I’ve never met a play date that I don’t like. And it’s for real. If I were State Farm, play dates would be my jingle. It is my calling card. It’s a passion. Last year, I didn’t do much at this time….I was pregnant and feeling like Kim Kardashian. I hurt everywhere. And it was hard to playdate. So this year, I’m making up for it.
Recently one of my favorite play dates was strawberry picking. I can’t wait to go again.
I imagined it would be like this…fields and fields of perfect strawberries and my eldest gently plucking each ruby gem off the plant and admiring them before placing them ever-so-kindly into the bucket.
In reality, it was a muddy field with ants and lots of rotten strawberries amongst the good ones which were hidden out of view. The kids were hot, and miserable with mud in their shoes and no interest in picking strawberries except to throw them or squish them.
The kids picked maybe five each. It was nothing like what we imagined. But in the end, we all had fun…went home with a bucket of strawberries and the kids enjoyed each other.
My friend Charity is really sweet. She is always up for an adventure and is a stay at home mom that does it all and then some. I love that about play dates. being able to share life with other moms. learning from other women. seeing their hearts and digging into how they are using their time to change the world into a better place. I am just a huge huge fan of play date moms.
Her kids are beautiful so just be prepared to be all achey in the uterus area.
I just love seeing Will form his little friendships with them. It’s crazy to hear them teach him Spanish words (apparently we are REALLY behind on language training)…and to see their little imaginations and reality collide.
And yes, there was a fair amount of strawberry eating.
Lighting was really harsh for pictures but I like how some of these turned out. I just can’t believe my little boy is so big…
He is amazing. It’s probably the mom in me talking…but seriously, have you ever seen a cuter kid?!
The correct answer here is no. no you have not 🙂
p.s. What are some of your favorite things to do at a play date? I need to stock pile a back up list and need your suggestions!
Pirates are good. (Tubes of papertowel rolls, decorate. Search for treasure (shoebox with snacks).
I also liked the cloud play date I did. That one had a sheet about types of clouds and we did a steam show (I ran a humidifier and had a hand fan). We talked about water cycle and looked at ice v water size. We glued cotton balls and marshmallows and paper tissue on paper for different kinds of clouds.
Mardi gras was easy but not seasonal right now.
I’m doing a sun one soon. Doing some painting (yogurt with food coloring outside), talking about sunscreen, showing suns effects (brick in shadow and brick in sun). Also taking about shade and shadows a bit.
I used to go berry picking with my mom all the time when we were little! It was so much fun 🙂 We lived in the country so it wasn’t always at a farm, usually by the river. The best part was making pies when we got home (if there were any berries left)!
Your kids are too adorable, I can’t believe how old Will looks in these pictures either! They grow too fast. I am seeing my baby nephew for the first time in a month this weekend. I know he will just seem so old!
I hear you about play dates. They’re good for the little ones but even better for us moms! We like to do the usual round of zoo, local playgrounds, library events etc but I also love just having someone over for coffee and snacks and playtime. We’ve even hosted a watermelon party where we invited several friends over for playground fun and then served cold watermelon. No matter what you ‘do’ at your play date, opening your home and heart to another mom is enriching and a blessing to each of you!
Blueberry picking is easier! Since all the berries are up on bushes, they’re not rotting on the ground. And some of the taller bushes actually provide shade! I don’t know if they grow many blueberries in your area, but blueberry picking in Michigan is something I look forward to every summer!
We have been strawberry picking for the last few weeks (the season is almost over here). I haven’t really been inviting friends, because it is not really a u-pick farm, just a farmer from the farmer’s market that lets us pick. I guess he thinks it is funny to watch me chasing two toddlers! Actually my son really loves to pick them (he is almost 3) but my daughter picks all the white ones or runs away (she is 1).
Another playdate idea is to go for a hike with your son on his strider bike. Our son does really well on a 1 mile trail (it took about four trips for him to ride the whole time and we still stop occasionally). However, it was a lot more fun when we did the hike/bike ride with a friend that had a bike. I just put my daughter in a backpack.
These pictures are so incredibly sweet. I love the ones of your little honey eating the berries — too adorable. 🙂 Thanks for sharing with us!
i agree, i love playdates and they NEVER go the way i think they are…even when it’s just the kiddos coming over to play at the house.
how do you juggle two kids’ schedules? i’m 40 weeks pregnant with my second (and trying to stay sane by remembering that i’m not the only mama to be late…gals like katie survived, i will too!) and already anticipating how having another baby and another nap schedule will change our daily routine.
The first time I ever took my daughter strawberry picking was right after she turned 3. She took one look at the muddy field and insisted she needed a chair because she was NOT getting dirty. I was 9 months pregnant and found it hilarious that she wouldn’t sit her tiny little self in the dirt. I think we came home with less than a lb of berries. Now she and her little brother can pick with the best of them. When we went a few weeks ago they picked 20 lbs (!!!) in no time. Our favorite summer playdates usually involve water – spraygrounds, lakes, pools, or slip n slide. A fun playdate for when the weather is crummy is a breakfast playdate. Everyone comes over in jammies and eats donuts while watching a movie. I love play dates. That little bit of grown up conversation helps me get through the day 🙂
My kiddos are a little older now (11 *sniff*, 8 *sigh*, and 6*wow!*). But we lived for play dates when they were toddlers. It was the only adult time I got as my hard working hubby Travels most weeks for work. In the summer we loved to do messy play. Throw them in swim suits and let them finger paint, play with shaving cream, and anything else really messy then let them run through the sprinkler. As for field trip play dates. We are live in St. Louis so we are blessed with museums and a world class zoo that’s all FREE! You read that right FREE. We love it! And still go tons! As my kids are still
In the play date age but are less content to run though the back yard we now do playground crawls and hit a new park every hour.
Those freckles are too cute!
With summer upon us (I live in Florida so its pretty much summer all year long) we’re doing a lot of outdoor, get messy projects. Think water activities, painting stuff such as hanging up a sheet or laying it on the ground and letting the kids go at it (and each other!), etc. Then when its too hot we make the rounds of the local children’s museum, pools, and the library.
This is a request…even though you write a blog and are not a DJ at my cousin’s wedding…still…I’m due for baby #2 in mid July and my daughter is 22 months. I am a working mom so I am really excited to be home for 12 weeks and just be mom for a nice little break but I don’t have an everyday routine to start with and will have a newborn to deal with. I really want to keep my little girl home from daycare to get in as much mommy time as possible while I’m home without neglecting my new baby. Do you have any tips or suggestions about managing with a newborn and toddler at the same time?
Go for a walk in the woods and play Pooh sticks (you drop your sticks in the water on one side of the bridge and then go over to the other side of the bridge to see whose stick comes out first). Believe it or not my kids still like playing Pooh sticks and my youngest is 19. Ah, yeah. Good times!
Strawberry picking is a fun activity that i seem to miss out on every year because it coincides with the busiest time at school.
Geocaching. I take my friend and her young boys (ages 5 and 7) geocaching all the time. It’s amazing how much walking those kids will do to find the next treasure. Bring snacks, water, and handy wipes. And of course a GPS. 🙂
My mommy friends and I are going to try toddler Thursdays at the High Museum of Art. And now that it’s summer time, I’m looking forward to lots of play dates at the YMCA pool (so I can drop my four month old off in childcare and spend one on one time with my three year old.)
He looks so much like you! You are both super cute. Your youngest definitely resembles your husband more.
I like best those play dates that are coffee dates for the Moms while the kids play nearby. It’s so good for the kids to have unstructured play and not be depending on adults to run things all the time. They need time to free-range.
I also love summer play dates in which you set up the sprinkler and have some buckets of water and some water toys. You don’t have to watch them as closely as if they were in a pool (even a wading pool), but they can be just as wet and happy. Add some mud and everyone is ecstatic. You can hose them all off at the end of the play date.
If you have a giant roll of paper, frog tape it to the floor (one you can clean easily) and let the kids loose with crayons. If you want to give them a little guidance, draw a line for the horizon so they can do green below and blue above, and they’ll know how to place barns and houses. Use similar set up for making a big city grid with streets for matchboxes to run on, and they can make block buildings to populate the city. Make a similar city using tape on the floor w/o the paper.
Enjoy!
this is an awesome site-don’t let the age stuff sway you 🙂
I LOVE the pizza folding one ( math and physics) and I use the entire site to spark projects with my middle school kiddoes…
http://thekidshouldseethis.com/
There is a lot of sites that are much more comprehensive on this topic! I know that what worked for us is that we had lots of help come stay with us to take care of things like cooking and those early morning wakeups so that I could sleep (and rest and heal)…and besides getting help, I also recommend utilizing that newborn-sleepy stage with special time with just your toddler.
xo – kb
I am in that stage where Weston and Will take a nap around the same time which is amazing. Weston obviously takes a first nap too so we get a lot of time together just Will and I 🙂
xo – kb
Kate, I’m nearly in the same boat. I have a 4-year-old girl and and 3-week-old boy, and 12 weeks of maternity leave. We kept my daughter in daycare the first two weeks after baby, and we have been on vacation the third week. The two weeks with just a newborn at home during the day was key in helping me heal and get my bearings. It has given me a better idea of how to run this ship after today. I think routine and activities with my daughter’s friends will be important, but aside from that, I’m just hoping for the best! Good luck!
the woods behind our house growing up were FILLED with blueberry bushes and whenever my mom wanted a little time to herself (I think!) she would send me and my 3 siblings out to do some picking and come pack with full baskets. thinking about it brings back so many good memories and I can nearly smell the homemade muffins we would have after now… 🙂
Really liked June’s geocaching idea. We’re going to have to try it with our play group.
And I agree with Ann about the sprinkler and water play. I am trying to convince my husband that we need to build a trike car wash like this one:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/trike-car-wash-148557
OhhhMGEE that last picture of Will! Such cuteness. Almost too much cuteness. As if that were a thing 🙂
Museums often have free days and would be a fun play date. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I use this website to find free and low cost things to do: http://sf.funcheap.com/. I also use this website for outdoor hikes and camping : http://www.weekendsherpa.com/. With a little internet research you can find plenty of things to do for little or no money.
No comments on the play-date area (childless), but MAN those strawberries look delish! 😉 I might just have to invite myself to a play date to get in on that action 🙂
That dimple? And the freckles? Nope. Can’t handle it. ; )
Haven’t read all the comments yet, but my kids love waterballoons. I also love to do science activities (Steve Spangler science has a bunch of “free/do at home” experiments http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments).
I first noticed on Instagram the other day and now with these pictures, Will has definitely lost the toddler look and is full-on preschooler. *tear*
Will’s tiny little freckles are just about too much! We just moved to England from North Carolina and it’s been so neat to see how they do playdates here. Most of the villages have sponsored play time at least once a week and the activities change depending on the season. Last week, the kids were outside and had access to chalk, a sand pit, blocks and a ton of balls. They always have some form of messy play which has ranged from making kid-sized pizzas on English muffins to planting sunflower seeds, etc. My daughter’s favorite part is Wiggle and Jiggle. They play a cd with British nursery rhymes and everyone circles up to do the movements together. It’s a really great mix of free play and instructed play. Totally manageable for an at-home playdate I think!
That is awesome. I wish they did something like that here. Of course the circling up would be to do the truffle shuffle (from Goonies!)
xo – kb
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I told him he’s never allowed to grow up!
xo – kb
must. find. strawberry patch. immediately
and some children to photograph in it..
haha!
xo – kb
Wow, Will is just so precious. Weston is too, but these pictures just showed Will so…Anyway, those freckles!
OMG! I have not been to a strawberry patch since I was a kid. My mom used to take us every year, and we would pick gallons of strawberries, and eat just as many while picking! My favorite was always the ice cream with strawberry sauce they sold in the shop, yumm!
Need to find a patch, asap, before the season has passed!