The Games Heidi Anne Plays

Heidi Anne and Rapunzel

I love to listen and watch Heidi Anne play. When she is playing she says or does the cutest things, or makes the funniest observations about life in general. 

One of my favorites was when they were playing the "Hot / Cold" game at pre-school. You know, the game where you hide an object and say "Hotter, colder, hotter". When Heidi Anne's turn came she kept going in the opposite direction of the hidden item. So Susan (the teacher) kept telling her "Cold, cold, it's cold, it's so cold." Heidi Anne looked at Susan very seriously and said "Susan, if you are cold, put on your jacket." 

Singing and Dancing with Tangled

I love it when little kids get an idea and it's not 100% right. For example, she likes to say "WeeHa" instead of "Yeehaw". Or how she came outside to play, all bundled in her snowboots and her coat. As soon as she was out the door she said "All I need is a hat and then I would be a real Cowgirl!" We still aren't sure if she meant a real Eskimo or if she really meant Cowgirl.....

More Dancing

I think it's cute when she makes observations about the way the world should be. She was playing Farmer in the Dell with her friends. She got to be the Farmer and had to pick a wife. One of the boys said "Heidi, pick me!" She looked at the boy and said "You can't be the wife 'cause Dads are bigger than Moms. I am the Dad so the Mom has to be smaller than me."  I think that's quite the observation for a 3 year old, if I do say so myself.

One other game she has recently picked up is playing with her "Rapunzel Hair" puppet. It's hilarious to see her TRY to put on a puppet show. As you can imagine, watching a 3 year old dressed up as Rapunzel, singing and dancing along with the movie, via a puppet, can be quite amusing. 

Birthday!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love where I work, adore my friends / co-workers. I was out sick for my real birthday, however, they still gave me lots of Kisses ;D.
My desk was decorated so cute when I returned to work. With streamers and butterfly & princess decor. One of my personal favorites is Squirrel got into the spirit of things and had a cute little party hat. It was really sweet and nice to be surprised like that.
To top it all off they treated me to Noodles and Company-it was my first time ever eating there. I had the Wisconsin Mac and Cheese--best mac and cheese I have ever had.
All in all, the day was 100% fun and awesome. :-) 

Putting Dadda In His Place

Heidi Anne now has ballet class every Wednesday for nearly an hour and it ends between 4:00 ~ 4:10. Thus she has been coming to work with me for the last hour, since it doesn't make sense to take her back to daycare and it would eat up another 15 minutes.
I bring her in, set her up on the laptop, that way she can "work" with me. She either watches a movie or plays an educational computer game that she got for Christmas. To top it all off she gets Sprite. Oh yeah, the high life. We decided since we work in the same office to trade weeks that Heidi Anne sits with us. This week was the first week we tried this.
We get in the office, I let Char know we're back, I get her a Sprite, and return to laughter. Apparently, as soon as Char came in to get her she told him "No Daddy! Go back downstairs and Work!" She wanted to stay with me and my team. I am sure that the candy on my desk as a birthday surprise had no influence on her whatsoever.
Finally, with the help of some treats, he got her to go with him, where she played her game to her hearts content. It's nice to know who she thinks is funnier to be with at work. The fact that she gets spoiled by my friends and co-workers doesn't hurt either. ;D
The next day we picked her up from daycare where we learned she had shared a wonderful insight to our daily life. She has this tendency lately to have an odd spin on our home life-so we were prepared for the worst.
This revelation came out while she was playing "House" with some of her friends (just normal House-not the Fox's Doctor version). She was assigning roles for her friends and told the boy that was the "Dadda" how daddy's should act.
She informed the boy "You're the Dadda, so that means you Work, (insert internal groan), Sleep (this is when we went Oh Dear),  and spend LOTS of Time with ME, (Mixture of Ahhh sweet and sigh of relief!). 

Momma Goal # 456: Return Of Momma Goals

I used to have these things called "Momma Goals" and they have fallen by the wayside over the last year. In an effort to bring them back I think I will use them to track my New Years Goals we're set out for ourselves, along with any other things I find along the way.

One of the first things I HAVE done in regards to the New Year Goals is making 3 of my 24 pillowcases for 1 Million Pillowcases. These ones are pretty basic and I hope to be able to make prettier ones as the year goes on. Meh, you have to start somewhere.

1. Basic Contrasting Pillow Case~Pink Tie Dye with Red tie Dye. Basically, you have a contrasting color edging with a main color base. (Instead of a pillowcase that's made of all 1 pattern).

 2. Basic Contrasting Pillow Case~Pink Tie Dye with Pink leopard patterns.

3. Basic Pillow Case~A Yellow Flower Trim with cute Buzy Bees. I did some pretty decorative stitching on the trim. But I picked a matching yellow thread that blends in so well that you can't see the stitching unless you have it right in front of your eyes. Learned my lesson-if it's going to be pretty, make it visible. 

Soo 3 down and 21 left to go. My hope is that I will get good enough to be able to do these types of patterns:

This pillowcases have Ruffles and were made by Girl Scouts

One with a Mini Quilted Edging--I think Girl Scouts Again

I really like the ruffle ones. If I get good at those you can bet I will make lots of those for girls at Christmas next year. They are just sooo cute!!! If anyone has any other pillowcase patterns, ideas, designs, Pinterest finds-please let me know!!!

On a Big Girl Bike

With the lovely warm weather we've been having Heidi Anne was able to use her favorite Santa Christmas surprise. The Big Girl Bike, with 2 wheels, training wheels, and a pretty pincess helmet to match. The bike has been in our living room near the front door (like a puppy that needs to go out) just waiting for a day like today.

It was a warm 40-ish degress (yeah, sad that's warm to her-I think she withers in 90 degree weather). However, it was "warm", no snow or ice on the side walk, and it was a Staurday. Finally, Heidi Anne had her perfect bike day. So when she asked "Daddy, can we go ride my bike today?" How could he say no?

We learned a few things.

1.  She's already good at riding a "Big Girl" bike with training wheels. That girl is FAST!

2. She can only go straight--she hasn't quite gotten the hang of "turns" yet.

3. It's funny to watch her book it down the sidewalk, but then be at a complete standstill until Daddy catches up to her to help her turn. Then to watch it over and over. Until......

4. She comes in and wanted her Trike so she could have a bike at each end of the sidewalk. That way "I can still ride a bike while Daddy fixes the Big Girl one."  We were able to convince her that the Trike is great for now because she can turn around on the Trike and Not have to wait for Daddy.

--It Worked, for now...we maynot be so lucky next time.

New Year Goals

We came up with some New Year Goals. I am not a fan of "resoultions" because they always seem to fail. You resolved to do something for the new year and fail-you have to wait another year.
Goals, however, can be attempted over and over. You can get support for your goals and it doesn't mean you have to meet the goal 100% to make an improvement for yourself.
Which new year resoltions should be about-just improving things about yourself or your interactions with others.

So our new years goals (in no order of sigificatice-minus the first one) are:

~ No More ER Visits--Or at least make it until March...
As of the 15th I failed to reach this goal. Oh well, maybe the next step is to just go 12 weeks without a hospital visit and go from there.

~Make 24 (2 a Month) Pillowcases for 1 Million Pillowcases...
I love this project. It's for One Million Pillowcases-people make pillowcases and donate them to childrens' hospitals, wounded soliders, nursing homes, and distater reflife. Being in a hospital everything is just plan, boring, sterile, and oddly enough lifeless. So people make pretty pillowcases, some very elebrorate, just a little something with color, for the patient to keep.
If anyone else wants a good charity or service project to do-might I recommend this one. :)

~Make 4 Quilts (1 a Quarter)  I want to make 4 quilts. Be they for family or to donate to the NICU (another project I had heard about). This one people can make little sized quilts for the Premie Babies. The little quilts protect their isolates and are theirs to keep.   ~Make Cordinating Dresses  I want to make Heidi Anne and K-Bug cordinating or matching (haven't decided yet). We have a picture of us at their age in matching dresses that our Granny made for us. I want to re-create that picture right down to the dresses.   ~Cut Back on my New Fabic Addition  I have a feeling that by the time I really get into all these projects, I will have developed a fabic addition-which I will need to quit. So I am throwing this one in for good measure.   ~Family Game Night  Thanks to Christmas and the fact that Heidi Anne is now "Recommened for Ages 3 and Up" we can play a family game at least once a week. She already LOVES Quess Who and Memory. Bring on the Cooties, Candy Land, and Connect 4. (Lots of kid games start with "C"--I think it's a Monopoly).   ~Less Video Game Time By Daddy This will mainly pick up in the spring / summer. Betting when I start tending to my sewing acitddition-I will be cranky and make him play less video games (which will have gotten worse due to my sewing.) So basicly, more outside time in good weather and less indoor-ish activies.   ~Find Ballet for Heidi Anne and keep it up Yeah-we are 1/2 way there. We got her into a ballet class, and I love it so far. The next step is keeping up with it (since at this age it requires a lot of perental involvement / encouragement). She also needs to practice roughly 5-10 mins a day. SO again, basicly being involved and enouraging her-while making it as much fun as the teacher.   ~Finsh the Bible in 1 Year--Bouns Points if Heidi Anne listens My friend at work did this last year with her husband. So I know this one can be done-not easily, but knowing that another family has done it (a few times too) lets me know it IS doable. Bounus points if Heidi Anne listens in. We won't make her read with us, she's 3 and we know her attention span. If she happens to join and listen then yeah if not, no worries.

First Ballet Class-EVER

Heidi Anne had her first Ballet class. She LOVED it!  We were considering something like the rec center (which was more in our budget-but not the caliber we were hoping for.)  But, we thought, she's three and who cares if they do jazz, ballet, and hip hop--at least we can afford it. 

Thanks to our co-workers and the HR department we were informed that we receive a discounted tuition rate with the Civic Ballet. Que Choir. It's only ballet and nothing but ballet. Even better, the instructors are active ballerina's themselves and they offer classes at all levels and age groups 3 and up. 

She LOVED her first class. (Sadly, I made us a little late because I got the locations mixed up). Who knew that they didn't practice at the theater in which they hold performances-but in a totally different location? Minus that set back we were only 10 or so minutes late.

 Another thing I learned-for her age group it's a Mommy and Me class. I also learned that the other 2 moms are former ballet or drill dancers as well. Lucky for me everyone is very forgiving to a stiff jointed mother with a happy go lucky child. 

Heidi Anne wanted it to never end. She kept saying, "Oh this song is sooo pretty!". The teacher then explained how it's classical music, and she gets to listen to it every time she comes to class. She got to learn pretty ballet moves and dance around with new friends. When class ended she began to cry. She wanted it to be longer. It was  only after her instructor and I were able to explain that we'll come back next week was she willing to leave the room. 

 As soon as we got home she couldn't wait to show Daddy all she was learning. She learned to prance, first and second positions, and how you should walk just like you have a pretty princess crown on your head that you don't want to fall and break (or good posture for us common folk).

 I love the instructor! She was making everything so much fun for the girls. I was a little worried with the Mommy and Me class-but now I like it. If nothing else I can see and learn what she is learning. It's a smaller class size as well-so the girls get more personal attention as well as special One on One time with their moms. 

Who knows how long she'll keep it up, so far I think the outlook is pretty good. To be able to take her to one of the best schools around for the same price as the rec center-that's just icing on the cake. So she'll be going here for as long as our office supports the Civic Ballet.  

And My Little Heidi Anne, Too! 

Anyone Know a Ballet Teacher.....

So does anyone know of a good ballet place here?

Or even a teacher willing to do lessons? 

Heidi Anne had a ball showing off her Tutu Grandma Lori gave her at Christmas...

She keeps wanting to go to Ballerina Class-but I don't know of a place....

And this is just to cute to pass up.