DTSF

John had the day off and we had planned to have a fun afternoon exploring downtown Sioux Falls. Erin had other plans. She threw a huge fit and refused to hold hands or ride in the stroller so John hauled her off and Bryn and I enjoyed the day with our friends.
The new toy store, Child's Play, is really neat. Lots of unique toys and a fantastic sunken area with comfy chairs to sit and read.


We also visited the grand opening of Oh My Cupcakes....they got the store name right on that one! Bryn got some chocolatey sinful deliciousness with chocolate cake, chocolate icing, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate syrup inside it. The girl loves her chocolate! Thank goodness we shared the cupcake because that was way too much sweetness for one person!


Erin McStinker Pants came to pick us up with a much better attitude so she got a little springy cupcake too.

First zoo trip of 2010!

We had a picnic at the park, signed up for our zoo pass, and made our first zoo trip of the summer! Hopefully the first of many IF next time I remember to bring a harness/stroller/some sort of restraint for Erin. Unbeknown to me, spring break started for Sioux Falls Public this lovely, spring day. Read: the entire town went to the zoo. I had to fight an anxiety attack the entire time with Erin darting out of my site - but the kids seemed to have a good time.

English Muffin Pizza's

Bryn asked if we could bake today. We definitely don't need any sweets around here so we made english muffin pizza's instead.




After much attention to detail to get everything on just right (and eating as many toppings as they put on), they're ready to be cooked!


All done and ready to eat! They were actually really yummy; I was kind of surprised!

Conquering fears!

For the first time ever...Erin didn't freak out, start crying, refuse to climb down, and have to be drug out of a play land with tubes and tube slides!
Once she realized the giant purple slide at the McDonald's Play Place wasn't a black hole of death she had a blast!


Bryn, being much older and wiser, already knew what a good time those germ infested, sauna tubes were!

Bumper Bowling

John and I took the girls bowling today. Erin sent the ball crashing into the floor what felt like a couple hundred times and Bryn threw the ball half way down the lane most the time (and worked on her near to far focus transition lots without realizing it). Thank goodness for the ball walker looking things; they saved our sanity.







When they bowled on their own it took for.ev.er to get to the pins. Sometimes it would even stop and we'd have to run down and push it in!

Egg Carton Caterpillars

The sunshine pouring in the windows is deceiving; it's a chilly 34* today. We've spent the morning having a Kitchen Dance Party (one of our favorite winter activities. You're welcome for refraining from photographing that one!) and making caterpillars out of an empty egg carton.

Back to being stuck inside

Back to temps in the 20's and dreary so we painted Easter sun catchers today (I'm afraid there's some wishful thinking on there being some sun to go through them though).

Check out the lashes on these kids as they paint!
Bryn's are super thick and so long they bump into her glasses; lucky girl.


Erin's are just like brooms. I think hers are even longer than Bryn's.

Spring? Is that you??

Ahh it feels good to be able to be out and active without freezing our tails off!

Bryn had school this morning so Erin and I had some one on one time (with NO tantrums, wahoo!).
First we went to the pet store where Erin was most interested in the rats. So not my kid! She sat and talked to them and tried to convince them to eat their food and run in their wheel. She finally moved on when all they wanted to do was reach up and sniff the little gap at the top of the cage.


Here she's asking "why dat fish licking his cage?". It was a tank of the sucker fish and she just didn't understand that at all.


Then we stopped by the Caille branch library for story time with Miss Karen. She definitely puts on the most enjoyable story time we've ever been to!


Then...the best part of the day...a picnic!! At the park!! It felt so so good to be outside!

Sertoma Park has some new equipment that is tons of fun.
For the bigger kids there are these seats on a post - but your weight makes them spin. The spin almost too easily and the kids kept getting so dizzy they'd just fall off.


They got these ride on things too that are very similar to the ones from when I was little that were shaped like animals. Much safer though, you can't pull them all the way to the ground and nearly shoot yourself off the front ;)


The girls went down way too late for a nap but it was totally worth it! I hear we're back to the 30's tomorrow. Grr!!

Those sneaky leprechauns!

Bryn ran first thing to see if we captured any leprechauns. Sneaky little buggers got away; but they left stickers with leprechauns on them and gold coins all over our house!


They must have run a muck all over our house! The milk was green and the girls found a shamrock drawn on their cheek...


They painted a fingernail green (and obviously didn't think about which one they were painting - oops!)


The pancakes and eggs were turned green...


and things all over our house were turned green, turned around, upside down, and put in silly places.



Bryn is already planning her trap for next year :)

How to catch a leprechaun!

We're VERY excited for St. Patricks Day around here. We've been reading the book "That's What Leprechauns Do" and learning all about the mischief leprechauns get into. We also learned that if you catch a leprechaun they have to tell you where their pot of gold is! So today, we decided to build a leprechaun trap. Bryn came up with the idea to build a trap with her drum. She used her blocks to make stairs, and then set up a "house" inside so "they want to go in and check it out" and then they'll be trapped in there!


It took several builds to get the steps juuuuust right!




Putting together block furniture for the perfect leprechaun house.


So excited about their handy work!


They've been pretending to catch leprechauns nearly an hour now :)