The MEN

I love this picture... Shane is officially controlled by his kids..
notice his bling. He has been bedazzled by his daughter.  

Zumba

Today I went to ZUMBA! And danced for 80 minutes straight.

I was terrible at it, because I lack grace and coordination.

It was so freeing when one of the instructors announced that we should make the workout our own as she demonstrated adding style to a move. I loved that! Only problem was everyone still moved around in the same directions; like seriously! What she should have said is make it your own but don't have too much fun to where you run into people.

I learned several things:
1.) Centripetal Force does not work on me as much as everyone else, because somehow they swing their arms impossibly fast. I can't even move that fast; forget doing it on beat.
2.) "Um can you do that body roll in slow motion?" - Maybe I should have trained for the body roll parts.
3.) Don't stand by the old ladies... If they at their age are at this intense Zumba "Party" they are probably way jazzier than you and make you look like weak sauce.
4.) I learned that not everyone has to make sound affects with every move, but I do. I also name every move and yell it out occasionally like I am at a rock concert or something. It is really cool...

It was basically a ton of fun that I will be recovering from for awhile.

New Toy

It took Daphney and I awhile before we learned how to use this toy but as you can see it was fun all the same. Thanks Kirk and Pam!

Farm Tour

Jenny, Daphney, and I decided to boycott the high priced zoos and take a trip to VanWinkle's farm to see all the animals. We got to see baby lambs and calves, a horse, few chickens, couple dogs, and "rat" the fat cat. It was a ton of fun and Daphney loved getting to touch and see the animals we have read about actually in real life. Since then she has had more fun riding in a car because she watches for cows. At the end of the tour of the farm Daphney grabbed Bob's hand and made him take her to go and see more animals. It was super cute!

Daphney's Titanic

This one is simple to explain....

It took me ten minutes to release my child from the dungeon of the downstairs.

For my dedicated readers...

Daphney woke up from her nice peaceful nap and discovered she was alone in my parent's basement. I was sitting on the couch upstairs nursing Demitri as I hear the piercing wails, of a nap gone wrong, zooming the length of the basement and beginning to grow louder as she manages to reach the top of the staircase. There the sound stays not growing louder or softer.

Demitri decides to begin his wailing melody as he has to stop eating so we can check on Daphney. The song of my children is missing its usual melody of the drum of pounding palms on the door; I figure Daphney must not be stuck behind the closed door. However, as I approach chills run down my spine as I see her little fingers pried beneath the door and the floor. (The chills remind me of the ones you get while watching Titanic and see the lower class workers try to escape before the door locks them in the bottom of the boat... haunted me as a child.)

The intensity of my children’s cries increases as Daphney hears us approach and she begins to dig her fingers in farther into the cold tile. It took me a good 6 minutes to convince her to remove her fingers from under the door because as I would open the door a centimeter her hand would begin to resemble a pancake. We finally got her to painfully remove her digits, but she still would not back down the stairs in order to make room for me to open the door and save her. Daphney never actually managed to reverse down the stairs instead she smashed down far enough onto the floor that the door could open on top of her. It was quite the pickle for a bit. A few scrapes; consequently, just another day in the life of our Daphenator.

Time to Play

So after our last debunked pin I swore I was going to stick to traditional teaching methods but these two are fun and easy ways to play!
1.) Daphney and I came up with this one after a snack time, and she now stays busy doing it several times a day. We call it painting but we don’t actually use paint. This makes it not messy or toxic as you know she always has to drink out of the cup occasionally. All it takes is a leftover cup and a paper towel from snack time and a paintbrush. We are also cheap and hang up the towels so that they can dry and we can reuse them over and over again!

2.) Our second activity uses play dough, a skewer, yarn, and fruit loops or apple jacks. For this project, tape the yarn to the pointy side of the skewer and then slide play dough down the length of the skewer; the purpose of this is to prevent a mess- in case your child pulls the skewer out of the play dough while working. Now that the skewer is sturdy and pointed up your child can begin stacking fruit loops or apple jacks. While we played it was incredibly easy to incorporate talking about colors, numbers, and patterns. When the skewer is full simply break open the play dough and allow the cereal to slide onto the yarn. This makes a fantastic snack/necklace to be enjoyed later during a movie or on a stroller ride. It was a lot of fun and Daphney was entertained for quite a while!

Woes of a Second Child: #3

WOE #3: You go bald at a young age, because you are always being petted.
However, there is also someone always there to take
care of you and force you to have what you never wanted, but learn to love!