Dora's Castle Cake

Here is our second recipe out of the Dora and Diego cookbook. The girls decided to make a brown castle since we all like chocolate frosting better. The girls had fun putting the sprinkles on the towers, putting on the doors and windows, and placing the jelly bean trim.

Cousins!

Here are some fun group pics of the cousins!

The first is at Dee's home and the rest are from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Funtastic Fun in Denver!

After Iowa we drove to Denver, CO, to visit our Nonnie and my sister, Dee, and her family. One day Nonnie took us to Fantastic Fun! It's an indoor amusement park with a flat fee, so you can ride any of the rides as many times as you want! We all had a really fun time. We rode the hot air balloon ferris wheel, the whip (the girl's favorite ride), the tea cups (Nonnie almost got sick from spinning!), the train, they jumped in the bouncy house and the ball pit, they climbed on a giant teddy bear, and slid down a slide. We took a lunch break at Sonic in the middle of the day, then returned for some more fun! Reagan was able to ride everything and I think her favorite ride was the whip too! She also loved the ball pit and didn't want to get out

Reagan did not like the giant bear...obviously.

Iowa Friends!

To start our Spring Break, we drove to Iowa to visit our dear friends! They live in a super small town called State Center, which is...wait for it...smack dab in the middle of the state! The girls had fun playing with their friends and I had fun hanging out with my girlfriend! It was SUPER windy while we were there, so we stayed cozy inside.

We also did this fun craft project while we were together. It's made from a wreath form and coffee filters!

Diego's Meatball Mountain Range

We found a Dora and Diego cookbook at the library and the girls have been excited to make lots of the recipes. Our first recipe was Diego's Meatball Mountain Range. Kathryn helped me make the meatballs, then we made spaghetti and assembled it all to look like a mountain. Then the girls both helped me place the broccoli around to be the trees!

Even Reagan enjoyed it! Or she just liked the feeling of rubbing it on her entire face!

DaddyMac'll Make Ya Jump Jump!

The girls were invited to the mall by their friend to celebrate her birthday.

They had a fairy photo shoot, jumped on the trampoline, and ate ice cream. Happy Birthday Maura!

My fashionable baby!

Well, if you can get over seeing the food in her mouth, this is a really cute picture.

And the rest are just precious!

ZOO!

Kathryn had school off on Friday, and it was a warm-ish day, so we headed to the zoo! We saw lots of active animals! The hippos were swimming and blowing water out of their noses. We saw tigers play-fighting, and we actually saw fur fly. Reagan hated the train ride and whined most of the time. We saw lots of our friends there. Guess we all had the same good idea!

My Birthday!

My birthday was on February 9th. I received lovely flowers from my mom, bought myself a new laptop, went out to eat with my girlfriends, and received a couple of other sweet gifts.

One of my girlfriends who recently moved had 4 gorgeous cupcakes delivered to my house...or at least she tried to! I just happened to visit the same bakery to buy myself some cupcakes and the girl that was ringing up my order said, "Ummm...you might not want to buy all of these because I have a delivery here for you!. I've already tried to take it to your house twice but you weren't home!" So, in the end, they weren't delivered, but it was sure a special, and sweet, surprise!

Mike also brought balloons home to me (they're my favorite!) with some of my favorite candy!

RSV....Dun, Dun, Dun....

Reagan was having a hard time sleeping and eating because she was so congested so I took her in to see the pediatrician. When they listened to her breathing, they heard wheezing (and proclaimed that it might be RSV), so they immediately put her on breathing treatments and took an x-ray of her chest. So, basically, she and I wrestled for the entire appointment. It took two of us to hold her down for the x-ray. The breathing treatments take about 8 minutes, and she really hates them, so it takes a lot of coordination, strength, baby wrangling, and patience to make it through. The chest x-ray was clear of pneumonia, so we were sent home with a portable nebulizer and had to continue giving her those, and give her an antibiotic.

The machine is not on in the picture below and that is the only reason I can imagine that she is sitting so still!

PS. She is fine now, breathing wise, but is still on an antibiotic for an ear infection.

SNOW MUCH FUN!

This is the snowman that the girls built all by themselves!

This was a fun Sunday activity for our family. The snow was perfect for building. It was my first time to roll a big snowball! Here is Reagan perched on top of our snowgirl body.

Here is our finished snowgirl.

Snow Days 4 & 5!

Well, the storm of the decade turned out to not be all that awful, but it has kept us home for two days so far! We got 1/2 of ice, and then about a foot of snow. Mike stayed home with us the first day, but he's already gone in to work today. We have done lots of fun things while we've been trapped here in our home. We have: made peppermint chocolate suckers, made melted crayon shavings art, organized our games/puzzles, made ice sun catchers, eaten chili in a bread bowl and chicken and dumplings (awesome cold weather foods), and read lots of books!

I've been feeding Reagan bananas covered in rice crispies in the morning and by the time she's finished, she is covered in rice crispies and it's really cute! We say she has a rice crispy beard or mustache, depending on where they stick.

The girls biggest complaint about playing in the snow is getting snow in their sleeves, so I got smart and duct taped their gloves to their coat sleeves. It worked wonderfully! They had fun tromping around in the snow while Mike shoveled the driveway.

Sydney's first day of her last session of preschool!

Sydney is now the BGOC! Kind of. This is her last session of preschool before she starts Kindergarten in the fall! We register her for school on March 3rd!

These additional pics are to show the interesting faces I get from these two when I'm trying to take their picture sometimes!

January Randomness

Kathryn loses her second tooth!

Snow days 2 & 3! We went over to our friends house and played in their backyard...for 10 minutes! But the girls enjoyed coming inside and having hot chocolate and fruit snacks and playing with G & T.

Sydney bathing her Barbie in the sink.

Granmda & Grandpa Daly

Grandma & Grandpa Daly came to visit us while Mike was in China for work. Reagan really loves her Grandpa and would light up every time she saw him!

Grandpa reading Kathryn & Sydney their favorite book, Once Upon a Potty (girl version, of course!).

Reagan and Grandpa contemplating the mysteries of the world.