Sara performs

The other night at dinner, Sara was kind enough to actually do what Mommy asked, in between bouts of crying and wanting to get out of her high chair. Here is video proof.

In the first one, she's sticking out her tongue at me.

In this next one, Sara shows off how she claps and can do the "so big."

Sara's birthday!

On Sara's birthday, we took her to the Minnesota Zoo. She wasn't feeling the best, so we didn't spend a ton of time there. We took Sara to the see the Baby Farm Animals.

Look at my little chicken!!!

Do you think she likes it?

Sara LOVES the swing. Freakin loves it. You listen to this squeal and not have your heart melt. I dare you.

Funny Erin stories

I must say that the mind of a 2 year old must be a fascinating place. There are things that Erin is doing and saying that are just amazing to me. She constantly asks if we're going to see dinosaurs. I don't understand this because the only time we saw a dinosaur exhibit, she was scared out of her mind and wouldn't go anywhere near them.

Last night, Erin had a hard time sleeping. I went in to comfort her when I heard her crying and she said that Daddy was taking her baby Sara away. I felt bad that she was having a bad dream, but it was very sweet and a little bit funny that it was about her sister.

Today, we took Erin to the Minnesota Zoo where she fell in love with dolphins. And this is despite the rough start we had. We went up to the stadium to watch the dolphins swim from a different angle. We were standing near the tank as Todd was asking the volunteer questions about the dolphin shows and why they don't have them right now and if they would in the future. Well, around this time, one of the younger dolphins swam by and Sara (in Todd's arms) got very excited and waved her arms around. I saw the dolphin slightly turn her head to indicate that she noticed, and she was swimming near the surface. So.....her tail went up and created a HUGE splash. Todd and Sara didn't get wet, but Erin was a little closer to the tank, and I managed to move her but not by very much. So, she got a dousing but not completely soaked. She freaked RIGHT OUT. We found a volunteer, got a towel and dried her off, and she was ready to go again! She LOVED the dolphins and was very upset when we had to leave.

Erin has been watching the Little Mermaid quite a bit, and I can't help but wonder if this is where she is learning some of her defiance. The other night at dinner, she didn't want to eat anything, so she said, "I'm six years old, I'm not a child." I about fell over, wondering where the heck she learned. Well, on movie night, we watched the Little Mermaid and there's a line where Ariel says, "I'm sixteen years old, I'm not a child." Well, I think we'll be trying to get a different movie into the rotation. Wish us luck.

I'll definitely post more as I get more, but for now, we're just enjoying life with an entertaining toddler!

At the zoo

Today, we went to the Minnesota Zoo. Erin wasn't having a good day behaviorally, but she really enjoyed the zoo, maybe the most of any time we've gone where we didn't just spend the whole time at a playground. She ran around and around Discovery Bay, from the dolphin tank, to the reef tank, to the touch tank with the tiger sharks and the stingrays to the estuary exhibit. This first picture is of her looking up at the giant shark jaw, while she plays with the bottom teeth.

Even Sara got into the action. She really liked watching the dolphins swim by in front of her.

Todd and Erin sitting in the dolphin stadium. There aren't formal shows anymore due to the population of dolphins at the zoo and some of the tragedies that have gone on, but they allow people to come in and watch the dolphins. We had a great time just watching the dolphins practice tricks.

Seamo and April come to say hello to everyone!

Spaghetti!!!

For the first time, we just gave Sara a handful of spaghetti noodles. Like when Erin was her age, it was far more fun to play than eat. She did offer them to me a couple times, but she did even try to get some in her mouth.

I'll admit on this last shot, I set it up. I gave her the noodle and put in her mouth. But chomped the piece in half making one fall out of her mouth. She probably only ate about the equivalent of two noodles, but still, it's progress!! Especially considering we didn't really start table foods until this past week. (Yep, we're much slower this time around.)

March in Minnesota

In Minnesota in March, you never know what you're going to get. Comes in like lion, out like a lamb, the second snowiest month (usually), so when it's 60 degrees and sunny, you take advantage. For example, Wednesday, we let the girls play outside when we all got home. Well.....Erin played. Sara just hung out. I got the Christmas lights down (finally!....well, most of them). We saw our neighbors. It'd been a while.

Erin colored the driveway with chalk. You can tell how much she's grown. Last year she just drew a few random lines. This year, well.....see for yourself...

Big giant blobs of colored chalk. And using her little toy planters to hold all of her different colored chalk. Yep, she's definitely gotten better. I think she called it a flower, but I'm not sure.

Honestly, I just can't get over what a big girl she looks like in this picture. She's not even three yet, but she looks so much older.

Daddy brought Sara outside to experience the great weather. She also wanted to show off the great daisy barrette that they put in her hair at daycare. They're also the ones responsible for Erin's ponytail. There are times I think that hair salon is a game they play on a regular basis. They have so much fun doing the girls' hair.

When it was time to clean up, Erin definitely helped. And she's way more possessive of her garden tools this year. Who knew? Maybe she'll be able to actually help Daddy this year when it comes time for gardening.

Sprout!

Much to my surprise, when Todd brought Sara home from daycare today, she was sporting a sprout on top of her head! Eek! I'd wanted to try it, but never been brave enough so yay for them having done it for me! I've sent her with clips so many times. We may need to embrace the sprout as Sara's hair is starting to get long enough to get in her eyes.

We had to capture the sprout for posterity.

Bowling!

One Sunday, we decided to take the girls bowling. I'd heard of other friends taking their 2 year olds bowling and Erin had been to a bowling alley before, so we gave it a shot. Erin had a blast and nearly beat Mommy in a game! We both used bumpers, but the ramps definitely helped Erin!!!

Sara checked out the ball return.

Go, go, go!!

Check out Erin's cool rental bowling shoes!

Random playtime pictures of Sara

Just for fun, here's some pictures of Sara playing in our playroom!

Daddy's physical exam

Erin got a medical kit for Christmas and she loves to play with it. She likes to check out Mommy and Daddy and see how healthy we are. Todd got a very thorough examination the other night.

First Erin, checked his blood pressure.

She tried to listen to his heart, but kept listening to her own tummy instead.

Next, Erin checked out Todd's eyes and ears. He's such a trooper to do that well with it.

Lastly, Erin took his temperature. Daddy's doing just fine!

Sara visits the beach

Before we left, we finally introduced Sara to the beach. She had a very good time, even if she didn't get to go by herself. Erin tried to build a sand castle and tried to help Sara understand why the beach is so awesome.

The Imaginarium

We also decided to visit the Imaginarium. We had some fun there. Erin found all kinds of new things to explore and Sara even had some fun playing. Sara and I got to meet a T-Rex.