We had a beautiful stretch of weather for about a week recently.  We took advantage of it - trips to the park, going for bike rides/walks, and just playing outside more.  

We met up with some good friends at Como Zoo one day, as well.  Some days, the kids seem to get a little more 'up close & personal' with the animals vs other days - this was definitely one of those good days!  This was our first zoo trip this year.  I knew Lydia would be pointing at everything, "oooh - oooh," and that she was.  She wanted nothing to do with sitting in the stroller - she was off with the big boys :)  

Ms Tiger, Harrison, & Henry

Henry, Mr Polar Bear, and Lydia 

She really thought she could pet him :)

This was one Saturday morning trip to the park with the whole family.  Lydia took a few trips down the slide like this, but unfortunately the last one ended with a face full of mulch, poor thing :(

Henry finished up his first swimming lesson session at Foss.  He is just a completely different kid in the water since starting lessons here - in a good way!  His sudden fear of water is gone, thank God!!  He LOVES going to swimming each week now.  

One day after class he got to pick out some new goggles and now busts them out at home from time to time, as well!  The kid loves any kind of costume, that's for sure.  

Monkey see, monkey do, right?!  If he's got a costume of some sort on, well, of course, so does she!  Here she is, on her way up to take a nap (yep, still in pj's)!

Not sure why I do this to myself, as this is one hefty mess to clean up!  Some mornings, she wants to have a smoothie just like me.  I never fight it, as it's definitely the only way she'll eat a green veggie!  Any other green veggie in its whole form usually lands on the ground.

Lucy - poor Lucy hasn't gotten any props in a long time.  Here's Henry, just giving the girl a "boat ride."  Doesn't she look like she's having fun?!  Lucy tolerates a lot, but does get a lot of love too, in the form of table scraps from these two :)  I really couldn't ask for a more sweet and gentle dog to be around kids.  She's so good to them!

St. Patrick's Day

This is my all-time favorite St. Patrick's Day project.  It's just so neat and pretty when it's finished!  I'm thankful that Henry's still into it as much as I am :)

Those naughty leprechauns were back again this year, messing up Henry's room in the middle of the night!  They also turned every food imaginable green as well.  Henry had a lot of fun with it all and was a little sad the next morning when his milk was plain old white milk again.  Until next year, leprechauns.....

NoDak tour

Henry was on Spring Break from preschool last week, so the kids and I decided to make a trip up to NoDak to visit.  

We headed over the Bismarck one day.  At our first stop, we spotted a huge jackrabbit right outside of my Grandma's nursing home, just hopping away along the rocks.  Henry was convinced that it was the Easter bunny!  Well, when we got to my aunt Jackie's house, and she had special Easter basket deliveries right from the Easter bunny himself, he couldn't have been more excited!  After playing outside with bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles all afternoon at my aunt Jackie's house, we visited the shop at my uncle John's trucking company, Roughrider Transportation in Mandan.  Henry had the time of his life - sitting in, riding in, and even driving a few of the vehicles.  The boy was grinning from ear to ear :) 

Uncle John even took him out on the road - the boy was pumped!

My Grandma was able to come over to my aunt Jo's house for dinner that night.  She HATED when I was trying to take a picture of her, but I snuck this one in and she looks great!

The weather was fantastic when we were there.  I got to get in a couple runs up to the dam.  Here's my sunset pic :)

While in Jamestown, we hit up all the hot spots!  I haven't been to the Alfred Dickey Public Library in years, and was VERY excited to see that the reading nook in the children's section, also known as the bathtub, lives on!  

Lydia took a huge tumble, face-first into the concrete, right after visiting the buffalo.  Poor thing, all scratched up, bloody nose and all.  

Henry got to go to the YMCA with my dad each morning, and said that was the highlight of the whole trip!  

It was one wild and crazy spring break, ha!

iPhone clean up

I know.....I've been TERRIBLE about taking pictures with my good camera lately!  So, here it is, a good 'ol iPhone clean up.....

We hit up the Children's Museum one morning a few weeks ago.  Now that Lydia is walking, it's much more enjoyable to visit the museum.  They can play together!  She copies everything he does :)

Henry is SO into hide-and-go-seek lately.  We play a little during the day and then he always tries to get one game in with Daddy before bed.  Lydia and I usually hide together.  Here she is.....hiding all by herself.  Henry doesn't have any tolerance for this sloppy hiding :)  We're working on it!

Phil and Henry went tubing for the first time at Elm Creek in Maple Grove.  He had a blast!  They hooked their tubes together for every turn down the hill, except for the last one - Henry wanted to go all by himself.  Check out those lanes!

We had a few warm days back in January - like almost 40 degrees, I believe.  I filled up his bike tires and we took a 1 mile trip around the lake.  Crazy!  He's just about grown out of this bike now.

A few weekends ago, we went to a bonfire on a sunny Sunday afternoon at one of Phil's relatives in Ramsey.  Check out that fire behind us, it was huge!

Phil dug out his old Atari from the basement one weekend, complete with about 30 different games.  He tracked down a cord from Radio Shack, I went and picked it up, and they were good to go!  Henry is so funny, playing "video games" now, ha!  If only he knew what a real "video game" nowadays looked like :)

I was lucky enough to take a long weekend trip to Marco Island, Florida with a couple of great girlfriends last month. We had absolutely beautiful weather, sunny and 75 degrees.  

We spent one of our days at the spa right there at our hotel.  It was fantastic!  Reading, sunshine, quiet, a few cocktails - what more could you want?!

Now back to the cold.....

We really haven't had much snow on the ground this winter.  Here Lydia had to settle for a sled ride on the lake, driven by her crazy brother that always makes her smile!  

Valentine's Day

We all LOVED Valentine's Day around here!  

Henry had a "friendship" party at school, and these were the Valentines we made for his classmates.  He signed each one of them on the back :)

He made heart-shaped suncatchers to send to all the ladies in his life :)  This was quite a project - he colored, sprayed, and then cut out all the hearts himself!  

A LEGO Valentine box for a LEGO lover, of course!  

And Lydia helped me with baking cookies one morning while Henry was at school.  Ok.....maybe she just dressed for the part and then ate the results when I was done :)

15 months

Lydia had her 15 month appointment today with Dr. Sakkal.  

Here are her stats.....

Weight: 20 pounds, 4 ounces (20th %ile)

Length: 29.5 inches (30th %ile)

Head Circumference: 18.25 inches (60th %ile)

Check out those shoes.  Multiple times a day, she'll go dig in her shoe bin and bring me a pair.  She LOVES her shoes!  Along with her shoes, she LOVES her baby dolls, too.  Look at her - pink shoes, cell phone and purse in hand, 3 baby dolls in the stroller.  Oh, she makes me smile :)

Christmas - part 2

My parents and sister joined us on Christmas Eve at our house.  We had an early dinner that night and then opened gifts.  Once again, the kids were spoiled!  Henry sure loved his Lego movie from Grandma & Grandpa and a Captain America costume from Auntie Sonja (which he now wears on a regular basis) and Lydia doesn't want to let her new baby doll that giggles all the time out of her sight :)  That night before bed, Henry picked out the cookies that he wanted to leave for Santa, along with a few pictures he made, one for the big man himself and one for his elves.  Phil and I got to go to church all by ourselves at 10pm.  It was crazy to actually get to listen to everything that was being said in church - ahhh, a nice break :)  

Phil and I saved our big gift for the kids until Christmas morning.  Henry has been wanting a car for the last 2 summers, since his buddies on the block all have them.  A fitted sheet worked perfectly as one of those car covers :)  

It was such a mild morning, he actually got to take it for a spin outside.  A couple of the neighbors could hear him coming down the road, so they all came outside to see!

Why use the door when you can jump out of the top, right?!  The car is now sitting in our basement until it warms up outside.  I've already had to implement the rule that you must use the door!

After celebrating with Santa on Christmas morning, we headed over to Oma & Opa's to enjoy Christmas Day.  Once again, the kids exchanged gifts with their cousins and aunt & uncle.  Henry sure loves his Highlights magazine he gets every month from the Gillespies and Lydia has been playing with her new set of blocks everyday from the Richters.  It started snowing mid-morning and didn't quit till we went home that night - we got our white Christmas after all :)