March 28, 2012

A Visit from Uncle Jamie!

Uncle Jamie came to visit!
Cara was so happy to see her uncle and had a great time right from the start.  Gwen was a little wary and was so happy to see him that she burst into tears whenever she saw him for the first few days!
Uncle Jamie won Gwen over by being super silly and putting a diaper on her as a hat...she has a great sense of humour!
Gwen said goodbye to the highchair this week - we upgraded to:
A pink booster for our princess.  She eats with us at the table now and loves it.
We took Uncle Jamie for a walk/bike ride for Cara to the dog park.  Jamie caught this great action shot!
Uncle Jamie also got this great shot of Cara.
The weather wasn't the greatest for the visit but we went to the zoo anyway on Friday even though it was -7 and snowing!  They opened a new penguin exhibit and we waited for 1.5 hours to go in to see them for about 15 min.  The kids waited well for about the first 45 min.  Then we all took turns holding Gwen.
They let 60 in at a time and the group ahead of us cut off right in front of us so we were first in line for our turn.
It is a very nice exhibit and you get very close to the penguins.  There are 4 species all hanging out together.  This is a Rockhopper penguin.
You can watch them swim (and they can watch you - this guy was staring at Cara a moment before).
A King penguin.
A Gentoo penguin.
There are Humboldt penguins too but no pic this time.
The penguins swim right at about shoulder height and they splash!  Daddy and Gwen got a bit wet.
The Byrnes with the giant penguins!
Uncle Jamie and the girls and the penguins.
Daddy had a run in with a goose.
Gwen watching a tiger before she finally gave up and had a nap in the cold.
Cara loves to pose with this statue.
Cara roars like a grizzly...
Gwen giggles like a grizzly...
Uncle Jamie grumbles like a grizzly!
As the snow started to fall again and we saw everything we wanted to see we left the zoo with one last smile from Gwen.
Sunday we had a great dinner at Nana & Howie's.  And a chance for a group shot!
Uncle Jamie is so good that when Cara wanted to do chalks in the cold he bundled up and did some chalks (for a good 10 minutes!).
When Cara was planning her visit with Uncle Jamie she wanted to do one thing - make cupcakes!  So on the last day we got to do it.  It was a rainy/snowy day and Gwen had come down with a stomach bug that morning so it was a good day to stay in and bake.  And the cupcakes were delicious!
 Gwen, while sick, had her apron on too and was maybe going to fry some of these fish cards...
She is still recovering today and is starting to eat solids again - we are all hoping that it all stays down and our happy Gwen is back to normal soon.

Jamie headed back home on Tuesday.  We had a great visit and Cara and Gwen had a lot of fun with their uncle.  Thanks, Uncle Jamie!  xoxoxo

March 19, 2012

Happy Saint Paddy's Day

Spring is almost here and we are so happy about that!  After an easy winter we got the bird feeder out and filled it up for the spring birds.  The chickadees arrived quickly!
Cara dug in the dirt while I caught the chickadee action!
We made toilet paper roll bird feeders - peanut butter and bird seed.  Cara loved making them and...
...the chickadees appreciated her work!  In fact we hung them up, she called "here birdies!" and within about 2 minutes the birds showed up!  Then later on the squirrels showed up and stole one of the roll feeders and we saw one sitting in the tree chowing down the next day!
This week was Cara's final ballet class.  This teacher has a lot of patience!
Notice that Cara is the only one actually doing the move :)
Tiny ballerinas!
Jumping ballerinas!
Running ballerinas!
Hopping ballerinas!
Gwen watched and watched and was very patient.
Cara getting her diploma!
Then after class Gwen got to dance/run around too!  That made Gwen very happy!
One final pirouette from Cara.  It was St Patrick's Day and she insisted on wearing her green all day...she loves her Irish heritage!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day from the Byrne Girls!
We started the day with green pancakes, had peas with lunch, and for supper had green milk, green mashed potatoes, asparagus and green icing on cupcakes!

We are getting ready for a visit from Uncle Jamie this week so check back next week for some more great pictures of our adventures with him!

March 12, 2012

Half Winter Half Spring

We had 2 seasons in one week this week!  On Wednesday we got bundled up and played in the big piles of snow that fell on Monday and Tuesday.  Cara and Gwen sat for a photo but watched some geese flying and honking overhead.
Big sister "played" with little sister by scooping snow on her head...
...little sister still thinks this kind of thing is funny!
Gwen also discovered the joy of eating snow.  She would dip her fingers in the snow then lick each one and say "mmm"!
By the weekend the snow was practically all gone and it was great spring weather!  We went to the playground for the first play of 2012!
Cara loves her playground!
So does Gwen!  She is so brave sliding all on her own - at the bottom she just flips over and gets down and walks to the steps to do it all over again!
She still loves the swings too.
And Cara is getting good at the big kid swings...her legs are sooo long!
Cara talking to Daddy on the playground phone.
Gwen and Daddy having a swing!