECFE class.  We decided to have a play date and check it out.  We went last Tuesday and then again just yesterday. 
 
The kids absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! {and so do I!}
 
The open gym has so many cool things for the kids to play on: many trampolines, gymnastic balance beams, blow-up jump house, slides, several foam pits, obstacle courses, balls, and much more.  Matthew's two favorites are the trampolines and the slide that goes into the foam pit.  Katherine has taken awhile each time to warm up and play on her own.  But once she finally leaves my side, she loves running around playing with the balls and jumping on the trampoline. 
 
I tried my best to take some pictures, but my camera doesn't do the best with movement shoots.  So, don't mind some of the blurry ones of Matthew jumping.  Maybe santa will bring me a new, fancy DSLR camera for Christmas that takes better action shots....right, Kev? :) 
(I did take lots of pictures, too!)
 
Fun obstacle course of things to climp on, up, and through.

going through the tunnel

Trampoline time!  You can also jump from the trampoline into the foam pit.



Loved his gallop jumping technique

Buddies!  Matthew and his friend, Jay.

Jumped into the foam pit!

Julie, Jay's mom, and Matthew

"Hey Jay, lets throw these foam blocks out here."

Kater running around, finally!  The floor is soft and a bit bouncy.

Cheesers!

More jumping!



"Mom, watch me jump high!"

Learning some jumping moves from the instructor.

You can run on the red, foam piece (like a runway) and then into the pit.  Matthew needed a little help the first time since the drop was a bit high.

"Oh Yeah, I'm going to do it myself Mom!"

Jay going down the slide into the pit.  Matthew's favorite, too!


Kate's thinking about it.  She did get brave and go down once with my help.

Balancing all by himself!  He was a brave boy and just started walking on there all by himself after watching the other kids.


Head First! :)
 
I'm so glad Julie told us about this cool place!  It is nice to have her to go with.  She's great help with the twins and the kids love playing with Jay.  If you live in the area with young kiddos, I totally recommend this place!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

November Visitors

My parents came up to help babysit while we took Matthew for his ear tube surgery.  We had a fun time starting Christmas shopping at one of my favorite stores, Kohl's.  The shopping trip ended up being an interesting one!  The three of us lost Matthew not once, but twice!  These days the kids would rather be walking around the store themselves than sitting in a cart or stroller.  Well, Matthew wondered off while we were searching through shelves of clothes.  We searched all around the area we were at and I even asked a sales clerk to start looking, too.  After yelling "Matthew" several times, he comes a little boy out of the Mens' dressing room.  Phew, scary moment!  We later figured out Matthew liked looking at himself in the full body mirror while he was in there.  Then shortly after we found him, like seriously 3 minutes later, he was off again.  Luckily this time it didn't take us as long to find him.  (Don't panic about me taking them shopping after reading this.  I promise I DO keep a good eye on them. :))
 
My parents enjoyed playing around the house with the kids and got in lots of coloring and drawing time.
 








 
My brother was also up in the twin cities on a mini two night trip with his son, Evan.  They stopped by on their way back home.  Cousin Evan did some coloring with Matthew, too!
 

Teaching Matthew some drawing techniques.

Total cuteness!  Love this little boy and how hard he's concentrating on coloring that page.

Uncle Mikey and the boys
 
While my parents were here, my dad and I went on a movie date.  Both of us wanted to see the new James Bond movie so the two of us went while my mom and Kevin stayed with the kids.  My dad and I had a nice father/daughter time and I even got in for a senior citizen ticket price.  I wasn't around when he bought the tickets so I guess the ticket booth worker assumed his movie date was his age, too. :)
 
Also in November Kevin's family and extended family came up.  It was his mom, grandma, and two aunts.  Us ladies had a fun time shopping, or being personal shoppers, for his aunt Jan.  We had "good luck" (Kevin hates when I we use that phrase for shopping) and found some great options for Jan.  Kevin and his grandma stayed home with the kids while we were out.  And thanks to Grandma Ilene for all of the loads of laundry and dishes you did!  I greatly appreciated it!  Come back again soon, ladies!
 
We wanted to show them the kids in their Halloween costumes.  Only Matthew wanted to wear his so that's why you see him randomly wearing his costume again.
 
Grandma Joyce and Matthew
 
Trying to get a picture of both kids with Great-Grandma

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

It was a good effort, but I would say take 4 was our best one.  Hey, at least Matthew was excited about getting his picture taken.

Just dragon Matty and Great-Grandma

Yay!

Got a good one with Grandma Joyce.  Big cheesers from Matthew!
 
 November was a busy month filled with visitors, sickness, and time home in Iowa for Thanksgiving.  It's amazing how fast time is flying by these days.  Can't believe Christmas is approaching us next week already.  Keeping my fingers crossed (toes, too) that we all manage to stay healthy for Christmas break.  We can do it.  Think 'Healthy' thoughts! :)

Monday, December 17, 2012

Buzz cut, girly bob, and storytime

Earlier this month, Daddy took Matthew for a much needed 2nd haircut. It was waaay tooo looong! Sticking out everywhere. He looked like he constantly had wild, crazy, bedhead hair!
I was happy to hear the second time around was a more successful experience. No tears from Mr. Matthew! Big boy! The lady at Kids' Hair even used the trimmers on the bottom half. I was surprised the sound didn't scare him, but instead, Matthew smiled a bit because it tickled. Plus, an episode of 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' was playing and and you can count on that to distract him.
 
His hair is a lot shorter! Definitely has a big boy haircut that looks just like Daddy's.
Lil' Kevin Jr. for sure now!




 
Miss Katherine had her first haircut yesterday!  I had been holding out thinking I needed to wait until she had more hair and didn't wait to sacrifice and length that she did have.  But I decided it was time to chop the crazy 'baby mullet' that was growing in longer on the left side.  Now we can work on matching the length of the sides as that hair starts to come in more. She now has a little girl bob with stacking layers.  Fancy. ;)  Hopefully the hair cut will help her hair to start to grow a little faster now that she had some of the baby hair trimmed off.  Grow hair grow! {please}


Not happy!  She cried almost the whole time.



Poor girl...felt bad that she was so scared.



Trying to sit and be brave...or she was disracted by Mickey for a quick second.

Can kind of see the back stacking layers.

The after picture...but still wasn't happy.  I think Daddy has better luck and should take the kids from now on to their haircuts. :)
 
Wednesdays the kids and I go to library story time here in our town.  We have been going since August and both Kate and Matt love it!  The three of us have made some great friends and have enjoyed several play dates with them outside of story time.  It has been a great way for me to get connected to other at home mommies!
 
Sarah and Gwendolyn - Matthew loves snuggling up to Sarah during story time.  You will either find him sitting in Sarah's lap or the librarians'.  Such a snugly boy!

Our friends - Nicole & Gavin, Emily & Kolby, Sarah & Gwen (and of course my son).  Their kids are all within weeks old of the twins.

Kate rearranging every one's pillows that we sit on.  She has gained so much confidence and independence by coming to these outings.  She will now go and play all by herself and doesn't need me by her side (as much).  She absolutely loves library time because it's all of her two favorite things: reading books and singing songs!  It's so cute to hear Kate singing the songs at home that she learned here.

Nicole and Gavin


The librarian who teaches the class.  Matthew and Kate love her, especially Matthew.  He gives her hugs and sits in her lap as she leads the class.  So pretty much he's never sitting with me. :)
 
 
I'm so thankful for all of these wonderful opportunities offered by our community for the kids and us parents.