walking a little more..

with each day!
Kendal is now 18 months old. We saw a lot of gross motor progress between 16mo-18 months. However just last week I told my husband that it seemed like she did all of these new things like cruising, pulling up on everything, climbing furniture, climbing the stairs ect. and now there is nothing. She is still crawling and walking only a few steps here and there.
I was getting discouraged again. I was hoping by 18 months she would be walking. While Dustin and the older girls were away, she started walking more and more. Taking 5 steps, then 10 steps then walking from the dining room to the couch. Kendal has now taken off on this walking thing- she is still crawling more then walking but she is getting there.

One of Kendal's favorite things to do is walk to ba-ba (Gaby). Gaby will sit on the floor with open arms saying, "walk to ba-ba". Kenni will laugh and giggle and start walking to her. Mia tries to help too, Mia will sit and say, "walk to ba-ba" as well. Such big helpers.

This morning Kendal was all over the place.

Still working on the landing part...

Such a huge deal for our littlest peanut!

First step...

to a natural play area. I just completed 6 hours of in-service on creating a natural play environment for your daycare. I have always loved our outside playground because of the nature component. I don't love all the nature but I love the opportunities it provide for us and the kids.

After the class was completed, each participate was given a mini grant to put towards a natural play area. The area I want to change up a little is this rectangle that used to be our garden area. It doesn't allow for a great garden space and it was hard to keep up.

It's still a nice little area and would love some attention...

I am looking for 2 benches for the kids to sit on and a boat... yep, a small boat. One that we can place in the ground and the kids can use it for play- we will drill holes in the bottom so the rain water won't build up- if you hear of anything- please let me know!

My hubby picked these spools up for me. These are the perfect height to sit on, climb on, or stand on.

I am most excited about these... One of my daycare fathers used part of the mini grant for supplies and built us 2 garden boxes for our area. We are doing one flower bed and one veggie garden. This boxes are awesome- I am so excited to have these added to our natural play area. I can't wait to get it all together soon! Thank you JM for all of your hard work and time!

Oh holy crud, I am having a moment!

Please excuse me as I melt down for a moment. Yesterday I pick up Gaby and Kadyn from camp. As we are leaving I get this note about a "Back to Nature Prom" on Wednesday. Okay, I get it, a fun little dance- no harm, Gaby is only 9 and Kadyn 6. As soon as we get into the car, Gaby says, "mom... we are having a like this prom dance thing. We have to get a date and like ask a boy or wait and have a boy ask us to the prom."

Um, WHAT??? In a moment, my heart stopped. Did she really mention boys? Did she really act interested in asking a boy? Really... my 9 year old tomboy is really starting to notice boys?

No! I won't let it, I won't accept it, and I don't like it!

During the ride to get snow cones the girls are jamming to Lemonade Mouth. All I am thinking about is how old Gaby seems now. This summer she went on her first real vacation away from me, she is attending summer camps and loving it, and this fall she will be in 4th grade. Sigh. As I think of how fast the past nine years has really gone, I fade back even further in memories to when I was in fourth grade.

Oh crud, now I am really having a moment. I remember how the 4th grade seemed like a huge year for me. I had my first "official" boyfriend. We all meet around the "Big Toy" at recess and we girls got picked by the boys- I was so excited because I was picked by the boy I liked. How crazy that seems now. The fourth grade was the year I had my first kiss. I remember that too- I tried to get out of it by telling him I had a tooth ache. It didn't work. It was also the year I started developing... the girls. It was the year I needed glasses. It was the year my best friend moved away.

Deep in thought- we finally arrived to our snow cone destination- I reassured myself Gaby will be fine. This is natural for her and while I know I can not protect her from everything that will happen in her life, she will be okay! She is excited for the prom. We even talked about a friend, that is a boy, but is only a friend, that she might like stand by! At this point, my heart started beating normal again. My little peanut that gave me the title of "mom" is growing up! I don't want to freeze time but I wish it would slow down just a little.

It's movie day

(sorry for the side shot)
While Dustin and the older peanuts are away... I was in chick flick heaven. I watched all of my favorites as I cleaned, folded laundry, made my meal plan for the week. There are just days that are meant for movies. And today was my day!

Girl night... NKOTB

At the New Kids on the Block concert in Kansas City. Melissa and Amy showing off their bling before the concert started.

Jill and I running to get a drink and potty! Shesh, we are cute. On a side note- between Jill and I, we have lost over 175 lbs.

Have of the group that was there...Melissa, Amy, Jill and I. Most of the girls stayed the night in KC.

The name of this shop cracked me up- it was down the street from the joint we ate dinner at.

In the scary bathroom at Grinderz. This place was featured on Food Networks, Diner, Drive-in's and Dive's. It was a cool place to eat at and the food was Yummo!!! However the bathroom was scary!

Shilo and I... Shilo (and friends) drove up to KC together.

This is the 3rd time in my life to see NKOTB. This tour they teamed up with Back Street Boys... Um, okay! I never was into BSB and when they were on stage the crowd was different and New Kids really stole the show.

The first time I saw them I was in the 3rd grade. My mom had bought tickets for me to earn. It was a difficult year for me in school and that was my bribe. I still remember the concert so well. I was a Jordan Knight fan then and still am today! The second time I saw them was 2 years ago when they had their come back tour. Lady Gaga opened for them and I remember making fun of her- now she stands on her own. The show was great- each of the New Kids sang their hit songs and they has an awesome combination of new songs and their old. I love that they know they have to sing their older hits- no one would go and see a bunch of married hotties singing new songs- we want to hear, "Please don't go girl", and "Tonight". This time around, the opening act was Mr. Schue from Glee, Matthew Morrison. He was awesome. I loved his jazz songs, his dance moves, and his inspirations such as Patrick Swazye, Gene Kelly, and Michael Jackson. He was an awesome performer. The combo of BSB and NKOTB was okay- like I said, New Kids rocked it and I wish they would have performed more! It was a great night out, awesome company, and outstanding friends! Another night of memories!

Discover center... Kendal and Mia

So, my posts are out of order... below talks about our 1st trip to the Discover Center.
Here are some pictures of Mia and Kendal during their visit.

Mia at the rice table.... so happy the rice stayed there and I didn't have to clean up after the preschoolers that were playing in this area.

Kendal loves this infant block table. She stayed and played here for a long time, she would get so excited when she moved the blocks/shapes into the holes.

After seeing how much fun the kids had at the rice table, I think I MIGHT invest in one for daycare. I have seen so many cheap and fun ways to make them. Rice tables are up there on my "yes, I think they are really cool but you don't have to clean it up everyday" list. But we already have so many digging tools and water toys that would work if we did...hmmmm! We'll see.

Another favorite of Kendal's the stacking circles. After she would get them all stacked up she would clap her hands and say, "yeeeaaaahhhh". It was cute, even the other mom's commented on her little personality!

The construction center... this one not my favorite. If I was with Mia one on one in this center then yes, I would have enjoyed it more- they have real nail, screws, hammers and tools for the kids. The center had plenty of safety hats, gloves, and eye wear too. I just was going between Mia, Kendal, and the others so we didn't get much from this station. Maybe next time.

While Mia and her friends were painting, Kendal got to play in the infant/toddler area. Totally plush area to play. She had lots of fun climbing and walking around all the kid friendly toys.

Part of the hospital area... seeing how tall Mia is. She was all smiles this morning.

One of her favorites, the dolls.

Kenni had a blast too- lots to do to keep her busy as the older ones played as well.

We had a great time this morning. If you haven't been to the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, take the time to go. I hope Topeka can keep a place like this open for our kids. There are a ton of positive things to be said about this place. However there are a couple of negative things too- the price is a huge one. No matter the age, it was 6.50 per person. We stayed over 2 hours but that is still a pricy activity. I hope in the future they will be able to offer a group rate or daycare/education rate of some sort. The price is what will keep me from taking my family of seven back as often as I would like. I hope once the outside exhibit is complete it will allow for some more activities. I felt after 2 hours we were done and ready to go. We had played on everything and even did some areas a couple of times. I know the center has only been open a month so I am hoping after some time some improvements will be made to make it more affordable and over more activities.
Overall, it was a great time. I would recommend it to families or daycare's that have children 1-5 years of age. It was perfect for Mia and Kendal. If you have gone- let me know your thoughts, I'd love to compare notes!

Kansas Children's Discovery Center....

Today we adventured out to the newly opened Discovery Center. We spent the entire morning playing, exploring, pretending and more. I only took 93 pictures of our outing this morning so it was hard to pick just a few to blog about...

We started our morning at the painting area. It looked like a glass house. You pick your paints and go to a station- nice thing about this... I so did not have to clean up after we were done. Score!

Even the big kids liked the painting area.

While the others were painting, Kenni and I stayed at the light table. Kendal loved the plastic pieces, she'd put them on the light table and say, "ahhhh" and "ohhhh".

Discover Center also had these big blocks. They were numbered so you could stack them to make an archway. Teamwork...

We moved to the dramatic play areas... they had a hospital, store/cafe, and a vet's office.

These areas were my favorite.... the hospital

The store...

The music and sensory area. They had a rice table, a wooden house structure with scarfs to play with, and tons of drums and musical instruments to play with.

The auto shop... this was another popular center there.

Time to leave... heading to McDonald's to finish up our Friday Fun Day!