Surviving Winter in the 70's

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

After a few days of a cold snap after we returned from Illinois, we've been enjoying nice days averaging in the 70's during the day. Cedar pollen, though high does not seem to be affecting us much this year thanks to Flonase and Allegra. 

Though it's been warm, there have been days where it is still a bit too wet to play outside, so we brought the fun inside with these aqua balls that basically bounce everywhere. It's not a big deal because they dry quickly and you can just sweep and vacuum them up, and most importantly, Teddy does not think they are delicious at all. 

 I decided to take a risk and we planted a few plants in our planter. Most of them are winter crops, so they'll survive any frosts that we may get before it finally warms up for good, but maybe we can have a few things before we leave for Taiwan in a month.

 The new planters in our backyard are the perfect height for little people.

 It's pretty cool to see you two play together so much. Hannah pretty much thinks Nathan is the coolest guy ever. You will listen to Nathan "read," play guns, transformers, and just chase each other around the house like crazy kids. Meanwhile, I can get some cleaning done. Life is good.

 Hannah, you are now realizing how cute you really are and you are capitalizing on this. You are requesting hairstyles. Last week it was the pig-tail look, this week it's "Cinderella hair," which I later discovered is basically a pony tail.

 You continue to love cruciferous veggies. You absolutely go crazy for Brussels sprouts. You even do a little dance after you eat each bite.

 And you are breaking barriers with traditional gender based toys. Here you are pushing Optimus Prime around in a baby stroller. Other times, you play guns with Nathan in a tutu. Or you blast Nathan using one of your barbie dolls as a gun.

 On Sunday, I went to a professional development so Daddy spent most of the day with you guys. Here are the pictures that he left me.

 What I don't get is how he manages to get you guys to sit so still for so long. He's also a master at keeping Hannah quiet during hide-and-go-seek.

Hannah, after much convincing, I finally agreed to let you use the peeler to peel carrots. You pretty much made a good argument. "I'll be careful. OK? I not scrape my fingers. OK. I want to peel. OK?"

 The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. We've spent as much time outside as possible.

 We were even able to prune all of the trees in our yard. As you can see from below, it was not a small pile at all.

Saturday was birthday party day. Nathan and I went to the fish gallery and celebrated a 5 year old's birthday. Here are some cool shots. These fish eat the food which is stuck to the glass and each fish looks like a flower petal. 

 The kids learned about different types of fish.

 And Hannah went to a joint 2 and 1 year olds' party. There were lots of toys to play,

 including lots of Thomas things. (Nathan was so jealous when you got home and heard about all the Thomas things at the party Hannah went to)

Earlier in the week we went to Altitude, a trampoline house. You guys had so much fun. Not sure if you could see in the pic below, but Nathan is hanging off of a trapeze. This requires jumping onto the trapeze and hanging on as it swings around. Lots of fun. Hannah loved the sensation of just jumping around.

You guys lasted for around 1.5 hours before you all we OK with just going home. It's a great place for little kiddos and we will be returning back for sure.

Well, the weather ahead continues to be mild but wet. Maybe we'll get some play dates in.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy