Dada & James

More Bathtime

Amelie really likes to pour the tub water into and out of various containers -- and also, apparently to wear some of those containers on her head as a hat.

Wiggling

I took this video two weeks ago (I think?) James has been doing a wiggling/dance move recently (and also sucking on his fingers and making a squealing noise). All of the aforementioned talents are showcased in the video:

Catching a Ball

Exersaucer

I may or may not have taken 25 pictures of James in the Exersaucer. This was the second time he'd played in it:

These are my very favorites:

Snow Day

Yesterday, we got a boatload of snow. Sam went into work early for a few hours, but came home before the roads got bad. Of course, Amelie wanted to go outside and play in it (briefly). Doesn't the weather just look lovely?

Schroeder enjoyed the snow immensely.

Amelie went out around 4:00pm as well, after it finally stopped snowing. It got quite a bit deeper in the interim, and snow piled up in big drifts on the deck. 

Sam wanted to grill a chicken.

Mama and James stayed indoors (and in our PJs).

Artwork

I decided to take photos of some of Amelie's recent artwork (just in case I ever decide to weed through everything that's stuck up on the side of the fridge and throw some things away.)

The artist at work (in her "painting dress" from Grandma Pat!)

Sometimes Amelie happily paints for a long time, and other times she's done quicker than it took me to set up the art supplies. It always makes me think of the passage in one of Amelie's books where Olivia visits a museum and just "doesn't get" Jackson Pollock. "I could do that in about 5 minutes," she says.

Aunt Lana & James

Lincoln Day Trip to the Zoo *posted by Sam

Dada's off for Lincoln Day? Is that even a real holiday? Well, we might as well go to the zoo!

We bought a zoo membership, so we went to the children's zoo for the first time (membership comes with 6 parking passes, and various passes to the children's zoo, the railroad, and the sea lion show).

What is that monkey doing?

Doesn't Amelie look like she's 13 in this picture?

Notice how similar Amelie's hair is to the orangutans'.

Amelie wanted to go to the penguin and puffin house three times. In the summer, that isn't really possible, but when the temperature's warmer inside than outside, it isn't exactly crowded.

I promised her that next time we could go see the real elephants, but it's pretty clear that she likes the animal statues almost as much.

Bouncy Chair

Okay, so these pictures aren't all that great quality-wise, but I really like the way they look in succession. You can tell how interested James is in his surroundings. A lot of times I take off the toy bar and just let him look out the big window.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since Amelie's class is so small, I made them Valentines for their party last week. Amelie played with the paper hearts and leftover construction paper.

I got some help from my Facebook friends with the French translation:

Amelie started out the day with her party dress from Nana Jana, but had to change into play clothes pretty much right away.  I can see that at least one of the other girls was back in play clothes by this point, too.

They decorated bags to tote their Valentines home in.

Despite using the heart stencil, Amelie said she was painting Cat in the Hat. Later, when she was talking about it, she said "kind of a Cat in the Hat."

She seemed excited to get the Valentine from her teacher, too. Amy gave her a turtle pin, which she wants me to clip on her shirt -- not her hair for some reason.

Countertop

(I'm pretty sure this is the last of the catch-up posts from 4 weeks ago!) As you can probably tell, I just left the kids in pajamas all day while we were getting over the illness. Thank you, Nana Jana, for the pink froggy sleeper.

Amelie likes to sit up on the countertop while I do things in the kitchen. (I think she was telling me to quit taking photos, though.)

I just realized that she apparently brought her stuffed reindeer up to sit with her. (He's in the bowl on the right.)

Hey, Rudolf!