Weekend Visit with Nana and Papa

This past weekend Hannah and I enjoyed time away visiting Nana and Papa at their trailer.  The weather started out cloudy Saturday afternoon but it was still warm so Hannah and I made our way to the beach. 

She practically had the beach and lake to herself when we first got there!

A short time later the sun came out and look what happened!!  Too funny!  So much for our private beach and lake!

Hannah offered to teach mommy how to play shuffle board.  Although I’ve never officially played I’m pretty sure this isn’t how I imagined it to be!

 

She sure is cute though!!

Saturday night Papa took Hannah out on an ice cream date.

Cuddling with Nana on the way home from chapel on Sunday.

Nana gave Hannah one of the readers that her Daddy had given to her when she was a little girl.  It’s safe to say that Nana’s bedtime stories put at least one person to sleep.  Sweet dreams Papa. 

Thanks for inviting us for a visit Nana and Papa!  We loved spending this time with you!

A Summer of Fun and Games!

This summer I purposely slowed us down and it’s been wonderful!!  Hannah did not want to play soccer and we took a break from gymnastics and piano too.  Other than 4 nights of swimming lessons next week, that’s it for our activity commitments this summer.  What a treat this has been!!

We’re normally home for the night sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 and the evening is ours.  Summer meals are normally light and fairly quick to put together so we have time after supper to spend some quality time together.  Sometimes it’s a bike or scooter ride, reading together, watching a TV show or, games.   All of a sudden Hannah is able to play ‘grown up’ games and oh how we’re enjoying this time together!

The first new game she learned was ‘Uno.’

The box indicated the game was for children age 7+ so I wasn’t  sure if it would be a bit difficult for her.  She caught on within minutes and quickly began beating Mommy fair and square.  When she played this series of cards I quickly realized my fears were for naught.  Hannah knew exactly how to play Uno – and win!

Hannah’s little friends K & G told her about a card game that they play called ‘Trash.’  I looked it up on YouTube and it became an instant hit with both of us!

Here is a video of m sweet girl playing.  Trash is a great game that she has already taught to one of her friends!

Our newest game is Skip-Bo and we just learned it Tuesday night.  It’s more challenging than the others but she’s doing well and only 2 nights in she’s playing with strategy!  Tonight she chose not to play one of her cards because she knew it would help me out.  Little stinker!!

Hannah’s victory pose.  (LOL!  Yes, her legs really are that long!)

Are there any other card games you would like to recommend to us? 

Long Weekend Getaway!

Nana was invited to travel to Pennsylvania for some music business.  She and Papa invited us to join them so I quickly said ‘yes!’  Well…truth be told, as soon as she found out she was going my response was, ‘Want company?’  This happened mid-march and our weekend has arrived.  I think I may have driven through bits of PA at different times but never had the opportunity to visit for an extended stay.

We were up early on Wednesday and on the road shortly after 6.  It was to be a 6+ hour drive without stops so we knew we wanted to start sooner than later.  Hannah is a great traveler yet this was to be her longest drive ever so I hoped she’d do well.  She told me she was going to pretend the car was an airplane because she likes to fly and has handled lots of long flights well.  She did great!  There were a few ‘are we almost there’ but all in all she handled it well. 

We like to eat at some of the restaurants we enjoy that we don’t have in Canada so supper was at Cracker Barrel. 

As we were preparing for this trip I was trying to figure out what to do for Hannah’s allergy to many detergents.  At Disney we can request special hypoallergenic sheets but this isn’t an option at most hotels.  I found this neat thing called a Sleep Sack at Bed, Bath and Beyond and it did the trick!  She was comfy and was fully protected from the sheets that cause her from having an allergic reaction like she did last summer. 

Thursday we took Nana to work and then set off to ‘not have any fun’ without her.  I’m not sure we succeeded!    We were in State College, PA so started off at a Visitor’s Center to find out what we might do.  There’s not much to entertain a 5yo so we went with Plan B.  Park time followed by shopping.  That works!

So many ‘yellow flowers’ to pick and give to Mommy!

It’s so much greener here and oh so beautiful!  We were happy to be wearing our summer clothes again.

Hannah is a high flyer on the swings and always tries to get as high as she can.

This time she shocked me with her unexpected exit!

A final pose before we left the park.

We spent the afternoon shopping at Kohl’s and Target.  Hannah and I had time to go for a quick swim and then it was time to pick up Nana.  All our fun had tuckered out my little girl and she grabbed a nap in the car.

Supper was at the Olive Garden and then back to our hotel for the night.   Sharing a special moment with Nana.

Sorting, Colours and Using Chopsticks!

I found another great activity for Hannah to try and she had a lot of fun with it.  I switched it up a bit and made it using small tin pie plates with construction paper discs in them, pompoms and chopsticks. 
I just let Hannah go as I was interested to see how she chose to do this.  It was cute to see how she chose one of each pompom colour and put them in their corresponding containers. 
Her colours are coming along much better in the past month or so and she knows most of them although often calls pink, purple.  She’s also at the point where she will tease and when asked the colour of something she purposefully says a different colour until I say a wrong colour too and then she quickly corrects me.  Oh yes, she is a clever bunny!
Two handed chopstick style. 
Picking up pompoms takes great concentration
I love how she has her little feet tucked under her
A video of my little lamb working on her project.  Before I went over she was chattering away to herself which she does often and it was oh so cute!  You hear a little bit of it at the beginning.  Heh…she is her mother’s daughter!

While she continued playing I checked some emails.  When I peeked back around the couch I had to laugh.  I think her neat little bowls of pompoms had decided to throw themselves all over the floor!
Tidying up is something that still needs lots of encouragement and mommy’s participation but we’re getting there.  Today when it was time we made quick work of cleaning up the pompoms together.
Hannah enjoyed this sorting game for over 20 minutes so I know it’s an activity we’ll be doing again.
On another note, we’re trying an experiment and it’s going pretty well.  Hannah has learned the difference between ‘stop’ and ‘go’ and with all the craft and activity supplies we’re accumulating I made signs for this bin and began to store things in there.
The green ‘go’ drawers mean she’s welcome to take out the things in there and play with them at anytime she wants.  In those drawers are crayons, paper, pompoms, pipe cleaners, stickers and we’ll be adding more things as time goes on.  The red ‘stop’ drawers contain things she can play with but must ask Mommy first, mainly so that I know she’s got those items out.  In the ‘stop’ drawers are play-doh, glue, markers and eventually will be scissors but right now those stay up where I can give them to her and watch carefully err a piggy be removed!
I have been finding lots of great activities for Hannah on Pinterest and will be sharing more of those here.  It’s wonderful how much fun this website has added to the time we share together.

Playing the Bobble Game

Speaking of favourite times of the day, I also enjoy our final cuddle time right before Hannah goes to bed for the night.  This is the only bottle of the day I get to give her so I cherish this precious time. 

Somewhere along the way we began to play this little game before her bottle and it’s now a nightly tradition.  I love how she throws herself back when offered the choice of a bottle.  Now Mama?  I would choose chocolate over a bottle every day!

As Hannah drinks her bottle we say our bedtime prayers normally while she holds my fingers in hers.  When she first came home she wouldn’t let anyone, including myself, touch her little hands.  Now, not only does she let me hold hers, she now reaches out to hold mine at various times during the day and night.  There is nothing sweeter than waking up to her precious little hand slipping itself into mine.  Oh yes, nothing better!

My Latest Vice...

I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. How about you?

A couple of months ago Cari posted about her latest obsession...online jigsaw puzzles! I followed the link and found myself at a site I had visited often in the past but lost track of. (When they blocked the site at work. :o)

Once I found the site I was quickly hooked again! One of the puzzles I did yesterday made me think of China so I decided to do what every good blogger does...blog about it and invite everyone else to join in the fun!

So how 'bout it friends? Wanna have some Jigsaw Fun? This link will take you to today's daily puzzle. Have fun!

And...here's a link to the Chinga Bridge puzzle shown above.