Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Party Time: February & March

GROUNDHOG DAY family craft



SUPER BOWL deluxe spread, thanks to my mama


watching the game (Super Bowl) with parents, Mia, and Benjamin, and cousins M, S, and kids, and Benjamin's friend
gloating cake: Matthieu vs. my dad  (Super Bowl)

LASKIAISTIISTAI (FAT TUESDAY) laskiaispulla
VALENTINE'S DAY decorating cupcakes at Sheena's with friends

Valentine whipped cream-frosted cupcakes

ST. PATRICK'S DAY hunting for gold coins with B and T
hunting for gold coins, made much more exciting once they were discovered to be chocolate  (St. Patty's)

coloring (St. Patty's)

Tasi's leprechaun cookies (St. Patty's)


Thursday, March 22, 2012

What should we do? Riverwoods?

We go to the Riverwoods in Provo just about every Friday, and sometimes more often.

Live music, lights, walking areas, fire/water/flower decor, and heat lamps draw crowds of pleasant people to the outdoor area. We eat at a variety of restaurants, and I stare longingly at everything in the store Soel.





We love to test out the toys at Blickenstaff's. They've always got a fun display, and classic toys mixed with contemporary toys. The staff is friendly and patient, and there are mini shopping carts and little vehicles I call trike-alternatives for children to play with. I like to check Blickenstaff's first for all of my toy purchases. Once, we bought Alex chocolate-covered gummy bears from their candy bin wall. She devoured them one-by-one, until she realized she only had one left. She carried her last piece of candy around for a full thirty minutes before Matthieu convinced her to just eat it already.




At Provo Beach Resort, we can let Alex run, climb and slide the toddler playground, have a skee ball competition, shoot baskets, try to teach Alex to bowl at the toddler lane, ride the carousel, and get ice cream--all for under $10. Matthieu and I are fairly equally matched in our skee ball skills, so it makes for good friendly competition and not-as-friendly trash talking. Once, we braved the ropes course (thrilling!), and once, we played mini croquet on a double date (expensive, but fun). We've also dueled in the laser course (overpriced 30 seconds), and had "dinner" at the grill--I recommend the kids mac 'n cheese and the curly fries, if you're in the mood for heavy, non-healthy food. If you get ice cream, I recommend the "Saratoga". We have yet to surf, play golf in the simulator, or relax at the spa...but I want to try everything.





*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with Riverwoods nor Provo Beach Resort. Blickenstaff's will give me free candy for blogging about them, but all opinions are all mine. I wrote this for journaling's sake.




Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring Has Sprung





We had a mild winter. Alexandra didn't even get to build a snowman. Other than that, I enjoyed the not-too-frigid temperatures. It feels like we've had an early spring, despite the groundhog's prediction last month. We ventured out to the yard on a few cold days, but mostly went out when it was 50 or warmer, and then stayed out for hours. Mostly, we played in the complex yard, Scera park, and other playground parks, but we also visited BYU's unofficial duck pond, Riverwoods (shopping center), and Farm Country (petting zoo). Indoors, we played at our home or Haylie's home, Provo Beach Resort (at least once a week), and the Treehouse playground in the mall.

Out of the Mouth of Babes


Alexandra is articulate. She talks a lot, and her memory is stretching further and further all the time. These are her current favorite phrases:

All Day Every Day:
"Kattoo [Watch] //Muumit/Pew [Pooh]/Einsteins/Little People/World Music/Apina [Monkey: Curious George]/basketball//?" If one show is declined, she goes through each one to see if she can watch anything.

Drifting Into Sleep:
"Hauska hevonen [Fun horse]," while remembering how much she enjoyed her pony ride last week.
"Hassu kalkkuna [Silly turkey]," while remembering how the turkey in Sandra Boynton's Red Hat, Blue Hat puts his (or her?) shoe on his head and his coat on backward, among other dressing foibles.

Mealtimes and Bedtime:
"Rukous [Prayer]," because once we teach her something, she doesn't forget...unless that something has to do with her mortal safety, like running away, darting into the parking lot, or coming when she is called.

Playing:
"//Vauva [Baby]/Gifa (Girahvi) [Giraffe]/any toy on its back// nukkuu [is sleeping]."
"Leluäpäki [Slide]?," by far her most requested activity, though while at a playground she may only actually go down the slide once or twice.
Observations such as "Poika menee alas liukumäki [The boy is going down the slide]," or "Koira juoksee [Dog runs]," or "Siinä on [There is a] //vauva [baby]/lentokone [airplane]/koira [dog]/pyörä [bike]//."
In the swing, "Ke-ke-shi (Rocketship)?" so that I'll sing the rocketship song (from last summer's swim lessons, but give her a super-push in the swing instead of lifting her high out of the pool).

Breakfast:
"Puuro/Oatmeal" or "Vohveli [Waffle]", sometimes "Cereal".

When I Am Paying Attention to My Google Reader Instead of Her:
"Tietokone pois [Computer away]!"

When Matthieu comes home, re-enters a room, or she wishes he would come home:
"Dad tuli [Dad came]!" or "Dad tulee [Dad is coming]!"
"Watch basketball?"
"Feed fish?" because Matthieu's Kindle has a digital aquarium that he (supposedly) set up for her.
"Hi, Dad!" is one of the first sentences she spoke. She also says "Bye, Dad" "See ya, Dad" "Dad kouluun [Dad to school]" and she says,  "Dad kotiin [Dad home]" when she doesn't want him to leave or misses him (which breaks my heart).
She also sometimes just shouts a random word out of excitement to see him when he first walks through the door, like "Shoe!"

Outside at Night:
"Tuossa on kuu [There is the moon]!" She is an expert moon-finder. Matthieu and I picked up the habit of looking for it whenever we're outside at night from her.

Reading:
She says, "A. K. O," while pointing to words or letters, and "Two. Free. Four. Five" while pointing to numbers. She can consistently count to quantities of five, and Matthieu has heard her count to six.
She has a few of her favorite books memorized, I think, because she will randomly blurt out the word as it is being read, such as "happily" when Clifford wags his tail happily in Clifford's Apple-Picking Day.

Singing:
She knows all the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and most of the alphabet song (in English). She also sings along with a few words to "You Are My Sunshine" and her bedtime lullaby "Nukkumatti". She loves music and has lots of favorite songs, including "Shake Your Sillies Out", "Korro Korro Kirkko", "Old McDonald" and "Oravan Pesä". When she was sick yesterday, she lay on the couch and looked at me and started singing, "Voi, minun, voi minun, pikkuinen tyttö...[Oh, my, pity, my little girl...]" from a song about a sleepy girl that I sing sometimes.

I could do this all day. She has lots of words, but I wanted to remember a few that mark the special phase of life she is in now. This is the phase where she likes her oatmeal unsweetened but would willingly subsist off of fruit snacks, is thrilled by the moon and any dog (real, drawn, cartoon, toy), takes showers (not baths) like she is twelve and curls up with her Pooh blanket and pacifier like she is tiny, runs away as fast as she can without looking back, reads books in someone's lap as long as possible, and thinks her parents are the coolest people to chill on the couch with any night of the week.
We think she is the coolest person to chill on the couch with any night of the week.