Santa and more

We all survived last weekend and managed to avoid the June Sickies 2.0. She had a lingering fever for a few days and just wanted to lay on my lap or nap in her bed the entire time. It was very out of character for her and I was planning on a doctor's visit the next day if she hadn't improved, but thankfully she woke up Monday and was herself again. After sleeping much of the weekend away, she was NOT sleepy for a Monday afternoon nap, though.

I took the girls to see a free Santa last week. It was pretty good, for being free. I haven't been a big fan of Santa photos in general, and think they're usually a waste of money, but then my friend told me how her mom put all their Santa photos in a giant framed collage and that it was really fun to see them age through the years. Suddenly, I'm a fan! I'm not fan enough to spend $17, though.

The photos turned out terrible, but it was a fun activity. Willa was very shy and nervous and very much wanted to sit on the bench next to Santa rather than on his lap. I was very proud of her for whispering that she wanted a Sofia dress when the big man asked. He was not the greatest Santa, though, and made a comment to me about hardly being able to hear her. Rude! June wanted nothing to do with him, and clung tightly to me. Santa made me sit on his lap, which I tried to decline, and will firmly decline next time when I have my wits about me. Hmmm, maybe $17 isn't so bad after all.

Willa has been playing so much better with June these days and it both warms my heart and makes things substantially easier. I love being able to make dinner to the sound of them playing together in the other room rather than whining at each other underfoot in the kitchen. They are getting very good at hugs and kisses. There is still some typical bickering going on and June is often the little rascal in these situations as she purposely teases or taunts Willa.

Here are some photos from Ryan's new office. We went to visit one day after June looked around the house and said, "Daddy, daddy?" I told her that daddy was at work and she said, "Come back!"

 

He doesn't work for Tropicana Entertainment. The firm name is above and the lighting was bad. If you want to know, shoot me an email. 

 June chillaxin'

I finally got around to getting a membership at the Children's Museum. We LOVE it and I only wish we had done it sooner. People who don't get memberships to museums or other similar places are crazy and here's why: it gets us out of the house, my children play instead of fight, it's a safe place, and it's something that engages them when they get bored of the usually library/park rotations that we have around the neighborhood. It's usually an amazing deal when you figure out how much one trip would cost. Now we can go as often as we want (several times a month, once we went three times in a week) and not have the pressure to stay for long periods of time. I know that some people are homebodies, but my kids gets so restless and they NEED to run around and explore a new space. If there is extra whining and bickering I know that we need to get out.

There is this adorable traveling exhibit right now of famous children's books. This is the snow angel from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats which is one of my all time favorite books. I remember loving it as a child, and I love reading it to Willa now. "He walked with his feet pointed out like this. He walked with his feet pointed in like that." They had the footprints to walk in and a bunch of other fun things. They also had the coconut tree from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It had a really pulley/conveyor belt system thingy where you put the letters on the tree, they traveled up to the top, and then fell down. It's so fun!