A Day at the Farm...

We headed to Purina Farms with a friend from daycare.  It is yet another one of the many free things to do in STL. This is about 35 miles west of us, but it's a cozy little farm where you are within arms reach of animals or watching the dog show (we didn't get to see that, so we'll be back!).

This little guy was literally TWO HOURS OLD!  He was yappin' his head off, too...his mommy was off eating and I bet the little guy was HUNGRY!

All she needs is a cowgirl hat and some boots!  :)

They had these pigs in a little pen where all the kids could lean over and pet them.

Just in case we were wondering how tall the "Little Giant" is!  :)

Got to pet a bunny that was out with all the people.  SO soft!

She got all excited that it jumped up and started to run away from her!

Kisses for everyone, always!  Even wooden chickens!

She LOVED this for the 10 seconds we were on it!  She's going to be such a little thrill-seeker...

Both of us having fun!

Hugs for our buddy that we came with...

Working hard at coloring, after a nap from a fun day at the farm.

And, later...just moments later, look at the mess that was created in all of 3 seconds....

Speaking of messes...here's a picture from a few months back of what I found in my office...CD Mania.  Isn't amazing how QUICKLY messes can be made by these kiddos and how LONG it takes to clean it up?  They certainly MUST know that while we are cleaning up the one mess, they can find ways to make 3 other messes!  Right?

Can't remember if I included this older picture a while back, but I came across it...I like to think of it as "Overwhelmed By Elmo."  
(I look much more crazed after listening to just ONE Elmo, don't you?)

This was a little while back, but this is "Fun at the Dollar Store!"

OK, back to "now"....

This was the other day, trying to get her ready for school...she got the "shoes" command a little off.  ;)

...and her new backpack.  (I know it's the size of her, but I couldn't find one that was smaller...)

This is the all-too-common, post-nap meltdown, which seems to happen after just about every 2+ hour nap these days, for the first 30 minutes after she wakes up.  :(
This is how I feel many days because I HAVEN'T had a nap!

The Scowl...

My two boys.  Any guesses on who's who?  :)  They usually stump most people and they aren't even brothers!

March Fun-ness

Updates from March!

My dear, wonderful friend, Heidi (2 over from me)...surprise breakfast for her birthday!  Not only are we both "Marchies," (yup, just made that up for us March bday-ers), but we both pulled out hair halfway back and look (!), we both tied our scarves the same way! :)  Heidi wouldn't be caught dead in pink, though, so that's where the similarities end.

We headed back to the Magic House for another visit before this year's membership runs out.  

Even though I had to take the pic through a glass window, this kiddo loves to pretend to drive (wonder if she'll enjoy driving fast like her momma?) and I think I just liked this pic because I had her hair pulled back out of her face, and she looks like a big kid to me.  :/ 

"Here, Mommy.  Want some ice cream?"  She was sharing with other kids and parents that walked by the stand. :)  LOVE sharing-ness!

They have a pretty great pretend grocery store there...I have a short video that I need to get uploaded, right before my camera died.

Christmas, Part 2
Tried to get an aerial view of what it looked like after EJ dove into unwrapping a package o' stuff we were sent.  Mayhem!  

Those big, sweet eyes don't fool me!  Nor do those same eyes help clean up the mess!

Fun with a friend!  "Girl talk" already going on in her bed!  Uh oh....

Mommy's Bday
We had a relatively quiet day...went to the park and then went over to some friends' house for dinner....

Isn't she cool?

So, this isn't the actual book she was reading from when the following happened, but it reminded me.  The day before, we were driving and she had a book with LOWERCASE letters (she's pretty much got the uppercase letters all down, and I'm slowly working on adding in "little a's, little b's, etc.").  I asked her what animal was in the book and she turned the book so I could see it.  On a whim, I said, "Oh, that's a fox.  Can you spell it?"  So, she pointed out the letters as I watched in the mirror: F - O - X.  I said, "Yes!  That spells fox! Let's do another one."  The next one was cat, but a lowercase "A" is different than the uppercase.  She echoed me, though, and we spelled cat together.  The next day (my bday and day of this picture), she gets in the car, opens up the book, points to each letter and says, "F-O-X, spells FOX.  C-A-T spells cat.  H-I-P-P-O spells hippo!"  I was ecstatic!  How delightfully F-U-N!  She tried MONKEY, too, but the lowercase N tripped her up. :)  It was amazing to hear though, and she's really trying to spell all kinds of words all of the sudden.

Back to our sunny, 75-degree, Mommy's birthday day.
Since it wouldn't be cool for me to be in pink overalls and pigtails, I thought I'd dress up my daughter like it!  What 2 year old doesn't look cute like this!?

At one of newer favorite parks (it's completely fenced in!), there is a circle of landscaping stones in the middle.  I took the opportunity to practice our numbers with the chalk I brought...she held my hand as we went around the circle and did numbers up to 20...with the left over blocks, I wrote out I LOVE YOU...both for her, and because what momma doesn't need to be told that on her birthday?  :) 

Done with thinkin'...back to playin'....

Later that day...

Fun swingin' on a tree with our friends! 

Love this face, of course.  :)

There is so much going on in this picture...I feel like it could be a Hallmark card or somethin'!

Flowers from friends...notice anything extra in the top left corner of this picture?
I have such a girlie cat! 

Fun flower arrangement, huh?

Just this morning....

Two pals...just hangin' out.  To those who are cat owners, it may look like my cat, Symba, was trying to play or swat at something....
No, he was sleeping...and to prove it....

See?  Eyes closed.  Knocked out.
(Cats lead SUCH tough lives, don't they?)

I'm so not a "foot person," but I love my kiddos feet, and that there is always something going on with them...you can see her thinking sometimes if you watch her feet!  :)

OK, not 100% 'crisp,' but not too bad with a point-and-shoot, and not too bad with an always-squirmy kid!

Thanks to all who reached out and sent some love my way for my birthday!  It was nice, and I appreciate the thoughts, flowers, gifts, hug and encouragements!