Why I Oughta...

My oldest couldn't be more proud of her painting that is hanging up in the local coffee shop in town as part of a gallery/collection of kids art.  We made a special trip to the coffee shop just so she could show it to me.  I'm so impressed with her and her willingness to be an artist.  Something I could never quite do when I was younger.

Let's get after it with some egg dying, outdoor egg huts, and potato salad, right?

For Christmas, the Babe picked up a few more Goldie Box sets including the 'Builders Survival Set' that includes lots of parts and some new builds.  One of them - and the one that the Babe immediately gravitated towards was the tea cup ride .  You can see what she built here and I was really impressed that it actually worked! Some of the parts weren't a super tight fit and the orange band kept falling off the wheels, but when you turn the handle the thing whirls around.   And...most importantly...light up her face.  She was geeked out over building it and wanted to show it to everyone who was around. And...isn't that the point?  This is, after all, a super girl-y girl.  She likes dresses and ballet and shopkins and pink.  Anything pink.  But...Goldie Blox scratch her right where she itches.  She's into them big time.  And is learning how to solve problems and build things. So...thanks, Goldie Blox!

 When the shoveling is done (or mostly done...), the girls wanted to play.  Don't mind if we do.

During the most recent polar vortex, the Babe and I went out in the front yard for some snow angels and getting pulled around the block in a sled.  The weather, did however, take the other two kids out of play for the night.  That's just fine with me as I got to spend some 1:1 time with the top dog.

I was back there cleaning things out when I discovered this gross mess.  This is the cupholder in the way-back of the van.  The Babe was using it as her personal garbage can.  Candy wrappers I expected.  But...ATM receipts and apple cores?  Not so much.

We went to see the movie 'Big Hero 6' late last week and over the weekend, the Babe whipped up her fan art of the six heroes all from memory. That's Wasabi, BayMax and Hiro on the top. Go-Go, Fred, and Honey Lemon on the bottom row. She's a genius!

Here's the same event from back in 2012 . The Bird really grew up!

Like in year's past, this year we tried another water putty witch.   Here's the mold we used in 2012. This years is smaller, but has her riding on her broom.  The Babe is going to get busy painting this gal over the weekend when we have other things we need to attend to!

We start 'em young at the Parrillo household. If you read our family blog (which you most likely don't!), you've seen a few of the photos over the years of the girls on this very important day in our house:  election day.  I think I've chronicled (over there) every time we've taken them to the polls. For some history from this blog: Here's a photo of  the Babe back in 2010 when she voted for the 2nd time. And  here's the first time The Babe came to the polling place back in 2010 when she was just a month old . After all these years of supporting Tom Cross, we got our first chance to vote for him on the ballot.  It felt nice!

We were in the Hobby Shop up in Watervliet over the New Year's holiday and The Babe spotted these vintage "New Old Stock" (as the guy called them) craft projects.  They were buy-one-get-one-free, so we picked up both of these. The Babe did the flower one all by herself.  I used a tweezer to clean up a lot of the little beads that were in the 'wrong' section, but this one was 99.5% her. These type of sun-catchers were all over Nat's Grandmother's kitchen.

We took the girls to Brookfield Zoo last Saturday.  The temperature was oddly warm which meant that we weren't the only ones who had the bright idea to go to Zoo Lights.  The traffic was a mess, but once we got inside (and parked in the South Lot!), we had a great time.  We even rode the carousel....which we never do (according to the Babe)!

Over the Christmas Break, the girls brought over some coloring books to Nat's folks house.  This isn't unusual.  We roll with coloring books.  The girls' "Uncle Bill" is a pretty artistic guy.  He was sitting down at the table and decided to join in on the fun.  10 minutes later, he was done with this beauty. The Babe, however, wasn't impressed.  She said..."That's not what color Pinkie Pie is supposed to be, Uncle Bill.  She's supposed to be pink and purple." To which Uncle Bill replied, "Well...I've never seen a pink and purple horse before."

Over the weekend, we took both girls out to Berens Park for the Elmhurst Park District's annual "Touch-a-Truck" program.  The weather was awesome, the crowds weren't too huge (once the helicopter arrived!) and we had a ton of fun. Touch-a-Truck is a really neat program that the Park District pulls together.  They bring out their own equipment (see the tractor above), but also work with community partners to bring out all the cool stuff.  Fire Trucks, Police Cars, Moving Trucks, Jewel Refrigerated Trucks, and even...a helicopter.  Yep!  A medical helicopter. As soon as it landed in one of the baseball fields, the lines for all the other trucks got cut in half, so we quickly boarded a bunch of them then made our way to the helicopter area and waited in line. At the end?  We even got the Babe on the chopper!  Pretty cool stuff.  Good job, Elmhurst Park District!

This week, I found time to get out and hit the sledding hill at Eldridge Park in Elmhurst with the Babe.  We bundled her up like Randy and she hit the hill with some of her cousins. I had to literally drag her away from the hill.  I think we'll be back if this snow hangs around.

Hulkamania is going to run wild all over the Babe's toys!  Good to see that one of my childhood toys in the same basket as the Disney princesses.

I took both of my girls to see the Menards Halloween display.  The Babe loved everything but the scary ghosts/witches while The Bird mostly just hung out in her car set. Here's the photo I took of The Babe just one year ago .  Can't believe how much she's grown!

With a little bit of help, The Babe bested me in this water-gun shooting game on the Disney Boardwalk in Orlando.  This was our first visit to the Boardwalk area - and we came just for dinner -but it sure feels like it won't be our last.  There's an ESPN restaurant, a couple of hotels and a brewery...which is where we went for dinner.  

The Babe behind the wheel at The Farm at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Momma and her first born who LOVED the St. Joe's fireworks.