a little bit of everything

the gymnist

This morning, we went on a little field trip with Cayla's Mommy and Me class to Olympic Gymnastics in Laguna Hills for a private class.  The class was an hour long and we rotated to four different areas - the trampolines, an obstacle course, the parachute, and their junior gym room which had slides, balls, and mini gymnastics eqiuptment.  Cayla really enjoyed herself and now I want to enroll her in a gymnastics class! :)

Here are a few pictures of her fun day!  The pictures are less than optimal quality and blurry (she was moving all over the place).  I used my small point and shoot today - didn't want to be the mom who was fumbling with her big camera and not fully watching her toddler on gym equiptment LOL .  Note to self: just use the little camera for outdoor shots because you are never happy when you use the thing indoors without flash... just bust out the SLR.

   

a good read

Since I haven't been blogging the last couple of months, I haven't had the chance to talk about the book club that I am in...  some of you might remember that I joined a book club started up by some women who live in my neighborhood about six months ago.  This book club has been such a good thing!  I used to love reading but I stopped making time for it (magazine articles are so much faster to read).  I would make time to read pregnancy/parenting related books and of course, books for the kids, but I stopped making time to read for my enjoyment.  This book club has changed that.  We've read so many great books (some I enjoyed more than others but none ever really bad) and it's also nice to get to know new people. 

We read one book a month and take turns hosting at our homes.   It's has been fun because whoever is hosting usually tries to theme our snacks to fit the book.  At our meeting today, we discussed the latest book,  Water for Elephants, which is about life in the circus during the 1930s (a great book by the way, something I would have never picked on my own).  Anyway, our hostess made caramel popcorn and had cute little popcorn bags, licorice, candy in boxes (like you can get at the movies and also the circus).  Another person brought peanuts, and one even brought caramel apples!  My contribution was a little less themed... those yummy cupcake cookies with frosting - but they were pink with sprinkes which felt circusy to me! 

Last month, we read The Other Boleyn Girl to coincide with the release of the movie.  We met at the theater to watch the movie and then had coffee afterwards to discuss the book and movie.  The book was sooo much better (as is usually the case when there is a book and a movie) but the story in movie was so so different than what happened in the book.   It's interesting because when we voted to read this book next I was thinking I wouldn't really like historical fiction but it was soooo good that I want to read all the books in the series by Phillipa Gregory!  Another book we read was The Time Travelers Wife which comes out in the theaters this fall, which means another trip to the movies for our book club!

So our next read is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.  One of the girls in the club has already read it and said it is really good.  I'm looking forward to another good read! 

cayla... the science girl

  At Cayla's Mommy and Me class, her teachers call her their science girl.  Each week, Cayla is always a big fan of whatever they have planned at the science table.  Of all the kids, she is usually there for the longest amount of time.  For her age group, "science" consists more of tactile exploration (learning through touch).  So far, they have had fake snow (the powder that you add water to and it makes snow), shaving cream, uncooked rice, and lots of easter grass with small toys to dig out.   I wonder if she'll end up as a bio major like Mommy or an engineer like Daddy. :)

I guess I can say that so far so good with her Mommy and Me preschool class.  She really enjoys art (probably as much as science).  Every week, she plays at the playdoh table and plays with all the babies and the kitchen (she tried to feed them playdoh) and the small indoor slide during the open playtime.  She loves playing on the kinder playground when they go outside.  Of all the activities they have outdoors, she loves to blow bubbles.  She is getting pretty good at it too.  The biggest challenge we have in class right now is getting her to sit and pay attention during the 20 minute circle time.  She sits on my lap but it seems that after we sing the first three songs/dances, she's over it and wants to go back to play in the kitchen.  This is a new challenge for me because Collin was always so good at sitting and paying attention during circle.  Once I stand up with her in the back, she is better (stops complaining).  Some moms take their kids outside but since Cayla isn't being disruptive, I'd rather keep her somewhat invovled in circle so she doesn't think that crying is her way out.  I hope by the end of the semester, she will sit through an entire circle time without me having to stand in the back.

This weeks class should be fun... we are going on a field trip to Olympic Gymnastics.  They are doing a special session that is age appropriate for our class.  I hope that Cayla will be into it since she loved Gymboree so much!