Gymboree (video)

The last two months our mom group started going to Gymboree again! Yay! This was always one of our favorite things to do and its been nearly a year since we had been there. Peter walked right in like it was his home away from home.


He likes to try to hula hoop. He likes to throw the hula hoop around his waist and with a good throw it will go around a time or two before falling down.


He loves to be able to play with all his friends. They run around and climb on things, bang on things, throw balls around. It's just a great free play time.


Peter loves when they bring out the parachute. He likes to stand under it and watch it go up and down.


Maraca time is always a favorite! He loves to be able to bang things!


Woohoo! Parachute tent!



Just a little video of Peter banging away on the maracas. We listen to this "Freeze" song in the car so he knows when the freeze part is coming up. You can see him stopping preemptively before its time. Funny kid!

Soccer Clinic

Playing some quick catch up on the blog. These pics are actually from the beginning of November but I wanted to get them posted because I thought they were just so darn cute! One of our friends in the mom group decided to host a mini soccer clinic for the little kiddos.


We headed on out to the soccer field for Peter to learn all about soccer. He did great following directions and doing stretches. He had fun touching his toes and reaching up high into the sky.


He even had his own soccer ball to kick around, though he was eyeing everyone else's too!


He liked learning how to make his foot be an alligator and "eat" the soccer ball.


And he learned how to dribble the ball in little kicks...though that was a hard one. He much preferred doing big kicks!


Another highlight was being able to throw the ball really far. He had so much fun being able to do all these tricks that mom doesn't let him do at home!


Peter was such a good listener and had such good sports skills. I can't wait until he is old enough to start joining a "team". They have little kiddo games here starting at 3 years old. We'll have to get him involved so he can practice more and maybe learn how to focus some of his energy!

Snow Day (video)

The week before Thanksgiving SNOW came to Arizona!!! Of course it had to be trucked in...


The Foothills Mall once again brought in about 30 tons of snow into the parking lot to welcome Santa! For the third year we headed over to play in the snow.


This year Peter held his own in the snow crazed madness. Snowballs were flying, kids were running, and Peter was happily finding mini snowballs.


Peter ran all around the snow looking for perfect Peter sized chunks of snow to pick up and throw at mom. That's right, forget about the mass of other kids there. His sole target was to throw snow at mom.


He had a great time, even if his hands got cold!


Peter got some good throws at mom and nailed me repeatedly in the tummy. Some he got up high and got my hair! He's gonna be a danger next year! Can you imagine when he has a brother to target to!?! Oh no!!!


Peter also found some kids that were making a "Frosty"!! He was so excited that he needed to get his picture taken with it. He is obsessed with Frosty the Snowman this year.


Santa Claus ended up arriving in a big firetruck so before we left we had to go visit the firetruck. Peter saw a bunch of kids on the back posing for pictures so he HAD to get up and pose to. Isn't he the perfect little model?


I also got a few videos of Peter in action! This first one you'll notice that he throws a good snowball at me and then does an evil "Ha ha ha!" and runs off to find more snow in the crowd. He gets a little lost until he finds me then a big smile comes over his face as he runs to throw more snow at me. Crazy kid!



This video is of course my favorite. It shows off his dancing and great aim!!

Making Snickerdoodles (video)

Today we found Great-Grandma Langmann's recipe for Snickerdoodles and since it looked pretty easy I decided to make them! All I had to do was replace the butter with Peter's special shortening. I had to roll the dough into balls and then Peter helped roll them around and drench them in cinnamon and sugar. He had a great time but I did catch him taking a few licks and bites of the yummy doughballs. "Yum, taste Gooood!" he'd say. He's such a funny boy!

Oh and yes, he is wearing his Spiderman costume. It's a week after Halloween and he still wants to wear his costumes and go out for treats. Can you blame him? :) I have hardly any laundry because he hasn't worn regular clothes! Atleast he is happy and having fun! Sometime soon I will have to start putting Halloween things away and I'm trying to get him to dress up in his "play costume" or "park costume" whenever we go outside. If I call it a costume I can sometimes get him in shorts and a t-shirt! Whatever works!

Mall Trick-or-Treat

The mall closest to us has a fun trick or treating event every year that we decided to go to again. I talked Peter into wearing a DIFFERENT costume! Yes, this boy has all kinds! These are actually pajamas so I figured if it was a late night he could fall asleep in them and it would be ok. He calls them his "race car costume".


Peter has now become a bit of an expert in going around looking for people with candy bags. He was a pro at going into the stores and finding treats!


He often wiggled his way around all the parents to get to the treats and we just kinda watched him from the doorway. He hasn't figured out to say "trick-or-treat" and usually just says "treat please" and "thank you!" At this store he got a fun pinwheel to play with.


I think Peter was the only race car costume there. Our boy is so unique with the outfits he chooses! Lots of people were admiring his tin Spiderman bucket too. (Thank you after Easter sales! $1!)


Sometimes if the crowd got to much Peter went looking for his daddy. John had a good time being able to enjoy the Halloween crowd.


We also met up with Peter's buddy Abigail and the kids went trick-or-treating together. They are so fun running after each other!


After trick-or-treating we decided to stop at the north end of the mall and have a celebratory dinner. Halloween is our wedding anniversary after all! John's favorite sushi place is there and it was half price happy hour so we went in for our "treat".


Dinner at a nice place isn't always easy with a 2.5 year old. But we made it work!


Peter was able to get some plain chicken and rice. He ate an entire bowl of rice by himself. And he tried to use the chopsticks but used them more as a spear. God bless those poor servers! They had a decent mess of rice to clean up after we left! We left a good tip!


Of course, Peter already had desert figured out...CANDY!


He even found a nice little fireplace out on the promenade to rest for a little bit.


After dinner we were going to try to watching a screening of the Ghostbusters movie in the courtyard but about 20 minutes in we gave up. Peter was ready for bed and started to get antsy and not listening. It was time to go home. All in all it was a nice family night on the town.

Halloween Bootastic Party

Another Halloween past, another Meetup Moms of Tucson Halloween party!


Peter and I got all dressed up in the Halloween spirit last weekend and headed to a big picnic at the park. Daddy was stuck working. :( But he's been able to do a lot of other celebrating so we decided to do this one without him.


There was lots of yummy food. Of course, I had to bring some backups that were Peter-friendly. I made him some Pumpkin Spice cupcakes so he had a special yummy treat...I think he liked them!


They have all kinds of fun things at the party. Peter liked to "Go Fish" with a fishing pole.


He ended up winning a little baby rubber ducky dressed like a mummy. He loves his little rubber duckies and uses them all year in the bath tub. (Daddy doesn't like them as much because Peter squirts him with them!)


Peter also got to practice standing in line waiting for a train ride. He got to stand next to his buddy Lilah though so that was nice. Peter has a bit of a crush on Lilah. They are about a week apart in age but she is a cute petite little thing. Peter is always asking to go to "Lilah's house" to play.


Finally he got to go on a train ride with his buddies. Always an exciting part of our day!


I was worried it was going to get too warm for Peter's Superman costume. It was supposed to reach 90 by the afternoon. Thankfully the party started early. Plus Peter's costume by now had gotten a few rips and tears in it. The entire back from the neck to the butt was wide open and his diaper was hanging out. The cape covered it most of the time and he really wanted to wear it so I just let him. (I have since bought a replacement costume at the Halloween clearances. I wish I'd bought more! He insists on wearing it whenever he watches SuperWhy!)


Of course, we can't forget all the fun we had bouncing in the bouncy houses and going down the slide. Always a highlight!


And Peter even made another instant friend! Super Girl showed up in the bouncy house! Peter was all smiles when he saw her! She fell down once and started crying and Peter went over to help her up and gave her a hug. Such a sweet boy!

Buzz & Woody Buddies

Another group of Halloween playdate pictures. Peter is totally spoiled by getting so many chances to wear his costumes. I have a feeling he will be wearing them long after Halloween. Since it is back to nearly 90 degrees here I try to go with the lighter weight ones...they don't make many of those! This time it was Buzz Lightyear.


Our friends had a dog out in the backyard and Peter had a blast chasing it around. He loves these bigger dogs! Thankfully they also have a 2 year old so it was used to all the attention (aka harrassment!)


Peter was THRILLED that another little boy showed up as Woody. Of course, Peter thought that they were instant "buddies". The other kid wasn't sure why this weird kid dressed as Buzz was trying to give him hugs and just smiling and waving at him.


Eventually though Peter grew on him and they played really well together. Peter even got in a few good hugs. At one point in the playdate another kid started hitting Woody and Peter ran across the room to shove the other kid away. I've never seen that before! I think he was trying to protect his new friend.


They also found a new game to play with the shrubbery cages in the backyard. Anyone else thinking new "timeout" zone?