Coming out of hibernation

It has been a rough two months.  Little A. and Big A. both had horrible colds.  Mine was worse.  I missed some work and kept A. out of daycare for a few days as well.  After two rounds of ear infections and three rounds of anti-biotics (that was just me), we are much better.   We are beyond ready for some much needed fun!

A. is taking a dance class one day a week at her school.  She loves it so much, she asks me almost every morning, "dance class?".  This photo is her first time trying on the leotard and tights.  For a girl who won't wear dresses or skirts, I was surprised how eager she was to try it on.  She wanted to sleep in it!  The first day she wore it to class I could tell she felt silly in it but now she is very proud of it.  We are working on getting her the appropriate shoes.  She actually has a recital in May, which I'm very excited about.  I ask her to show me what she's learned and she keeps saying, "pleazay" and a few other words while she shows me her fancy moves.

   

We did make it to the zoo on a day right before I started back to work.  A. was most thrilled about the monkeys and elephants.  She was mildly entertained by feeding the parakeets, but kept saying the entire time, "monkeys again mommy" or "elephants please".  The rest of the zoo was of no interest to her, especially once we found the playground.

This weekend was the Japanese Festival in Ft. Worth Botanic Garden.  We went with friends that A. calls "and Samuel" and had a wonderful time.  We listened to drums, got names written in Japanese, wore some origami paper hats, fed the koi, and got plenty of sun!

A. fell asleep that afternoon on the way home and did not wake up until 6 a.m. the next day.  I carried my sleeping child into the house from the car for the first time.  It made me remember all the times my parents carried me in. 

Today was a visit to a goat farm. We went to our local farmer's market last weekend and met the lady who makes goat cheeses.  She invited us to her open house this weekend so we took a tour.  I was very impressed with her care of the goats.  They are fed lots of grain while they are on the milking platform, they get animal crackers as a treat when they are done being milked (except for two who don't like them and they get peanuts, I thought it was cute that the lady found them a treat they liked), they come when called by their names, and their babies get plenty of fresh mama's milk with the remainder being made into cheese.  They were selling organic herbs as well so I got some lemon verbena and some lemon balm.  A. and I planted it this evening and she was a good little helper!  It was a great weekend but I am pooped!  More pictures in the next post.