Never turn your back...

Not even for a second.
Different days and objects, Sailor is obsessed with water and loves throwing things in the toilet.
I am ready for this phase to end.

Happy Birthday Sailor

2 Years...we love you girl!

Photodump-Birthday Party Edition

Mom

Happy Birthday, we all love you very much!

Remember, age is just a number...

Zhu Zhu

I walked into the bathroom earlier this week after asking the girls to go wash their hands and this is what I saw. I thought it was taking a long time so I went to check in. Roxie, their Zhu Zhu Pet, was soaking wet and covered in soap and suds. I asked Ru what had happened. She said Roxie was dirty and needed a bath. 

She also added "She isn't working anymore, I think she needs new batteries." After being submerged in water and covered in copious amounts of hand soap, she has bigger problems than her batteries. 

Photodump

School Program

By request, a brief video from Ruby's school recital.

Toy Shopping

 

     Part of the girls' Easter present from my Mom was two little purses with $5.50 in them. The idea was for the girls to get to go shopping and pick a small toy and use their own money to buy it. I never need an excuse to go to the mall and I was excited to see the selection and evaluation process. 

     Basically what this became was an hour of  lets pick up and play with everything in the store while Dad tries to keep everything in its place so security doesn't get called. The stuffed animal section of the store has a sign that says "Please don't let children sit on the animals." Thankfully it didn't say anything about jumping up and down on them or dragging them around by their tails. 

     The girls quickly learned that the big, awesome toys can't be had for $5.50. I also had to talk Ruby down from the proverbial ledge over the first thing she grabbed in the store: a small stuffed tiger. Pretty sure you weren't aware of this, but there are about 5 stuffed tigers in this house already. Sailor spent a lot of time putting things in her mouth and I had to explain a couple times that a play gun was not an appropriate toy for a three year old, even if it was pink.

     In the end, Ruby picked a miniature Slinky and Sailor a plastic flutophone. Watching them at the counter was fun too and the clerk was a good sport. After all this time thinking we were just wrecking shop, I'm sure he was relieved to get $10 out of the deal. We capped our trip with lunch in the food court and a trip up the elevator. As the carousel is still MIA, we had to take what we could get.

Photodump-Chuck E. Cheese Edition

Camping

     Another one of the things Ruby wanted to do when she returned from spring break was to go camping. She had never been before so I figured a test run spending the night in the back yard would be a good ramp up to the real deal. I set the tent up the afternoon before she got home so I wouldn't have to do it in the dark that night.
     After we concluded her Friday night "party" we grabbed three sleeping bags, a couple flashlights and a sippy of water and make the hike back to the tent. She was a very good sport about carrying her gear. While she was on vacation, she talked about camping out and her Aunt Mandy was nice enough to give her one of her cousin's old sleeping bags. Once in the tent we laid out one of the bags to use as a base layer. We unrolled both of our bags and got inside. It wasn't terribly cold but just enough to need a little cover. I didn't zip my bag and felt perfect.
     Ruby was very curious about all the noises of the outdoors and I spent some time answering all of her inquiries. The moon was bright and we really didn't need either of the flashlights but she played around with hers just for fun. She loved her new-to-her bag and it was a perfect fit.
     I asked her if she wanted me to take the rain fly off the tent so she could see the stars. She did and once I had, we had a great view. It was a clear night and very bright and it was nice to lay back and just look up at the sky. This lasted less than five minutes before it started raining and I had to get out in the downpour to hook the fly back up.
     All in all it was a big sucess. Ruby was a trooper and even with the sound of the rain hitting the tent she was able to hit a sound sleep and stay asleep. In the morning after waking up she wanted to lay in the tent a bit longer. When she was ready we rolled the bags back up and gathered up our gear and made our way back inside for breakfast.
     Later that day, she helped me pack the tent up and I snapped this photo. Note that she was still carrying her unicorn with her. The camping experiment was a great success, she is already asking to go out again. When Sailor gets a bit older we'll have more backyard trial runs and eventually we'll reach a point where we can all go together. I think by that point though we'll need a bigger tent.

Public Service Announcement

Children are curious and prone to exploring. This might also include going through and experimenting with your belongings. If there is anything that is valuable, dangerous or that will leave marks (like the makeup in your purse for example) it is advisable to keep these items out of reach of your children. Failure to do so may produce less than desirable results.