"Lots of Dots" Preschool Book Extension

Messy Boy recently found his new favorite book. We checked out Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier during our regular library visit.  It became an instant favorite. He asked to read it every day. We read it so much that by the time we returned it he had memorized the whole book and could "read" it himself.

Lots of Dots has colorful illustrations and shows where dots (circles) are found in every day objects. It has an easy to read, rhyming text. Dancing Girl was able to read it by herself the first time through.

Making dot pictures

Since we were having so much fun with this book, I thought it would be fun to make our own dot pictures. I had a one inch circle punch that I used to cut out circles. We used those and some leftover pricing dot stickers to create our own pictures.

Dancing Girl looked through the book for inspiration and decided she wanted to make a flower. Messy Boy and I worked on a caterpillar. Dancing Girl liked it so much she went back and added a caterpillar to her picture too.

Our final creations

This was a fun and easy activity. The possibilities for dot pictures are limitless. Do you have any fun dot picture ideas? Share them with us!

Dancing Girl's 5th Birthday

Dancing Girl just turned five! Why is that five seems so much older than four? I feel like she's gone from being a preschooler to a big kid already. Now I seriously need to figure out if we're homeschooling or sending her to public school next year. That decision always felt so far away, and now it's here!

Since five is such a big birthday, we made a big deal out of it. She pretty much had a birthday week.  We had one day left on our Disney Military Park Hopper, so we drove up to Anaheim the day prior so we could spend her birthday at Disneyland. On the way, we stopped at CoCo Ichibanya in Irvine for our favorite Japanese curry (We became addicted during our time in Okinawa. Even our kids love it now.).

Yummy curry!!

We stayed the night at the Howard Johnson in Anaheim. If you want the convenience of being near the park without the price of a Disney hotel, you should definitely check it out.  It had a small waterpark for the kids. Despite the chilly weather, my kids had a blast. And, seriously...do kids ever say it's too cold to play in the water?

After we got them warmed back up from the brink of frost bite (not really), we went to Downtown Disney for a special dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The food is a bit overpriced, but really you're paying for the experience of the animatronic animals. It made for a festive birthday eve dinner...complete with a complimentary birthday cupcake.

I almost got a picture with no people in it! A Disney miracle!

We got up early the next morning so we could get to the park when it opened. We went straight for California Adventures so we could get our fast passes to finally meet the Frozen Princesses. Thankfully that worked out and the rest of the day went smoothly (at least until Messy Boy landed in someone else's vomit, but that's another story). The highlight of the day for Dancing Girl was dinner with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. That was even pricier than the Rainforest Cafe, but it was so nice to be able to get a photo with Ariel and the other princesses without waiting in lines all day.

Dancing Girl's Little Mermaid Party

To cap off birthday week, we had a Little Mermaid (her new favorite) themed party at our house with some of Dancing Girl's friends. I'm normally not the Pinterest  type (I don't even have an account...GASP!), but a quick Google search produced so many fun mermaid ideas that I couldn't help myself. We had veggie dip with a pepper crab in the middle, oyster cookies, cupcakes with seashells on them, and mermaid punch.  For entertainment, the girls decorated door hangers, made kissing fish pictures, and played with a sensory bin with water beads.

We had such a fun week celebrating our Dancing Girl. She has brought so much fun, laughter, and dancing into our lives! We love you, Dancing Girl!

Aubrey Rose Tea Room with Kiddos

Dancing Girl celebrated her fifth birthday last week. I KNOW! When did my baby pants get so big? She used to promise me that she would grow to five and then stop, but she has since taken back that promise. Now she says she has to grow up so she can take care of her kids one day.

Anyway, she was gifted with a tea party at the Aubrey Rose Tea Room by some of her favorite people. This was our first official tea party, so we were very excited. We dressed in our Sunday best and made our way to La Mesa. The tea room is downtown La Mesa, so be on the lookout for street parking(free for the first 2 hours).

Dancing Girl kept taking off her hats before I could get a picture.

My first thought as we walked into the Aubrey Rose was, "I am so glad Messy Boy isn't with us." He would have been like a bull in a china shop. Everything was so pretty and dainty (and breakable).  We had a reservation and were immediately taken back to our table.On the way to the table, our waitress showed us an area in the back where the hats and boas are stored. You heard me correctly, they have hats and boas that you can wear while you have tea. How fun is that?!? Dancing Girl and her friends happily picked out accessories for all of us to wear (and frequently changed them during our two hours at the tea room).

Yummy treats during tea

Our friend booked us for the Princess Sophia tea from the menu, which includes tea, sandwiches (PB&J for the kids), fruit, and pastries. And, they even treated Dancing Girl to some freshly baked blueberry scones for a birthday treat.  Everything was delicious. Dancing Girl was especially a fan of the raspberry cheesecake squares (so was I).

 You can pick as many teas to try as you would like, and they were amazing. That's high praise coming from a southern girl who used to only drink sweetened ice tea and has only recently become tolerant of hot teas.  Ironically, the only tea out of the TEN (They all sounded so yummy we couldn't make up our minds) that I wasn't a fan of, was the peaches and cream.  I normally love anything peach, but that tea missed the mark for me. My favorite was the Aubrey Rose House Tea blend, and I enjoyed it so much that I purchased some to have at home.

A very happy birthday girl

Dancing Girl had a great time celebrating her birthday. She loved having the freedom to mix her tea with sugar, milk, and ice. She was able to stir to her heart's content.  And, she spent the afternoon with her favorite people.  This was a much better gift than another princess doll that gets tossed aside and stepped on after a couple of days.

What about you? Ever been to a real tea room?  Do you have any unique gift experiences that you have given to the kids in your life?