Easter

I'm behind on updating, but I'm trying to catch up!

Easter was a busy, but fun weekend. The weekend before Easter, our nieces and my brother-in-law were in town, so we got to enjoy time with them that week. Tiny Dancer is obsessed with her cousin, A, so it was just about Tiny Dancer's best week ever. We also celebrated with my parents that weekend.

Easter weekend, on Saturday, the Easter Bunny visited our house! Since Dad was leading worship and I had to be at church early also for the nursery, my sister volunteered to keep the girls Saturday night and get them ready for Sunday morning church, so we requested the Bunny come to our house a day early so we could enjoy our time together.

We always leave our empty baskets by the front door. So, when we woke up Saturday morning, the baskets were gone, but the Bunny left a note telling the girls to look for some Easter eggs with treats hidden around the living room. Once they get those collected, Tiny Dancer found the "golden egg" which had another note in it: to look for some bigger eggs in Mom & Dad's room. These eggs had little plastic animal figurines in them - the girls love these things. The Bunny left another note telling the kids to look in The Baby's room for their hidden baskets. They found them - full of some treats, snacks, little toys, and a shirt. The last note said there was a giant egg hidden in the bathroom. Tiny Dancer found it in the bathtub. It had "Rise of the Guardians" DVD in it. She was so excited because 1) she really wanted that movie and 2) she said she was hoping the Easter Bunny would leave a giant egg with a treat in it for her. She comes up with some crazy stuff - I bet it took that Easter Bunny a long time to find a giant egg!

After that, we met the Naylors at Steak N Shake for lunch and went to the mall on a whim to see the Easter Bunny.



The husband and I were at church that night, so the girls stayed with my parents and then went to their aunt's to spend the night. The next morning, Dad, The Baby and I got up and ready for Easter morning. Once church was over (the girls showed up with fabulous hair, courtesy of their hair stylist aunt), we went to my grandma's house and had an Easter egg hunt and enjoyed time with family. We ended the day watching Rise of the Guardians (for like the 3rd time by then). I love holidays with my family - they mean so much to me! How good is this picture?! The girls looked gorgeous with their hair and their beautiful dresses. Tiny Dancer's dress was so perfectly "her" - frilly and prissy! And The Baby with his (huge) tie - ha! A little big, but I wanted him to wear a tie and you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find baby boy dress clothes!

April Update

We are nearing the end of the school year. This is exciting because we love summers! My parents have a pool and live 2 streets away. My sister is looking into buying a house, also with a pool, and will live in the same town. We love playing in the pool! And my parents bought the kids a zoo membership for Easter, so we get to have fun at the zoo while paying little to no money (always a plus!). Here's an update on the kids:


Tiny Dancer:
She has kindergarten registration on May 7th. I'm sad and excited for this chapter in her life. She is a super smart girl, but I'm really trying to work with her on sight words and lower case letters. She gets bored easily and doesn't really want to try... I'm hoping once we start challenging her, she won't be as bored as quickly. She's currently trying to earn a new Fresh Beat Band game for her LeapPad with a whining/complaining reward chart. For every sticker she earns from not complaining or whining, she earns 25 cents toward this game. It seems to be taking her quite some time to earn the whole $7.50 for the game, but I have noticed a change in her attitude overall. She's an excellent helper, helping babies, holding them, feeding them, etc. She is very fond of cuddling with The Baby. If he's having a hard time napping and she's home, he lays down with her and is out in no time. It's so sweet and I'm excited to see how their relationship develops over the next year.


Little Monster:
She is nearing the 2 year mark. Although she doesn't speak as many words as big sis did at this age, she is extremely smart, fearless and an excellent problem solver. She plays well on her own and she's an amazing sleeper! She hardly ever cries when it's bedtime and her transition from crib to toddler bed (in a whole new room) was practically seamless. She's told me twice now that she has to go potty and she's went on the potty chair. Other times, she doesn't care at all when we try to push it. She is working on her colors and she's very good at animal sounds and body parts. She learns several new words a day. She loves dancing and singing, especially to The Fresh Beat Band or Elmo or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's also really good with the babies, although when she tries to "help" it's not really as helpful as she wants. ;)


The Baby:
He will be 6 months old next week - this is just crazy! I can't believe 6 months went by so quickly! He is such a sweet, quiet boy. He is an easy sleeper (like Little Monster). We just weaned him from the swaddle, but I don't even know if I'd call it weaning because one night I just didn't do it and he never fussed. We wrap up his legs to keep him warm, but he sleeps great. He hardly even moves in his crib. And he's sleeping most nights through the night - amazing for me. I have been so tired lately; I really needed this! He rolls over, though not very often. He's so laid back and he doesn't really need to roll over to get anything. He does like playing with toys, so that's usually the only reason he will roll over - to get a closer look at a toy or to grab one. We've given him cereal a few times, but I'm just about to start fruits and vegetables. We do have to really watch him for food allergies since it runs in the family now. :-/ We are hoping and praying he won't have any issues at all. He does have some pretty bad eczema patches, especially on his face, and eczema CAN go along with food allergies, although it can be an issue on its own. He's not in any hurry to sit up or crawl around... like I said, he's as laid back as they come. He's by far my easiest baby. I'm still so amazed that he is here - since we were actively trying to NOT have a baby, it's still kind of weird that he's here! I honestly just love this kid SO MUCH. The fact that he looks identical to the love of my life just means he'll probably be spoiled. My dad is the baby of 3 with 2 older sisters and my grandma would still peel his tomatoes when he was an adult... yep, that'll be me!