Como Zoo

Rosie and I spent the day together at Como Zoo, in St. Paul.
It was a field trip offered to all 5 year old's going into kindergarten in the fall
Two buses of kids and parents made the trip. The sun was shining and the temps were warm...
we saw the polar bear and the gorillas, zebras and giraffes
wandered thru the conservatory Rosie was fascinated by the numerous ponds
water and this child are a perfect match.
had an awesome day hanging out with my 5 year old!

Love

this photo!

2

for your 2nd birthday party we decided to go with a gumball theme
Swansons created your invites for us and I have been busy looking for gumball
themed party supplies
(it seem we often choose themes that are not common requiring a whole lot of creativity to pull together a birthday celebration)
I have been searching out gumball machines...finding this outfit on etsy was perfect...personalized with your name and your soon to be age... You were not so impressed. I wonder how long you will tolerate tutu's and ruffles and ribbons and bows.
As we move closer to your birthday...I am slowly checking things off the list
and wondering at the fact that we have shared your life for almost 2 years...seriously my little one you need to stop growing so quickly.

almost 2

Katie Swanson took these pictures...she is always able to get amazing photos despite the fact that you
choose at times to be quite uncooperative. She captures a fleeting or a moment that is so you.
at almost 2 you love books, and Pooh
fruit snacks, and screaming
you sleep so much better now than you did 6 months ago
you are determined, and stubborn, snugly and beautiful
you unique and perfect...

invites...

for a soon to be 7 year olds birthday
are done.
whew!
She wanted a baking theme...
which had my brain spinning out one idea or another
I do love a challenge
here are the invites complete with mixing spoon...

riding bike

she has not been to eager to let go of those training wheels
with those first nice days this spring we tried, and tried
which resulted in a lot of bumps and bruises and a quick loss of interest
until this weekend,when she tried again with no prompting from her parents
and by yesterday she was starting to click...
at one point she said to me " I get the peddaling part it's the turning I don't get"
I suggested she practice turning and soon there she was riding her bike and turning...

not to be outdone, since competitive is her middle name
she too hopped on the bike and took off ...

birthday...

not only was sunday Easter,
and the weather was amazing, sunny and warm
it was also my birthday
the day brought time spent with all my kids
time spent with my sister and her kids
and time spent with my aunt and uncle and cousin and her family
a very wonderful way to spend my birthday

glimpses

of a busy weekend

birthdays

our birthdays are a day apart
she is the 23rd mine the 24th
we are 6years apart in age
(she reminds me of this often)
It was wonderful spending my birthday with her and her family yesterday

Dinner at Lucy's

We went to my Aunt Lucy's and Uncle Roy's for dinner on Easter
my cousin and her family were there, as was my aunts friend JoAnne
Amazing food, a round of bingo, and a few games of Farkle
filled the hours and moments.
the kids were outdoors most of the day...so wonderful to feel the sunshine and warmth

Egg Hunt

the egg hunting crew

a beautiful day, sunny and warm
very determined egg hutners
those older ones are quite interesting in their quest to find eggs...
it seems it's the younger crowd that still finds the most eggs
the reason those older ones continue to hunt...thinking it might be the money hidden inside some of those eggs.

Cupcakes!

Grace made these for Paulette, Josh and my birthday!

how cute are these?
and yes she did them all by herself.
they tasted amazing!!!!

easter baskets

justin beiber...that was a hit with these two

model airplane book..how he spent most of his day

books and Pooh...perfect!

she was the last to find her basket, finding everyone else's first

Coloring eggs

each has perfected their way to color eggs...
reyna was quite uncertain about this but enjoyed watching everyone else.
byt he time it was done, eggs were colored, fingers and counter tops were too.