a trip to the zoo

Last weekend, we took Jessica and Jamison to the zoo. It was a whole new experience for Jamison as she got to walk around this time.



Jamison really loved the goats in the petting zoo.





Jessica finally enjoyed riding the train again.

a little more of Jamison

These days, Jamison is still all smiles.



She can frequently be seen walking around with a book or sitting and looking and/or chewing a book. We have already gone through quiet a few board books do to her gumming them to pieces!





She is also learning a few new tricks like hi-five.

the girls have fun outside

At night, once we get home from work, the girls like to play outside since the weather has been so nice. Jamison is still a big fan of the water table.





Now that she can easily explore the yard on her own, she has discovered the little play house. She loves the fact that she can open and close the door herself. And, she loves playing with all of the toys in the house.



Jessica continues to use the trampoline. Seat drops are super easy for her now.

And, Jamison likes to swing and Jessica likes to push her now.

a trip to Great America

This weekend, we went with some of our friends to Great America. The older girls wanted to pose for a picture on the Snoopy bench.



After lunch, Jessica had a blast playing in their water park.

Jamison at music class

A few weeks ago, Jamison started going to music class. I normally do not take her as this thing called work gets in the way. Last week, however, she missed her regular class since she was sick (hand, foot, and mouth virus) and I did a makeup with her during the weekend. Here is our self portrait.



Jamison loves walking around during class and playing with the musical instruments. This week, she really seemed to like the sticks -- more for chewing than playing of course.

meet mini Jim

All of a sudden, Jessica wants to wear everyone's glasses. Here she is sporting Jim's specs.

happy 4th birthday Miss Jessica

Today, Jessica turned 4 years old. She got to choose what we had for dinner since it was her special day. She wanted Chipotle, but Jim convinced her that Chevy's would be a better option for a quesadilla and chips because she would get also get a hat and ice cream. She seemed to enjoy both.





At the end of dinner, Jessica got a big hug from her Daddy.

another birthday party

The day after their birthday party, Jessica and Jamison got to go to Aurora's fifth birthday party. Jamison started out by playing in the under 3 area.



She quickly decided that she was a big girl, however, and walked over to attempt the larger play structures. To entertain her, Jim took her down one of the big slides.

At the end of playtime, the kids had fun making funny faces.



After a quick pizza and cake lunch, it was off the the arcade for games, tickets, and prizes. Jessica was interested in playing games for tickets and prizes, while Jamison was simply obsessed with any game that had balls.

Jessica's and Jamison's Birthday Party

This weekend, Jessica and Jamison had their Rapunzel birthday party at our house. We decorated the house in a Rapunzel theme with lanterns and banners.



And, their Nana got the girls a Rapunzel themed tower cake.



We started the party with crafts. All of the girls got Rapunzel braids to put in their hair and they got to decorate crowns.



Our special guest Rapunzel visited the party too.



Just as Rapunzel arrived, Jamison made an appearance in her own Rapunzel outfit. We had tried to put her down for an early nap, but she wouldn't have it.



Meanwhile, the girls did dress up with Rapunzel and had fun trying on lots of dresses.



Jessica and Jamison had fun checking out each other's outfits.



Jamison spent a bit of time playing in the yard and then had to be put down for a nap. She ended up missing most of her own party!



After dress-up, the girls danced and did bubbles with Rapunzel.







Next, it was time for face painting. Jessica loved it!



We also had fun playing party games like pass the parcel and pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider.





We then got everyone lined up for a treasure hunt.



Everyone went racing off towards the first clue.



Jessica eventually found the treasure.



And, everyone got a piece of it.



Then, it was time for Rapunzel to leave. Jessica got a big hug from her.



Afterwards, it was time for cake.



And, then, we did the Rapunzel pinata.

Jamison is cute and she knows it!

This is the I'm cute and I know it smile.

Jessica makes muffins with her daddy

Jessica and her daddy made muffins together this week.



Jessica had a good time licking the spoon.

loving the sandbox at school

Jessica loves the sandbox at school and is super excited because it doubled in size over the school break. She had not problems playing in the muddy river in her frilly dress either.

some random Jamison photos

This past week was a fun one for Jamison. In addition to seeing her grandparents, she played with birthday presents. She really loved her picnic set from Benjamin! She plays with it every day.



She's also started to play with Jessica's doll stuff. Not the dolls, but all of the accessories. She loves emptying all the doll toys out and even plays with them. The rattle, baby doll pacifier, and baby doll bottle are all big hits. She uses them on herself. What can you do?



Jamison was also excited to get back to Chipotle once her grandparents left. She loves guacamole (as evidenced by it being all over her face and even in her hair)!

Jessica's garden

Recently, Jessica has been really interested in the few strawberry plants that we have growing and likes to check them every day for new fruit. And, after science camp the past few weeks, she has seemed increasingly more interested in gardening. So, while Jessica's grandfather was out visiting, he built her a planter so that she could plant and grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. This past weekend we planted strawberries, carrots, lettuce, oregano, basil, sunflowes, zucchini, bells peppers, watermelon, and canteloupe. Here she is showing off her garden.