This morning, after two months of outdoor meet-ups {gotta enjoy the cool weather while we have it!}, our play school co-op resumed its usual themed indoor play dates. Grae and I were lucky enough to be the first hosts, and with our focus being on favourite children’s books this month, we got to plan a morning around Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
{this post contains affiliate links}On Wednesday afternoons, Miss G and I are lucky enough to have one of her little friends join us for some afternoon play. While they happily engage in their own games and play for part of the time, I also like having a couple of fun invitations to play and / or create out for them to explore if the choose to. When I asked Grae if she had any activity ideas for our play date, she suggested that we play with the ocean items we collected at the beach last weekend. That was that – an ocean-themed day it was!
Jessica of Northshore Mama, Nat of Nat Nanton, and I met just over a year ago when the three of us were all nominated as Vancouvermom.ca’s top 30 bloggers. Despite the bustling room filled with people, the nerves of knowing absolutely no one, and the craziness that is 100+ moms all gabbing during a rare night out, Jess, Nat, and I managed to connect during the celebration event and learned that we all had baby girls within a few months of one another. That night, we decided a play date / mommy date was in order sometime soon. Since that night, we’ve chatted pretty much daily, have met up for several mama outings, and have even attended some munchkin-friendly events together, but we didn’t get around to that original play date until today. And I have to say, though it was a year in the making, it was well worth the wait. These ladies and their munchkins have a special place in my heart. The girls each have distinctive personalities and it’s such a joy to watch them interact, problem solve, and compromise with one another. Together they’re a perfect blend of determination, compassion, humour, and smarts, and something tells me that if these girls stick together, they’ll no doubt conquer the world one day!
snack time // play time
sharing is caring // incognito
a natural // baby love
pony rides // nat attack
friends
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This morning Grae and I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out with the lovely Little Miss Mama and her adorable curly-haired girl. There was good play, an explosion of toys, many sharing opportunities, and best of all, a make your own pizza station for lunch. The girls made pizza together, ate over an episode of Winnie the Pooh (I think this blew G’s mind), and us mamas got a few minutes to chat in between. Oh, and Grae ate FIVE pieces of pizza, so lunch was obviously delicious.
It was the perfect play date. We’ll miss these two ladies terribly while in Kuwait.
♥
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This little blog has led to so many wonderful opportunities, the best of which is undoubtedly being part of Vancouvermom.ca’s Top 30 Bloggers of 2012. These ladies started out as being people I chatted with online with, and very quickly became people I considered ‘blogging friends’, then just regular ‘friends’. I’m so lucky to have them in my life and even sweeter is that Miss G now has a whole new set of friends also. Today we spent the day with Tairalyn, Amy, and their little ladies, and had a blast. There was dancing, bubbles, a sprinkler, a water slide, strawberry picking, sidewalk painting, and yummy treats… Who could ask for more? Here is our morning in photos…
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Since being selected as one of Vancouvermom.ca’s Top 30 Mom Bloggers, I’ve gotten to know some really incredible and inspiring local ladies. Over the course of the last several months, we’ve turned to one another for advice and support time and again, and have become fast friends because of it all. I’m beyond grateful to be part of such a wonderful bunch of mamas, and it goes without saying that I will miss them dearly while away in Kuwait.
Today Miss G and I were lucky enough to meet up with several of my lovely blogger friends – Tairalyn of Little Miss Mama, Amy of The Connection We Share, and Erin of Erin at Large – as well as their adorable munchkins for a Granville Island play date. The weather wasn’t completely on our side, but the company certainly made up for it.
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Gracen had a wonderful time with her friends at her birthday party and has talked about having friends over to play every day since. So with my little lady’s wishes tugging at my heartstrings and our beautiful Vancouver weather continuing into September, I decided to host our first ever {outdoor} messy play date.
It’s been something Gracen’s been anticipating all week, and yesterday, she helped me pick out and put together our snacks, sensory bins, and art stations, and today we had four of her little friends over to play in the backyard. It was morning of ‘treats’, friends, hugs, and getting dirty, which suited Gracen just perfectly.
Though I tried to take photos during the play date, attempting to drink a hot coffee, engage and supervise a handful of one and two year olds, and visit with fellow mommies at the same time ended up being quite a lot on its own. Afterwards, however, once all of our friends had departed and Miss G was tucked in her crib for her nap, I couldn’t help but smile at the piles of mess all around me. Mostly eaten snacks, well played with sensory bins, almost empty juice cups, dried up paint, and little white plaster footprints across our backyard pad… All signs filled bellies, happy babies, and old-fashioned messy play.
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Today, Miss G and I met up with our good friends Cheri and Jaiden for a little play date at the aquarium. The girls are so sweet together that it just melts my heart. Here’s our morning in photos…
Jellyfish.
“Big fishie!”
Friends.
Dolphin watching.
Dolphin Grae.
Dolphin talk.
Perhaps this will lure them over?
Arm painting.
“Mama! Grae Grae penguin on arm!”
Penguin puppet.This morning Grae and I headed out of the city to visit my old friend Cheri and her sweet little girl, Jaiden. The girls were amazing together. Jaiden showed Grae around, shared her toys, and was a gracious little host. Gracen read every book in the house, shared the tea set she chose to bring along, and happily followed Jaiden’s lead. And as Cheri and I sat at the table sipping hot coffee and catching up, I may have said, “You know, part of me thinks having two would be easier…” Oops.
Jaiden helping Gracen with her first ever fairy princess experience.
Trail strolling and snacking.
Departure hugs and kisses.
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