Playday at the mall

This week we were suppose to go to the pumpkin patch but it was cancelled again because of rain. Instead we all met at the mall and had a big playday at the playground and food court. This is always so much fun because they like playing and the moms can talk, and then we can have a fun food court lunch with tons of high chairs! Here are some pictures of our fun morning at the mall :)


Ana Maria loves playing with Addyson :)

She wanted to be a baby again like Walker and Addyson!

Ana Maria and her sweet friend Anna Katherine

They like each other so much. It's great because they live in our neighborhood also!

A group picture of some moms there...there were lots more on the other side where I was sitting also! It was a fun day!

Sonshine School Party

Today was our trick or treating day at school! Ana Maria loves going to school but loved it even more this morning when she got to wear her ladybug costume again! The school trick or treated around the building with each class handing out a treat to the kids. I wish I could have seen her in action but I was handling the kids in my class around the school. I was able to see her once and snapped one picture! Later on in the afternoon, the school allowed each class to have a party. Ana Maria's class had a cupcake, goldfish and fruit. I was able to go in to take a couple of pictures, particially of her eating the cupcake. It was a fun "ladybug" day!!

Ana Maria, Zayde and Kenzie

They were so cute taking pictures. Ana Maria wanted to keep checking out the pink poodle! I don't think she believed Kenzie was inside of there :)

Some of the kids in her classroom...I wish I could have gotten a class picture. They all looked so cute!

This is a picture of my class, minus 2 kids that weren't there. They were cute!

This is her trick or treating with her bag...check out her friend Ruthie in the Nemo costume!

Ana Maria and the kid to her left ate nothing, but check out the kid on the right!

She was done and wanted out! Sweet girl didn't eat any of her cupcake but a couple licks :) I can't believe she doesn't enjoy sweets like her momma!!

Cooking

My sweet girl loves to cook! If I say the word "cook" she says "egg"! It is so cute!! Her favorite thing so far I think is to cook an egg because she can pretty much do everything alone. She gets the egg out of the carton, cracks it in the bowl and then stirs it. I lift her up to the stove so she can pour it in the pan and then sits on the counter so she can flip it over. I love her helping me! The other day I was going to make pumpkin bread while she was napping but I decided to wait until she woke up. I am so happy she did because she loved it. She is such a good girl and really follows directions well. She is patient and understands for the most part what I am asking her to do. We do everything either on her table or the floor (mixing, pouring) and she loves it!
We bought a step stool this week so I plan on her helping me more and more. I love her in the kitchen with me!

Another Halloween Party...

Friday night, Ana Maria went to her second Halloween party of the year...the NWA Playgroup party. It was a lot of fun with our friends Tarah and Tage and also meeting some new friends. They had tons of yummy food, lots of games for the kids to play, a ghost hunt outside (lollipop ghosts in the trees), and smores by a campfire. She loves dressing up as "ladybug" and will lots more times this week! I have to remember to wash the costume before Wednesday when she will wear it to school! I'll have more pictures all week of other costume appearances she makes!


This is Diesel McFadden (Darren McFadden's son) and Ana Maria at the party!

Look how sweet she is!

Finally she looks at the camera :)

They tried to get all the kids together for a picture. I was a disaster but Ana Maria was saying "cheeese"!!

A beautiful weekend

This weekend was spent mostly ouside because the weather was so nice! I really don't look forward to the cold days when Ana Maria can't play outside. She loves playing outside and is always so happy playing with her big "outside" toys. Her favorite is her red car, and second would probably be the good find that we got at the MOMS Club garage sale this weekend, a little push car. She enjoyed playing with it outside yesterday a lot. Here are some fun pictures to show. I had my sun glasses on so she asked for hers and wore them the whole time. She really is starting to watch what I do and want to be just like momma...I love it!

VIDEO:

Playdough!

Another new project that Ana Maria and I do together is playdough. She loves it and it enterains her quite well while I am making dinner or trying to clean up the house. These pictures are from her first day but she has gotten very creative since then. Eduardo played playdough with her one night and taught her some new tricks, like how to make cookie cutter shapes and little balls. We do one color at a time and she has never asked for more...she really doesn't know there are other colors in the cabinet. I'll surprise her one day with a new color!
Let us know of art projects you do at home...we are running out of ideas!

Nursing Home

This week we went with the MOMS Club to visit a nursing home. It had been an idea that the MOMS Club has wanted to do for a long time, so I put it into action! The kids dressed in their Halloween costumes, we sang Halloween songs, and then passed out handmade cards that everyone had made at home for the residents. It was so sweet! One of the moms told me that she saw one of the women with tears in her eyes...I know we made a difference and put a smile on their faces!
My grandmother lived in a type of nursing home for many years and I remember all the children and adults that would visit them. She always had something cute hanging in her room that they had given her and a smile that told us someone had been there! This October 31st will be the 1 year anniversary of her death and I especially wanted to do this in remembrance of her :)
Ana Maria was very shy handing the cards she made to the residents. I think the wheelchairs intimidated her as well as there just being elderly people there. I hope to do more service projects like this with her to show her how special elderly people are and how important it is to show love to them in homes like this where sometimes they are forgotten about.
I'll let you know when we do it again soon!!

Corn Maze

Saturday Ana Maria and I were invited by our friends to go to a corn maze and farm. I have never been to one so I knew it was going to be exciting! It was GREAT! If you are in NW Arkansas and have not been, you need to go. Eduardo didn't get to go with us because of tennis, but I hope we can go with him again before it closes on Nov. 8th.
Thank you to Drew, Tamara and Amy for inviting us along!
It was freezing cold but we bundled up and did everything they offered. We were there for over 4 hours with so much to do :) The website is http://rightchoicescornmaze.com/ if you want more information. Here are some highlights from our fun day!


Nethier of us knew how much fun we were going to have, especially in the freezing cold!

This was the corn cannon

They had a great pumpkin patch with hot apple cider :)

This was the view as we were walking in through the barn where we bought our tickets

They had animals for the kids to look at

She liked watching the chickens :)

Tamara helped her go down the slide

She loved it! You sat on a board and it went slow down.

Of couse rocks are always a highlight!

This was hay that they put pipes through so you could talk to the other side.

The corn maze had a short maze and a long maze. We took the little kids through the short maze because we heard the long maze was really muddy.

She almost got lost she wanted to run so far ahead of us. It was scary!

They found random corn everywhere :)

She kept right up with all the big kids!

We really didn't know which way to go most of the time. It was really hard!

Sometimes the kids even wanted to get off the path...

Ana Maria and I waiting to get on the cow train

I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!

Here is the bunch of kids that we were with, all waiting to get on the train!

We didn't know if she should sit alone but she did :)

She was strapped in :) I think I was more nervous than she was about it!

They went far away...all through the farm, even past real cows!

Here is all the kids and they were all so good, and cold!!

The corn box, instead of a sand box, was a huge hit with Ana Maria!

At first she was not too sure about it but then jumped right in.

I even saw her try to take her shoes and socks off :)

We were not at the beach on a warm day for that!!

She was even laying down in it. I just washed her clothes from that day and found tons of corn in the washing machine!!

We had to take a snack break :)

She loved pushing the tire swings with Tamara's help

Here she is again!!

She loved the pumpkin patch, so much that she thought you could lay and walk on top of the pumpkins!

We really had to talk about how you act around pumpkins :) She thought they were toys!

She loved walking through them :)

And trying to walk on top of them again!!

Here is Tamara and Kenzie with Ana Maria and I. Tamara is the other teacher in the class with me! I like her and her family so much!!

Ana Maria enjoying the hayride, although she did not want to sit down. It made us all nervous!

Here is the whole bunch!! Amy and her son Zade (Tamara's sister), Tamara, Drew and their three kids, Kenzie, Addy and Caden, and Ana Maria and I!

WE HAD SUCH A FUN DAY!!