Big Sister's Bed

Is the best place to play! On this particular day, I managed to get three whole pictures before Penny threw herself sideways, missed the pillows slightly, and conked her head on the side rail. It only took a second before she was begging to get down for more playtime!

Daddy Daughter Dance

At the beginning of February (I know!) our church put on the third annual Daddy Daughter Dance. They have been awesomely successful and grown bigger every year. This year, since Norah was old enough to go with her daddy, I helped with the decorations a little bit.

The theme for this year was "sugar and Spice". The whole place was decorated in a Candy Land theme, complete with all the characters from the original board game!!  Here's a link to a little montage that the photographer did. The whole thing is designed and decorated by volunteers. Doesn't it look amazing!?!

For those who are interested, there's a picture of Mark and Norah at second 56 of the montage. They're in the bottom left. He's wearing a dark suit and carrying her.

Here are the few pictures that I got. I didn't take many pics of the decoration process because I knew I'd be too tempted to post them on my Facebook before the dance and I didn't want to ruin the surprise. :-)

The centerpieces I helped design and make.
Mark said that he spent most of the evening explaining what was
real (edible) candy and what was decoration (non-edible) candy.

Getting read to go at Grammy and Grampy's house.

The professional photo, complete with giant lollipops
and huge candy to stand on!

The Rogue Molar*

*Nope, it's not the name of a super awesome punk band, or a super villain. But dibs on those ides.

For months, Penny has only had her two bottom teeth. We have been waiting and watching for those top front teeth to come in since before she turned one (all the way back in December). So imagine my surprise last month (I know, I know, it's been forever since I blogged!) when her third tooth came in and it was... a molar.

What the what? A rogue molar? Sure enough, there it was!

This is the best photo I was able to get of The Rogue Molar. See it? Down on the right?

Anyway, since this photo was taken all FOUR of her molars have come in. And still, we waited for the top two teeth. They finally popped through two days ago. 

Obviously, I have lots and lots more posts to do. We've been super, super, suuuuuuper busy the last month and a half. I'll do my best to get you all caught up over the next few weeks. So be prepared for an onslaught of awesomeness.

Who Needs TV?

Not this girl!

We Went to Phoenix - Part 2

Here are the last of the pictures from our Phoenix trip. In true Mommy fashion, I didn't get any photos of my time alone with Mark. Thanks to my awesome parents, we got two dates and almost every evening we went to the hot tub after putting the girls down. It was awesome.

Meanwhile the actual photos I got were:

Norah on the playground at the outlet mall.

Norah running to play at her "Far Far Away Blue Park".
She's been talking about going back to this park since last year. 

Norah going down the slide at the Far Far Away Blue Park

Penny's first time on the swings. **LOVED IT**

Norah picking out some shoes.
She's "gonna wear these to a wedding"

Penny's first time at Five Guys. **ALSO LOVED IT**

Penny standing on the front seat at a rest stop, halfway home.

We Went to the Zoo

The zoo is its own post. As it should be.
Stay tuned... I'm almost caught up to mid-January!

There was posing with a Komodo Dragon (statue).
While eating fruit snacks.

There was posing with a goat.

There was posing with the back end of a goat...

There was "driving" stationary tractors.

There was a cactus slide!

And there was my favorite gift shop item, possibly ever.
Seriously.
What American child doesn't need a stuffed mom and baby stingray?

We Went to Phoenix

Every year my parents book a trip to Phoenix to escape the cold. This year has been so mild that we really didn't need to escape, but hey, why turn down a vacation?

There will be a couple of posts to break things up a bit. Here are a few highlights from the beginning of the trip:

There was short sleeve and sandal wearing!

Big sister turned out to be quite the daredevil.



Little sister still tolerated the front pack.

But was MUCH more excited about standing on her own!

Thanks to Grammy and Grampy's generosity,
Norah learned that those rides at the mall really DO move.