The Wonder Place

We recently spent a good part of a family day at the Wonder Place- a local kid play extravaganza. The kids love it here. This is the scarf blowing machine:
There are also a lot of imaginative play areas- like a vet's office, a grocery store, a house, a cafe, and a stage with costumes and a puppet theater.

This visit, the biggest hit with Gabi & Micah was playing Duff in the cafe.

This is the face of a boy who knows the hardest part of a Food Network Challenge is not making the cake, but moving the cake without it toppling!

The Wonder Place also has sand, blocks, marble runs, train tables, light tables, and a water area.

Gabi's New Room by Gabi

Gabi had noticed that I was taking pictures of the new house, and she did the same with her pink camera. It is interesting to see what she picked out to photo as really important to her. Like her photos (above) with her family and friends, her jewelry box, and her High School Musical posters and pillow. She also took several pictures of her vanity-- she keeps all her hair things in there and already likes to sit and fix her hair in the mirror.

Confession is good for the soul

Long ago I told you I would post a few pics of our little day trip to Petit Jean with friends... well, here ya go! Rocks, friends, and the house that the big bad wolf did not blow down.

I just found these along with pictures form Christmas on Gabi's pink camera. I confess that I forgot them. Better late than never?

Best Buddies

Micah's best buddy stopped by to visit while on vacation! I didn't take a picture (RATS!) but Micah enjoyed showing off his room. But I did include a picture we got in the mail from Benjamin-- the top one on the yellow paper in Benjamin's picture of him & Micah being Jedis, then the one beneath is Micah's drawing on the same topic (which I need to put in the mail!). Notice they both distinguish who is Micah by the cowlick. :)

Magic School Bus Camp

Micah had a great opportunity to spend the mornings at his new school last week for a camp with the Magic School Bus theme. He learned about dinosaurs (and made that cool fossil), volcanoes, chemistry (cooking pretzels!), flying, and the planets-- and even better met two of his new teachers and explored his new classroom and playground. Now we're looking forward to fall!

Temporary Pet Turtle

Our neighbor found this handsome turtle guy in the yard and brought it to show the kids. We kept him in a cardboard box as our dear, beloved pet for about, oh, an hour. Then I told the kids that my brother, Neal, once painted his initials on a turtle's shell then released it and found it again much later. Uncle Neal is the very cool guy who knows everything, so we had to do that, too. Please don't call PETA on me.

And if you meet a turtle with a blue B and star on his back, he's ours.

Painted Cookies

I didn't show you the pictures in December, but did share Gabi's writing about the recipe for Painted Sugar Cookies. We made some last week- aren't they pretty? And they are yummy, too.

Want to come over for dinner?

Because we actually have a table in the dining room now.

Micah said...

....that he wants to be a super hero who has the power to lift heavy things and to tell funny stories. He is a pretty funny kid. He even made up a new catchphrase:

"Your waffle is still frozen!!!"

The phrase can be used to tell someone that they're not ready, they're not quite with it, or just that they are too silly. The phrase may also speak to the fact that the boy would like to live off of Eggo Nutrigrain blueberry waffles.

Swimmer

The kids love living close to Mimi & Poppy's pool. I'm sure MiMi and Poppy are nice, too. Something just clicked with Gabi and she has started being more comfortable with her face in the water. We've almost got a swimmer!

New Favorite Craft: Nuudles

We have a new favorite craft- Magic Nuudles! Both the kids like building things with them and I love that there is no clean up needed-- and they really work. They are lightweight, can be built really tall, and stick together firmly with just a touch of water. We have a nuudle village coming along with aliens, houses, rocket ships, trees, and all kinds of things. I totally recommend these to any mom looking for a fun craft for their kids!

Unpacking Update

That's a picture of Moses and Micah, and Gabi being mad that I'm trying to take a picture without her in it. But- that is not the point of this blog post. This is more pics of the new house!

Our bedroom:

Backyard:

Gabi's Princess throne, where Gramzy made her a new cushion for her toy box:

Micah's room with more stuff hung up; we're proud of using the oar as a curtain rod.

Living room:

Basement playroom:

Office:

Micah's New Room

I promised pics of Micah's room, so here you go. Again, we haven't hung everything on the walls yet. But- this is a very cool little boy's room. Bunk beds, train table, pull out drawers of legos under the train table, all kinds of fun.

Micah sleeps on the top bunk so we have the lamp for him up here-- the top of this cabinet makes a great shelf for the lamp and a cup of water. Also, you can't tell how badly a little boy has made his bed when it's the top bunk. Another perk. (Hi, Harriet!)

The bottom bunk makes a nifty hideaway with a spot for books, a basket full of star wars toys, his bank, and all that good stuff. The bottom bunk is on casters, too, so I'm waiting on Gabi to figure out she can roll it out, hang a blanket off the top bunk and have a stage complete with curtains.
This tall cabinet is still purple, but it's lived in Gabi's room for the previous 7 and a half years. We'll repaint it soon, but it has great extra storage and is a handy place to hook up the hot wheels loop track.Now we're ready for friends to come and play!

New House Shots

So- here's Gabi's room- all pink and brown polka dots! Her room is all unpacked, and we just need to finish decorating and hanging things on the walls. She has my old bedroom furniture from when I was a little girl. I am feeling quite clever that I figured out this system for displaying and storing her bows and barrettes on the closet doors.

Most of the rest of these shots are from before we moved in -- we just had the kids' bedroom furniture here. Here's the kitchen and breakfast area. Micah calls this the "treehouse kitchen" because the windows look out from the second floor into our treetops in the backyard.

This is the dining room. I will say we have taken down that lovely formal mirror and will carefully store it because it has been replaced by my favorite funky tile framed mirror. We still don't have furniture in here beyond what came with the house.

Here's why- the dining room is Box Central: the place to stack the flat empty boxes before they are stored in the attic and to put those boxes that are just collections of odd things that we can't decide where they should go yet. Hopefully in another week or two we'll clear this out and put in our table.

The living room:

Micah's new bunk bed in his blue room:

His room is all unpacked and set up, too, and he sleeps in the top every night. I'll try to upload pics off the other camera to show you that soon. The stairs up to the bunk are so cool- and each of the steps have drawers in them. Safety and storage all in one! And even the nine year old Big Mack the cat can get up there. It's a hit all around!

We're loving the new space. The kids also have a playroom and the grown ups have an office/ art studio in the basement. Hopefully we'll have them ready to show you soon.