Can't Wait for Spring

We have had a couple days in the past week where our temperatures have gotten over 70 degrees. I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the fact that we won't have the free Zoo (or any Zoo for that matter) close to us after we move. We headed out nice and early so that we could take advantage of some of the things that normally cost money but are free for the first hour. One of these things is the carousel. We rode it twice.

It started moving right as I took this picture which is why both girls have that same suprised look on their faces.

For some reason, Alyssa thinks that this is a photo spot at the zoo becasue she wants a picture here every time we go.

The temps got up to the low 60's by the time we left which made for a really beautiful day. It was more crowded than I expected so we were all happy to get out of there when we did. I did splurge on one thing for the girls. We saw this as we were walking in and I thought the girls would love it. So we stopped and saw it on the way out.

Here they are in their 3D glasses. They both kept them on the whole time which I didn't expect. They loved the new Dora and Diego movie. When it was over Ashley said "I want to watch it again." I told her that maybe next time we go to the Zoo we will see it again.

Now our temps feel more like winter again and we are all so sad. I wish those spring-like temperatures would last longer.

A Funny Conversation

The other day when we were on the way to Alyssa's preschool, Alyssa and I had a funny conversation. It went something like this:
Alyssa: "Ms. Shannon isn't going to be at preschool." (that is one of her teachers)
Me: "That's right. Do you remember why?"
A: "Yes. Because she had her baby."
M: You're right. Do you remember how her tummy was big. Now it won't be anymore. That is what happens when you have a baby."
A: "But how does the baby get out?"
M: "Well, the Mommy goes to the hospital and the doctor takes it out."
A: "How?" (she couldn't let me get off that easy)
M: "Well, when you and Ashley were born, the doctor cut open my tummy to take you out." (Thank goodness I didn't have to explain to her the other way that babies come out)
A: She thinks about that for a second and then asks, "Did it hurt?"
M: "Yes, but the doctor gives you lots of medicine so it doesn't hurt too bad."
A: After about 30 seconds of silence she says "I wish I were a boy."
M: I thought she had moved on to something else so I asked, "Why?"
A: "Because I don't want it to hurt when the doctor takes the baby out of my tummy."
M: LOL. She totally caught me off guard. I then tried to explain how wonderful it is to be a Mommy and that you forget about how much everything hurt when you see the sweet baby.

Birthday Snack Update...

Sunny skies, school in session, and snack delivered.

A big sigh of relief that the 5th attempt was a success.

Happy Birthday Danny!

We celebrated Danny's 30th Birthday last week. It started with a Super Bowl Party on Sunday evening. We invited 3 families over, set up the big screen/projector from the Convention Center, and enjoyed a lot of good food and a Football shaped cake(I forgot to take a picture of it. In fact, I forgot to take any pictures at the party). It was a lot of fun.

Then on Thursday, we celebrated by eating Danny's requested meal (Homemade mac n cheese and broccoli), he opened presents, and we ate angelfood cake with strawberry topping. We didn't take many pictures of this either, but here are some of the ones that we did take.

The old man (I have to milk my month of being the same age as him for all it is worth).

Can you tell that this is his daughter. They both have the same cheesy smile :)
Ashley is playing with the balloon hat that Danny brought home from work. He wore it to lunch when his co-workers took him out. The girls destroyed the hat design within minutes of getting it in their hands.

Daddy with his 2 sweet girls.

Here is a family shot that we set the camera on a chair to take.

We are all grateful for Danny, for the wonderful husband and father that he is. We are grateful for the countless hours of playing "monster" with the girls and for the prizes that he brings home most nights. We are thankful that he has a good job that he loves and that provides for our needs. We love you, Danny/Daddy!

Mommy and Me Preschool Night

Last Thursday night, Alyssa had a "Mommy and Me Night" at her preschool. It was basically set up just like her preschool is every day, only I got to do everything with her, including sitting on the carpet for storytime. She loved having me there with her. Here are some of the fun things that we did. This was a water table where they could go fishing with little nets. She got to make a paper airplane and decorate it with stickers.

Here is a popcorn kernal table where they could find little birds.
There was also playdough, a bird nest to build, a book to put together, and a memory game. The story that was read was "Are You My Mother" and all of the activities were realated to the book in some way. After the activities, we went to music time and sang all of the songs that her music teacher has been singing with her lately. After music time, we all had a snack together and then we went home. After we left I told her how much fun preschool was and she said to me "Now do you see why I love to go to Preschool so much." She does love to go to preschool and is really looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall and the opportunity to make new friends.

Alyssa

So if any of our readers remember, I posted about Alyssa's multiple cavities back in September. The long awaited surgery date finally came and went. It was quite a hastle getting her cavities filled. She was too scared to let the dentist look or touch inside of her mouth, so we ended up having to take her to the hospital(where they could put her under) to have it done. Because it was done at the hospital, we had to get our medical insurance company involved also. It was such a pain getting it all worked out. Then, her first surgery date had to be postponed because she got sick a couple of days beforehand. We are glad to finally have it done and to see her in less pain. She did really well with all of it. They ended up having to pull one tooth out, put crowns on two teeth, and fillings in the others. We felt so bad about the tooth they pulled and it has taken her some time to get used to the spacer that is in there. Now we are just hoping for her to start losing her teeth earlier than we expect her to so she doesn't have to have a mouth full of silver for too long. She was pretty excited about the tooth fairy coming and getting the tooth that was pulled out.

Here are a few pictures that I found on the camera that Alyssa took of herself. It makes me laugh to look at these because I remember when she took them. She was laughing so much about how silly she looked in each picture.

On a side note, we rescheduled Alyssa's preschool Birthday Snack for tomorrow which would explain why we are getting hit with one of the worst storms St. Louis has seen in 20 years.

Randomness

I found these pictures on the camera and didn't really have a creative post to do with them, so here they are, just because I like them. This was taken as a request from Alyssa since they were in their matching jammies.

Alyssa must have taken this one of us and since there are hardly ever pictures of just the two of us, here it is.

More of the matching jammies.
We love these little girls so much.

Snow Princess

After our snow storm that brought at least 8 inches of snow the girls were begging to go and play in the snow. The first couple of days were way too cold, but the third day was a little bit warmer and sunny. So on that day I took them out to play. The snow was really good for doing this.
Ashley walked around and ate the snow while Alyssa helped me build our snow princess. The snow packed almost too good as it was pretty hard to get the rocks, pebbles, and carrot to stick in for the face.

Besides building the snowman, we had fun throwing snow at each other and sledding down our very small hill in our front yard (Alyssa is too scared of the steep hill in the backyard).