Gymnastics Observation Day

In March we had the final observation day in gymnastics for the year.  We were so sad that Andrew wasn't able to be there; he was TDY.  But Dee (my Mother) was in town so she was able to go with us.

Michael and Mary Ellen waiting for class to start.  They are supposed to pick a color square to sit on.  As you can see Michael has a different idea as he sprawls across several squares!

Lined up doing their stretches.

M&M love to do front flips, and they're good at it too!

Mary Ellen doing donkey kicks.

Mary Ellen was deathly afraid of the bars and the beam when she first started but Miss Angie helped her get over her fears.

Success!

Great form Michael!

Miss Angie helping Michael touch his toes to the bar.

The whole crew!

And an ice cream treat for a successful gymnastics day!

EdVenture Museum

During Dee's visit in February we decided to make the trip to the children's museum in Columbia.  If you know EdVenture then you know what an awesome place it is.  M&M were the perfect age to enjoy almost all of the fun activities.  The first, and one of their favorite, was the fire station.

They were able to dress in tiny fire coats, boots and hats and actually crawl through a real firetruck.

Most everything has an education point along with being fun.  The gears are magnetic on a big wall and they could move them in different configurations.  They loved changing the gears and watching them all move in unison.

A real red VW bug that you can fill with gas and pretend to drive.

The farm area was also a favorite.  They both now know, thanks to Daddy, the difference between a John Deere and a Massey Ferguson tractor.  Michael's favorite is still the green John Deere.  Mary Ellen loved milking the cow...she was good at it too!

But hands down, Mary Ellen's favorite area was the mini Piggly Wiggly.  There were small shopping carts and shelves lined with play food of all sorts.  She filled her buggy like there was a hurricane coming.  And unfortunately, cried when she had to put it all up.  Michael found his high school job as a cashier.  He was serious about checking everyone out and even wore the apron!

EdVenture was such a fun day!  The kids had a ball and it was nice to be able to share their joy and excitement with my Mom.

Swan Lake

Swan Lake is never more beautiful than in Spring.  Now that the weather has turned more Spring-like we had to go enjoy this beautiful park.  All the grandparents were in town so we took a picnic lunch and headed to Swan Lake.  M&M loved all the swans, ducks and geese.  They wanted so bad to feed them but alas, it is not allowed anymore.  I guess too many people were feeding them moldy bread and they were getting sick.  We walked along the lake and looked at all the amazing Cypress knees while the swans followed us; I guess still hoping they'd get fed!

The black swans are beautiful!  Mary Ellen was uncharacteristically brave until one flapped his wings at her and she backed away.  Those things can be sort of mean. 

Lovely fountain! 

And of course we had to go to the playground.  They loved to swing on the "tire" swing and climb up and try all the slides.  It was a perfect sunny day and we chose a picnic table in the shade to eat lunch.  Amazing day...and it made me content and thankful for this great little town we now call home!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a little lonely this year without Daddy.  But I was happy to have my other two loves to celebrate with.  Andrew and I celebrated before he left TDY.  Above are M&M dressed in their Sunday best for church.  Still takes an act of congress just to get both of them looking at the camera at the same time. 

My, how they loved their Valentine's Day treats.  Mickey and Minnie are FAVORITES and they were so happy when they saw them! 

Needless-to-say they have been inseparable since and even asked if they could eat breakfast that morning with them....so cute!  We had a fun day and even had pink pancakes for supper!  What a perfect day to let those most precious know we love them!

Heart Cookies!

I have found that cut out cookies are a great activity for Michael and Mary Ellen.  They can help in every step and love to help.  And of course, they love the end product even more because they did it!  I made a batch of decorated heart cookies for MOPS in the beginning of February.  And they wanted one so bad but they were gobbled up at our meeting and none were left over for them.  They were so pitiful when they realized they didn't get any after they had watched me make them all day.  So I knew that we had to make another batch just for us!

After a few tries they could do the cut-out part by themselves.  They loved choosing the size heart they wanted and then carefully pressing the shape into the dough.

Watching them bake.  We set the timer so they were up in a flash when they heard it go off each time!

It took lots of patience to finally get to the decorating part.  And even more to get to the eating part.  But they picked out the decorations they liked for each cookie and then chose their favorite to eat first.

Pure joy!  I love to make these two happy.  I also love to see how they learn and how they are so willing to be Mama's helper.

Fire Station

Our MOPS group had a "Mommy and Me" outing to the Alice Drive Fire Station.  I knew right away it would be right up M&M's ally...they love fire trucks...especially Michael.

They showed all their equipment and put on the suit piece by piece.  Michael LOVED this and stood as close as they would let him to the Fireman, oops sorry, Fire Fighter.

Mary Ellen on the other hand wasn't quite so sure.  She got close to him but only if I was close or holding her.

But truly, the fire truck was the best part.  They let them crawl through the cab and sit if they want.  M&M both went through twice and I think Michael would have sat there all afternoon!

This is the whole MOPS crew...well as much as we could wrangle them for a quick picture!  I don't know if those guys knew what they were getting into with that many toddlers.  But they were AWESOME!!

Going home with all their fun prizes from the Fire Station.  What a fun morning and a lasting memory for lots of toddlers...most especially my two!

Happy Birthday Jesus!



This year made me understand why people always say "Christmas is for kids".  Michael and Mary Ellen were so excited Christmas morning and it just made our hearts soar to watch that pure joy.  The above video is their first peek Christmas morning!

M&M got fleece blankets and pillow pets from Papa and Mama Jo.  They slept with them both for weeks after Christmas!

They also got the wisemen addition to their Little People Nativity which Mary Ellen is playing with in the above picture.

Michael got more Thomas trains and track to add to his collection.  His favorite!

I love this shot of Michael and his love of transportation.  Playing with his trains and flying his airplane at the same time!

One of the favorite gifts this year was the easel.  Mary Ellen loves to draw and color so she honed right in on the pink chalk and literally filled the board with colorful chalk.

Such a fun day!  And because of the snow we staying all weekend in the living room and played while we watched the snow.  You'd never find two more content children....or Mama and Daddy!