Things to Do, Part II

One week at playgroup at the church, they decorated enormous cardboard boxes and then played in them. I needed to go to the store that morning, so we got there for the second hour and missed that part. But when I saw what they had done, I commented on what a good idea it was. The lady who had been in charge of the activity started telling me about what a good activity it is for a child's development, as well. She said putting stickers on and coloring on it with crayons develops their fine motor skills, and if you use a smaller box and pull them around in it it develops their balance and larger motor skills as they use the necessary muscles to stay upright in the box. Cool! So on an evening soon afterward, Caitlyn and I busted out another cardboard box, her Disney Princess Collection book that was filled with sticker pages in the back, crayons, and a piece of large ribbon. We colored all over the box and then I let her peel the stickers off the page and put them on the box, as many as she wanted, wherever she wanted to put them.

This kept her fascinated for a good 30 minutes (anyone who's ever had an 18 month old knows that's a pretty big deal). Finally, I poked a couple of holes in the front, strung the ribbon through, and tied it together. She loved sitting in it, riding in it, and putting her toys in it and pulling them around.


And I loved having a fun, easy, and developmentally stimulating activity that took up most of the evening while Quinn was at class. (Note, there isn't any sound on these videos because I took them with our camera instead of Quinn's phone.)

Things to Do

So these videos are a couple months old now because, well, that's how long it takes me to get around to posting on the blog. But I've been meaning to post about a few things we've done that turned out to be fun. And since we were cooped up inside most of the day for several months straight (minus trips to the mall, store, library -- anywhere to just get out of the house for a bit), I was on a mission to find some fun indoor activities. Nothing spectacular, just simple but fun.
By way of introduction to this first activity, some of my favorite memories of growing up are of Family Home Evening. My mom was a superstar about not only getting us all together every week for FHE, but also coming up with really fun activities and refreshments. I remember obstacle courses, team races, treasure hunts (with the refreshments as the treasure), other fun and funny games, crafts, service activities, etc. One of the refreshments I've never forgotten was that she made "hamburgers" with Nilla Wafers as the buns, grasshopper cookies as the hamburger patty, coconut with green food coloring as the lettuce, and I can't remember what else. But I can still remember how excited I was about my little "hamburger". These are the kinds of memories and bonds I hope to help create for my own family now.
I bought a book online that looked promising, "Family Fun Nights:140 Activities the Whole Family Will Enjoy".


A lot of the activities I'll have to save for a few years down the road because they're a little beyond Caitlyn's age right now. But there were some ideas that I thought would be fun for her, like this "Family Band" idea. So we gave it a try. Although the book suggested using your kitchen pans and dishes, I opted for cardboard boxes in an effort to avoid giving Caitlyn the idea that pulling all my pots and pans out on the floor for a band performance everyday would be fun. She actually got really into it for the first little while and played a mean drum and spoon, but by the time I decided to get it on camera she had mellowed out a little in spite of Quinn's best efforts to get her going again.

And another one, just cause I know a little girl whose grandparents like to see videos of her.:)


Anyway, here's one idea for FHE or just something fun to do sometime if you have little ones. Before Caitlyn came along Quinn and I usually focused on the lesson more, reading talks and scriptures together and taking as long as we wanted talking about it. Now we're working on short but meaningful lessons (like acting out scripture stories or showing a picture and telling the story the picture is about with a time limit of about 30 seconds), and fun activities. We haven't actually ventured into the refreshments much yet, but I'm sure when Caitlyn and new baby boy are a little older that will climb itself a little higher onto the priority list.
More activities soon!
(Oh and p.s. in case you're wondering this is not a paid advertisement and none of the other family activities I post about will be either. I wouldn't even know where to begin doing paid stuff on this blog -- it's just a regular old blog for our far-away-family and friends to see what we're up to these days.)

Of Kidnappers, Korean treats, and Kake

Ok, so it's actually about cake, not kake, but the other things started with a K so I thought I'd just keep going.

Last week we had just finished family home evening when there was a knock at the door. I looked like crap so I asked Quinn if he'd get it. He had a funny smile on his face, but he went and looked out the peep hole and then said, "I think it's for you, hon!" So I opened the door and there stood some of my close friends from our last ward. "Hi!! Um...what are you guys doing??" was all I could think of to say. They had come to kidnap me for an early birthday night out with just the girls (they planned to come late so everyone's husbands could just put the kids to bed). Wow, how nice and how fun! They took me to Shilla, a Korean bakery and we had Korean shaved ice and Boba smoothies. Yuuumm! That's something I really love about living out here, is that there's just about every kind of food from every country you can think of, right at your finger tips. Anyway, it was so fun and relaxing to just hang out and talk and laugh together about our lives. I love my friends so much.


On my actual birthday we had a bunch of friends over for cake and ice cream. Quinn and a couple of our friends had tried doing something as a surprise for me but I kept ruining their plans by asking too many questions (it's hard surprising somebody with OCD who has to try and plan every detail of her life a week or so in advance). Martha Stewart (aka Minsun) made a Boston Cream Pie cake, Tiffany brought brownies, and Pauline's mother-in-law who is here from Texas for when their baby comes, made a yummy Philippino dessert (the name of which I can't remember). I made a chocolate cake recipe from a family friend, the Bishoffs, that I'd been craving. I tried a new frosting recipe and it turned out gross -- it tasted like a mouthful of butter with every bite of cake. Oh well, good thing there were other treats to enjoy! And I had fun making the chocolate shavings on the top, so...that's always good.


It was a fun night and a memorable birthday.






The best part of my birthday was that Quinn and Caitlyn love me. :)