Fun Friday: DATE night

Since I am WEEKS behind on posting, I thought I would start with a Fun Friday from a few weeks ago. The first week in May, I had a trip for work to D.C. But the same day I was to fly back in was the preschool "date night" at Moses' school. So, to be sure I could make it in time, I took an EARLY flight ("early" as in the cab picked me up from the hotel at 4:30 am...) back to STL that morning.

I am SO GLAD I made it! The classes went miniature-golfing, and I can't even tell you how many times Moses said "that was FUN." After it was over, Moses and I stopped at the movie theater for buttery popcorn. Date night is definitely something Moses and I need to repeat on a regular basis!

Moses and his best buddy:


Seriously, he is so stinkin' cute!


My date :)


This week Moses went to his best buddy's house for Fun Friday, and then when he got home we planted a few flowers. I love him SO MUCH!

Fun Friday: A little of this and that...

It was a low-key Fun Friday, but it seems like the low-key Fridays always end up the most successful. It started with a surprise for Moses after school; we are taking him to Winter Jam next week to see Newsboys (he doesn't know it yet), so we had the new Newboys cd playing when he got home.

We then decorated a small Easter tree for our dining room.

We had breakfast for supper, and the feeding therapy went much better than it had at lunch. Instead of having to coax him to try things (the theory is you start small and work up, so you start by having him touch the food; then he has to pick it up; then he has to touch it to his face; etc.), he kept asking "what next?" We had biscuits and gravy, and we were able to work up to him dipping biscuit in gravy (not eating it), and touching a plain biscuit to his face. It's a good start! He's actually starting ahead of a lot of kids with similar issues, because he can tolerate having the food in front of him.

After supper, he and I made pumpkin bread together (again, prepping food is part of the process- and one of the few random things he will eat). He was a CHATTERBOX. And then he started asking me questions about supper: Did I make you proud? Did I make you proud, or really proud? (REALLY proud, Moses!). He stirred the bread mix, didn't mind if it got on his fingers, and even licked it off his hand!



While the bread was baking, we played a family game of hide-and-seek. I don't think any of us had laughed that hard in a LONG time. It felt good!

But the bread took forever for some reason tonight, I rushed getting it out of the loaf pan and it didn't come out well, and it was still hot when I served it to Moses. Not pleasant for a little guy with food sensory issues.... he said forlornly as he picked at his hot pumpkin bread, "This does not make me happy." Ah, that just cuts right to the heart! On the flip side, it is so good to hear him actually expressing himself about what he is eating, instead of just withdrawing inside himself.

Oh my goodness, I LOVE him.

Two random notes:

1) ZuZu clearly does NOT get the concept of hide-and-seek.

2) Hosanna clearly does NOT like being put in Moses' Easter bucket:


:)

Fun Friday: Treasure Hunt

Tonight we did a treasure hunt around the house for a small treasure. The kids were running all over the house, up and down the stairs, to places like...

Mommy's desk...


The Roadrunner/Looney Tunes DVD case (the clue was "meep! meep!")...

ZuZu's kitchen...

"Look ZuZu, the treasure!"


He was one happy guy- makes up for the mopey picture up above!

Fun Friday: A Walk... and a Wake-Up Call!

It was the PERFECT day to go on a walk for Fun Friday! And where else in Mayberry do you walk on a sunny Friday afternoon? You guessed it- Dairy Queen!

Everyone was excited to be going outside!

All Moses wanted to do was run. Seriously, he ran all the way to DQ and back (about 7 blocks, each way).

ZuZu was content to just ride...

I have no idea where she learned to wear big sunglasses...


Buddies!

On the way home, Moses wanted to walk with me. About 4 blocks from home, he ran over to me to take my hand, and said "I want you!" I can't tell you how good that is to hear... since birth, he's been a "daddy's boy." So once every 5 years, it is so good for this mommy to get picked! :)

A couple blocks from home, he decided we needed to run together. Realizing I needed to capitalize on the opportunity he was giving me to be he best buddy on the way home, I of course agreed to run- the entire length of a football field (literally- we live 2 houses down from the football field).

OUCH.

Seriously, I felt like my legs were like 200 pounds when I was trying to run. I think it *might* have something to do with having babies 18 months apart... I've heard that can really take a lot out of you. :)

Anyway, time to start eating better and exercising... because I realized this weekend that I couldn't run to save my life- literally!

Fun Friday: Camping!

Congratulations to Anna M.! We went "camping" last night!

Okay, disclaimer: K and Moses "camped." I slept in my bed. Because even inside our house, I'm not so into the camping thing. In fact, that tent you see in the picture... it's a beach shade tent. We don't even own a tent. And outside of the Elmo sleeping bag Moses used last night, we don't even own sleeping bags...

Anyway, we started in the afternoon, fishing in the river between the couches (i.e., "riverbanks"):

When ZuZu got up from her nap, she got to go fishing, too:

Then we "fried" the fish up into goldfish crackers. :) And sometime in there, Moses became a "king." I don't know why, but it made sense to Moses. He kept going in his tent to change his "robe." Here he is sporting the striped variety:

We had a picnic dinner of hotdogs, baked beans, and chips in the living room. I mean, at the camp site. And what is a camping trip without s'mores?!

While we ate, we watched the Homecoming Kids Camp Out (again, getting back to my Baptist roots! :) ). There's really nothing like hearing an almost 2-year-old sing "It's a Miracle" or an almost 5-year-old sing "I am a promise"... or watching a couple of kids laugh so hard at "The Laughing Song":


I went to Walmart and came home to this... K and Moses (a.k.a. "George" and "Davy") were watching "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates":

Before bed, K read Moses the book "Just Me and My Dad" (Little Critter and his dad go camping in that book). Then they slept in the living room under the stars, courtesy of Moses' cloud b turtle:


It was a success! Thanks for the GREAT idea, Anna M.! I have the gift card and will get it to you!

Fun Friday ideas

I've had so many people give me great ideas for our next Fun Friday (tomorrow). It is going to be SO HARD to determine which one I want to do this week!

Here are some of the ideas (in no particular order!):

• Build forts
• Make your own pizzas
• Decorate your own cookies
• Scrapbooking
• Camp out inside
• Studying the country of our Compassion child and sending her a package
• Summer inside (picnic lunch, outdoor games inside, etc)
• Beach party inside
• Hide & Seek games
• Obstacle course inside
• Ice cream sundae party

Seriously, these ideas are ALL awesome, and I wish I could send you all a $5 gift card because I will probably be using all of these ideas at some point! But the idea I pick for tomorrow will be the one that earns the gift card.... stay tuned on Saturday to see what we did!

Fun Friday: Dance Party!

When I asked Moses last week what he wanted to do for "Fun Friday," he said "Dance. And then sing."

Easy enough! Except I had a special surprise... I've had some glow bracelets stuck away for a couple of years. I wasn't sure if they would still work, and half of them didn't. But 5 of them did, and the kids had A BLAST. In fact, I think this might have been their favorite "Fun Friday" yet!

But I am hitting a "Fun Friday" mental block. I need some more stay-in-the-house fun ideas. We've done cookies. We've played board games. I needs something fresh and new!

So here is what I am proposing. I know that I have a lot of people visiting the blog- over 1000 hits in the last month (I don't know how that can be accurate, but that is what blogger says). So I would love to know who you are!

Leave a comment to this post with an idea of what we can do for our next Fun Friday. I will use one of those ideas next week. If I use your idea, I will send you a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Every comment (with a legitimate Fun Friday idea) will count as an additional entry.

Remember: something we can do inside the house that is practical but fun (and not expensive)!

Leave a comment between now and Wednesday at 11:59 pm. I will reveal who wins on the "Fun Friday" post next week!

Fun Friday

Today's events were much more "low-key" than last week's-- but a lot more yummy!

We've tried making sugar cookies together in the past, but usually Moses is interested for two minutes and then runs off to play. But today he really stuck with it.


He did a great job rolling out the dough...

and cutting...

and dying...

(Note: This is the EASIEST way to make frosting! Buy a can of vanilla frosting- I prefer Pillsbury- microwave it in a bowl in 15 second increments until melted, and dye with food coloring!)

and decorating!

The finished product:

ZuZu was VERY excited to find a table full of cookies...

So far, I've *only* had 4. Or 5... haha.


Moses has more fun planned on Friday night, but it didn't include us. He and his best buddy had dinner together, then watched a movie. *sniff, sniff* My baby is growing up!

Fun Friday

Admittedly, this post is 3 days late....

But I've been trying to figure out how to explain why we are having "Fun Fridays" in our house. Certainly we are doing them to have FUN. But it started because Moses has had an incredibly rough year. He has learned things about life- and about other Christians in general- that a 4-year-old should NOT need to know. Things about betrayal and conditional love and abandonment. About hostility directed toward God's people when they are living for Him (Matthew 5:11-12). Hostility that has even been directed at him.

And for a four-year-old, that is confusing, hurtful, and even devastating.

He's been seeing a wonderful Christian woman who is an expert in child mental health. And while she says that (miraculously) he is still very mentally healthy little four-year-old, we need to do all we can to build him up and make sure he sees the joy in life.

And hence, the beginning of Fun Fridays.

We started two weeks ago- and honestly, I can't remember what we did the first week! Last week, he and I baked a cake right after school, and then instead of having his afternoon "quiet time," he and K made popcorn (2 bags!) and played Candyland in his room.

So, most weeks it will be low-key. But this week we decided to have some extra fun: Build-a-Bear!

Both kids knew EXACTLY which animal they wanted when they walked in. ZuZu wanted a Valentine bear (pictured here post-stuffing):

She wanted to name her bear "Eyes." I put "Bear" on the birth certificate...

Moses wanted a blue bear with peace signs all over it... thankfully, we were able to steer him away, and he picked a ladybug (boybug?) that he named "Zeke":

Moses LOVES giving his animals a "bath" and brushing them before we leave...

He even did ZuZu's...

Both animals have been well-loved already.... even their boxes are getting some attention:


I won some cookie cutters this weekend at a tea, so it looks like our next Fun Friday will involve heart-shaped cookies for Valentine's Day! YUM.