Park time

This is our life. We went to a park. We had fun. See?

 I'm finally catching Sarah smiling on camera. I love when it happens! Her smile makes me smile.

 Sarah's not so timid anymore when it comes to slides because she has to keep up with Scott, who will do anything! Peer pressure is lovely.

 What's more fun then playing at the park? Playing with the sand at the park!

 Sarah insists on the baby swing still.

This is the view from the bridge over the river, near the park.

March-ing on!

Ok, how do I survive the grocery store with my afrorementioned 'helpers'? A (free) cookie from the bakery, sometimes a piece of meat or cheese from the deli, a balloon from the floral dpt. and then lots of snacks and dum-dums. Scott gets excited about the balloons. Can you tell? It's just not the same without the high-pitched squeal of delight but you get the idea.

Sarah LOVES to watch and help me cook, when I let her. She understands that things are hot so I'll let her push up a chair to the stove and watch and sometimes stir the pot. She has experimented with the few seasonings I have by the stove.. such as salt. Sometimes things get a little too salty.. but she's a natural! This is just how I got started cooking with my grandma. I loved to stir the pots. Unfortunately Scott wants to join in the fun and climb up on the chair too. So I have to take the chair away for safety reasons. Sarah does not like that part.

 We go on walks a lot and went to 'our' lake nearby. We used to live in a townhouse on the lake and love to come back. It was still semi-frozen mid-March but melted pretty quickly.

 Sarah was saying 'hi' to the ducks. We think we saw these ducks as ducklings a couple years ago. They still call it home!

 Scotty my happy boy! Climbs on anything, as you can see.

Sarah wants to hold Roxy's leash every chance she gets. Roxy's a bit strong for her sometimes, which frustrates Sarah. But they are striking a slow but coming friendship. I hope.

This is why you have 2 kids close together. I LOVE hearing them play and laugh together!!

Then it got warmer again and we played outside. Don't mind the boy on the pink bike. We don't.

 We watched some friends' dog Hemingway while they went and had a baby! This dog made me grateful for my timid, little mutt of a dog. Hemi was too much for us! But the kids loved that they could pound on him and he didn't care a bit! I think poor Roxy thought she was going to have to live with Hemi forever! She was totally scared of him the whole day.

 It got even warmer another day and I pulled out all my bowls and some cups and ladles. Add a little water and you've got a perfect game!

 Oh how I love that my kiddos love to read! Scott reads out loud to himself too! Babbling all the way. He loves to bring me books but mostly he likes to find some books, plop down and turn the pages himself.

 And Sarah has memorized every book. Even the library ones we get. She can recognize all her letters (most of the time) and wants me to read to her all day.



Feburary..was more like March

We just can't get over the weather this winter! We're having an early Spring and no complaints here! Snow gone, grass green, bulbs blooming, oh it's so lovely! We even got out the sprinkler one day to cool down because it was so warm! It has since flucuated and gone back to normal, cooler temps but it really is so nice to see everything blooming so fast! Here's a recap of February...

 Oh, yeah, this time. This is a common occurance.. not necessarily getting this far but Sarah LOVES finding lotion, soap.. basically anything she can squish between her little hands. She loves to hide behind things, under covers, etc. too so she can enjoy her treasure in secret for those few seconds until I find her and take it away. I found them like this one day.. it was too funny not to document. They loved it, can you tell?

Scott loves the stairs. He's really good now and is so quick!

This is what happens when we try to take pictures. Sarah is getting better and loves to say 'cheese!' But only for a split second of course. Then she turns away.

I was fortunate enough to take a trip 'home' to Washington to see my parents and my sister who moved there last summer! I think I packed things about 3 times due to my fabulous 'helpers.' On a side note.. everyone comments on my 'helpers' when I go to the store.. as if they are so wonderful to have 'helping' me at the store. Not the word I would choose. I know it's just a sweet little joke but really? Not funny.

 These are the only pictures we took! Sadly, my kids and my parents were all sick most of the time and it was just too crazy to take the time to take pictures. But my sis and I took the ferry to Seattle one day with the kids. Everyone had a blast!! Notice Sarah and Janelle (her same-age cousin) on the far ends of the picture mesmerized with the water.

Scott just couldn't get enough either. This is his sweet cousin Kate who just adored him! Likewise Kate!!

 We went to the Pacific Science Center and saw the butterfly garden.. always my favorite.

 Who doesn't love giant bugs?

 And while we were home I had my good friend Darcy give Scott his first haircut! What a stud he is.

We loved seeing all our cousins, Aunts and Uncles and Grandma and Grandpa! Miss you tons!!

Favorite faces

Scott is the most expressionable little boy! I love it so much. I amazingly captured his most common expressions. This is his mischevious face. You know those wheels are turning in that little head!  

 This is his shrieking face. He LOVES to have shrieking contests with Sarah.

 I do this a lot when something is exciting or really cool, so he does it. A LOT. I love it.

He loves his tongue. LOVES IT!

Sarah found 4 babies the other day. One was her favorite, one was left at our house and two were ones I had put away she pulled out. She was a happy girl. And when Sarah smiles, it lights up the whole room! Love this girl.

Heat Wave!

What do you do when it's January in Minnesota? Go OUTSIDE and go sledding! It has been the craziest winter since we've moved here. We get snow, and then it gets warm and the snow melts. This has happend a few times now. Apparently it's been warm all over the country, maybe not Denver, but it's been hovering around freezing most of the time. That's warm for us. So at the end of January it was (and still is) in the high 30s. I decided to brave it and go outside with the kids, in the snow and have fun before it's all gone! So we got all dressed up, proper Midwest style, in snowsuits. Scott hasn't really worn his and thought it was hilarious. Him walking in his way too big boots was what was hilarious. He crawled around instead.

 Sarah helped me build a snowman. Complete with a carrot nose. It's still there. It hasn't 'died' yet as Sarah suggests.

 And then we went sledding in the backyard! So fun! Scott didn't really know what to think and didn't like Sarah squeezing him.. but we all had a good time.

 Then Sarah tried to pull me and Scott.. but we had eaten one too many cookies and were just a little too heavy for her. Better get going on my workouts.