Ladies Day at the Zoo

Yesterday was girls-only day! Maya, Sofia, Teegan, and Brianna were here for the whole day, so I decided it would be fun to go to the zoo in the afternoon. I was right...it was fun! I let the kids decide which animals they wanted to see the most, and they chose to spend extra time on the playground in exchange for missing the cat exhibit. I let the older girls play on the play structure as long as they stuck together and stayed where I could see them, and I entertained Maya and Sofia on the lower level. Maya tootled around and liked going on the slide, but Sofia was a mad woman!! She was so excited to play and run with all the other kids who were there. I had to keep an extra eye on her, because that girl is fast!









The polar bears were really neat because they were both in the water splashing and playing with their water toys. There was also an elephant in the elephant exhibit enjoying a bath just feet away from us. While Teegan didn't especially like being in the rain forest area (and who can blame her...it smells in there) she was just tickled by the tamarins chasing each other around their enclosure. They are really cute!




We drove home and Sofia's Mom was there ready to pick her up. Speaking of picking people up, Brianna spent most of her time at the house carrying Maya around. Brianna got a princess crown in her happy meal from lunch, so she put it on Maya while lugging her around the house. Princesses don't walk. P'shaw!

Explora! with Sofia and Maya!

Today we made a trip out to the old town area for some morning fun. First, we went to the park, played on the swings, and cruised around the grass checking out sticks and stuff. Then, we headed across the street to Explora! Every time we go the girls seem to enjoy it more and more. Today it was fairly empty, so we pretty much had the run of the place! It was awesome!




Their favorite part, of course, is the toddler play area. Each time we go, they discover something new that they either didn't notice the time before, or they didn't really comprehend what they were supposed to do with it. Today, they discovered two things: The pipes on the wall for rolling the balls down, and you can stick things in the air cannon to make them go flying. They really were ready to learn this stuff. I showed them how to do it just once, and they both went to town!





I love Sofia's hands in this picture.






You know we had a good time when everyone looks like this on the way home!

This Week...

This week the weather FINALLY warmed up, so we had lots of fun playing outside! We went to the Aquarium, the Botanical Gardens, and made lots of trips to the park. Since it was spring break, we had the company of Andrew all week, and Kai came over on Thursday on a special sleepover! Happy Anniversary Tanya and Eric! Brody was also here for St Patty's Day fun. We made awesome green leprechaun hats and went jaunting around the park in them. It was pretty awesome.

Now for the fun part....pictures!
The girls' new thing is sitting around in the toy buckets. They also like sucking on the baby-doll bottle. What a couple-a goobers!






Making our gorgeous hats.....





On the way to the park!


Sofia liked running on the grass. She fell over and over again, and looked like a little drunken sailor!





The girls liked playing in the wood chips.





Do I have something in my teeth?



Guess who took this picture?


Kai and I made this neat monster doll last week. I almost forgot to post it!

Oh, Gosh!

I am a great, big slacker! I thought it's been a week or two since my last post, but apparently time has been flying because it's been almost three weeks! I've been really busy getting ready for the upcoming craft show that Marie (Sofia's Mom) and I are both participating in. My afternoons and naptime have been occupied, and that's usually when I update the blog. But, have no fear....the craft show is this weekend! I'll get my rear in gear and update a little more frequently after that.

Here are a few cute pictures I took over the last couple weeks to hold you over until then!

Baby Art!

Since today it is just me and the babes, I decided that it was about time we endeavored to do some baby art. I got out a colorful sheet along with some tempera paints and white paper. Then we stripped down to our skivvies (well, the babies did anyways!) and got to work. I decided to tackle this one baby at a time to avoid the ingestion of paint. Maya was first. She jumped right in! Her technique was a kind of grabbing motion, and there are lots of good fingerprints and grab marks. She was really interested in the paint that was on her body, and liked painting her thighs!








We wiped down Maya, and then it was Sofia's turn. Maya kept trying to help, so I had to give her something else to play with to keep her at bay! Sofia wasn't sure what was happening, at first. I put a couple drops of paint on her paper, and she just looked at me as if to say, "Is this a trick? Am I gonna get in trouble for making a mess of this?" It was so sweet! I told her to put her hands on it a few times before she braved a finger. Once she realized it was OK, it was on! She really liked rubbing her hands on the page from side to side. She's definitely a smearer. I just let her paint until she lost interest, and then we were done.










After all the fun was had, it was time for a B.A.T.H. I wasn't sure how Sofia would react to being in a strange bathtub, especially since Marie told me how she gets kinda clingy in the tub. I'm thinking it must have been the strangeness, the company of Maya, or all the great toys distracting her, because she seemed to have a great time! She even let me wash the paint out of her hair.


Butt Action!





Here are the finished products! Sofia's is on the left, and Maya's is on the right.