An Afternoon at the Zoo

It doesn't particularly feel like spring has visited Michigan yet...especially when a coating of snow greeted us as we woke up yesterday morning, but we've had glimpses.  A couple Saturdays ago, we ventured out to the outlet mall at Birch Run for a bit of shopping and then on the way home we hit the children's zoo in Saginaw.

It was a tiny little zoo with lots of farm animals but the kids had a blast running around just being outside.  They played in the sand and on the playground for a good majority of the time.  E loved riding the zebra on the carousel.    X loved the monkeys and the cows.  More exhibits will open in the summer and I think we might take a day trip back.  The kids had a blast.

Also, notice E's new hat and shades...she was very proud of them and didn't take them off for days (daytime or nighttime...church, grandma's or at home).  She even bought a turtle necklace with 'bubble potion' in it at the zoo, which added to her hat and shades ensemble that she sported for several days.  She's such a character!

Hmmm...its been a month

I can't believe a month has passed and nothing worth documenting has occured...

We don't sit around the house doing nothing...well, we have this week but the rest of the month we haven't. We were enjoying a brief taste of spring playing outside, riding the trike, going to the park and then the snow came back. So, we are back inside.

We celebrated my grandparents' 96th birthdays this month. That was fun and crazy. The kids enjoyed running (and screaming) around my g'parent's house with their second cousins long past their typical bedtime. It was nice to see the family again too. We live in the same county as most of them but we don't see each other often enough.

The kids enjoyed attending Statewide with the youth group. E loved the pool and sleeping on a bed of pillows. She was in love with the hotel room. X just loves to explore anything that is new. I always enjoy seeing friends from Algonac that we don't see nearly enough.

Our landlord replaced our furnace in February and X hasn't had a severe eczema breakout since...I finally feel like we have his allergies under control. That is a welcome change.

Otherwise, I can't think of anything else that is new. It has been a pretty quiet month. Quiet is good but hopefully we'll have more to share next month. :)

A sledding we will go...

A sledding we will go...A sledding we will go...Oh for some winter fun...A sledding we will go!

We decided to make good use of the warm day that we had on Thursday and take E sledding at the park. My mom had the day off and so we left X with G'ma and headed out to the 'big' hill.

E LOVED sledding this year! Last year she liked it too, but she got too tired trying to climb the hill. This year she climbed up several times and went most of the way up every other time. She was a trooper. We rode down most of the time together racing Jut. Most of the time the girls won! :)

She finally decided to venture off on her own. We started her off half way up the hill. It was funny. The first time she basically laid down in the sled and veered off to the right and ended up quite far away from where we had been landing. The second time she did much better. She stayed sitting up and zoomed down the hill right on the same track we had been following. After building up her confidence, she decided to try starting at the top.

She hit the wall on the first attempt and almost gave up, but with some coaching and encouragement, she tried again and had a great time. However, she didn't ride by herself again. She liked tandum better than smacking the wall...and I can't say that I blame her for that!

After she decided that she was done sledding, we made a snowman at the base of the hill. Jut and E decorated it while I retrieved the car at the top of the hill. They did an excellent job! E named it "Aurthur" and declared we had to make "DW" when we got home. Although, we all ran out of steam and DW still hasn't been created at our house.

It was a wonderful day. The weather was perfect. The snow was great. We had the hill entirely to ourselves. It was the perfect morning!

Ugly Pie

We got Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler from the library a couple of weeks ago.  E had a hankerin' for some Ugly Pie after reading the book.  Ol' Bear only talked about Ugly Pie throughout the story.  Luckily, the author included the recipe for Ugly Pie at the end.  So, E declared that we had to make some Ugly Pie.  I put her off until Saturday when I knew that we'd have extra help to eat the pie.  So in the afternoon, Jut got sent to the store to buy the necessary ingredients and upon his return, we set off to make some Ugly Pie.








Our pie making was a whole family affair.  Jut got put to work peeling and slicing apples.  E oversaw all the work.  Plus, she did a great job adding and mixing the ingredients.  She even helped roll the pie crust into a nice circle.







Everyone had a great time...well, until the action slowed down, and the molasses was added to the pie mixture.  Then, E decided that the molasses was stinky and it was time for a bath before heading off to G'ma and G'pa's for the evening. 




What is in an Ugly Pie?  Well, it is mainly Granny Smith apples, dried cranberries, walnuts with some spices and sugar added in there.  Oh...and the molasses.  That's what E didn't appreciate.  She thought it was smelly and was done making the pie once it was added to the bowl.









X got into the action by doing the dishes while we worked...or maybe he just drenched the kitchen rug and himself playing in the water in the sink.  He had a great time watching us and getting all wet...so whatever he was doing was great.  He was #1 visible at all times and #2 content.  What more could a busy baking family ask for? 




So, my picture taking documentation took a nose dive.  I got this last picture of the pie before the crumble crust was sprinkled on top, and then I forgot to take any more pictures.  Well, I took a pic of the crumble top but it didn't turn out.  And, I forgot all about taking pics of the finished product.











Regardless of the lack of pictorial evidence, it turned out beautifully.  (However, this inside of my oven was a completely different story...that was one ugly oven to clean up!)  We all enjoyed it for dessert after our traditional pizza.  The funniest thing was that E, after wanting this pie all week, wouldn't even try a bite.  I think the molasses smell when we were mixing it together scared her off.  She didn't get a second chance to try it either because we left it for G'ma and G'pa.  Oh well...in the words of Strawberry Shortcake, "Getting there is all the fun!" and E did enjoy making the pie and I guess that was the most important. 

The Blizzard

The drift outside our back door was almost as tall as E

Another view of that drift

X sitting on the sidewalk...this wasn't even the deepest part

The kids 'helping' me shovel...X had lost his mitten again.  He was almost done with this adventure.

E digging for 'fairy wands' in the backyard

X wondering why I keep plopping him in snowbanks and taking pictures when he just wants to go inside.

The amount of snow that my angels of mercy shoveled to allow me to get the car out.

The front view after shoveling.

E sliding down her 'sledding hill'

Once Jut came home from Haiti, he declared that the kids needed as snow fort.  So, he set out to build them one.

E inside the fort.

X at 15 months

X turned 15 months old on Wednesday. We celebrated by watching the snow fall and blow. In the afternoon, we ventured out to do some shoveling. However, X only likes the snow for about 10 minutes. Once his mitten comes off the first time, it is a downward spiral of unhappiness. Luckily one of the neighbors took pity on him and took him inside for a bit while E played outside and I shoveled a bit more.

My little guy has 11 teeth now...I'm waiting for the last molar on the bottom to come in. Its right at the surface but hasn't popped yet. His eye teeth are close the surface too. Poor little guy gets a dose of tylenol every time he goes to sleep. His mouth has to hurt, but he's dealing with all those pesky teeth very well.

I'm amazed by his vocabulary. E didn't talk much until she was almost 2. X talks all the time. He says "Bye", "Momma", "Daddy", "Baby", "Kitty", "Please", "Potty", "More" (he signs that too), "Up", "Ball"

X is a climber. He crawled on to the couch for the first time yesterday. Climbing up on the stepstool to the kitchen sink is his favorite place to explore. He'd play in the sink all day, if I'd let him. But, things are getting moved higher because he's learning how to reach things even though his legs aren't very long.

X loves to be a romping, stomping dinosaur. He bends his knees and stomps all over the place. It is adorable. His favorite time to be a romping, stomping dinosaur is when he's naked. I think the kid is impervious to cold. He'll run around naked as long as I'll let him...he makes me cold just watching him.

He also enjoys dressing up in a tutu or as a fairy because he idolized E. E got dress-up clothes for Christmas and X has to do everything that E does...so if she's dressing up, so is he. It is really funny to watch him stomp around in a tutu.

Reading is one of his favorite activities. He grabs a book, walks close to you, turns around and backs up until he backs into your legs and then plops down into your lap. He loves The Big Red Barn and the Little People Day on the Farm book.

Building with blocks is his favorite 'alone' activity. He amazes me with the number of blocks that he can stack before his tower falls (He can probably do about 8 blocks on average). I'm glad that we got him more blocks for Christmas because he as so much fun playing with all of his blocks.

Feeding him is still a challenge. His allergies aren't getting better as far as I can determine. Eczema is a constant battle at our house. But, we keep plugging away trying to keep on top of it.

The New 'Do

It was time again for E to get her haircut. It has been time for awhile now. The mullet was getting out of control. I should have gotten it done prior to Christmas because she's pretty shaggy in all the pictures, but I wasn't on the ball. A couple weeks ago, she said to me, "Mom call the Z* Salon. I need my hair out of my eyes!" So, I called and got her an appointment.

We had a great time walking to the salon. The snow was gently falling and we caught snowflakes on our tongues, identified foot tracks and just had some mother/daughter time. She hopped right up in the chair and did a great job sitting mostly still while she was getting her haircut.

After Bev was finished cutting her hair, E got her first 'styling'. Bev blew her hair dry and then used the curling iron on it. E was in 7th heaven. She LOVED it. She loves all that girly stuff.  I, however, wondered where on earth my baby went! She looked so grown up with it styled.  Bev saved some of her hair to take home and show her dad. She got almost 3 inches cut off the back! I didn't know she had that much hair!

Once my hair was done, E and I finished our morning out at the bakery with a donut. We were even kind enough to bring one home for Jut. It was a very fun morning!