1st Valentine's Party (Preschool)

 Getting ready to head to preschool for his Valentine's Day party. 

 Start of the party. Having a snack first.

 One of the games was a relay race, where the kids had to keep a heart shape pillow between their knees.

 They made a craft. Which was a Bee, that said "Be Mine".

 Then they played a game where they had to stack candy hearts.

 They made kangeroos to store the valentines that they exchanged. The Valentines fit into the pouch. 

I think it was a pretty fun '1st Valentines' at school.

Valentines for Preschool

I had no intentions of making valentines for Cooper to pass out at preschool. I was really excited about picking out some cool ones. I almost bought some ninja turtles ones, then I stumbled across this blog (http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2013/01/free-valentine-printable.html) and I thought their idea was so cute, I kinda stole it. I was pleased with how it came out. I don't know that I'll be able to make something every time. But I had fun doing it this year. 

She Said "Ma Ma"

At almost exactly her 6 month birthday (Feb 15th), Gwen said "Ma ma." I thought I heard it this past weekend, but I wasn't for sure. Then yesterday she said it quite a few times. Its so cute. We'll have to get a video tape of it. Cooper said "Da da" first. So I guess I WIN this time - sorry Joe : )

 

More 5 Months

Here are some random ones of Gwen at 5 months. She is the happiest, smilliest baby. She is always laughing, smiling and grabbing her feet. 

Valentine Party Favors

I won't lie I get pretty exited about any kind of party planning. And I love getting to help with Cooper's school parties. I was bummed to miss the Christmas one, due to the craziness going on at work with that being one of our busiest times of years. So I knew I was going to try and be a room mom for the Valentines's party. I really wanted to do the party favors and have been kinda thinking about ideas for a few months.. ha. Well I have to start early on any kind of project because I know it will take me a while to get to finish it. 

 

 Cooper is a great helper and he had a blast helping me prepare the party favors for his classmates. It kinda turned into a counting game.

The kids each got a heart cup (see in the pics below) and a small bag of random goodies. I had been picking up things here and there. They got a small notepad, a stamp, some character erasers and a jolly rancher suckers. I will admit its gets tricky buying 20 of something.. and not 'breaking the bank', so I did a lot of browsing and researching to find things that came in a pack of 12 or 24. But it was tricky to find things that I liked. I didn't want to give out a bunch of candy, since I knew the kids would be exchanging valentines.

 Gwen kinda kinda too. She just hung out with us, while Daddy was at baseball. 

So I ordered some heart shaped cup with mustaches online, they came in four colors: pink, purple, blue and red. So I decided to make girl and boy bags. So the girls got the pink and purple cups.

 We kinda had an assembling line going through the whole process.

Boy Bags

5 Months

I can't believe how quickly the time is flying. Every month gets more fun.

I don't have an official weight since she doesn't have a doctor's appt for 5 months. But she is BIG. Ha.. probably like 18 lbs? 

Things she was doing this past month: 

•Laughing/giggling. 

She still just loves Cooper and Daddy! (mommy too). But man, she is a daddy's girl. 

•Making noises. 

She makes a motor boat or spitting-sorta noise. With her tongue out. Its pretty funny. She does it all of the time. Lots of squealing and even a little bit of a 'sad' little whine. I think she is really testing out those vocal cords. She is really going to be a talker. We have said that right from the beginning. She has been very vocal, from day 1. 

•Big Girl Food- Cereal and First Veggies

We continued trying some solids this month. Cereal hasn't really agreed with her just yet. But we've tried a number of veggies. So far she has taken everything pretty well. She wasn't thrilled about peas, but she ate it. 

•Rolling Over

She rolled over for the first time in Jan. But then she didn't really do it very often. Just the past few weeks (5 Months - week 2 and 3). She has been rolling over like crazy. Almost everytime you lay her on her back, she rolls right over to her tummy. Has quite figured out how to roll back over to her back again though. 

•Patty Cake, Hide N Seek and Funny Noises

 She giggles like crazy when you do Patty Cake. Or if you make funny noises. She really likes different noises or animal sounds.

•Loves her Feet, but not socks

She loves her feet. She is always grabbing them. And even chewing on them when she can. She really loves to pull her socks off, and sometimes chew on them. Or she will just pull her sock off and throw it on the floor. I think she does it on purpose.

•First Tooth (not totally, but its coming)

I think she has been teething since birth, ha. But just within the last week of being 5 months old, I could see a tooth right under the surface or barely coming through. One of the bottom, middle ones. Its not out yet, but I think it will be soon. 

Gwen's New Chair

 

Its been a least a few weeks. And we got Gwen a new little chair/seat to hang out in. Kinda like one of those bumbo seats, but with a little more going on. She really likes it. Cooper sometimes likes to help her out. 

 

Ok so these pics below are when she first sat in it. Maybe a month or more ago. I can't believe how different she looks just within a few week time span. These are taken from my iphone, so they aren't the best pics. I'm still getting the hang of taking good pics with my phone.