The Toddler Laws of Property

This is a shirt that my friend Cami gave me when I was pregnant with Jilly. I loved it, and have been waiting for Jilly to get big enough to wear it. Well, she's been doing so for a while and last night I decided I needed to blog about it, because I'm sure all mamas of toddlers can relate! :-)





It reads:
The Toddler Laws of Property
1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
4. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.
5. If I think it's mine, it's mine.

And then, because I can never resist picture spam, here are some picutres of Jilly.

Jilly loves our camera and will walk around with it "taking pictures". Well, we turned it on a couple times for her, to see what she would do and she surprised us by actually taking pictures! My baby is (so not) a photography genius! ;-)

This is the couch.


And these red things are her feet, along with a pillow.


The other day, my mom tooks Jilly and I out for some shopping and time at Granny's. I'd decided to dress Jilly in this super cute outfit from Talbot's Kids that my mom got a while ago, because it was cold and I wanted something new. It kinda freaked me out, because to me, she looked all ready for school, and she's not even 2! My baby looked all grown up to me. Plus, the outfit is so cute, I needed a picture.

As soon as I wouldn't let Jilly hold the camera, she started throwing a tantrum and wouldn't let me get a good picture. So here's Tantrum Girl:


This is a better photo of her face, but doesn't really show off the outfit. Oh well.


This is from when we went to Silver Lake Park a few weeks ago with Playgroup. We were at the beach part and I stripped Jilly down so she could go in the water. She found the stroller just as fascinating.


And last but not least. a big fat cheesy grin from my kid who LOVES getting her picture taken.

Picture Spam!

These are a few more pictures from the Primary Activity previously blogged about. My friend Kati took these adorable pictures with her awesome camera after mine pooped out (due to insufficient battery power). Enjoy them!!

Jilly kept wanting to play with the hose.


Jills and Mama play.


Jilly has her first popsicle.


Kate came and sat on Jilly's towel with her. She was just a little chilly, if you can't guess! ;-)


Bottom's up!


I really like this Mama! Can I please have another?


I love the way she held the popsicle.


I was surprised she could keep it up.


And then she started biting pieces off. Nice job, Jills!

Our July Zoo Trip!

I mentioned it earlier that we went to the Zoo back in July with my family and Regan. My Auntie Karen was visiting from Edmonton with her 12-year-old boys, Travis and Robert. She took up to the Zoo and we all had a blast!! In total, there were 8 of us: Karen, Robert, Travis, Katie, Andy, Regan, Jilly and me. We got there around 10 or 10:30am and cruised around the Zoo until about 3:00pm, I think. We saw most of the Zoo. We had to rush at the end, but we enjoyed it thoroughly. The only bad part was that it took me until about 2pm, when we were at the flamingoes for me to realize the back of my neck was scorched!! Total bummer! It hurt (along with the part in my hair) for several days. I've learned my lesson to take sunscreen with me everywhere!

Here are the pictures. I took a ton. I tried not to repeat anything that I posted from our last trip. So hopefully, these are new pictures. For anyone who's never been to Woodland Park Zoo, it's FABULOUS! Seriously, I love the Zoo. You NEED to hit this one. And Jilly and I would be happy to show it to you! ;-)

Jilly and Mama at the golden hippo. The requisite photo-op at Woodland Park.

The sleeping lion. They were close up this time!

The African Wild Dogs, there are three of them, snoozing on each other.

A closer pic of the elephant than last time.

Jilly spinning the display at the Raptors before lunch. She LOVED doing that.


Jilly's first skinned knee. This is what happens when you try to run faster than your feet can take you.

We stopped and ate lunch at this point. Jilly was her typical moocher self and ate like half of Regan's yogurt! Like we didn't have enough other food for her, insatiable baby. ;-) After lunch we continued on our trek around the Zoo.

The bears!

Auntie Karen, Jilly and Auntie Katie watching the bears.

Robert and Travis watching as well. We spent a lot of time with the bears.

These are the birds you could pay to feed. They were flying around like crazy and very pretty!

Willawong Station, Feeding the Birds


Auntie Karen, Regan and Jilly checking out the gorillas.

Travis, Andy and Robert too cool to be up at the window.

I can't remember for the life of me what the name of this animal is, but it was SO CUTE! Regan- help! What is it? It was by the Komodo Dragon.

Tortoises, as it so clearly states.

The Komodo Dragon

Jilly, trying to relax in her stroller in the sun.

The jaguar was pacing back and forth in front of the glass like crazy.


Uncle Andy wanted to see what Jilly would look like wearing his sunglasses. She loved wearing them!!

The toucan was cute and made a funny sound!


The gorillas were way cool. They woke up while we were there.

The Red Tailed Panda, way up in the tree.

There are the highlights from our expedition. We had a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back. For my birthday, Regan got me a Zoo membership! THANKS REGS!! Now I can go whenever I want and can get up to 5 guests in for half-off! Freaking awesome.

Fun in the Sun!

A couple months ago, as a Primary Presidency, we started planning a fun summer activity for the kids. We really wanted to do an outdoor, water activity. After much planning, we were all ready for July 31st. I made and handed out the invites (beach balls, they were pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself) and we were all excited. The day arrived and.....it rained. Like pouring rain! And cold!! So one hour prior to the start of the activity, we're all calling the kids frantically, telling them it's been cancelled for that day. Total bummer!

We rescheduled for one week later, and it was such a good thing we did! It was a beautiful sunny warm day! We held it at a nearby park and had a blast! We had several events for the kids.

The first was the "Ice Cube Melt". We split into two teams, put them in a circle and handed them an ice cube. They had to melt the ice cube before the other team, using ONLY their hands. Once the first person's hands got too cold, they passed it to the next player, and so on. The first team to finish, wins!







Our next event was the water balloon toss. Fairly standard, everyone pairs up and makes two lines. They toss the balloon and after each successful catch, they each take one step backwards, thus increasing the space between them. We let the kids start over when they broke a balloon. Again, good times for all.








Next was the Sponge Race! This is a relay race. Two teams, two buckets per team. The bucket at the start line is full of water. Then at the finish line, an empty bucket with a line marked on it, a la Double Dare. Each team member has to soak a big sponge with water, then run to the other side and squeeze the sponge into the empty bucket. They then run back to the other side and hand the sponge off to the next person. First team to fill their bucket to the line, wins! Of course, I overestimated how much water they would get from one bucket to the other, and our teams ran out of water! Luckily, it was just as one team reached their line. Oops! It was still fun! Jilly and I sat between the buckets as judges, and cheered everyone on.







My friend Michelle, sweet as always, offered to take a picture of Jilly and me. I gladly accepted, because there seem to be very few pictures of both of us. :-) Of course, Jilly didn't get the memo about where to look. But I still love it!
(And yes, that is my swimsuit, not some skanky shirt I wore to a church activity. ;-))

Next up for our enjoyment was the Water Balloon Squat. Another relay race, this one the teams have to run across, get a water balloon and sit on it until it pops! Then run back and tag the next team member. First team to get everyone in line to pop a balloon, wins.






We had one non-water game. Commonly known as Michelle's boring Egg Race, it was actually quite fun!!! (For those of you who weren't at our planning meeting, we kept teasing Michelle that her Egg Race was going to be boring, compared to all the water games, which of course it so wasn't!!) She has this awesome game kit, that has 4 sets with a spoon, egg shell and egg white/yolk bean bag inside. We split the kids into 4 teams, they had to run to the other side and back, while balancing the egg. If it fell off, it would "break" and you'd have to start over. It's such a cute game! No mess and completely re-usable, since it's all durable plastic and bean bags. Score!!




We also had a Penny Pool. In a little inflatable pool, we put 15 pennies. On the backs of 5, I marked them with a Sharpie. The kids had to pick up a penny with their toes. If they got a black one, then they got a special prize (piece of candy, ooooh).




Last but not least, we had lots of bubbles for them to play with.






There was one extra-special part about the day we had the activity. One of the girls, Jenna, turned 4 that day! Here's the big birthday girl, having a blast at the activity!


We had a ton of fun. Thanks to Heidi, Michelle and Kati for all your hard work and preparation! Major kudos to Brad L, Justin and Brad A for lugging around a bunch of stuff, hauling water and procuring our popsicle treats. It was a great time for our Primary!