A Snowy Day at the Minnesota Zoo

Sadie's been learning about farms at daycare, and also just finished reading Charlottes' Web with Mommy, so when we found out the farm babies were going to be at the zoo, we jumped at the chance to go! Cullen and Jill met us there, and we had a great day! It snowed... but it was a beautiful, white snow; and it wasn't windy at all, so it was pleasant to be out in the fresh air. Sadie liked the fish and wolves, but when we got to the farm, she didn't have the time of day for any animal but the baby pig. As you can see, she even got to pet one! Phil and Cullen loved the tigers, and they really put on a show for us, sneaking up on one another, playing and wrestling in the powdery snow. We had a great day, and Sadie was asleep before we even left the "Dolphin lot"!

Sadie swims

Sadie started swimming lessons again, and is lovin' every minute of it. She is such a good listener. When all the other kids are splashing and running all over the place, Sadie just sits and waits on the top step until it's her turn! As for the swimming-- she's fantastic! She can swim for a little ways on her front, and can float around all day on her back! Sadie also enjoys diving to the bottom of the pool to get the magic wand! It's so fun to see her make progress, and her teacher's the best! The best part for Sadie is getting to wear all her new swimsuits!

Egg-heads

Here we are dyeing eggs in preparation for the Easter Bunny's appearance! As you can see, we had quite the time... glitter, glue and foil added to the fun! Sadie was really impressed by Auntie Cassie's "magic eggs". When she dropped them into the dye, they were just plain eggs. But when she pulled them out, her name was there! (ala crayon!) She also had fun with cousin Finn and Uncle Cam.

Other than that, Sadie has been keeping busy learning about farms at daycare and watching American Idol. (She loves Ramiele.) She's getting so tall and is really a very sweet girl. She makes Mommy proud every day!

Uncle Terry's 65th Birthday

Uncle Terry had the party of the year at a St. Paul bar and we all helped him celebrate. Paul and Cassie sang. Sadie and her cousins, Lydia and Mikaylea, danced the night away. Mom even played Alex Trebek for a fun-filled game of Terry Jeopardy!

Phil's new niece, Ireland Eileen Kelly McDermott

Here are some pictures of baby Ireland McDermott, the first girl to enter into the McDermott family in a while! Sadie and I actually drove Ireland's mom, Kelly, to the hospital! Phil's brother, Kevin was still at work, and Kelly and I had just worked a half day because of conferences, so she had to call me to get her there! Everybody made it, though, and Sadie's so excited she was a girl! She's re-named all of her babies "Ireland" now!

Quotables

So, here are Sadie's quotables from the last couple months:
1. "But that doesn't make sensitive!"
2. "Skancke Doodle went to town riding on a pony..." (It's in her genes! She's making her grandma proud!)
3. At Finn's birthday yesterday, she was talking about how she couldn't wait for summer to get here and said "Yes. And EVENTUALLY I will get to wear my swimsuit and run through the sprinklers in the backyard." (Making her English-teaching Momma proud!)

And here she is practicing her teaching and reading aloud skills to her Uncle Cam and cousin Finley. She loves a captive audience!

Phil's birthday

We spent the weekend in Waseca to celebrate Phil's birthday. He had lots of fun, as you can see. Grandma Brenda made him a Notre Dame angel food cake. Auntie Cassie and Uncle Cam gave him a sweet shirt. He and Sadie "watched" a lot of nationalgeographicforkids.com. And of course, as you can see, he and Cam got to play Barbies.