Getting Bigger

Anna's big thing right now is that she LOVES to make breakfast. She calls herself the family "cooker." It started out putting waffles in the toaster and she is now making chocolate milk and cereal. It is great that she enjoys doing it and some mornings will go straight downstairs to get started. The only problem with that is that she will start at 6:30 before anyone else is up or thinking about breakfast. The other problem I have found is that she gets the dishes out of the dishwasher, which usually gets run every night...but one time it didn't. oops! She means well!

Anna has taught Mary-Jane how to slide down the steps head first on their stomachs. They always start by poking their head down the first step and yelling "HI!!!" until they get someone's attention. Then they giggle and continue down the stairs.

For Mary-Jane's birthday we got her a big-girl bed. We found a bed similar to Anna's on craigslist that we fixed up a little bit. We still need to fix the one post, but I think they look pretty cute in the room together. I am still thinking about making canopies for them, but we will see. It is the first night for her in the bed, so we will see how it goes. She has been in a toddler bed for a while now, so it shouldn't be an issue. I can't believe she is going to be 2 on Sunday!

Trip to the Wild Animal Park

Last week we had a free day in our schedule so we ventured up to the Wild Animal Park to see the 2 week old elephant. He was pretty cute, bugging his big sister, but always staying close to his mom.

On one walkway there were some geese hanging around. They let the girls get really close, and I was impressed with their courage, especially Anna. But neither goose nor girl seemed to get frightened before I felt they were getting too close for comfort and called the girls to keep moving. I am not sure if I was more nervous that the girls would get nipped or that MJ would kick the goose!

We stopped at one of our favorite photo spots...

...and ended the day with our usual ride on the carousel. Anna had to ride the leopard because she had on a leopard print dress.

Playing around

Anna and Mary-Jane have always loved being physical...dancing, jumping, running, and chasing each other around. But recently they have each exploded on their own skills. Mary-Jane has become quite the dancer and Anna has become a monkey.

MJ's (early) Birthday Party

In two and a half weeks, Mary-Jane will be turning 2 years old. We decided to celebrate while my parents were here so they could be a part of the festivities. The extra help was nice too! We went with a "Peter Pan" theme because that is her favorite movie right now. She is in love with the idea of flying and is fascinated by everyone, not just tinkerbell. The large cake was a map of Neverland and she had a small Tinkerbell cake. She had a lot of fun playing with all of her friends and eventually blew out both of her candles by herself.

Disneyland 2/18/2010

On Friday we went to Disneyland with mom, dad, Katie, and James. It was a busy day of watching shows and parades with a few rides here and there. We went to "Turtle Talk with Crush" and Anna was selected to ask him a question. She asked him what his favorite ride was. He responded about the EAC (East Australian Current)and asked what her favorite was. She responded with "The Dumbo train ride." Another big highlight of the day was watching the "Princess Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration." We were in the front row, and Mary-Jane was pulled up to dance in the show and play the tambourine. She took her job very seriously, but did a great job! Afterwards, the girls got to meet her and have their picture taken with her. It was a long, tiring day, but lots of fun!

Sea World with Nana and Papa

Today we went to Sea World with Nana and Papa and had fun, as always! All of the characters where right inside the front gate so we saw Shamu, the Walrus, and the Polar Bear! We watched sea lions and dolphins play, exercised in the block pit (Anna did forward rolls from one side to the other and MJ ate the blocks!) and finished the day with the Shamu show. Mary-Jane was exhausted so we went home to rest up for a fun day at Disneyland tomorrow. Oh, and the weather was beautiful! Anna even changed into a sleeveless dress at one point because it was so warm!

Anna and Nana had a dolphin that was hanging out in the corner by them. They couldn't quite touch it but they had a great view.

I think Mary-Jane may have been contemplating how she could escape Papa's grip and dive in for a swim. She LOVES the water!

Mary-Jane loves to participate in the clapping at the Shamu Show!

Project with Daddy

Kris thought it would be fun to do a little electrical project with Anna. He bought a kit from "Make Magazine" and got to work. They had to plug in the transistors, LED lights and solder. It was cute listening to Anna try to repeat the names of things. Eventually, the two lights will blink, but it was bedtime, so the project has to wait for another day.