brunch

My main "moms group" has been doing brunch play dates pretty regularly for several months now.  It's a really nice time - everyone brings a different dish, we eat, the kids play, it's all good fun.  This month, brunch was at my house (in my "new" kitchen). 

November in a nutshell

November 6th:  I believe I've mentioned before that we signed Trent up for Itty Bitty Sports.  It's basically an indoor soccer field where kids (18 months old to 3 years old) have a chance to run around for an hour.  The instructors sometimes do different activities with the kids, such as kicking the soccer ball in the goal, throwing the ball against the wall, balance beam, knocking cups over with the ball, etc.  Trent really enjoyed the program overall.  Unfortunately, at the time I had a sucky camera, so any photos I took turned out dark.  Consequently, I didn't take many pictures.  Here are the few that I did take:

November 7th & 11th:  I already blogged about Trent's birthday and the party.

November 13th:  We started the day by doing our annual heart walk for the American Heart Association in Philly.  It's cool because the walk starts inside Citizens Bank Park.  Walking up the field we ran into Elmo and a few other mascots (none of which scared Trent).  There was a smudge on my (sucky) camera, so don't try to wipe your monitor.

poppop and Trent getting a closer look at the speakers (to the left of the mound)

trying to get a good look at the Phanatic

there he is

Trent and Poppop

almost done the walk

Trent at the finish line....but too into his cookie to look up

this is some of our group

Because I wore Claire during the walk she wasn't in any of my pictures.  Luckily, her photo was taken by the designated Heart Walk photographer!

After the walk we went straight to Itty Bitty Sports:




so dark and terrible, ugh!



Don't miss this video of Kevin pranking his son:

November 14th: raking the leaves with Daddy:



us girls stayed inside and let the guys do the hard work.  We just came out to snap a few photos

 November 16th:  Thanksgiving crafts:

November 20th:  We started the day with Trent's friends birthday party.  They played with her toys, played with bubbles, made crafts, and had carrot cake! (photos by Joy)

birthday gir!

Afterwards we headed straight to Itty Bitty Sports

November 22nd: Stroller Rollers at Bellevue State Park.  I'm sure I've blogged about this activity before, but it's a nature program that runs from the Fall straight thru the Spring.  It doesn't run during the summer because that's when they have camps for the kids who are out of school.  Trent, Claire and I have attended several times and (almost) always thoroughly enjoy ourselves.  We walk different paths and check out different plants, etc.  Occasionally we even get to see some animals (horses, turtles, squirrels)

November 30th: play date at the Christiana Mall.  The mall had a "become an elf" workshop set up for kids and toddlers.  A group of Trent's friends met there to decorate Santa hats, write letters to soldiers, etc.  Once the kids were elf-ed, we hit the food court for lunch!  The kids all sat at the kid tables and shared each others food.  By the end of lunch the entire group arrived and we headed back to the elf area to wait in line for Santa.  Fortunately there was no line for Santa.  Unfortunately, the kids didn't take to Santa, causing the moms to have little choice but to get in the photo too.  None of us wanted to, but it was either that or not get a photo taken at all.  In the end I think it turned out really well - as far as group toddler photos go.  Before parting ways we let the kids run around in the middle of the mall (yup, we're those parents who let their kids go crazy in a public place) and we took a few more pictures. (food court pictures by me, Santa photo by santa-people, other photos by Joy)