Invisible Ink/Paint

Who ever thought of invisible ink (or paint in this case) was for sure a mom AND a genius! Sure you have to use special paper, but the paint is clear and turns color when it touches the paper. This helps when mommy wants to get a few things done before a big trip and Paige has other plans. This kept her busy for a good while as I was packing and making piles all around the house today.

31 Months Old

My baby is 31 months old! Note, she had to bring her monkey in the picture too!

Legos

Today Paige enjoyed independent play with Legos, this is something new for her! Usually she asks me to play Legos with her, today I emptied the dishwasher and did a few things around the kitchen while listening to her play alone. Her goal was to make a "kennel" for the elephant and she made sure he was "NEVER EVER" going to get out. I love seeing her play like this, and hearing her imagination at work!

Grand View Lodge

We went on a little family adventure yesterday! Ryan had an overnight work meeting at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, so we jumped in the car for the 2 hour drive and headed north. Paige was excited, she knew she was going to be able to go swimming and spend the night away from home. When we got there we went directly to the pool and stayed there for 2 + hours. She loved the zero entry and I loved that we had the pool to ourselves! There's a big water slide, but they turn the water features off in the winter months I guess? Either way, she liked swimming around and playing with all the balls. It was 80 degrees in the pool area and the pool was nice and warm. The view from the pool was overlooking the lake, the frozen lake and blowing winds seemed like a world away! There were fish houses and lots of snowmobiles that were very interesting to Paige...from the pool she'd say "is that another snowmobile", "oh, that's a pretty one". It was a great day and we even had a cute little cabin all to ourselves, it was a great new family memory! I wish I would have brought my camera to the pool, I forgot it in the car and wasn't about to go back out to the subzero temps to get it!

The view from our front window...brrrr!

 Relaxing after our pool adventure 

 The kitchen

 The living room

 The bedroom...she didn't sleep in the pack n' play...she's to tall and ended up "sleeping" in bed with me. We had to kick Ryan out to the living room because she kept waking up saying, "daddy is snoring and waking me up".

 Working like daddy!

Children's Museum

We went on our first family adventure to the Children's Museum! It was so much fun, Paige is at the PERFECT age to enjoy it all! She loved it and we could have left her to play in the water forever, she loved playing with the blocks as well. You could see her little mind taking everything in, she was amazed and kept saying "lets go find something else". We got there when it opened and left around 11:20...it was the perfect amount of time as it got really crowded right when we were leaving. What a fun family outing!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy 69th Birthday Grandpa...I know you're glad to have one more year in your 60's! It was a fun night of celebrating grandpa and enjoying time as a family...not to mention yummy food! Paige had a blast playing with Andy and Alice and they were so sweet to her. She said the favorite part of her night was when Andy pretended to be her horse...so cute.

Happy Birthday!

Ice Cream Date!

We had an ice cream date at Two Scoops the other night. When I think of Two Scoops I usually think of summer, so going in the winter was a treat...Paige and I shared her cone and she loved it. She said that "Banilla" is her favorite.

Look who else showed up...Kiki was having a special "daddy daughter date" that night :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Paige woke up bright and early (5:15am to be exact) this morning and she was excited to see that there were hearts all over the kitchen. She was served heart pancakes and even got a few little gifts. It was very sweet to see how excited she was about it. I told her this day is all about love and that Ryan and I  love her so much! She said "thank you mommy for all the pretty hearts"...that was enough for me! I LOVE this girl and her daddy...I am blessed!

 My attempt at heart shaped pancakes!

 Snow White is watching close to make sure the owl project turns out.

 Working on her owl craft...now hanging on the fridge

Note the fresh snowfall, it was a beautiful morning! 

Snow Castle!

Paige and I put the Christmas gift from Gma and Gpa to good use! We took advantage of the warmer temps and wet snow to build my princess an snow castle. She desperately wanted to knock it down when we were done, but I talked her out of it...for today anyway.  It always amazes me how much better I feel after a trip outside, especially when the sun is shining. Fresh air does a body good and makes me want spring to arrive tomorrow!

As I type, we're waiting for the deer to show up in our back yard. We put extra feed out for them today (per Paige's request) and I'm hoping we don't miss their visit.