Parachute Fun and 5 months Old!

This week was a much better week than last week because we had no major injuries, car difficulties, or photo disasters. Soren turned 5 months old this week, and we also had a out of the ordinary activities, but otherwise, and pretty normal week.

On Monday, we were initially going to meet up at the mall with Michelle and Zach, but she called to postpone until Wednesday. We didn't do much today. In fact, I only left the house in the car to get pizza for dinner and our dry cleaning because they are right next door to each other.

Tuesday was super church activity day. We attended a presidency meeting in the morning. Afterwards we did some much needed grocery shopping (hence the pizza on Monday night). We could have postponed it one more day, though, because we had Blue and Gold Banquet in the evening. Keira's new favorite thing to look at at Meijer was the lobster tank. It sounded like she was calling them monsters. She kept screaming for the monsters the whole time. It was probably difficult for onlookers to tell if she was wanting to see them or afraid. I was surprised that the normal fish tanks didn't pacify her at all. We did need to go, though, to get paczkis, for Fat Tuesday. I had wanted them to take to my meeting, but we just didn't get up early enough.

Keira did eat a paczki. She could pronounce them properly, but preferred to just call them donuts. She didn't eat the filling, though, just the edges.
On Wednesday, we had another full day.
We were able to meet up with Michelle and Zach at the mall, and ran into Haley with Avery while we were there. Haley and Avery couldn't stay and play, but we did have enough time to chat a bit before they rushed off. Keira and Zach had a great time playing in the play area.



This is just a cute picture of Soren from later in the day. He had an outfit change as usual.
After naptime, we decided to go for a run. I had called Valerie to see if she wanted to join me, because we devised a plan to "handicap" me by having me push both heavy boys in my stroller and she would push both the light girls in hers (Soren plus the carseat are a tad heavier than Keira). Valerie was smart to not run, because the run started with Keira screaming, "its starting to rain" and protesting a couple sprinkles- it was sunny just an hour ago! I should have listened to her, because 3/4 a mile in, we were in a total downpour. The stroller canopy and the blankets we had brought were doing a great job of keeping Keira and Soren dry, so I went another 1/4 mile before bailing and heading home. I had to bring the stroller in the kitchen to let it dry out before putting it back in the car. That thing looks so huge in our kitchen! Once Ryan got home, we went to the bike shop where Keira was finally big enough to ride a Hotwalk, a pedal free bike. She is going to ask the Easter Bunny for one. Also, we headed to REI to pick up some studded tires for Ryan's mountain bike. I also learned today that Team Stayput is not going to continue into 2009. I did notify Active Marketing to keep me informed of any teams that are not yet formed for 2009, but I may have missed out on this year. There may be one or two more opportunities, but I am not sure if I will be what they are looking for. I will just need to wait and see.

On Thursday, we got together with Nakia and Gabby at the mall. The girls played a bit and we chatted. It is an interesting situation, because we just became friends, and their house sold so they will be leaving in about a month. Hopefully we can stay in touch and have a couple more playdates planned before their move. Maybe their housing luck will rub off on us and we can have our place sell too.



I ran by myself this evening because it was a bit damp still and Soren started to get stuffy. I really hope he didn't get sick from the run in the rain, but germs make people sick, not the rain. I didn't want to take any chances on him getting worse, though. Soren does like eating cereal. He get so excited and looks so cute eating it.

Friday was a fun and exciting day. This morning, instead of Storytime at the library, we attended a special class called Parachute Fun. It was just for 2 year olds, so Valerie brought Katie to it. It was pretty crazy. I don't know if all the kids were thrown off by the fact that they were doing something other than Storytime or what, because it took forever to get everything situated and was pretty hysterical. Keira is a big fan of ring around the Rosey from church nursery, but when asked to do it at the library, she had no idea. It also took some work to get the kids to get in a circle to hold the parachute, but that worked better than Rosey. Overall, it was fun, and really funny to watch the kids.

This is the beginning of "Ring Around the Rosey"
More attempts at getting in a circle via Rosey. See how Keira is inside the circle! We know she knows the song, we do it all the time at home until we are nearly sick from going in circles.
Finally, everyone is in the circle holding the parachute. There were a ton of kids in the class. I guess that is what happens when there is no registration required.
Things were finally undercontrol (for the most part). There were a few delinquent children that took the balls or got on or under the parachute, but Keira and Katie did great at staying on task and following the directions. The class attempted to walk in a circle with the parachute, but that just resulted in some ameoba looking thing that moved towards the wall. I guess the 3 year old class couldn't do it either. Once we stopped walking, thing got back to normal eventually.



Soren was awake the whole time, and I carried him all around the room. I wish some of the other parents would have been as involved as I was because some of the kids just didn't listen and the library staff had to move a few of them instead of their parents. If I could haul around Soren and tend to Keira, then they should have been able to do it as well, and some of them only had 1 child to deal with. Valerie was smart and put Luke in his stroller so that she could help direct Katie much easier!
Keira and Katie are comparing their stickers at the conclusion of class.

Afterwards, we went to McDonalds for some lunch and to play in the playland. Friday was all about fun for Keira and Katie. Valerie and I were glad they had fun, but we didn't get to catch up much. Ah, another wonderful thing about lent (which we don't observe) is that the double filet o fish is back! My favorite.

That evening, we went to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. Today was apparently an eating day for Keira. She ate really well at lunch and dinner!

Saturday was a pretty low key day. I went on a run, but it was pretty cold and windy so I cut it short. Soren was still pretty stuffy, so we didn't do a lot. For Primary, we had a service project to sing at a retirement community near the mall. Soren and I attended that while Ryan and Keira went to the mall playarea. Soren struggled to nap all day, and I finally got him to take a solid nap in the evening, and we both fell asleep upstairs until almost 9pm. When I woke up, Soren was still asleep, as was my arm. Ryan lifted him off of me and he woke up shortly after. Ryan had made dinner and put Keira to bed during my slumber. We did get to eat dinner together, though, once Soren was actually put to bed. We weren't really sure what to do about 5 month pictures, since there is not a 29th day in February. I took some on Saturday.
Keira loves the jumperoo still. She is just barely under its weight limit and is skinny enough that her legs still fit.
5 Month Pictures:



Today, Soren was doing much better. We went to church as usual and just hung out at home. Keira was big on playing in a tent made out of a chair and blankets, and we had to break out the next size up of church clothes for Soren because his arms were too chubby for the cuffs! I took a few more pictures for his 5 month birthday.

We tried to get a decent shot of Keira and Soren together in their church clothes. This shot and the one at the top are about the best we could get.
Next week will probably be more of the same. We have a few playdates planned and the storytimes resume at the library. We are not sure if Ryan will get to try out his tires or not this winter, because there have been so many freeze and thaw cycles. They are not good on soggy ground.