An Update on Life

These are a quick picture parade of what we've been doing the past few months...We've gone to the Renaissance Faire in Bristol...Lizzie finally got brave enought to get her face painted, but she screamed while the lady painted a butterfly on her cheek.

We had a lot of fun going apple picking in October at Royal Oak Farm Orchard. Lizzie and Nikki had a great time picking apples since the trees are short enough that they can both get at the apples. Lizzie followed the "twist and pull" rule very well. We also got our pumpkins as well there. We even bought apple cider donuts, apple cider sippers, and apple pie.

Lizzie celebrated her 3rd birthday with a request for a snowman cake. Auntie Pam and Daddy made it while I worked bingo. It turned out really cute until Lizzie put her fingers in it and squashed part of it, so some emergency repairs were made. Her birthday balloons spent most of their time attached to her staticy hair.

Christmas was busy as usual....lots of baking cookies and cheesecakes. Lizzie and Nikki both got Advent calendars that Pam and I made for them. They are filled with ornaments for a teeny tree.

Nikki's second quarter report card was straight A's...and she got first honors. We got it late due to the one day we had off because of super cold weather.

Feeding the Ducks in Long Grove

This is how you feed the ducks.... Not this way.....running after them screaming "DUCKIES!!! DUCKIES!!! FOOD!"
Sharing a quiet moment at the duck pond.

We went to Long Grove last week and Nikki wanted to feed the ducks. She complained that we forgot the bread, but the restraunt that the duck pond is near put in a coin-operated feed dispenser, so they were all happy to put quarters in the machine and get duck food. Nikki just threw the food around and Lizzie wanted to chase them around screaming at them. We also stopped and got some yummy treats at the Confectionery. Then we walked around some more and then went back to the duck pond to feed the ducks some more.....they had a good time.

A Day at the Beach

Mmmmm.....this is good ice cream. Lizzie enjoys her Dora ice cream bar at the beach. Ice cream break!
Nikki swimming in the lake
It was a nice day at the start of June, so we went to the beach. Lizzie didn't want too much with the water, but Nikki dove right in and enjoyed herself. WE played in the sand, building castles and knocking them over. We even stopped at the ice cream truck for a few yummy treats. Lizzie got most of her ice cream all over her. After a couple hours we went home slightly-and in Nikki's case really--sunburned and tired. It was a fun afternoon.

Silly Picaso

Lizzie and Nikki were playing in the little splash pool in May and Picaso decided to join in on the fun....it took a while for him to get his feet wet, but after a few tentative splashes, he jumped in with gusto and was wet all over. He really enjoyed drying off in the sun.

First soccer game of the spring season

Nikki's soccer season was supposed to start with a game on the 12th, but that was cancelled because of the weather. So for her first game of the season her team won today 7-2! Nikki scored a goal and was all happy about it. Lizzie wasn't so thrilled and kept on asking to go home. She did play soccer with her Dora soccer ball on the sidelines for a while, but that got old and she wasn't a happy camper.

Random Musings

It's been a busy few days. We've been outside more and Nikki has been bugging to ride her bike, so we filled up her tires and off she went. Lizzie had to join in on the fun too and was asking for "Lizzie bike! Lizzie bike!" She is learning to ride--more of me pushing her on the bike and her trying to pedal...she can pedal....kinda. Maybe 1 or 2 pushes and she's done.

Lizzie has become a total ham...when she has a microphone to play with she walks around to everyone holding it up to them and we have to say our names and then she follows us and says "I'm Lizzie!" Too funny.

The robins have again built a nest in our pine tree and every morning Lizzie has to go say "hi mama bird" and follow that up with "mama bird sit eggs" in a whisper since I told her if we were too loud we would scare the momma bird away.

We did have an earthquake here in IL yesterday morning....4:36 am thereabouts...at least that's what the clock said when the closet doors were rattling. So we felt it here at our house.

An early spring adventure to the zoo

Since the weather was so nice, we went to the zoo on a Saturday. It was packed, but that didn't deter us from having an adventure! We rode the carousel (Elizabeth didn't want to ride an animal...she only wanted to sit in the chairs) and even had lunch there. All the animals seemed to be enjoying the return of spring. We paid a special visit to the baby camels. Elizabeth was excited about the babies--she kept on pointing at them going "baby camel!" We had a fun day!


Don't I look so cute sitting pretty? Miss Nicole actually having a not-silly look on her face.
Here's the baby camel.....he was born at the end of February.
Elizabeth painting her face.

Happy Easter!

This is what we do for Easter when there's a foot of snow! We make snow bunnies! Happy (snowy) Easter.

Aww......doesn't HRH look downright gorgeous? She's waiting for the Easter bunny to fill her basket!

Caught by the papparazzi

NEWS FLASH....The elusive Elizabeth T. was spotted sitting on the arm of the parlor sofa sporting her new Ariel sunglasses. She was cooperative for 30 seconds of picture taking and then was whisked off to a private undisclosed location for a much-needed diaper change.....sources indicate that the diaper was in fact a poopy diaper. Elizabeth denies the alleged poopy diaper. (her sweatshirt says "Am I cute or what?")

A trip to the zoo on a chilly day

Nikki had a day off of school, so she decided that we would go to the zoo...we haven't been there in a while, so we packed up a lunch and off we went!

We rode on the carousel (as usual--it is open only if the weather is nice now) and wandered down to see the animals. We saw all the lions and tigers and then had lunch. On our way to the play zoo, we stopped to see Hudson...see him over there? Sleeping so peacefully. I really like this picture of him.

There is a cool picture of the giraffe too, but I can't get it to upload....another time then. He was standing right at the edge of his pen eating the bushes on the other side of the fence. That was so cool to see him up close, of course 2 seconds after I whip out the camera to take the picture, he walks away. SIGH.

We had a great time, even though the weather was a bit chilly and we were all wearing our coats. Pretty soon we'll be wearing our heavy winter coats to the zoo and wishing for warm weather!