The Month of April

I've been trying to take more pictures, since I haven't been too into it lately.  Then I took pictures and my computer kept freaking out (as in blue screen of death) every time I tried to upload them and write a blog post.  So, now that my computer has decided to cooperate, you get an onslaught of the month of April!

P is getting a little more mischievous.  She really isn't one to get into too much trouble.  I think she's only emptied the toilet paper roll once.  But, all good things must come to an end.  I went to the basement to dig through some boxes and while I was gone she found my makeup and started applying it--to her feet, face and hands.  It could have been worse, but I can't get the mascara or concealer out of her clothes.  Bummer.

 There is actually more mascara on the cheek you can't really see.

 P is also into my lip glosses and chapstick.  If I leave them in her reach she is guaranteed to put them on, try to eat them and then declare that she is "pitty" (pretty).

 When I jumped in the shower one morning I came out to find P had buried herself in the pillows from our bed.  She really likes to do this:

 Another morning I turned around and heard P saying "poop, yuck, stinky."  She had grabbed the baby wipes and the desitin and was preparing to change her baby's diaper.

 So, I got her an old, smaller diaper we had lying around and she got to pretend:

 P is starting to climb things.  She's never been much a climber, she's always been cautious.  That is not the case when Dad's ladder is involved.  When Dave had to change a lightbulb she climbed right up with him.  So, we let her climb a little more on her own for practice.

I think these are Grandma and Grandpa hugs before we went home Easter weekend:

 And, a rare family shot.  We went to a zoo in St. Paul with my friend Lizz and her family.  Lizz and I know each other from undergrad, her husband works in Rochester, about 90 min away.

Dress Up

I have visions of P having a big dress up box full of lots of costumes to pretend in.  She's still a little young, and not totally interested, so we're starting slowly.  She mostly has a collection of headpieces that I find in dollar bins at Target or Joann Fabrics.  The funniest is when she dresses herself.  I'm still trying to get pictures of everything.  She's got a cute frog hat and flower hat that I don't have pictures of.

Notice the two crowns--the silver one is sideways.

Sometimes crowns double as poker visors:

Today I made her a tutu (bought a kit), which she loves because it has "iel" on it...that would be Ariel.

When I first put it on her she wanted to do nothing but stand in front of the mirror and dance.

Easter 2013

For Easter we made a quick weekend trip down to Lincoln.  It was fun to have a big family dinner and let her play with the cousins.  She's getting much more used to the crowds at my parents' house, and even likes to play with the cousins.  I even caught her hugging them of her own volition.

 Penelope is perfecting her "cheese" smile, which is even cuter with her new Easter dress:

Since it was a warm 60-70 degrees in Lincoln with no snow (aka nothing like in Wisconsin), we set out some eggs in my parents' backyard for P to find.  She tried to open almost every egg right after she picked them up.

I'm pretty sure she said "bird" here, because she just picked up an Angry Birds egg.

"Ooooh, an egg, right in the middle of the grass, easy to find.  Thanks, Dad!" 

Whenever P says egg, if I'm not paying attention it takes me a minute to figure out what she's saying.  That's because for almost every word that starts with a vowel she adds either a "y" or an "l" sound in front of the word, making egg sound like either "yegg" or "l'egg".  (She doesn't say leg, more like a French "le egg")

A Trip to Lincoln (in February): Part 2

Our time in Lincoln was short, as always.  We spent time playing with the cousins, holed up at and Grandmas during a snow storm and got to have lunch with the ladies (Fortune Palace!) and play with my friends (Maggie!).

This is apparently one of the only pictures I took with the cousins.  Grant liked P's animal sounds book.

 Grandpa bought doughnuts for breakfast one morning.  They were yummy.

 Mostly P had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandpa and P played games every night at dinner.  It went something like this:  P would look at Grandpa and smirk.  Grandpa would scream loudly at P when she least expected it to scare her.  She would usually look like she was about to cry, but then laugh.  She loved that game.  

 Penelope also liked to cuddle with Grandma.  P willingly went to Grandma for big hugs when we first got there.  They were fast friends the whole time we were there.  Here's to the next visit!

A Trip to Lincoln (in February): Part 1

Right after my birthday Penelope and I ditched Dave for about 10 days to drive down to Lincoln and see my parents.  Here is what we did in pictures.  In reality, I'm missing pictures for most of what we did, though.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Des Moines on the way to Lincoln, where P discovered a love for the peg game.  The toddler version includes taking the tees out and putting them back in again.

 We went shoe shopping at Gateway mall with grandma--where P went for a ride with a mouse and got to play at the mall playground.

 P visited the Lincoln Children's Museum, where she happily soaked herself in water,

 crawled through the tunnels (with Shelby right behind),

 posed for a pic on the big chair,

 played some Husker volleyball,

 cheered for the Huskers,

 gave Lil' Red a high five,

 drove a fire truck, honked the horns, and blared the sirens,

and rode a motorcycle with Mom.

We went to the museum with Marisa and Grant as well, but don't have any pictures of them.  Too bad.  We also went to Doozy's for lunch afterwards.  I forgot how good that place is!

The Giggle Factory

Yesterday we tried out an indoor playground in town called the Giggle Factory.  It was fun for P to get out of the house and climb around.  Unfortunately, I had to crawl around everywhere with her.  A few concerned kids turned to me and asked, "Are mommies allowed to play here, too?"  Yes, yes, they are.  Especially when your little girl still needs some help climbing up and over things because she's too timid.  All of what you see here is elevated with varying sections with different things to climb on and around.  The only things I don't really have a picture of are the three giant bumpy slides.  P really liked those...as long as I went down with her.  Although, I'm sure she would have gone by herself.  The main problem was I wasn't at the bottom to catch her.  She needed a little help climbing up to the top.

Climbing through the tunnel:

 Navigating the obstacles:

 Yay! Giant balls!:

 Climbing the ladder to the top:

 Weaving in and out of the ropes before she heads up the ladder again:

I get the feeling we'll be visiting the Giggle Factory a few more times before winter is over.

The First Snow of 2013

I can't seem to do a post without a lot of pictures.  Oh well, P is cute, so I think it's worth it!

We had the first snow storm today in Wisconsin since our move.  We thought it was the perfect time to test out P's snow suit, boots, and gloves.  Here she is sitting on the stairs just waiting for her coat and hat:

 She was quick to figure out how to walk in her clunky boots and in the snow.

 She didn't want to stick around for a group shot, the snow was too tempting.

 While P and I played in the snow dad got to work shoveling snow.  P deemed his work sufficient and up to a high standard.

 See, she's checking that he stays on task and doesn't slack.  She's such a slave driver!

 "I like snow, Mom!"

 "I like snow so much that I feel comfortable sitting in it and spreading it around."

When P had had enough (read: wouldn't keep her gloves on anymore), she surveyed Dave's work from inside the house.  It was a fun time for us as a family outside.  The nice thing about when it snows is that it's actually warm enough to go outside, unlike the last few weeks of negative teen (and more) windchills!