Happy Earth Day, Earth!

Today was Earth Day in Winona and the kids got to pet a llama, a horse, a chicken and play any instrument they wanted... I'll bet you can guess which was Pete's favorite!

Happy 18 Months to Emelia!

Emelia is 18 months today!

Playing with her friends Hannah and Claire

She is nearly in the 50%ile for her weight and height-- she has come a LONG way from the baby that wasn't even on the growth chart for months and months. She has lots of teeth and her hair is finally long enough for pigtails or a little tiny ponytail.

She is eating with a spook and fork and is learning to use a regular cup. Her favorite things to eat are cheese, fruit (strawberries, blueberries, watermelon) and crackers. If we have desert after dinner she usually gets a little graham cracker with a smear of ice cream on the top! She does not like eggs.

When we are inside she loves to read books, play trains, drive trucks and play with the farm animals. She can stack blocks 5 or 6 high with a little help and can pick out some of the animals if you ask for a specific one. She also loves to chase the dog and the cat around. She loves her rocking horse and rides it from one end of the rockers to the other!! She and Pete love to wrestle and play together, but I need to be there "helping" otherwise she ends up crying... :)

When we are outside, she likes chalk, climbing up the stairs and the ladder to the slide, playing with balls in the yard and pushing things. She also spends hours in the sandbox. She loves to dig and fill up buckets and trucks and then dump them out! Playing with water is also a favorite activity. I bet that she is going to love the pool this summer!!.

She is starting to talk- sometimes  just long sentences of jibberish, but she makes some animals noises (lion, dog, owl, cow) and can say hi, mama, peter, dada, dog, cat, bye bye, please, up, night night, book, cup... I'm sure there is more! Emelia knows lots of body parts on herself and on others- she can show eyes, nose, teeth, tongue, tummy (which she loves to show us and then pat over and over)... She is also a great helper- she can put things away and knows to go upstairs for bed and diaper changes and will run up there on her own.

She is an absolute joy and we always say that she is the nicest baby ever- when I read this list though, I'm realizing she isn't such a baby anymore!

A fun morning at the park

I had a couple of days off of teaching online so my mom came to Winona to play with us and keep me company. Once it warmed up in the morning, we headed off to the big Lake Park- Pete rode his bike all of the way there from our house. 

 We swang and climbed and slid until we couldn't anymore!!

 I have a really sweet picture of Emelia in the flowering trees from last year adn thought I'd try again this year. I had forgotten that Pete had wiggled his way in last year as well, but this year he told me that he wanted to "be a bird too" and to stick him up in the tree.

 He also spent some time chasing after some ducks!

And then we played up on the bandshell for a while as well. One of our Favorites!!

 Biking home for some lunch!!

Happy Spring

 Spring is officially here! It has been warm some days, rainy some others and HOT some other days. There were a streak of days in March that were all over 80*! We have been living outside, playing in the sandbox, riding bikes and just having fun. Jack came to visit us overnight. We had the best time.

 I had heard that the chapel at SMU had been redone so I wanted to pop in quick on my own to take a look- nope instead the whole crew came in and the boys even picked out a seat!!

 Here it is-- looks nice!!

 Emi enjoying my tulips.

 Searching our the easter eggs at Grandma Linka's house! Pete just loved it all, but Emi was content to pick up one at a time and follow Peter around the yard.

Date Day with Granpa Dan

 A few weeks ago, my mom was scheduled to work a double shift, Garrick had plans to go out for a long ride with his buddies, so what else would my dad and I have come up with? A day in LaCrosse to hang out, ride bikes and have lunch!!

 We took little Pete on a long bike ride through the wildlife refuge- we saw TONS of turtles out sunning (that's what they are looking at), birds, a few frogs and 2 snakes. This brings Pete's snake total up to four. He can tell you where they all were at... One at Farmer's Park... one at grandma and grapa Dan's house and 2 on the trail.

 And played and played and played at the big playground.

 Pete's favorite was the zipline. He could hang on all of the way across on his own!! What a little monkey.

We had such a fun day!! Next time we go, we'll go when the nature center is open to see the bees and the bullfrog.

St. Patty's Day

This was probably the warmest EVER in the history of Minnesota. I was signed up to run the Get Lucky Half Marathon. The few weeks before, I had strep and was super sick, but since i was signed up, we drove up, I did the race and SUPER dad and the kiddos watched and cheered. It ended up being a fun day- especially since we got to go to the zoo and Chipotle afterwards!

ROAR!!

Lots of stairs

For a little set of legs.

A few weeks ago we went to Latsch State park and sent Pete hiking up the stairs. He made it the whole way up to the top with a little help here and there on the biggest steps. He is a good hiker!

I would say that Pete's favorite part was either watching the train from up  on top, OR having a snack. I'm pretty sure that Emi's was the snack!!! It does make me smile though, becuase I remember doing this same hike with Peter a few years ago...