This and That

In case you haven't heard, 80's fashion is totally back in style. Here's Michaela rocking the tunic/leggings look (of course with some boots with the fur to accesorize!):

Isn't that face precious? She just needs a sideways ponytail and she'll be all set! My friend Amy let me borrow a cookbook for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. It's really helping me get more creative with the snacks and meals I'm feeding Michaela:

Meanwhile Rafael has been a smiling little cutie. Here he is charming the dogs (see how submissive Loki is to him? And Kira is a little mommy, constantly trying to clean him!):

And here Rafael is trying to fight the Stegosaurus. He almost rolled over trying to do this!

My Little Handywoman

My sister is so sweet. Knowing how desperately I wanted a kitchen for Michaela's birthday, she bought an adorable little kitchen-in-a-box for Michaela. Unfortunately, I hadn't yet told her about the one I found and bought! I decided to exchange the kitchen she got for the exact same thing, just for the workshop-in-a-box version. Michaela loves it! For the last few days she's been hammering and screwing away. I love how portable this toy is, and that it's completely self-contained so that I can have her put it all away in the box and put it away when she's done. :)

Hidey Hole

Every once in a while I'll find Michaela hiding and playing quietly in some corner or alcove somewhere. Here's her most recent hidey hole. This girl brings so much color to my day!

Spring Break

The great thing about Philip being a teacher is that we get him all to ourselves during the school breaks. We had such a great time with him this week. Monday and Tuesday we took advantage of his being home to get some serious spring cleaning done.

Wednesday we went to the zoo and met up with our good friends the Johnstons.

Thursday we did some more cleaning and hanging out, then that evening we went out to dinner on the fly. We went to a local vietnamese restaurant (which Michaela loved!) and then on the way home decided to stop by the library for awhile. We had a great time reading and checking out a few fun books.

Friday we went to see Walking with Dinosaurs - which was one of Michaela's birthday presents. It was such a great show, and both kids did amazing. Rafael slept through most of it and Michaela was completely amazed with the huge dinosaurs.

Saturday, in true New Mexico spring break fashion, we got a huge dumping of snow. We took the kids outside and had a blast playing with it before it started melting. (Snow doesn't stick around long here. Usually if it snows overnight, it melts by that afternoon.)

We are going to miss having Philip around!

Michaela's Birthday

Things have been so crazy, I haven't had a chance to write about Michaela's birthday almost twoo weeks ago! Michaela woke up to find her birthday present waiting for her in the living room: a play kitchen! ($15 at a consignment store!)

Then she got to eat "cake" for breakfast! (No, she is not about to blow out those lit candles, she is about to stuff them in her mouth! I had to grab them out of her hand before she burned her mouth. Yikes, I guess we should have practiced.)

We went to the zoo after breakfast. It was such beautiful weather and she had such a great time. I think this will be a new birthday tradition for us!

That weekend we had her birthday party. It was butterfly themed, so in addition to fruit, veggies, and chips we had butterfly shaped chex mix snacks, and butterfly cupcakes.

The party was at the park. It was a teeny bit windy, but overall, we had a lot of fun. We had invited family, family friends and lots of mine and Michaela's good friends from the MOMS Club so there was a great turnout!

Michaela decided she'd rather play on the playground than open her gifts so she quietly sneaked away while I opened them for her.




She had fun though, and loved all her new toys once we got home!