Lollipop Love

On Sunday, when Kelly brought over the pictures, I gave her a couple of chocolate lollipops I had made for the boys for Easter, and had forgotten to give them earlier. No big deal.

But of course, Cara happened to see this, and immediately decided she HAD to have one too. It is not really a lollipop, by the way. No. It is a BALLOON. It took me several minutes to figure out what in the world she wanted, during which mass whining ensued, with a tantrum being threatened.

Now, I know what you are thinking. "Dana does not give her child candy, because she is a mean Mommy who feeds her child veggies instead." And this is generally true. (She likes veggies! Really!) And usually, I would not give into the whining fit either.

But I did. And she wolfed it down.


Here it is. She's trying to figure out how to bite the dang thing.

And.... five minutes later.... it's all gone.

Nona asked, "Where did it go, Cara?" "In my belly." And she had to show us.

Tell me, how did she get to be so cute? Hmmm?

One last picture from Sunday: reading comics with Poppa. Not sure who is enjoying this more, Cara or my dad. : )

Hunny bunny

Today's photos are courtesy of my amazing neighbor, Kelly. Animals are courtesy of my amazing sister, Megan.

The poor rabbit was like, "oh dear lord, please someone rescue me from the clutches of this demon child." See the look of panic in his eyes? Really. Poor rabbit.

And the chick was in grave danger of being squished. I couldn't let Cara hold him for more than a minute by herself. His eyes were popping out!

Such adorableness.

Two Amazing Things!

Amazing Thing 1: Poor patient Maya actually lets herself be picked up and hauled around regularly by my overly exhuberant child

Amazing Thing 2: A toddler who actually likes spinach and even requests a second helping!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. Cara had a cute dress which she was very pleased with (courtesy of her cousins, who have a mom with great taste in clothes, lucky for us!)

We had LOTS of Easter eggs. Cara did a great job dying them! She had a lot of fun. They turned out pretty good, and not toooooo smashed.

The Easter Bunny came, of course, and hid lots of eggs. And Cara very cleverly found them all! This activity was so popular the Easter Bunny had to hide them twice on Sunday and three more times yesterday. That tricky Bunny!

Cara had a wonderful time with her grandmothers, Gigi and DeeDee, who she loves!

We did several family photos (Tim volunteered to be the photographer. I was a little grumpy with this. He did a good job, but I would have liked him in the picture!)

Aunt Megan brought some of her newborn ducklings along and we played with them for a few minutes. She is bringing them back next week so we will have more pics to come!!

All in all a very happy and enjoyable day for everyone!

Cinderella scrubs the floors

I took these a week or so ago but misplaced my camera. I found it again tonight. It was well hidden. On the desk. Right in front of me. Um. Yeah.

This sounds like procrastinating, but really, I couldn't find it. Uh huh.

So... moving on... we had a lovely time making GOOP from the art book that our friends Karen and Jim gave Cara for her birthday. Goop consists of cornstarch and water and it's very, well, goopy. She had loads of fun making it...

And even more fun cleaning it up. (Will wonders never cease!)

I would like to mention that I do NOT make a habit of making my toddler scrub the floors.

But maybe I should! In any case, it was very nice having her actually clean up the whole mess by herself!

I think it's because she wanted to be Cinderella...

...and live in a castle with lots of "pretty dresses"....

(Sorry these are sideways.... not sure what's up with Blogspot.... hmmmm..... anyway you get the idea....)

Happy Birthday!

We had a birthday extravaganza this weekend, and a very very happy two year old as a result. (Two years old! I can't believe it!) Cara, by the way, happily tells you she is "Two month old!" when asked. She also holds up 5 fingers. : )

While Cara was napping Saturday afternoon, Tim and I decorated the house and pulled out the birthday cake: a handmade carousel cake. The pink icing looks a little neon, but in real life it was very nice.

The horses turned out really cute! I was pretty pleased. (They taste good too. Mmmm chocolate.)

The best part was hearing Cara say "Wowwwww! Look at that!!!" when she walked in the room. She was very excited and immediately wanted to eat it.

We had a very nice party with our family...

She loved all of her presents... of course everything had to be immediately unwrapped and enjoyed... reading her new books...

playing with the farm animals Gigi painted...

The baby carriage was a big hit...

And best of all, a great big sand and water table from Mommy and Daddy! Such fun!

Cara loved her cake and made a wish for "Big Presents" (cause she doesn't have enough already)... and blew out her candles all by herself.

Sunday was a bright sunny day... so we went to the Yellow River Game Ranch in the morning. If you aren't familiar with the game ranch, it's like a colossal petting zoo where you can feed a whole bunch of different animals.

They have deer roaming freely... very tame... (Pardon the photo, I can't get it to turn properly for some reason.)Cara had a very good time, although the more aggressive animals made her a little nervous - the goats and ducks were a little too eager, and she wouldn't feed them - "Mommy, you do it! No, you do it, Mommy!"

But the bunny rabbits... well, that is a different story.
Even Daddy got into the action.

Notice how Cara is holding the poor rabbit's head: force-feeding at its finest. (Fortunately the rabbit was perfectly happy to be force fed....)

And we ended the day with Cara's favorite meal: "Noodles," green beans, salad, and bread. And cake too, of course!

All together, a wonderful birthday for a wonderful girl!

bubbles, part 2

Courtesy of my amazing and talented neighbor, Kelly. This makes me want to get a professional camera.... now, whether or not I'd get pictures this good is another story.

I would like to comment that this very sweet looking little girl is actually being naughty... the smile is an attempt to convince me that she doesn't really need to listen to what Mommy says... it didn't work.... but it did make a great picture!