Lizzy's Playroom

Out of all the rooms in the house this is the one I spent more time in and I think the first room that's mostly together since moving in. Not because it was hard to put together but because it was the most fun. It's Waldorf inspired with some Montessori I guess Waldessori? A work in progress but mostly complete. The sections of the room include:

An area to "Create" art

An area to "Play"

An area to "Sing"

And a storytelling and Nature Table area to display and tell stories.

I will do another post on the playroom closet as I have organized all the craft materials and other activities in there. Check back soon.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day! Lizzy and her Daddy tried out their remote control boat in the pool!

Summer Swims

The highest temperature we've had so far has been 112 degrees! I would love a rainy day though and hopefully that will happen soon with the monsoon season. Our evenings now consist of a daily swim in our pool after dinner. I'm so glad we have a pool or I'm not sure how we would ever spend any time outside in the summer here in Arizona. Lizzy loves it and she's always loved swimming and being in the water. Lizzy swims in a Swim School float swim suit that helps her keep afloat. Lizzy appears to actually be swimming using her legs and arms to get around but once the suit comes off Lizzy struggles to swim on her own. I would really recommend the swim school suits they are awesome but swim lessons and safety are so important. Lizzy will be taking infant swim which teaches infants swimming survival skills which is awesome...I have personally seen a 6 month old swim, float, and wait for mom to get him on this program. It is amazing! For Lizzy's age by the end of the program she should know how to swim on her own and know what to do if she falls in a pool. Check out Infant Swim! I should be back to posting pics soon. Keep checking back I need to upload my pic soon. : )

Updates

We are moving into our first home tomorrow! Mike moved most of the boxed things we had today and tomorrow the movers will move all our furniture. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have things mostly unpacked and where they need to be.

Lizzy is really enjoying the ASU preschool summer school at the teacher's college. It's definitely different than the environment that she was use to at the Montessori but she had adjusted surprisingly well and comes home happy and talking about her day. Last week was beach week and they played in kiddie pools all week. This week is art week. Lots of painting with hands and even feet then a trip to the art museum!

We hope to get Lizzy back into Montessori for the school year. The owner at the Montessori school Lizzy was going to is actually good friends with the only Montessori school in Maricopa, AZ and it appears they have similar philosophies and schools. We really hope to check that school out soon and hopefully it will be a fit. We are also excited to learn of a Montessori charter school opening up in the area but also know of other options for when Lizzy starts Kindergarten.

Work is good for Mike and I. A new office for my job will be opening closer to where we are moving and I will visiting families in Maricopa where we will live. We were pretty shocked by the low pay rates here in Arizona when we moved here but a year later and our pay is increasing. Something we did not expect but are thankful for. Here is Mike at work and what he does all day!


Explore the Moon without Leaving Phoenix.

Montessori Birthday Celebration at School

This is a video of Lizzy's Birthday Celebration at school. The parents pick out a picture of each year of the child's life and write something about what that child accomplished that year and share in the celebration. If you are not familiar with Montessori Birthday Celebrations check this link out. We have been doing our own version of the Montessori Birthday celebration at home by writing Lizzy a birthday letter each year and lighting the candles on a birthday ring that is typically used in Waldorf birthday celebrations. Lizzy's birthday was on the last day of school and every time someone had a birthday at school Lizzy wondered when her birthday would come until finally on the last day of school it was Lizzy's birthday celebration. Lizzy picked out dinosaur cookies to share with her friends and she got to bring her favorite book for her teacher to read. Lizzy's favorite book is Today I feel Silly because it says "diarrhea" in it!  Lizzy really enjoyed her day!

Disneyland Part 2

 Some more pictures from early in the day. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon and Lizzy took a nap and I didn't take many photos that evening or night. Lizzy enjoyed all the boat rides like storybook land and It's a Small world. Mike even got her to ride Pirates of the Caribbean!

Disneyland Part 1

We got to Disneyland around 10 in the morning. The park opened at 9 am with no early entrance because the the night before they were open 24 hours. It didn't seem that crowded with the longest wait time for any ride we rode being 30 min. so I think maybe a bunch of people went the day or even night before. We heard people all night outside our hotel so I think the 24 hour opening was popular. The weather was beautiful with a high of 70 and sunny.

Lizzy met some of her favorite characters, took pictures, and got autographs. At Disneyland City Hall Lizzy got a birthday pin and 1st visit pin. All the employees and characters wished Lizzy a happy Birthday when they would see her pin.

Lizzy loved the parade. I think this was her favorite show that day. She is still talking about it.

Lizzy's favorite ride was the mad tea party tea cups. Our blue tea cup won for being the fastest on our ride!

By the end of the night Lizzy was pretty tired but she stuck it out and watched the fireworks. I think Lizzy was happy she stuck it out and got to see lots of fireworks and Tinkerbell flying around the night sky.

I'll post some more random Lizzy/Disneyland pictures in part 2 of this post to come. We had a good time on our first trip to Disneyland. There's still so much we didn't see I'm sure we'll be back by Lizzy's 5th birthday if not sooner. Before Disneyland I had thoughts about how horrible the long lines with a toddler might be, the crowds, and the amount of money we would spend but I can say now it's worth it. Magical.

Lizzy's 4th Birthday Surprise!

Lizzy knew we were going on a trip to see a beach but she didn't know we would be going to Disneyland. The first night we got to California we went to the beach and the following day was Lizzy's actual birthday. That morning while Lizzy was in her bath I set out her birthday gift surprise including the Mickey and Minnie gift baskets, balloons, birthday cake, and birthday letter. Once Lizzy was dressed she walked out into her birthday surprise. Mike read her the birthday letter and I let her know she was going to Disneyland! The birthday girl was very excited!

Birthday candles were blown out, then Lizzy went through her gift baskets and was very excited to learn about the autograph book. Lizzy took her autograph book and we headed to Disneyland!

Huntington Beach

We arrived in Anaheim, CA on Friday and headed to Huntington Beach for dinner at Duke's Restaurant on the beach. After a great dinner Lizzy got to run around on the beach. She ran and ran on that sandy beach then got her feet wet in the water. It was still too cold to get in but we watched some surfers and then walked the pier. We watched a beautiful beach sunset then Lizzy had ice cream on the pier as we gazed at the bright full moon. The moon appeared huge in person but not so much in our pictures. The next day would be Lizzy's birthday surprise!

Lizzy's Birthday Letter - 4th Birthday

Lizzy –Your 4^th Year – 4 Times the Sun

You are now 4 years old! I think this year of your life I finally realized you are not a baby anymore. You sleep in your own big girl bed, go potty all on your own, you can get yourself dressed, and get your own drinks and snacks. You want to do everything on your own and make your own decisions.

You can talk about your day at school, things in the past, and tell us stories! Your imagination continues to grow and grow.

You love to learn. You’ve learned to read and spell three letter words. You know addition and subtraction and practice multiplication and division. You love arts and crafts. You can draw people and other interesting things. You especially love to paint.

This year was your first time at a wedding and you were the flower girl at your Tio’s wedding! The most beautiful flower girl there ever was.

You’re favorite foods are mac and cheese, hot dogs, strawberries, tomatoes, French fries, and anything sweet.  You are silly, loving, and very smart! Happy 4^th birthday we love you very much!