THE sunny day in April

The rest of our pictures from THE sunny day in April. Hopefully may will bring some nice sunshine and warm temperatures before we go to the other extreme complaining about how hot it is.

Lindsey does so well being upright in her gait trainer. You can just see she is happy speeding down the slight incline of the driveway. I had a hard time getting a picture before she went right by me.

Told you Lindsey was made when she barely inches along pushing the button over and over instead on holding her thumb down on it.

Brooke loves her croquet set. We had fun playing a game or two or three.

Big bucket of bubble wands is always a sure way to please.

Looking forward to May and many more days outside.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Easter-Insert Whine

Sorry there were no family pictures of girls in fancy pink dresses on our Easter. I have to start this post with a little whine on my part. I love my job and my schedule. It allows me to be home with my girls the majority of the time. Most of the time I miss with them is just 2 nights a week when they are sleeping and the time I need to catch up on sleep. Not a bad deal. They don't realize I am really gone. I am thankful for our family for helping cover the times when Mommy needs to sleep after work. So anyway with this weekend incentive schedule I have yet to spend a full day with our family on Easter. If anyone has looked ahead on the calendar almost all the holidays are falling on the weekend. Sad I am already thinking about it. I woke up Sunday ate a bowl of cereal and went off to work.

Good thing the Easter Bunny is flexible and brought the girls baskets on Saturday complete with an egg hunt and a pretty nice sunny day to play outside.

Brooke hunting for eggs. The Easter Bunny hid the baskets like she used to do for Tim when he was younger. I cannot tell you how many times Brooke walked right past her basket and had no clue it was right there hidden under her Daddy's coat.

The Easter bunny has to get a little more creative every year and hide the eggs a little better.

Lindsey digging through her basket of goodies. The bunny thought she would really enjoy a chocolate marshmallow bunny. Nope, it was tossed on the floor just like pretty much everything we try and get her to feed herself these days. She loved them straight out of my hand.

The Easter bunny put puffs in some the eggs that were left down low for Lindsey to find.

Ah, yes Carrie will appreciate this picture. This was probably the first and last time Lindsey laid her hands on this bunny. Brooke's cousin Leah has one of these little things and Brooke has to have it every time she is at Leah's house. Brooke and Lindsey had one of their own in their baskets this year. They have been a pair ever since and Brooke seems to think they would be sad if they were separated. So the chick and the bunny remain a pair.

After all the Easter fun we headed outside to take advantage of what seems to be the only nice day we have had in April.

Lindsey loved riding on the little power wheelsbike. She figured out the button pretty quick. Oh my, she couldn't figure out to keep it pressed down to go. She was not happy as the thing just barely jolted forward push after push on the button.

So instead she decided to bum a ride with her sister.

Brooke and Lindsey did get dressed up and spend Easter with family but it was minus Mom and Dad. Happy Easter! Now back to the rain. Those May flowers better be big and beautiful.

Best Buds

Violet the Dog doesn't get old. She is loved by Lindsey so much there are signs of wear.

Just as Violet sings, "Me and my pal, Lindsey. We like to do everything together, Let's jump up and down, Let's wag our tails, Let's snuggle up, Snuggle Snuggle Snuggle. Me and My pal, Lindsey. We're the best of friends."

Easter Pics to come soon. I just need to clean my camera off.

Letting her pigtails down

Bathing Beauties

What girl doesn't enjoy a warm bubble bath at the end of the day?

Brooke's Olympics

Brooke had school Olympics last week. They had been preparing all the decorations and practicing for 2 weeks. There were banners and signs in the hallway leading to festivities. I laughed earlier in the week because they had the Olympic banner with all the kids hand prints and their names below it hanging in the hall. I found Brooke's rather quick. Not just because of her name but because it was one of the smallest hands on it. All the kids had a picture of themselves and a sign that read, My name is Brooke and I am all American. I am 40 inches tall. I was quite impressed that she had hit 40 inches.

You can see though that she is one of the smallest kids in her class. I had to do her name and an arrow because if it wasn't for the red bow I wouldn't have found her in the crowd of singing kids. There is one boy that may be smaller than Brooke but he hasn't even hit his 4th birthday. At this rate my little girl will still meet the booster seat requirements by the time she hits high school.

Brooke rocked out in the obstacle course. They were announced on top of the slide and down they went through the various obstacles.

Once they were done each child stood on the podium to receive their Olympic medal.

Egg Hunt

Yesterday was the Easter egg hunt at Wildwood. We started having breakfast with the bunny.

Lindsey putting all her eggs in her bucket.

Brooke trying so hard to be patient waiting for the "GO".

Crafts at the breakfast. Balloon animals and face painting with the clown. Brooke had the clown make a bunny and a dog. She wasn't sure about the face painting. After all her friends had various painting on their hands she gave in to peer pressure. The clown painted a pink and purple heart with glitter on her hand.

The popular girl of the morning. Easter Bunny!

Not food

Even out of the highchair Lindsey still tries to eat anything that is not food.

Like red crayons

Peeps

Who doesn't like Peeps? Me. They sure do look like they are a box of cute yellow sugar covered goodness. Not so much for me. I still look forward to Easter for the Reese's Pieces Pastel Eggs. Still they are cute and I decided to make a little banner of puffy peeps. The original idea called for bunny bunting. I don't have a sewing machine and my abilities are limited to the occasional button. I improvised and went with paper and made up some puffy paint. Lindsey sort of participated. I had about 2 seconds to snap this picture before the paint brush covered in shaving cream and glue went straight to her mouth. I can't say I was surprised. We have been working on self feeding. I did put the girl in her highchair and handed her something that resembles pudding. The girl wanted to eat!

Brooke loves when they get to use puffy paint at school. There was no doubt she was going to love painting the Peeps.

Popsicles

The first popsicles of Spring. Brooke was thrilled when I told her we could eat popsicles outside.

Lindsey was happy to eat one but preferred that someone else hold it while she used both hands to play.

BAER & ENT

Last week Lindsey had her usual every 6 month BAER test. We cross our fingers every time that we can still make it through the test with no sedation. She was able to bypass the whole nursing sedation thing with a phone call. They weren't able to do it last time because her tonsils are large and she was congested. Now they do IV sedation so they are even more cautious. After explaining the situation and how we have been able to complete them during nap time in the past she gave the all clear on attempting no sedation. The staff think we are crazy when we walk in with a 2 1/2 year old and tell them she will be able to complete the test without waking. Success! Lindsey shows them up again! The left ear suggested normal hearing ability and a patent tube. The left ear suggested mild hearing loss. Tympanometry revealed that it was most likely related to a "conductive component". Meaning her tube may be out, fluid, or wax.

Off to the ENT. The last time we were there they had us all prepped thinking we were going in setting up for surgery. Lindsey's nose has actually been clear for about 2-3 weeks. I don't even have bags of Kleenex stuffed in every pocket at the moment. So the verdict? Both tubes are in place. Yeah. He was happy with the BAER test. Yeah. While she does have some symptoms related to her tonsils being large he is going to wait another 6 months and see how the tubes are holding up unless there is a problem. She is a restless sleeper. You cannot keep blankets on the girl because she is all over the place. Snoring? Well, what I consider snoring is my Dad or Tim and that doesn't compare to Lindsey. You certainly can always hear her when she is sleeping but there never seems to be any periods of apnea or crying at night. One thing that has always made me wonder was the position she sleeps in. It looks so uncomfortable. Her chin is up and out with her head and neck tilted back. Just as I figured, she compensates and is able to breath better in that position because she is opening her airway up. We left the office with a follow up visit in 6 months and no surgery plan. Yeah! Time to play...

Tasks like these require the tongue for my kids.

Spring Crafts

Though Spring is here it sure doesn't feel like it. We haven't been outside as much as they and especially I would like. I decided to make it look like Spring. Brooke had fun with all the crafts we did at Christmas time. I figured we would do it all over again with Spring/Easter. The first craft Brooke picked to do were the bird feeders. Next was the tissue paper sun catcher. She started out with the rainbow and asked to do more. Now we

have rainbows and Easter eggs to look at.

I love how Maize ended up in the picture. I didn't even realize she was there until I loaded the pictures on my computer. Maize loves being outside napping in the sunshine.

Daddy Time

This is one of those pictures that I hesitate to post knowing that my mom will have some sort of lecture on the "what could happen". A lot could happen every day with everyday things. I assure you mom no one was going to be harmed.

Just as much as Brooke loves her Mommy time she also enjoys some Daddy time. Someone was nice enough to leave a note on my door handle that read "you have a flat tire". It was pretty obvious but a nice gesture anyway. Ugh! What a lovely start to a day. It took be back to my days of having my Cougar. I love that car but dang I seriously changed out each tire one by one after flat tires. I know the gist of it but I would not be able how to put a spare tire on even with all the flat tires I have had. I also have no plans to learn. Sorry, not me. The way Tim has to beat the tire to get it off I probably wouldn't be able to move for days. I would have many choice words for the tire that I would have to keep to myself. I didn't even know where the spare was especially that it required to be unscrewed from inside my car. Sheesh, see what I mean, not my thing. Thankfully Tim is my AAA. Brooke was happy to learn how to put the fixed tire back on and help out her Daddy. Lindsey and I? We went inside where it was warm to eat.

Dippin' Dots and Build a Bunny

While on Spring Break Brooke picked that she wanted to use her gift card from her birthday to build a bunny at Build A Bear and get a cookie. She loves all the animals at Build A Bear and with the cold weather there wasn't much else to do.

We packed up the stroller and headed out to the mall. I do most of my errands during the week early in the day when most people are at work or school. To go to the mall on the weekend in the evening was quite the experience to say the least. Not so much the crowds or it being busy just a little of one of those nights when you can see why there are people watchers. Amusing sights is all I can say.

Brooke loved her fuzzy brown bunny with pink glittery paws and ears. She couldn't wait to stuff it. Brooke sang Twinkle Twinkle on one of the recordable buttons on her other bear she made. I love to hear how her voice has changed just since then. She didn't have a particular song she wanted to record this time. Brooke decided to make up her own song about bunnies and love. Pretty cute! I just wish it would have recorded the entire song instead it maxes out at 10 seconds. Brooke's name for her bunny? Valentine. Even though not quite the name you would think of for a bunny she loves that fuzzy little Valentine.

After building her bunny Brooke was ready for her cookie. She was quite bummed to find out they were out of most of the "good" cookies. No one had ever tried Dippin' Dots and Brooke was excited when she found out it would be like ice cream. Brooke picked out the brightly colored Rainbow Ice flavor. She wasn't sure what to think of these little beads they poured in a cup. The first bite all she said was "coooold". She loved them and ate the whole thing. Good thing we picked out cake batter for Lindsey. She was a fan and gobbled her pastel bowl of dots faster than we could get it in her mouth. I guess next time if Tim and I want some we may have to order out own bowl.

Girl Time

Brooke had her preschool spring break this week giving us lots of "girl time". There are plenty of days I cannot wait to get her to school, lay Lindsey down for a nap, and have a little time to get some things done around the house alone. Amazing how much you can accomplish without someone following behind you. There are also the days when I wonder how Brooke could already be 4. The five day a week school schedule will be here before I know it. There will be days when it seems too quite. So until then I took this week as girl time. Besides the weather sure didn't make it seem like spring break anyway.

Tangled PJ movie night complete with cupcakes.

A girls day out to the salon for a much needed haircut for both of us. Once Brooke was done Tim picked her up to go to gymnastics leaving me to relax with a People magazine while getting my hair done. She thought it was pretty funny to see my hair being wrapped in foil stacked one on top of another. "Why" she would ask. My only explanation, "So my hair isn't two different colors anymore". Another chuckle and now she keeps telling everyone about it. Lovely. Girl time wouldn't be complete without freshly painted nails and toes. No worries. Lindsey wasn't left out. She was sporting the pigtails and had her nails done a pretty shade of pink.

I love my girls!