oakland zoo

today we spent the day at the oakland zoo. we have loved having passes, and the kiddos always love the time there. this was amelia's most "interactive" trip there. she seemed to love looking at them, and in her own language seemed to be telling us what she saw. she LOVED petting and brushing the goats, whereas kate has just seemed to warm up to doing it. it was fun spending the day with daddy, and it was a preview of weekends to come when we have the house finished (or nearly finished:). amelia ended up having a fever tonight, but otherwise it was a really fun day.

the floors

for those of you who care (mostly my parents, i'm sure) here are some pictures of the floors tim put in. this is another HUGE thing that we were able to cross off our house project "to do" list. tim worked REALLY hard installing them with our neighbor and help from his dad and a friend. it took 6 really long, hard days of work to tear out the existing and install all new hardwood throughout the house. tim's back still hurts (he is almost 35 you know-getting old), but we LOVE the final result.

funny conversation

kate and i had a funny conversation this evening. this is about how it went:
kate:"why are you making dinner for you and daddy?"
me: "because daddy and mommy are going to have a dinner date after you go to bed."
kate: "why?"
me: "because we like each other."
kate: "you love each other......and you spank each other."
OH MY GOODNESS!!!! what are we teaching our children. i sure hope that we have not scared her for life, and no, we do not spank each other in front of our kids. i'm so glad that she said this to me and not someone else. i guess we need to start being careful about what we say to one another in front of the kiddos. at least they know we love each other:)

baking together

today kate and i made lemon bars together. sadly it was our first baking experience, mostly because i used to try and do most of my cooking & baking while the girls were napping. however, with kate not napping anymore, i am trying to use amelia's nap time to do "just kate" things. it's crazy how old she seems now that we have a one-year-old. she was able to scoop the dry ingredients, pour them into the bowl, and count the number of scoops of things. it was fun having her help me, and we didn't even make too much of a mess:) notice in the picture that she was "mixing" next to me with her own pink kitchenaid:) i'm glad my mom was (and is) such a great cook and was always in the kitchen. it's a fun thing that i love to do and hope that my girls will learn to love as well.