What We've Been Up To

First order of business: this is my 300th post on this blog! My how the time has flown...then again, I've been a blog slacker recently so this should have come a lot sooner.

Now back to the purpose of my blogging: sharing pictures with family and friends and generally bragging about how awesome we are. I think I win the "mother of the year" award for my serious skills these past few weeks. Alyssa has been channeling the Great Houdini and can get into all sorts of awkward positions and situations. The other day I went to get her up from her nap to discover that she had 1) gotten out of her swaddle blanket completely 2) moved to the other side of the crib 3) turned 180 degrees and, most interestingly 4) gotten entirely out of her snap up footed jammies. Houdini, it's good you're already dead or you'd have serious competition.

Scotty, on the other hand, has been channeling Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Tim (the tool man) Taylor. We've been dealing with some serious tantrums the past few weeks and the piercing shrieking has woken Alyssa from naps and stretched my patience to the bitter end. He has also been super sweet and loving, though not always on the same days. Unfortunately, he no longer can roam free for even a few minutes while I'm not supervising. Previously, if Alyssa was napping I could grab a quick shower or go to the bathroom without company without worrying about Scotty causing trouble. Five minutes here or there and he could keep himself reasonably and safely occupied. Yesterday I stepped out of the shower to discover that he had fetched himself some cereal from an unopened box. I later found the shredded box laying on the floor by a screwdriver surrounded by tiny bits of cardboard. I'm still puzzling over whether to praise him for independence and resourcefulness or chastise him for unauthorized use of tools...

In any case, I have decided that Scotty could benefit from a bit more adventure and engagement, so we've made a point of doing one fun thing together every day over the past few weeks.

some highlights:

• Going to "Old MacDonald's" with some friends

climbing up the huge bouncy slide

our friend Ashur running around as a racecar

Trinity trying to get my camera

• Checking out a new bounce house

super fast and fun!

Ashur loved crashing at the bottom

• Playdates at a variety of parks with a variety of friends

Alyssa chilling at the park

• A trip to the zoo to pet the stingrays and ride the train

"Ooh, a camera!"

an old-fashioned carousel

• A big railroad park with friends

a real train

strutting his stuff

• "playdates" at my mom's church while I choreograph an hour long Book of Mormon pageant she is writing/directing for their stake youth trek

sweet Lyssabelle being patient and eating an elephant

watching the big kids play

• A hike around the Desert Botanical Garden

Fortunately most of our activities have been free or close to it, thanks to a zoo membership (thanks, Mom!), free days at local museums, and coupons for discounted passes and food. Big thanks to friends who have been happy to get out and about and play with us!

Part of the reason I've been getting out more is that I decided I needed more social interaction. Our church holds a park playdate once a week but less and less moms and making it out to play and Scotty needs kid stuff more than one day a week, especially with Eric gone so much. I found a solution by joining a local Moms group I found through the site meetup.com that organizes playdates, birth circles, yoga night, girls night out, book clubs, picnics, gardening classes, story times, you name it we've got it--and there is something going on every day so I can pick and choose what best fits our schedule and interests. It's nice to get a chance to meet new people and especially a variety of people as we come from ALL walks of life. Scotty is especially lucky as many of them have 3 year old boys for him to play with. We're actually headed out to another meetup with some group members tomorrow for a kids' clothing swap. For all my mom friends out there that wish they had other people to hang out with, talk to, or just the motivation to get out and do something occasionally you should check out Meetup and see if they have any groups near you!