Hello Spring!

I think I can officially say that spring has arrived.  The snow is melted, the bulbs are sprouting and the weather is WARM!

Gone are the days of trying to fill every indoor moment with exciting activities.

(painting and reading books, we still love you... we'll just need you once or twice a day instead of all day)

And here are the days of spending the whole day outside.

After toddler yoga, MiniM.E. couldn't pass up the chance to play outside.

even a bike rack makes a good jungle gym

"smiling" for the camera

 We went to Congress Park to see the ducks.  The ducks are getting to be old news though, and MiniM.E. is finding other things at the park to entertain herself (not the carousel yet though... not until MAY!!)

waving at her shadow

contemplating how to catch one

just walking

eating the duck food (Cheerios)

tresspassing

 MiniM.E. is always asking to "go in outside" when we're home too, so we've been spending lots of time in the yard.

"Dolly wear mittens! Dolly swing too!"

"Monkey swing too!"

aren't they cute?

"sweeping" the yard

"mowing" the lawn

Then over the weekend there was a Daddy-daughter playground visit.

is this "smiling" for the camera?  and is that Daddy's shadow taking the picture?

 Then we all went to a "different playground", Kelley Park in Ballston Spa, which is awesome.

more "smiling"

 Sunday (the coldest of days in our warm streak) we decided to have a BBQ.  It was a little too cold for my liking... but it was fun to try.

so that's where she got it...

discovering a love for dipping

and a love for "saa-saa"

 And yesterday we went to still another playground, Gavin Park in Wilton, where MiniM.E. would have stayed all day if I hadn't convinced her to come to the car where there were cheddar bunnies waiting for her.

LOVING the weather.  Unfortunately it appears there's going to be a bit of a cold rainy spell coming up... and MiniM.E. doesn't understand that cold and rainy is NOT fun playground weather... wish me luck!!

Happy Easter!

We spent the long Easter weekend in NH visiting my parents.

MiniM.E. loved being at my parents house.  She thrives on the extra attention and loves the playing with things she hasn't been around in a while.  There's a mini wagon, a rocking horse, a bird feeder with lots of birds to watch, my parents' cat Honey Bunches (the tail is a favorite) and of course, tubes of wrapping paper.

she picked all these up on her own.

The best part of my parents house is the backyard.  And the fact that there are THREE people (four when Bob got there on Sunday) to take her outside to play- which roughly equaled four times the outside time.

MiniM.E. Mommy even got brave and went let her go down the big slide in the backyard all by herself!

Too fun!  Swinging with Grumpy was a close second.

And "jumping off" the deck was definitely up there on the list.

If the swingset in the backyard didn't offer MiniM.E. enough outside time, we also visited a playground to play with MiniM.E.'s "boyfriend" H.

It was so much fun, we went back again on Easter.

Bob had been visiting his parents in NC for his dad's birthday (Happy Birthday Grandpa!) and arrived late Saturday night.

MiniM.E. got a tea set (which she thinks makes coffee) for Easter and it was love at first sight.

And when it came time to hunt eggs, MiniM.E. was a pro!

Happy Easter!

First Kiss

We made it to NH Monday evening and it was nice to be in a germ-free house and just relax.  We were visiting my mom and my sister (my dad was on a business trip) and also my friend from high school, C. and her son, H.  We hadn't seen them since Christmas, and even then we only saw them for a few minutes, so we were all really looking forward to spending some time together.

Our week started out with sledding on Tuesday.  Except that it was warm out and the snow was really heavy so it was less sledding and more sticking, which MiniM.E. was NOT a fan of.  It might not have helped that she didn't have a nap.  No problem though because we chose to sled at a school playground, so there were other things for the kids to do.  Like swing.

Then we went home for a snack.

Things didn't seem to be going so well for the kids,

but they soon got over the sharing issue and made up with some hugs.

And then THIS happened!!!

first kiss!

Which is totally cute now, but will not be cute when they're twelve.

We might have encouraged it a little... because how cute is this?

oops! missed a little!

After H. went home MiniM.E. had a blast in the bath with some new bath toys.

tee-hee! baby bum!

love this smile...

and this face...