Kaleidoscope

Leo loved this sink because the water came out of the guy's nose!  Awesome!

Leo moved on to explore other crafts while Sophia still painted

Finished product!

Kaleidoscope is a free craft center run by Hallmark.  It's pretty awesome except that you only get 40 minutes inside.  40 minutes is not enough for Sophia who is very dedicated to details.  She literally spent about 32 minutes in the painting room working meticulously on her caterpillars.  Plus, they  have so many stations that it really is hard to get in and out.  For Leo 40 minutes is about right, but even could have used some more time.  We left there and explored the rest of Crown Center and Funville.

Kite Flying

I love this picture, I think it's the best one of the day.  

Look how high she got it this time!

Leo talked his buddy, Dimitri, into pushing him on the swing

Leo being spider man with his blue kite ribbon

doing great!

For us, Lent has just begun.  Since our Easters are about a month apart this year, it feels so late (not to mention that it's still snowing well into March) to be celebrating, but we are!  Each year on the first day of Lent, known as Clean Monday, we go fly kites with the other kids at church.  It was semi-warm that day, which made things much nicer and the kids had a blast.  Sophia was very interested in kite flying where as Leo was more interested in running around and playing on the playground.  He did fly his kite for just a bit, but honestly, it was easier to let him do his thing while I helped Sophia.  She really did an amazing job and never gave up!  It doesn't show it so much in these particular pictures, but there were tons of kids running around, all toting kites, so string tangling and tree avoiding were the top issues for the afternoon.  It was tiring!  Having Leo be a year older this year also helped.  I wish he would have been a bit more interested in the kites, but at least I didn't need to be as watchful of him on the playground and I felt I got to spend a lot of time with Sophia, which is a somewhat change of pace.  When we are out and about I feel like Leo has to get most of my attention because I can't just leave him be and expect that he will stay put.  Even at 3 Sophia was may more of a direction follower than Leo is! ;)  Anyway, I'm usually dashing off after him or staying close to him, but this time I was able to work with her and help her out, so that was nice.

Bama Sleeps Over!

Leo fights the fire with his hose backpack!

Uh oh, the ball is on fire!  Sophia tells him the fire has spread back there, somewhere behind her! ;)

Too cool for Red Robin

Silly picture!

bed time!

Sophia has been really obsessed with having my mom sleep over at our house.  In fact one day she even said to me, but Mom, Bama is at her house every day, why can't she just sleep here for one night!?  Mom was unable to resist the begging much longer so since Charlie was out of town last week we figured it was a prime opportunity.  We played outside, took Walter for a walk and had dinner at Red Robin.  We slept in and Sophia snuggled in her bed the next morning.  It was pretty fun.  I even got to snuggle with her after the kids went to bed and we watched some TV together. :)

Zoo Time

We got a new Polar Bear to join our friend Nikita.  The kids were very excited to see her.  She has a lot of the same behaviors as Nikita but is noticeably smaller.

Train time with my guy!

Sophia and Bama ride too

Two safari scientists hard at work

Climb time on a 300 year old tree

I'm not sure why we thought it was a good day to go to the zoo because it was freezing.  Once we started moving it was better, but really it was cold!  The train wasn't horrible but the carousel about did me in.  We did spent more time in the Discovery Barn however since it was partially indoors and that helped, plus the kids got to explore this awesome old tree that normally isn't on our radar.  We are really looking forward to visiting the zoo when it's warmer...and when the African Sky Safari is open.  The kids were so disappointed that we couldn't ride it that day, but I was thanking my lucky stars that it was a seasonal ride! ;)

Dancey Dance Time

Here are Sophia and Lauren demonstrating some of their skills

Leo watching his big sis

Lauren smiling for the camera!

Sophia modeling her recital costume

Lauren, Sophia, and Aubrey pose together!

Sophia started another session of dance this spring.  She is gearing up for her recital in April.  The costumes this time are equally cute and this one even seems to be a little Grecian inspired! ;)  Lauren and Aubrey are in class with her this time too and it is so nice to have at least 45 minutes to chat with Jill, although I suppose that 45 minutes is a bit too generous because there is Leo running around like a crazy person and chatting isn't always an option for me!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Charlie and I celebrated 8 great years on February 26! Our anniversary was a little different than we had planned, but it the end it was perfect!  Since it happened during a major snowstorm we had kinda figured that our original (and not so grandiose as they were anyway) plans were out.  Sadly Charlie did have to go to work that day even though I was really hoping (not to mention begging and pleading ;) that he stay home.  I mean, it seemed everyone else in the darn city was taking the day off, why can't he! Sigh.  I guess the rest of the county, not covered in snow, still needed their medicine.  Plus, Mom who had been snowed in and suffering in her colder than normal house, was ready for a little adult interaction so Charlie picked her up before work and delivered her to us.  

For dinner I made Chicken Cacciatore, which is the first meal I ever cooked Charlie...so he likes to call it Chicken Catch-a-Charlie.  Tee hee :)  8.5 years ago I slaved in the kitchen all day making it just perfect, this time I modified it and threw it into the crock pot...ha!  Oh the difference a few years makes!  I also made some brownies for dessert, had wine for the grown ups and sparkling cider for the kiddos.  We ate under candlelight, which the kids thought was super awesome!  They were really adorable about it actually!  

Charlie dropped mom back home after dinner and we snuggled on the couch after the kids went to bed.  We have found it kind of fun to do the "traditional" gifts each year and this year the gift was bronze...hmmm.  After struggling with bronze as a theme we decided that since I got "bronzed" in Mexico, that was our anniversary present, so it worked out great!

Even More Snow!

Walter really has to work hard to wade through all the snow!

Our tree did not fair so well. :(  We had to cut off that huge limb

Here, try this, it's good!

Playing in the winter wonderland

snowball fight!

Snowman time!

I got you, Momma!

I know, I know, I've taken a crazy amount of snow pictures, but we have a crazy amount of snow!  I don't remember the last time we've had this much snow all at once!  It's not unusual for us to get a few snowfalls each winter, but we certainly are not accustomed to 18" in just a few days time!  We really  had fun playing in the snow, sledding, exploring, and drinking hot cocoa afterwards!