Happy Birthday Selina!

When I wasn't looking she unrolled the wrapping paper...but only the top section, she ripped the entire roll in half

Big hugs for the birthday girl, 2-year-old Selina

Hanging out with Koen at Sulphur Creek Nature Center before the party began

Checking out a snake

Sulphur Creek Nature Center is an animal rehabilitation center and includes a play area for the kids to learn how they take care of sick animals

Everyone listens to the Naturalist talk about the animals we are going to meet

We enjoyed holing the bunny

Claire and Mimi petting the super-soft chinchilla

Riley and Selina examine a really large turtle shell

Selina blowing out her candles

Giving her buddy a piggyback ride

The kids loved running around the empty room

Riley loves taking care of her babies, here she is feeding one some cheerios

She also recently attached to a Frosty...that is actually our Christmas card holder

She even read him a story

I have no idea how she managed to color on her forehead with a purple crayon

Placing snowflake gel stickers on the window

On Saturday we celebrated Selina's 2nd birthday at the Sulphur Creek Nature Center. We go here every month for Toddler Time, but the kids really enjoyed seeing the animals as a small group. Each child even got to hold a bunny. After lunch and some cake they burned off the sugar by running around the empty room - you really don't need big plans to keep 6 toddlers happy. We were happy to be part of Selina's day.

Just in time for all the gift-giving and receiving, Riley has mastered "Please," "Thank You," and "You're Welcome." She figured out "pease" long ago, as soon as she learned that was the way to get what she wanted. Being polite after you have what you want is much harder to learn but she's pretty consistent now. Its adorable to hear her happily say "Thank you!" as she trots off with the crayon or whatever she was asking for. Sometimes she says, "Thank you, you're welcome" so maybe saying she has these mastered is a bit strong.

We continue our Christmas preparations. Riley likes playing with the presents, she especially enjoys swapping bows and tags. Christmas morning will be very interesting. Riley has some Christmas stuffed animals and her favorite is a snowman...that sits on top of our card holder. She fed it a bottle, read it a story and carried it around all day, with the card-holding portion dragging along behind. You just never know what she is going to attach to!