Daddy and daughter

This pic is from Spring Break, when we visited a new family-friendly restaurant and play place. I recently rediscovered it on my phone, and it made me giggle. These two peas are certainly from the same pod! :)

Family day at CM2

Last weekend, we enjoyed a Saturday of fun play at CM2. The girls love this museum, because (as the apron says) it's a place where they can get messy. I think Aubrey's favorite part was the Curious George exhibit, where she scored several holes-in-one at the putt-putt course(!), and Camryn was enthralled by the new veterinarian exhibit. She drug the poor stuffed dogs around forever, it seemed, and by the end, had herself convinced that we need a dog. (Because I need *that* kind of messy at our house!? Sheesh...)

MS Walk 2011

Full of herself

After multiple not-so-funny jokes at dinner tonight (see previous post), somehow the conversation turned to the meaning of the word "genius." Naturally, Camryn described herself as one, so again, I probed further. We talked about he fact that you could be very good at many different hings, and regrettably, I asked Camryn to name a few she is good at. Here is just fraction of the list she rattled off (since I'm so old and everything, my ancient brain just couldn't remember them all):
Singing
Dancing
Art and drawing
Writing
Math
Reading
Using manners (sometimes)...(Ha! At least she admits it!)
Being nice to my sister
Turning off lights
Petting Maggie
Listening to my teacher
Being safe
Keeping my sister safe
Being nice to my friends
Baking and cooking
Giving hugs and kisses
Brushing my teeth
Feeding Maggie

Now, she does have a point here. Among other things, she is pretty good at all of he aforementioned subjects and actions. I found that she really is pretty in-tune with her personal strengths and weaknesses. The problem I found was with her answers to my follow-up question. I (again, regrettably) asked her what were some things Mommy is good at. And though she mentioned a few positives (giving hugs, taking care of us), the list was significantly shorter, and started with, "Telling us what to do..." and ended with, "...and signing checks."

Old Fashioned

So tonight at dinner, Camryn was entertaining us with some of her best jokes. After three or four good ones, she said, "Oh, I know! I've got an old fashioned knock-knock joke for you!"

After listening to said (un-funny) "joke," I probed further.

"What does 'old fashioned' mean?" I asked.

"Well," she replied, "It means it's like from a really, really, really, reeeeeally long time ago. Like in the 1980's!"

Wow. I was speechless. I had no idea that I myself, am practically an antique.

Uncle Wob

For Christmas this year, Uncle Rob gave the girls kits to build their own birdhouses. As he is very talented when it comes to building things in general, the idea was that this was a project that he would be able to do with the girls. Then life got in the way, and he wasn't able to make it over the hill for the holidays. So since December, the girls have been holding onto their project kits so that they could assemble their creations "wif Uncle Wob."

The girls were ecstatic to work with their uncle on this project, and had a blast finally doing so. We carefully packed the birdhouses in tissue to bring home, so that on our next sunny day (whenever that may be), we can paint the houses, coat them in varnish, and hang them outside for the birdies.

Thanks Uncle Wob for such a special gift and memory! We wish we could spend fun time like this with you more often!

Spring Break in Bend

Despite our best of intentions, we just couldn't afford to head somewhere sunny and warm this spring break. We were just so happy not to be moving however, that we headed off to Bend to see Mimi, Papa, Uncle Rob, and Jack! Daddy ended up being sick most of the trip, but the girls didn't let that stop their fun!

We celebrated February and March birthdays with our traditional "3-way Birthday."


We explored the animals and exhibits at the High Desert Museum. (Can you see the bobcat in this picture?)




They even had an interactive butterfly exhibit, where you could walk through, watch, and hold all types of butterflies.


We took a nature walk to see the birds of prey and the river otters, and along the way, found SNOW!



We also had plenty of down time to play, color, watch movies, and enjoy some cuddle time with Jack! :) I'm positive he could be certified as a therapy dog, and is single-handedly curing my girls of their fear of canines.


The girls got lots of long-overdue hugs, kisses, and snuggles in with Mimi and Papa. We've missed them!