A Thousand Reasons to Smile.: Summer 2013 With My Girls

Being a teacher in Hatch, combined with a maternity leave that started a month before school ended, my summer started April 16th and ended August 6th. It was an interesting summer to say the least. Let's state the obvious first. I now have two children.

Last summer, I was able to do a TON of stuff with and for Soph. From Cooking and Baking to loads of sensory play days to focusing on different topics each week for her learning. I was determined (watch out world when I become determined to do something!) to not let little Ellie's entrance into our lives change this any more than it had to. I was nervous for months about what it would be like to venture out into the world with both girls in tow. And so I decided to grab the bull by the horns, or in this case, the carseat by the handle, diaper bag by the strap, and Soph by the hand and get out with the two of them as soon as I was feeling well enough to do so.

As it happened, I had just seen a playdate at Dion's group invite thing come across my Facebook newsfeed a week or so before Ellie was born. Perfect. Interesting for Soph, casual environment, surrounded by Mommies and Kiddos so no one would judge if things got out of control. I grabbed the bjorn (thankfully Ellie is a little chunky monkey so she was perfect to walk around with - - Soph was too tiny to use that sucker until she was like 3 months!). Anticipating it would take much longer to get to girls out of the house, I set my alarm that morning with almost 2 hours to get us all ready. Indeed, that's pretty much how long it took. Once we were at Dion's, I got Ellie into her pouch and we went inside. They had little activity packets set out for each kid with a coloring book, crayons, etc. Once everyone was there, the Dion's guy came out to take the kids though the back of the house for a tour. They got to see all stations, play with pizza dough, then help make a giant pepperoni pizza for everyone to share. After that they had pizza and juice for all the kids that participated. Soph totally loved it. She wanted to make more and more pizzas. Ellie, on the other hand, thought it was boring. She just slept and slept. :) So, I did it. I broke the ice and successfully got out of the house with both girls.

After our Dion's date, we wanted to do more fun things. We went to the public library where they have toddler story time every Tuesday and Wednesday. We went to the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History. We went on many lunch dates. We did a lot of shopping.

We also had a lot of fun at the house. The highlight of our at-home days was the weekly installment of Movie Mondays. We started this pretty much right away. I made Soph some popcorn and let her pick out the movie. The first week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The second week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The third week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The fourth, fifth, sixth...oh you get the point. She ONLY ever wanted to watch Wreck-it Ralph. Good thing I love that movie too. If she would have chosen Cinderella I might have but the kibosh on Movie Mondays.

We also created our new favorite breakfast. Peanut Butter Tortillas. Tortilla with peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon sugar rolled up and cut in half. Delish. We love them.

We baked cookies. We painted. We made bracelets with beads. We did some math and spelling. We watched the series North America (which we call the Animal Show) and Naked and Afraid (which we call the Scary Animal Show). We made presents for Daddy for father's day. We played with Juju. We exercised...well, I exercised and she jumped around like a crazy fool next to me. She's nuts.

For the Fourth of July we went back to the park we typically go to. This year we invited the Howells to come with us. Sophia was as excited as ever to see Drue and Ellie let out some of her biggest giggles yet with Reece.

Later in the summer we went to ABQ and took Soph to a real natural history museum. She's bonkers about dinosaurs that's for sure.

It's always a little sad to go back to work after the summer but this time was different. I sooooo badly wish I could just stay home with them. I do believe that if I have to work, teaching is the best job I can have. But...I just don't want to leave them! I want to be with my babies!

Here are some of the highlights of our time off together.

Dion's Playdate