Picnic at the beach

We had a great time tonight with the Woodwards at the beach! We threw together a last minute picnic and Woody even used a clam shell to flip the burgers. The kids had a great time at the beach park and playing in the sand. We look forward to many more sunset dinners at the beach...

The girls

Martha Stewart's in the making. They found sticks and used them as toothpicks for the fruit:)

The mama's and the babies!

Clam shell to the rescue!

LIONS, TIGERS and DONUTS... OH MY.....

We have been blessed with amazing weather this winter in Seattle! We have spent most of our days outside. Today was another gorgeous day so we headed to the zoo. But our first stop was Mighty O Donut. Bon Appetit just ranked it top 10 in the nation for best donut so we had to see what made it so yummy. We were all very impressed (they are organic of course- we live in Seattle!) and after full bellies headed to the zoo. Here are a few pictures from the day...

Look at the big man walking at the zoo!

Sydney checking out the giraffe

The cute penguins!

The best way to get around the zoo- our tripe long wagon!

Mama and Sydney looking at the peacocks

Our own special bench at Mighty O!

Juice Time!

Ever since Sydney was 10 months old we started making juice and have done it everyday since (with a few days missed here and there). We pack the Vita Mix full of fruits and veggies. Dane LOVES his veggies at this stage of his life (Marcus and I think he is a vegetarian:). On the other hand Syd LOVES her meat and does not prefer anything that resembles a vegetable! I think Sydney is used to the way this juice tastes and drinks it up every morning. It takes a little extra time in the morning but it is well worth knowing they have had there veggies for the day! Today's drink included: Kale, Bok Choy, Carrots, Apple, Oranges and 3 scoops of Flax (Sydney loves to do this part too!).

Yep, the produce tastes fresh!

Loading it all up!

My favorite part mixing it up!

I approve, it tastes good Syd!

A BIG Day for Miss Syd!

Miss Sydney is growing up way too fast! She is a mile a minute chatterbox, miss I am in charge of everything and could run the house if we were not around. Wow how does this all happen in 2.5 years?

Today, Syd woke up and decided this was the day to be free of diapers. WOOHOO! When she woke up this morning it went a little like this:

Mommy: "Rise and Shine sweet pea"

Sydney: "Mommy, today I am going to wear underwear like you and daddy, okay?"

Mommy: "Sure! But remember if you don't wear a diaper you have to remember to go in the potty"

Sydney: "Okay, I can do it!"

And that was it diaper free all day long and no accidents. She has been using the potty since she was 1.5 but not all the time. For some reason she chose today to be the day. I know there are going to be accidents but we are headed in the right direction. So to celebrate tonight we had a little potty party once the jammies were on. (Picture to come. Forgot to put the memory card in the camera so need to figure out how to get it on the computer:))

So to keep up with the BIG theme of the day we converted her crib to a daybed. As you can see she is SO excited about her new bed. Oh and YES she does sleep with ALL of that in her bed. She is a pack rat but I will save that for another post:)

Quotes

There are so many things Sydney says that are so funny here are a couple...

One of there favorite electronic bunny's that sings and dances broke. I was messing with it trying to get it to turn on and obviously having a hard time. Sydney says: "Mommy, maybe we should call Neil and have him fix it". Neil is our handy man that does pretty much everything around here. Even Syd realizes neither mommy or daddy is very handy.

I was getting ready to go out for a girls night. Syd: "Mommy, where you going?" Mommy: "Out with some friends". Syd: "You look real CUTE mommy!"

FAVORITE song's of the month:

Black Eyed Peas: Imma Be (Syd and Dane's sing along.. Imma Bee Imma Bumble Bee)

Lady Gaga: Bad Romance (Syd and Dane's version RA RA RA RA RA) Who knew lady gaga would sing toddler talk!

And of course listening to toddler tunes and Christmas music. Yes, I typed that right. Syd is hooked on a Christmas CD in the middle of February...AWESOME! She always asks for "The 5 days of Christmas, Please!" I guess she forgot about the other 7 days...

Officially a WALKER!

Dane has been taking 7-8 steps for the past 2 months. But he realized to keep up with his big sis, crawling was the much faster method. Today we were at the library and he decided this was the day he was going to start walking. I looked up and there he went... As you can see in the picture he is SO proud of his new accomplishment! Mommy on the other hand is realizing her baby is no longer a baby but a toddler. They grow up way too fast!

Craft Time...

Today we worked on how we express our emotions. Today was HAPPY day:)
Look at my fancy feathers!

Jewelry Making 101: with pipe cleaners and cheerios of course. The most fabulous necklace and bracelet!

Tweezer Time: Used tweezers to put raisins, cotton balls etc.. into ice cube trays

Splish Splash!

Sydney and Dane LOVE the water! You can stick Sydney in front of the sink and give her some dishes to "wash" and this will occupy her for a long time (which is a nice break for the mama!). I'm sure our water bill has doubled but when there is peace and quiet a doubled water bill is not so bad...right? Now Dane loves to join in on the fun. Today they were having a ball and splashing until they were soaked. The reason for the naked picture:)

Sydney and Dane's ROCK band! They were laughing so hard at the noises they made (I think the entire neighborhood heard there beautiful drumming:)

Beautiful day at the beach...

It doesn't get much better than this! It is the middle of February and everything is in bloom, the sun is shining, so we headed to the beach for some play time with The Grove Family. The kids had a ball throwing rocks and splashing in the water. We had fish & chips outside and soaked up the sunny fresh air day!

Say Cheese!

I saw this idea in a magazine and thought it was a cute idea. So tonight Lola and Reece came over for dinner and a playdate so we celebrated dental awareness month and made apple smiles. The kids had a great time making there perfect smiles.

Balls, Balls and MORE Balls...

Did I say balls? Dane LOVES balls more than anything! Doesn't matter the kind soccer, football, basketball you name it. When he sees a ball or net he immediately starts pointing, jumping up and down and squealing. It is so funny to watch. He also has no fear. He loves climbing up the ladder of a steep slide and sliding down with no help (and laughs when he reaches the end)...at age ONE oh boy...

Sydney sliding down with her backpack strapped on and froggy in hand:)

Let the games begin...

The Olympics started this weekend so we made some torches in honor of the opening ceremonies. The kids had a ball marching around with there torches and watching the 2010 games!

Our day at the Children's Museum and Beach

Our new home away from home...

Yesterday was Sydney and Dane's first day at there new school (they go 3 times a week)! They were both super excited. Sydney had a hard time with us leaving but in no time she was adjusting and making new friends. They sleep on mats on the floor and we had been pumping Syd up that she would be doing this. When we picked her up they told us Sydney said: "No thank you, I don't need a mat I will just sleep on the floor". HA! So with froggy in hand and under her head she was out like a light. Dane had a fun day too and did not even realize we left and when we picked him up he was happy as a clam. I think this was a good move for us all...