Well, we've seen a few glimpses of spring, but in the past month and a half, we've still had our share of "inside days." The following pics illustrate a few of the fun things we've been up to since I last posted!
Ruby and I have had lots of "girls' dates" lately! Depending on Paul's schedule, he sometimes need an afternoon nap. So we let the boys sleep, and we go out on the town!
We attended our first Iowa gymnastics meet one Sunday afternoon...complete with a face-painting masterpiece. I was totally "that mom" that let her daughter stand in line for over an HOUR to get her first painted. I realized my mistake after 5 minutes of standing in a non-moving line. I told Ruby that we didn't have to do this, but she was committed. Luckily, they had some games set out for the kids so she was somewhat entertained and honestly, she was a total champ and did great! And she LOVED her masterpiece, so I guess it was all worth it! And the gymnastics meet was so fun! Unfortunately, it was their last home meet so maybe next year we can attend a few more.
We braved the cold St. Patrick's Day weather and headed to the parade in Cedar Rapids. Ruby loves getting candy and she happily brought back lots of beads to share with her brother.
On this particular day, we headed to the mall, and of course, had to take a snack break! The cookies at Chick-fil-A are amazing!
I took Ruby to her first movie. With all the craze of FROZEN, we decided we better check it out. My sensitive girl wasn't the biggest fan during the movie. She does not like conflict, intense music, or when people are sad. She even asked a couple times if we could leave. I made her stick it out by snuggling with her on my lap and ensuring her that it would have a happy ending. She survived ;)
And of course, has she stopped talking about FROZEN since we saw the movie?! NOPE! She will tell you that she liked the beginning and the ending, but not the middle. We have rehashed the plot of the movie several times and listened to the songs on YouTube at least a few dozen times, so I think it's safe to say, her first movie didn't scar her for life!
And just another trip to the Children's Museum...a definite favorite place!
We let little brother join in on our adventures too, don't worry! Jace LOVES animals. It's crazy... he literally wants to touch every animals he sees and has no fear. He tries to do a few animal noises (cow, duck, monkey), but the only one he really has down is the "ROAR!" And he does it ALL. THE. TIME. He walks around the house ROARING. He sees an animal and...ROARS. It's pretty funny except when he is supposed to be quiet!
Anyway, here a couple pictures we took from the Natural History Museum which is part of the University of Iowa's campus. It was the first time we'd been there where we let Jace out of the stroller and he LOVED it!
We met several friends there. This is Ruby and her good friend, Clara.
One of the local banks, had a family farm day. They had several live animals in the basement of their bank! Both kids had a blast despite the massive amount of people. Ruby got to hold her first chick, and Jace would have jumped right in with the mean turkey if we'd have let him!
Story time at the library.
Hattie and Brandon came for a weekend! We took them to the construction site of the new children's hospital. It is quite the amazing site! Both Hattie and Brandon are in school for future professions in the health field, so our ulterior motive in bringing them to this site, was to plant the seed in their minds that Iowa City is the place to be! :) We had a great weekend with them and are so thankful they came to see us!
We took full advantage of one of our first beautiful spring days and headed to the Niabi Zoo in Moline, Illinois with our friends Jaci, Clara, and Ollie. Jaci and I used to teach together at Lone Tree, and this is her first year staying home with her kids. I am so thankful she made that decision! We love spending time with them! Ruby and Clara are 8 months apart and Ollie and Jace are 6 months apart.
Ruby got to feed her first giraffe!
