Winter Wrap-Up Finale

During the last bit of winter we...

...found ways to amuse ourselves indoors. I tried to teach Claire how to hula hoop (it didn't work so well), she flew in the air with her Daddy and colored as many pieces of paper as I would let her. I tried to make it "green" by having her color on the backside sometimes but she wouldn't have any of it. She had to have a brand new piece of paper. :)

...went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum where Claire played for hours. She loved to pretend drive the car, push the miniature grocery carts around, scooting around on a tricycle, and organizing the fake vegetables (she takes after her mother). What I loved most was not having to find ways to entertain her every second that afternoon.

...ventured into our "front yard" and tried to play in the snow. Claire didn't like it one bit, which surprised me because every other time we've been in the snow, she loved it. Although, the snow was a lot deeper this time and she couldn't take a single step. Claire cried and cried and cried! What a waste spending 10 minutes putting on her snow clothes and then another 10 minutes taking them off. Ugh! Thank goodness I think winter is finally behind us.

Bring on spring!

Part 2....Winter Wrap-Up

What else kept us busy this winter?

Attending the World Mogul Championships at Deer Valley. The three of us had never seen a mogul event before and it really was amazing what these people can do. Although the incredible talent was fun to watch, two of my favorite aspects of our afternoon were going on the people mover (I had no idea they existed outside of airports...so cool!) and watching Claire's face as she was in utter amazement as she boarded her very first chair lift. Priceless! As expected, it was absolutely freezing so we didn't stay long, but it was definitely worth the hassle to get up there.

Chillin' out at home in our pajamas with our hair undone and our favorite toys. This is what Claire's hair looks like when we aren't visible to the general public (below left). I'm starting to wonder if she's going to permanently hold her chin up in the air since she's so used to trying to look between the hair. :) Claire plays with her drums to music on the radio any chance she can get and Khloe runs around chasing her favorite duck all while I'm trying to watch my favorite shows on DVR. No wonder I only hear half of them and constantly wonder what the heck is going on.

Erik took a short golf trip to St. George with his friend, Koo, who has become one of Claire's favorite people. She loves saying his name in her cute toddler way...imagine the sound of a bird "cooing".

A 'V Chocolate' factory tour with my Activity Days girls. The samples were delicious and to my surprise, Claire kept the hair net on the entire time! She has grown to not mind being passed around like a doll to all of the girls. They just love her!

An afternoon at the new Museum of Natural History with my parents. It was very interesting and I wish I could have paid attention more. Claire really enjoyed the taxidermy, but wasn't so sure about the human skeletons. Claire spent half of her afternoon sitting in various parts of the building in timeout, but the most amusing event took place when Claire refused (momentarily) to walk across a glass floor, which had bones underneath it in clear view. She was so confused because she couldn't see the glass. Hilarious!

A quick dip in my parent's hot tub. Claire loves the water and I can't wait to take her swimming this summer. I hope she's as adventurous as she was last year.

Going to every library toddler class in a 20 mile radius. I swear we've been to them all. :) Besides the dancing, story time, getting a stamp on her hand, touching all sorts of reptiles, and playing on a strange dragon...Claire loves to read. I don't think there are any toddler books we haven't checked out.

More yet to come.

Winter Wrap-Up....Part 1

It's always difficult finding ways to entertain yourself, let alone an antsy toddler, in these dreary winter months however, to my surprise, we've had tons of things to do. These are some of the activities that have kept us occupied lately:

Claire enjoyed her very first fort, made by muah. She loved crawling in and out of the couch pillows and coffee table, while holding tightly to the TV remote of course.

The World Cup Speed Skating Championships at the Utah Olympic Oval: it was a fun, free, and different way to spend our Saturday afternoon. Claire enjoyed running around, playing peek-a-boo through the barriers, and I enjoyed watching her sit in timeout for not obeying Mommy.

Multiple visits to Hogle Zoo for their free admission days; the last Wednesday's of December, January, and February. Claire enjoyed one visit with her cousins, who all happened to be wearing the same blue coats from Farmor and almost identical cream hats with ears on them. Adorable! Claire absolutely loves animals and on our latest visit she learned about the giraffe. "A Rar", as she calls it, have very long necks (she points to her neck too). I think she has been wanting to go back to the zoo because she says "a rar" randomly throughout the day....everyday. :)

Walks through Wheeler Farm: one of Claire's favorite things to do! She's even started saying "moo" as we drive by. Her favorite animal is usually the rooster, which in her language is either "ca ca ooh ooh" or "ca ca". Khloe's favorite animals are the bunny rabbits. A couple of months ago they got a new cage which sits on the ground...perfect viewing for little Khlo. She runs around the cage sniffing while trying to chase the rabbit. I wish I could let her play with one of them; they'd probably be great friends since they are basically the same size.

  

Playing with her rubber frogs that she got at her cousin's Valentine's Day party (top left picture). She is obsessed with them and very rarely lets them out of her site. She's lost a couple of them and frequently puts her hands up in the air and makes a sound that means "where did my frogs go?". At the party, she danced with her Aunt Liv, colored, sorted candy, and rode Soren's tricycle. She had a blast! That night, she also got some reusable stickers as a v-day present from Mommy and Daddy.



 

Stay tuned for part two of "Winter Wrap-Up".