Slow Down, Gym Shoe!

When The Cat Is Away...

Jimmy, the self-proclaimed boss of the household, is going away on a nine-day-long business trip to New Orleans.

Here is a little preview of things that will be going on in the next nine days...

Shhh... don't tell!

Dud Of A Day!

Do you ever have a day that just seems to fall flat on it's face? Today is that kind of day for me. Not that anything went badly... It's just that usually I try to be really interactive with the kids, and we go on outtings in the mornings and do activities at home and stuff like that. And today I just didn't really have anything. We went to our usual park playgroup in the morning, but none of our usual friends came, it was all new people, and they all went home early. (The usual Monday crew stays at the park for lunch and then we go on a long walk with the kids!) So by 12:15, we were back at home. Then the baby had a doctor's appointment at 2:20, and I wanted to have some quiet time before that, so while the baby was napping I let Little Bear watch a couple episodes of Bindi The Jungle Girl. We went to the doctor's appointment (Pufferfish is going to need another round of antibiotics for her stubborn ear infection!) and then, on the way home, we stopped at Oberweis for some ice cream as a treat.
Now Little Bear is outside playing with her little nextdoor friend, and Pufferfish is laying down finishing her nap. (I had to wake her up from her first nap to take her to the doctor, so she's been in a foul mood since then!) Little Bear is supposed to also clean up her bedroom and the mess in the backyard before everyone else comes home, so I told her she could do that at five o'clock, and by then everyone else will start shuffling home. I just feel like we didn't do much today... and I guess thats fine, right?

Nature Is The Best!

Little Bear and Pufferfish and I belong to a playgroup that I found on Meetup.com. Once or twice a week the group meets in public places and does activities together with all of the kids, who range in age from newborns to about five or six. Now that its nice out, a lot of the activities are outside.
Today we went to this awesome nature center where they have rescued wild animals. Little Bear had a great time running around with all of the other kids, looking at the animals, and pretending to be animals! We had a picnic lunch, the kids played tag and stuff in a field for a long time, and then we went for a mile-long walk on a walking trail!
The cutest thing was that there was one little boy there who Little Bear really got along with. He's the same age as her, although he's a lot taller. They only met each other once before, because he doesn't come to all of the activities that we do. But today they spent the whole time playing together, and were even holding hands a lot! It was so sweet.

(Click on the picture to see it bigger!)

Here are a few more pics from the nature center today...

Little Bear looking at a rescued raccoon in a cage

Pufferfish by the goldfish pond

And the best part? They're both asleep right now! Pufferfish fell asleep in the car on the way home, and stayed asleep. Little Bear fell asleep resting and watching Sponge Bob! And, by the way, Little Bear never takes naps! Its a miracle!

In other news, I'm a little worried that ten-month-old Pufferfish is going through the Terrible Two's a little early. Whenever she doesn't get her way, she throws herself backwards onto the floor and screams, banging her head on the floor! This morning she followed me around the house throwing tantrums. I was trying to make lunch to bring with us to the playgroup, and I let her stand up on the steps and watch me at the counter (She knows how to climb up them already!) which made her happy for a while. She's usually such a happy baby, but when she's angry, she is aaaaaangry!

Well, Monkeyboy is home, and I gotta go check on the baby, so, until later... C-ya!

Through Little Bear's Eyes...

Yesterday Little Bear and Pufferfish and I went to the Rainforest Cafe! (We had originally planned on going to the park with our playgroup, but it was cold and rainy, and I had been waiting for a good time to take them to the Rainforest Cafe!) We got there right when it opened (11 am) so we didn't have to wait in line at all. We had the whole place to ourselves, in fact! Little Bear loved it! I gave her my digital camera and let her walk around freely, snapping pictures, while I finished eating and feeding Pufferfish. Little Bear took a whole ton of pictures! At home, I loaded them all into my photo editor and did some cropping and light adjustment, and they turned out really good! Check out this work of art! (And keep in mind, these pics were taken by a four-year-old!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here We Go Again!

I originally started my blog, Adventures of a Stay-At-Home Auntie, on Blogchex.com, because Blogchex is a blogging host that supposedly lets you generate revenue every time someone clicks on an ad through your blog. But Blogchex hasn't been working for the past week, plus I never made any money there, so I've given up on it. However, I've really been enjoying blogging about the days I spend with the kids, so I've decided to keep that up, here on Typepad!
In this blog you can expect to find stories of the day-to-day adventures involved in caring for a preschool, an infant, and a preadolescent! You'll also find activity ideas (because we're always working on something!) and product reviews. In fact, you'll probably find a lot more, as well!
Thanks for joining us on this wild ride we call our life!