Easter at my parents

After nap time we went to my parents for Easter dinner and egg hunt. I should say after Emily's nap since Stephanie decided not to take on that day. She was sure acting like it later on that night. Emily had some difficulty getting use to everyone again but it can be a little overwhelming when so many people want to hold you. I'm sure she'll get more use to it this summer when she sees everyone more often. After dinner the kids had an Easter egg hunt upstairs due to the foot and a half of snow outside. Maybe not that much since some had melted from the Good Friday snowstorm. Stephanie liked finding eggs since with herthings at home she plays "where is it" as she shrugs her shoulders. But she was a little too slow to find many. This year she didn't know any different though. Thankfully all the eggs were found so my parents don't have to wait for any bad smells to appear. The kids also had a basket to find and Stephanie liked taking everyone else stuff even though she had the same thing in her basket. She sure had her share of Easter candy and discovered the wonderful world of jelly beans for the first time. Now she looks for them in all the eggs around the house. Poor Emily got Cheerios but she doesn't care because I think she is a picky eater like me. That's not going to be good.

Easter morning

Before I forgot I need to post about the girls' Easter. Emily was up first but Jeff let me sleep in a little an had to move her basket because she found it right away. It was underneath her Jumperoo (stationary jumper) and she is always crawling under it. Then once I got up when Stephanie I let Stephanie play a little bit before looking for her basket. Emily was trying to take a nap and wouldn't you know the minute I go upstairs to tend to Emily, Stephanie finds her basket. She was very excited and she was shaking all the eggs, taking out the grass, and looking to see what she got. Emily was not ready to sleep so she got up and her basket was brought back out for her and she also was excited about the eggs and Stephanie Easter grass. Her basket didn't have any grass. That smart Easter Bunny. The girls got to play with their Easter stuff a little and then we went to church. The girls were very good even though it was a little different than they are use to. We had to sit in the lobby area and listen to mass because it was so packed. Our church is packed at every mass so holidays are super packed. There are chairs and couches for people plus lots of people standing out there too. There were a bunch of little girls running around which I didn't think was appropriate and Stephanie wanted to join them and got a little upset when I said she couldn't. Hard for her to understand when the other girls didn't have to sit and behave. But overall they were very good.

That was a close call

Tonight I was busy taking pictures of Stephanie giving Emily hugs but it was more of a wrestling hold so I needed to keep an eye on them while I was trying to get some pictures. Emily was laughing but Stephanie needs to be a little more careful. As I was taking the pictures my card on my camera said "full" so I needed to delete some pictures. I save pictures on there I like even though they are already downloaded on the computer. Like I saved the ones of Emily when she was born and various other cute ones during the last 9 months. So I was figuring out which ones to delete and trying to watch Stephanie tackle Emily and all of a sudden I look and my camera says "deleting all files". l tried moving it to "no" but it was too late, it was already deleting. I must have already pressed yes when I thought I was just deleting some pictures. I quickly took the card out and was hoping I had some pictures left on there. I hadn't downloaded pictures in a few days so I was at least hoping for those. Thankfully I got it out in time and it had deleted everything up until the costume pictures I had just taken a little over a week ago. The new pictures were saved! I was so scared I had lost those pictures. I still haven't missed a day of taking a picture of Emily and that would've been it. I need to pay more attention when I am deleting pictures. I'm sad those other pictures are not on my card anymore but at least they are on the computer. Now I have lots of room on my card so I won't have to delete for a while.

Ketchup

This is one post I keep meaning to write about and I keep forgetting. I know some kids like to dip foods and it can work on getting them to eat new foods. Stephanie's dip of choice is ketchup. Stephanie loves ketchup!! She won't eat fries without it (she isn't much of a fry eater to begin with,which is nothing like her mommy). But no matter what she is eating if she has ketchup on her plate for some thing everything gets dipped into the ketchup. I have noticed her dipping pears, carrots, broccoli, chicken, fish, lettuce, (that one didn't work), and ham. Both Jeff and I use ketchup but not for most of those things. She also got into the habit of dipping whatever she had into the ketchup but just licking it off and re-dipping. So she wasn't eating anything, just the ketchup. So we have to keep telling her take take a bite. I am fine with her dipping whatever she wants into ketchup but only if she is actually going to eat the food. Very weird.

New car seats

Last week the we retired the infant car seat for now. Stephanie got moved into the bigger car seat and Emily got Stephanie's old seat. That means no more carrying around a sleeping Emily in the car seat. She is doing better at napping at home but not on a set schedule. Some days she really needs a morning nap and then other days she is fine til almost noon. Stephanie likes seeing Emily in her old seat and seeing her buckled just like her. Thankfully I can open Stephanie door and she will run to her side of the van, get in, climb in her seat while I buckle in Emily. Then I go buckle Stephanie up. I still make sure she is running into the car and not past the door though. It does make me a little nervous.

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

The day after my Grandpa's birthday party we went to go visit Jeff's parents and grandparents. Emily loved seeing the dog Murphy but he isn't too sure about little people moving around. Since it isn't so crazy there it didn't take too long for Emily to warm up and be herself. They also both took a nap there so they were in pretty good moods then. Stephanie took a nap in his parents bed and she looked like such a big girl and might be ready for a bed soon. That might be a Memorial Day weekend project. We'll see though since my last project didn't go so well.

Grandpa's party

This post is late but I still wanted to get it up there. My Grandpa turned 85 on the 15th and we were at my Auntie Susie's house for a party. Alle was in town and made a surprise visit to see everyone. Emily had a little bit of time getting adjusted to all the people plus staying up past her bedtime. Since she doesn't sleep well to begin with it doesn't hurt keeping her up for a party every once in awhile. She got to show off her crawling skills to everyone.

Costume time

Even though the weather here isn't too warm I am trying to get the girls spring clothes in their closet. So as I was reorganizing the closet I decided it was time to put the Halloween costumes away. Before I did that I wanted to have the girls wear them one more time before they didn't fit them anymore. Jeff thought I was crazy but he didn't have much say in the matter. So, Emily had her teddy bear costume on and Stephanie loved pulling on her ears. Stephanie loved looking at herself in the mirror in her monkey costume. Then Emily also wore Stephanie's bunny costume since it was out when my mom used it to make the teddy bear costume. Cute, cute costumes.

Easter eggs

Since we were stuck inside because of the snow storm we colored Easter eggs last Friday. Stephanie enjoyed it more this year than before but she has a little trouble being careful with the eggs. She liked seeing the eggs change color but also wanted to play with the eggs instead of letting them dry. She also wanted to color them again or color more eggs than we had boiled. Emily helped also but Stephanie didn't like the idea that Emily was taking the eggs. Next year I'll have to make sure to have more eggs to boil since they will both be more into it and now Stephanie loves to eat hard boiled eggs. Hopefully they both will next year.

This is my way of playing with snow

Last Friday when we got a not wanted spring snow storm of over a foot I decided to have some fun with the snow. So I brought some snow inside and had the kids play with it before it melted. Stephanie isn't sure about the snow outside and I figured part of it was because it was hard for her to walk in it but she wasn't so fond of the snow inside either. Stephanie didn't want to touch it but she did help me make a little snowman. But she got mad at me when I put some snow on her foot. Emily though had a blast but she just wanted to keep eating it. It didn't take long before the snow started to melt so it went back outside. But that is my way of playing in the snow. Unfortunately we are suppose to get another spring snowstorm this week. I am very ready for the warmer weather of spring.

First and last day of potty training (for now)

So our first day of potty training didn't go so well. I know that I should wait until Stephanie should show some interest or readiness but I thought it would be a perfect time to try since we are off for the next 2 weeks. She has different ideas. Of course, after the Easter picture yesterday she started to come down with a cold. She slept terribly last night and had a runny nose and sneezing all day. Nothing too terrible so I thought I wasn't going to let the little cold stop my potty training idea. It did. By the end of tonight she didn't want to get in the bath and last time that happened she had an ear infection. So we are off to the doctor tomorrow.
She peed on the floor 4 times and screamed when I put her on the toilet. She will sit there other times when she wanted to (nothing would happen) but when I put her there after seeing her start to pee on the floor she did not like that at all. I hear people say, once they pee on themselves they don't like it and won't do it again. We'll, Stephanie could have cared less. So I know that she is not ready and not too push it. Hopefully when she is ready it won't take long since I won't have a 2 week vacation coming up again. I know I do have a 1 week vacation in June when Jack and Mia are going to Brussels ( I never got to go on these kind of trips with them, I got the Disneyworld in June, Oklahoma in July, and Colorado in December- not that traveling with them wasn't a great experience because I got to go places I normally would not of been able to). Anyways, so maybe June will be a better time for her and maybe she'll have some more language and be able to communicate better. I just don't want her afraid and her screaming on the toilet told me she wasn't ready yet.

Emily and her car seat

Today is Emily's last day in her baby car seat. She has gotten to big and too heavy and since I am off of work the next 2 weeks she is going to take every nap in her crib and get on a schedule. So today we went to get the Easter pictures taken (it went okay, better since my mom came to help, thanks) but Stephanie wanted to run away, and Emily wanted to crawl away. At least Stephanie made it in the Easter picture. Anyway, Emily fell sleep on the way home and ended up sleeping in her seat for 3 hours. I think she is trying to tell me she doesn't want to give it up. That little stinker.

Emily with the Easter Bunny

We went to see the Easter Bunny on Saturday at the health club (where we saw Santa) and it wasn't exactually what I had in mind. It was just a lady with a hat, bunny ears, white fur,a bunny nose and a pink skirt. Though not as scary as the one in the mall, Stephanie wanted nothing to do with her. Emily sat on her lap for a minute or two and then she was done also. At least we got one picture of Emily.

Beer is a good toy

Emily is venturing out around the house and she found out that she likes to play with the cans of beer. She can hold them, roll them, and try to drink it. She must like the blue of the Miller Lite can since she prefers it over the soda cans around. Stephanie of course has to come take it away from her.

Sisterly Love

I don't get too many picture of the two girls together so I thought I would try to put Emily in Stephanie's chair and she would come over. It worked but now that chair can only fit one of them so it was hard to squeeze them both in the chair together. So I had Emily on Stephanie's lap and she started to push her off but I asked if she could give her a hug. She sure did. From the pictures it looks like Emily is being hurt by Stephanie but she didn't care and took all the love she got from Stephanie. It was cute but we have to work on more gentle hugs in the future.