Practice Makes Perfect

Bo has been practicing a bit every day with his walking skills. It still cracks me up how different the two of them have been with walking. Hailey couldn't stop until she had it mastered. Bo on the other hand, he could seemingly care less if he had to keep crawling. Don't get me wrong, Bo enjoys walking. Just about every time he gets going he's just a laughing with each step! It's awfully cute! The newest fun thing he enjoyed today was walking with us and holding his hand. He really enjoyed that as he could walk alot longer than usual!

A Boy and His Ferret

Today I was reading my Bible and came across 1 Samuel 16:7, "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

I think sometimes I really do come up with interesting spiritual thoughts from reading the Bible, but today I just thought about Bo and his ferret. That ferret (aka: The Weasel) is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen, but my Bo-Man could not possibly love it more. He must see something the rest of us don't see!!

P.S. Isn't Bo so super cute in this picture?!?! Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?!?!

Ready?

I'm ready for the weekend... Are you??? Happy Friday to everyone!!!

The Zoo

This morning Hailey, Bo and I took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo!! I also learned that the Zoo is much more fun at 9:00 on a weekday morning. We usually wait until the weekend so Tony can come along. It was our first time without him, and we missed his presence but enjoyed having the zoo to ourselves (at least until the school field trips started pouring in around 11).

Hailey's favorite part of the zoo is the Aquarium, so we always start there. After that we went to the Kids Den, a learning/play area for kids. We've actually never been there before, but we plan to do it again. Hailey and Bo both enjoyed it.

Hailey got to dress up as a deep sea diver!! The flippers were kind of nice. When she was wearing them, she and Bo walked at about the same speed, which made it possible for me to keep up with them!!

Hailey and Bo enjoyed being veterinarians.

Dr. Hailey (in a different scuba suit) gave medicine to a sick turtle. She also cared for a snake and a parrot while we were there.

Dr. Bo gave the cheetah a checkup. He actually was using the doctor tools for a while, trying to look into the cheetah's eyes and ears. Its so fun to see him watch and imitate!!

We also took in the bird show and walked through the Minnesota Trail. I couldn't believe we did all that and made it home by 12:30 for lunch and some much needed naps!! What a fun morning!!

Ahhh, the Bathroom

Every parent probably has these pictures of the kids on the potty. In cases like this, I'd probably be inclined to not post it, however, Hailey is a girl after my own heart! She picked up my book about poker to read on the potty!!! If there was a question she wasn't Daddy's girl... I have Exhibit A (see above) :)

Zoom Zoom!

There is really nothing cuter than watching both of the kiddos keeping an eye on the cars going around the little track. They take turns sticking their hands on the track and stopping the cars. They do it with such proficiency! We are also thankful for our neighbor Michael. He'll periodically drop off old toys that he's grown out of or no longer uses. This happens to be one of them and earlier in the winter we stuck this one away for a cold snowy February day!

And one last thing, Happy Birthday Uncle Willie!!!

Another Tea Day

Well, another day and another tea party. Hailey and Bo are really digging the few things they can do together. However, shortly after this Bo started his new found game of turning over the platter of tea things while sister gets a little riled up!

Additionally, I would like to point out the table and chairs that they've been sitting in. These are the same table and chair set that Grandpa Dave made for Will and me around 25 years ago. Then Grandpa refinished them again in 2001 for Cousins Mason and Maggie. Now, they've been passed on to Hailey and Bo after being repainted by Uncle Earl and Aunt Jodi! We are so thankful for them! I can't tell you how much time Bo and Hailey spend at the table (especially Bo!!) Thanks again you guys!!

Tea for Two

It's settled. Bo likes to drink tea. He has been spotted numerous times today stirring and drinking his pretend Earl Grey tea. And just to be sure, if you take his spoon before he's ready to be done, he will let you know his displeasure immediately. :)

3 Years Ago

It is so hard to believe this is Hailey 3 years ago! It's hard to believe that we have a second baby already beyond the age as well... Sigh... What's next? School, car keys, college?!?! OH NO! :) At least I have 1100+ posts to remind me of how the time has flown. If you haven't looked in a while, I recommend going back through the dates on the right hand side and find your favorite month :)

Clean Room

Hailey was having a hard time finding something in her room today, so Momma and her had a little talk about the reason being she had too much stuff. So Hailey actually went to work and got to cleaning out her room. One of the things she wanted to do was move her bed around too. When all was said and done, Hailey was asked where she would like to move her bed to, and she said, "Into your room Momma!"

Well, of all the places sweetie pie, that's not one of them! :)

Big Sister

Hailey has been such a big sister when it comes to helping Bo walk. She'll help us encourage him and say, "Ok little buddy! You can do it!" Then, I think she wants in on some of the fun too, so she'll pretend she's just learning how to walk and teeter across the room into our arms just like Bo. How sweet they are!!

B is for Boss

And B is also for Bo. But his sweatshirt he has on just cracks me up every time he wears it. It really says, "B is for BOSS!" Some days, it's just so true!

My Bowl

Just so you know... This is MY bowl of peas. Not YOUR bowl of peas. I don't take kindly to bowl stealing around here either. You can most certainly get your own bowl. If you take it, I will cry until you give it back.

I love you though!!

~Bo

He's a Walker!!!

Well, it's finally happened! And one of the things I can't stop thinking about is Grandpa Dave asking about Hailey from the day she was born, "Is she walkin' yet??" I'm fairly certain he'd have been asking the same thing about Bo! And now we could have said, "YEP! HE IS!!!"

Click here to view on YouTube

Go Tell It On the Mountain

We got outside to play before the snow flurries came. Hailey was on top of the world!!!

Ok, so she was on top of the big snow pile we shoveled up in front of our place. She had a really fun time on it though. I alternated between setting her up there and tossing her so she slid over and down the other side. Either way she was having a high old time!

Even Bo joined in the fun! He was having a great time in the snow for the first time since the snow we got in October!

He WAS having fun until he did a little face plant into the snow. That really didn't excite him at all! Poor guy!!!

Then, we got Hailey on top of the pile singing Go Tell It On the Mountain! I hope you like her finale!!!! :)

Click here to view on YouTube.

Looks Familiar

Hrmmm... Where have we seen this before... When kids are left alone for a few minutes to play with a kleenix box within reach. What do you think they'll do?

Like sister like brother!!!

Coloring in Bed

This is what I came home to after work yesterday. Mommy and Bo were downstairs to greet me at the door, and with a chuckle said, "You'd better go check out Hailey." I finally found her in our bedroom coloring on the bed! What a greeting huh?? Well, the story goes that this was a safe location where she could do her coloring without being interrupted by little fingers trying to grab her crayons and/or coloring book. When she finally saw me, she just said in a straight voice, "Hi Daddy." And kept on a-coloring!

Bad Habits

We really hope to break Bo of this habit before he gets too old. C'mon Bo... A little privacy please!! :)

Click here to view on YouTube

Wii Cinderella

One more picture from the weekend. Hailey's friend Addie lent her a Wii Cinderella game. So on Saturday evening, we were able to choose her character's dress, earrings and other attire. It was really interesting to watch Hailey try and discern between the fantasy of the game compared to here and now!

• When Hailey's character got her blue "froofy" dress, Hailey promptly asked "where's my dress??"
• When asked if her character wanted earrings, Hailey said she didn't want any because they would hurt. Soon after, she realized that her character COULD have earrings and she didn't have to wear any. Then she really wanted them again. Now for the last few days, she's been putting sticker earrings on herself and all her guys. Yep. That's right. Ducky in fact DOES have ears!
• Finally, after all the attire was set. Mr. Joe was helping Hailey try and figure out how to move the character around the screen. He said, "You can hold this and then run [your character] around the room." Hailey started running all around our living room with Joe hanging onto the Wii Nunchuck!

Well, we've only played a couple times and we keep the video games to no more than 20-30 minutes. But it is fun to see what she thinks of these games! Thanks for sharing Addie and thanks for trying to help me learn Mr. Joe!!!

It's No Big Deal

Bo had his 1 year doctor appointment today!! Stats first, then story...
31 inches tall
24 pounds 11.5 ounces
19 inch melon head circumference

As for the office visit. Bo really seemed indifferent to the pokes and prods he got. They had to check his iron count, which requires a stick to the finger and then they have to squeeze it until they get enough blood... Well, Bo got the finger prick and seemed to not really care what they were doing to his finger. Since his hands were a little cold, the nurse was really hoping he'd get ticked off to get the blood flowing!

Also, the neat thing about our doctor was that he remembered when Hailey got her shots. He said, "Be sure to hold his elbows, I remember Hailey being very strong." It's been over 2 years since her shots!

Either way, the picture I think tells it best. Bo really had a ho-hum, let's get this over with attitude so I can get back home and play some blocks!

Two Pods

Two peas in a pod can always cheer me up. I hope everyone is feeling ok, we've had alot of reports of the flu from partakers in our party on Saturday. But today, even feeling heavily under the weather, these guys can still make me smile! :)

I'm One!!!

Who you talking to? Me? You can't mess with me! It's my birthday and I am 1 today!!!

p.s. My Mom rocks!!

Bo's First Birthday Party

Ferret Cake! Meghan you did such a wonderful job! Thank you thank you thank you!

Front view!

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Bo-ooo.
Happy birthday to you.

Bo says: Thanks for everyone who made the trip for my first birthday party today!!! That includes Grandma with the Fire, Grandma with the Pony, Grandpa that goes with Grandma with the Pony, Uncle Earl, Aunt Jodi, Cousin Mason, Cousin Maggie, Uncle Stephy and our friends Tim and Jen with Addie and Henry, Joe and Meghan with Toby, Amber with Belle, and Jon and Pam with Victoria. So many people for our house, but so much fun!

Baking Day

In preparations for Bo's party tomorrow, obviously we had to pass some of the time today baking! Hailey and Mommy started out with chocolate covered marshmallows! The #1 benefit to baking treats at home?? Taste testing!

If you think that there might just be too much sprinkles added, you are not alone! They were just finishing up when company stopped over. Mommy answered the door and shortly after Hailey said, "Mommy, there aren't any sprinkles left. It's ok, there are more sprinkles in the cupboard!" Umm, Hailey? I think there just might be enough sprinkles! :)

To top off the day, Grandma Jane (a.k.a. Grandma with the Fire) and Hailey did some baking tonight too out of the Alphabet Bakery book. They were making kart-wheel cookies! I can't wait to try them tomorrow because they smelled oooooh soooo good!

An Explination and Bo's Big News

First I would like to answer a question that was raised in the comments from yesterday. Hailey is not enjoying Grandpa Zier's wine (I believe her daddy is though). She's having her very own sparkling raspberry juice. We pull out all the stops for game night!! We're hoping our kids will enjoy playing games with us for a very long time (even if they don't admit it to their friends when they get older). To that end, we surround game night with a lot of hoopla and bribery. I think we are starting to rub off on her a little bit. Those of you who have ever played Agricola with me (ok, just Joe and Meghan) will recognize this pose:

Last night Tony was so excited to report on game night that he forgot about Bo's big accomplishments. I hardly know which is more exciting. The first is that he helped me hang clothes up to dry (without even being asked).

Bo was watching me load the drying rack, and he picked up one of his Daddy's shirts and hung it on there. Here is a close up of us work. I think this is an impressive achievement for a male of any age!!
I promised Bo I wouldn't tell you all this, but here is the rest of the story. I was hanging up wet laundry because he learned to unscrew my water bottle and dumped about 28 ounces of water on the two of us. The shirt he hung up was clean and dry. He had just unloaded it from his Daddy's dresser a few minutes ago. Ok, so it wasn't that helpful, but impressive nonetheless.

Bo's second accomplishment was that he took 2 tiny steps!! Yeah!! Soooo Proud!!!
Actually, I don't know if Bo was even aware that he did it. His complete focus was on getting into stuff, and he just happened to do it by walking instead of crawling. Its been so funny and very interesting to see the difference between Hailey and Bo. Before Hailey learned to walk it enraged her that she had to crawl. She wanted to walk with every fiber of her being, and the moment she took those first little steps was a moment of great pride and joy. Bo on the other hand could really care less. He wants to get into stuff. All day all the time, that is his only ambition. A guy can get into stuff walking, or crawling, who cares.

Hi Ho Cherry Oh

Since Hailey was sick all day yesterday, we didn't have our usual game night on Tuesday. It was moved to tonight! The best part is our little order from Amazon.com arrived today with Hi Ho Cherry Oh! Hailey had a lot of fun playing it. If you're keeping score at home, Daddy won 2 games and Hailey won 1. We also played Hungry Hippo and Hailey won the only game we played. (I have to figure out how to beat her!) :)

Gardening Already?

It's official. Everyone in the house is ready for gardening season! Bo is perusing the Organic Gardening catalog while Hailey is marking off the days in May that we'll have to be doing some planting! Mom has been chomping at the bit already too. I think to quote her directly, yesterday she said, "Agh! It's only stinking February 1st??"

P.s. Goodbye winter, we have alot of work to do!

Are you coming?

To my birthday? It's on Saturday at 1. Well, are you? :)