Malcolm Family News: Maternity Leave Fun

We are having so much fun on my maternity leave! I'm so thankful for the nice weather so that we are able to go out and about and do things together. Ava has been going to school (daycare) two days a week, but on the days she's home I try to take her to do something fun. Sometimes its just the neighborhood park and a walk, or the blow-up pool in the backyard, or going to Rachel's house to see Baby Kai.

We've been to the Splash Pad a couple times. Ava is always pretty timid with all the other kids, but as soon as she warms up she has tons of fun!

Yesterday we went to the local movie theater for their $2 morning kids movie. We saw Pirates: Band of Misfits. Ava loved it and was really good. Ella cuddled with me the first half of the movie, wide awake and looking around. She didn't make a peep the entire movie. Once she fell asleep I put her back in her car seat so that Ava could sit on my lap. After the movie we walked around the mall for a little bit. Ava got to throw some pennies in the fountain and ride on one of the cars in the middle of the mall. She thought she was pretty big stuff. She's also been talking about her birthday a lot lately, so we stopped in the store My Dress Up Shop so that she could look around and I could get some ideas. The entire time we were in there all I heard was, "That's so cute!" "This is so beautiful!" "Maybe I get this for my birthday?" "How 'bout this for Baby Ella?" She is the sweetest!

Today we took advantage of the Dollar Thursday at the Phelps Youth Pavilion. We had never been but I had been wanting to go and with admission only $1, its a great opportunity to check it out! We were there for two hours and Ava didn't want to leave! She had so much fun doing the artwork and playing pretend in the barn, the market, and the garden. They also have an area where you can visit several different countries and learn about the culture there. They even have little costumes. She learned how to roll a burrito in Mexico and eat with chopsticks in China!