The past year has been a major adjustment for us all. With the birth of our baby girl, all of our roles instantly changed. One that changed the most was our oldest daughter, Alana, transitioning from being the only child to becoming a big sister and she did an awesome job! While I stayed at home to care for Ariah her first year of life, Alana continued to go to her early learning center everyday and maintain her normal routine. She also learned more about sharing and caring for others. Now that we have two children, making sure they each get their individual quality time with each parent is important to my husband and me. During the holiday week, my big girl and I did just that. Since Ariah started school right before the holidays, I didn’t want to disrupt her new routine of transitioning into her learning space. Therefore, I took the holiday week Alana had from school to spend one-on-one time with her while she was on winter break. We had an absolute blast! Here are a few things we did during her winter vacation:
Day 1: We spent the day playing at at EdVenture Children’s Museum. She explored the various exhibits, viewed a Fire Safety video, cooked me a delicious cheeseburger with all of the toppings in the cafe, and played through the largest kid in the world while learning about the human anatomy.
Day 2: Though both girls and their cousins attended the Holiday Lights on the River, it was one that Alana really wanted to do. She absolutely LOVE seeing lights during the holidays and associates every light with Christmas. This particular location has the largest collection of holiday lights in our area. It was a lot of fun having the car full of kiddos as we drove through the park amazed by the beauty of the lights while singing Christmas carols.
Day 3: One particular day, the weather was absolutely beautiful. We took full advantage of this opportunity to explore at our local award winning Riverbanks Zoo. We visited the animals, played on the playground, fed animals at the farm, admired the botanical garden, took pics with the mascots and ate lunch. It was definitely a fun filled day. So much so, that we returned that evening with her little sister and her friend to see the lights at the zoo.
Day 4: We didn’t get so lucky with the weather the next day. It was pouring down raining and nasty out most of the day. It made for a perfect day to have an indoor activity. This day, Alana decorated her holiday gingerbread house. Well, she managed to cover most of it before eating all of her sweet toppings. It turned out super cute and very delicious.
Day 5: We managed to take care of business too in the midst of all the fun. This particular day, Alana had a dentist appointment where they gave her a great review on her dental care. She then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon eating lunch at her favorite place, Chick-Fil-A, followed by getting a donut and then driving her car around the neighborhood.
Day 6: To conclude the holiday season and the celebration of Christmas, we went to see The Star- The Story of the First Christmas. This movie was absolutely awesome! It was the cutest way to tell the story of the birth of Jesus Christ through the perspective of the animals. It featured star voices of Oprah Winfrey, Joel Osteen, Tyler Perry, and was Executively Produced by DeVon . I can’t wait to own this movie in our personal collection. During this activity, Alana was able to bring along one friend. She chose her big cousin to accompany her.
Alana thoroughly enjoyed our one-on-one time. Every morning, her breakfast conversation included a statement like: “Mommy, I’m going to have fun with you today!” This warmed my heart and I loved having fun with her too!
Until next time,
Xoxo