Easter Sunday 2011

Easter Sunday morning was beautiful! It had poured a lot the week before (and the day before)- But Easter was was sunshiney and WARM..Hot an muggy actually.

These little Easter Bunnies were waiting for the girls to wake up the next morning. The Bunny on the left has a twin...But he couldn't make the appointment because Roo was snuggling with him all night. The Bunny on the right was from Roo's very first Easter, he's Floppy.

The girls shared and Easter basket this year... They got a bubble bucket, some Easter Eggs, and some sidewalk chalk (plus 2 bunnies from Grandma and Grandad and some goodies and gifts from Nana)

Friendly LOVES shoes. She was so excited to wear her Easter shoes she put them on first thing in the morning (while "helping" Daddy make the coffee cake)

Easter Breakfast: Easter Eggs and GF coffee cake, yuuuummy!

The Easter Dresses!

Roo had been looking forward to these Easter dresses for MONTHS. She loves to dress up and she was really excited about NEW dresses. We were doubly blessed this year with TWO sets of Easter dresses from proud grandparents.  I want to take their pictures in a nicer setting with both dresses soon... Hopefully we'll have a sunny day with out plans soon!

 I was blown away that they actually would pose for me! Roo just kept saying "take another Mommie", and so I did. And as Friendly follows the lead in almost every thing Roo does, she stood there and posed too!

Easter dresses from Nana.

snuggling

kisses

 

It's just such a rare thing for them to snuggle (and pose!) like that! They have recently started playing this game they named "minga minga" where they run at each other and hug each other until they fall down in a heap on the floor...They continue to do this until a) some one gets hurt b) we pull them apart because we're afaraid some one is going to lose air supply. They will do this happily until some one truly does get hurt or we tell them they have to stop before some one does! I have a few videos of them playing "minga minga" (Friendly named it that??)

Anyway... Easter day was kind of strange, the girls had been really sick with the colds, it was hot and muggy and a storm was brewing in the late afternoon, and every one was just tired. We went to church as a family, home for naps, and then to spend an hour or two with my family for lunch.  But the whole day didn't have the wonderful celebratory feel Easter usually carries. The PRAISE JESUS! VICTORY! HE'S ALIVE! kind of buzz.  It was just another day of reality . Reality that is living with 2 small sick-ish people, who were both kind of off their game and cranky. 

But  thankfully those circumstances can't change what Christ did for us. What we have because of His gift to us. Relationship. Freedom. Peace. and Hope. 

So even though our Easter will probably  always be remembered as "the one where we were all just plain cranky", its a very good reminder that, Grace is amazing. 

And I'm so thankful that never changes.

Easter...THE EGGS. 2011

Easter this year... Well it was a lot of fun! We've never bothered dyeing eggs or any thing because it just seemed like a giant mess waiting to happen. I'm so glad we did it this year...Even though I was nervous about Friendly drinking the dye (and she gets wild when she has food coloring, I can't imagine what she'd be like if she DRANK IT!), of just in general staining every thing in sight. But it went really well and the girls had a blast! A very happy memory indeed!

waiting patiently for Daddy to have the dye ready.

Friendly was SO into it, she would just dump and egg in any cup, even if it wasn't available  yet! We got some really pretty eggs because of her exuberance!

drying waiting for faces...

The girls were so excited to start the faces...

They picked out every single faces...We added a few noses for them when they asked...Roo put on every single one of her faces all by herself. And Friendly tried a few, but mostly told Daddy where to stick them. We had some happy Easter eggs!

Friendly and Daddy. More to come!

Other Happenings From April

This has been a strange month. I think it was the rain, it rained and rained and rained and rained. And It was also a month we were all sick most of it. The end of the March I caught a cold... It went away in a few days and then (I thought) I caught another cold...I suffered for a week before heading into the doctor to get antibiotics for a sinus infection. sigh.

Then when I was finally getting better the girls caught a nasty head cold, which turned into a chest cold... We've all been sick this looong rainy month.  The girls are still coughing a bit, but thankfully doing much better

The girls (a few days before their long sick spell) got to meet their (second cousin once removed ha!) baby K She's adorable!

We were "helping" my Nana move houses... Friendly thought arranging these papers "just so" would be the right thing to do. It was really cute watching her lay them out so meticulously.

they were exhausted after the busy morning!

Friendly sticks things in her shirt...She stuck 6 or 7 blocks in her shirt and refused to let them be used for building towers...The rode around in there for a good 30 minutes.

BUSTED! Ah the joys of having a climber! She's learned to drag things around to get up where she's not supposed to. It's taken baby-proofing to a whole new level... And the mess she makes even more so!

This pigeon sat on our balcony railing for over 30 minutes! Roo got out her bird watching gear to keep and eye on him

Every few minutes she'd update me on what the bird was doing...It was kind of comical to hear her try to come up with new ways to inform me that he was still sitting there. Mostly in her tone, it was cute!

Perhaps you remember Roo's beloved "Elephant Pajamas" it was great reluctance and not a little grief when she realized it was too warm to wear them all day long, all night long, all the time. We got her some "summer pajamas", she really likes them. But they don't hold quite the same magic for her. At least she's dressed!

This is my favorite swinging picture ever... Friendly wasn't feeling that well and didn't want to be pushed very high, but Roo couldn't get enough.

Smiling but having a tired cranky day.

Friendly all ready for bed. She really really likes to read to me before she goes to bed for the night.

picking out another book. 

. And with that, I close... To come soon, Our trip to the bluebell field and EASTER!

Spring Adventures With Friends...

Spring as arrived...finally! It was a LOOONG snowy winter. I have always been an Autumn person. No, a bit of a freak really. I love the Autumn so much! But I have to say every year that has gone by since Roo was born, spring is growing on me.

Okay, don't tell, but at this point, it's WINNING! I used to always hate how muddy, rainy, and unpredictable it is. Now, I welcome really almost any thing it throws our way because at least it's no longer below freezing!!! We can go play out in almost any yucky weather if there is no threat of frost bite (or hysterical meltdowns the moment certain little peoples hands or noses get that painful tingling)! Okay, the rain is annoying, but I'll take it over snow! And I can say that with a clear conscience because it pretty much rained all but 5 days the entire month of April!!

One of my very best friends came to visit a few weeks ago...

Becky and I have been best friends since the summer before we started high school... We were maid/matron of honor in each others weddings...She is just one of those friends who becomes family, she is practically my sister. She lives a few states a way and we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, but we try to take advantage of the time we do get to visit!

Becky and her 1 year old son A. He's a sweetie, it's been wonderful to be on this parenting journey together!

A and Friendly riding in the double jogger...

they were so excited to see flowers!

Roo was SO proud, she climbed the wall by herself. As hard as she tried last Autumn, she couldn't do it! Mission accomplished!

The only picture we could get of every one...

The girls were getting ramy on our second go round the loop, I gave them bubbles. Bubbles solve every thing.

Friendly loves to watch the ducks.

A few days later we met at THE SAND PIT (said in epic voice) at a local park. THE SAND PIT is just about the most amazingest thing ever in The Joys book.

I'll add more pictures from THE SAND PIT soon.

Mommie Dates..

 We really like grocery shopping day around here... We get all our shopping done and then go to the bakery area and the girls pick out a donut (usually to share). They almost always pick out chocolate with sprinkles. Our favorite grocery stores has a big cafe area with a loft for seating...We go up and sit together and eat our donuts and visit.

These little trips are our "mommie dates"...It's so nice to do some thing "special" in the middle of the week. We spend a dollar or two and sit in a resteraunty sort of place. It is so cute to watch the girls sit silently, intently devouring their very "special treat" (while simutaniously covering themselves in fudge icing). And then after donuts, if it's a nice day, we head to the park to wear out some of that sugar-induced energy. It is probably one of my favorite days of the week, it's just so nice to sit with them...It doesn't last long, it usually only takes them about  10 minutes to eat up that snack and then we're off to the next thing.

"L" is for Carrot.

Did you know that? Well, you learn some thing new every day.

Roo at 5 days old

Off topic ramble here, hold on! I snuggled a tiny new baby last week. Were my babies ever so small? They were, they were smaller. Roo was 6lbs 3oz when we brought her home from the hospital. She was such a tiny peanut.

Friendly never had that teeny tiny feel. She was a strong little thing. She didn't lose any weight after birth, and went from 7lbs 150z at birth to 13lbs2oz at her 6 week check up. I kinda feel like I missed the teeny tiny stage with her, that  "Oh my goodness how could any thing possibly be soooo small?" stage.

Friendly 1 week old!

My girls are growing. The years are starting to race by! It kinda takes your breath away. When I think on it this is our FOURTH spring with Roo.

I blinked and I had 2 little kids!

Friendly is losing her baby ways. Ooh she still has plenty! But she's talking more, she says things like "Ummmmm" when you ask her a question. She declares "I do it!". She consideres her answers carefully, and even if what she says is unintelligible it is shared with the utmost dignity.
 I love her answers of, "Welllll, oookay". She's 20 months going on 10.  The other day I was redirecting her from digging in her Daddy's desk drawer and she pushed my hand away and said "No! Go away!" clear as day. And then threw a fantastic fit when I removed her anyway. She's going to be interesting!

Roo loves to swing, and is getting really good at the big kid ones!

Friendly likes to practice on the "big kid" swings.

Roo is turning into a little girl. She is a little girl. How'd that happen? I just want to suck her back into that little itty baby she was. I want to take back all that time and relive it with all the experience and tools I have now. Why do you have to be so green when you start this parenting thing? Why can't you just appreciate how fast it goes? Like REALLY appreciate the sleepless nights and the teething crank and the ...everything! Okay I still have some time to snuggle her, lots of time hopefully! But I can't believe how the past 3 years have just zipped by.


Lately, I find myself just pressing pause in my brain. 
Snap take a picture of this moment...Hold it, it's going to go away too soon!

I digress.

The other week Roo drew the letter "W". It was really an "M" but she declared it a "W" and I was just too proud that she made an actual intelligible letter I didn't correct her. Also the "letter" (she informed me) on the left is a carrot "wif an 'L' at the bottowm becwause 'L' is for carrot." again, I know I should take advantage of educational moments, teaching and instructing etc. But I was just too freaking proud to correct her! The carrot was REALLY good! It looked like a real little carrot, until she added the L to it... And she added an "O" on top of her "L". Letter's, letters everywhere!
I love that she's trying, all on her own. I have consciously tried to avoid stressing colors, numbers or letters. This is the only time in their life they get to be little...And I've wanted it to be their genuine interest in why things are called certain colors, and the shapes of different letters. Not my pushing it on them when they aren't really developmentally ready to process it. Sure, we have refrigerator magnets, ABC, Numbers, and Shape board books that the girls love, but other than Sesame street and ocassionally reading those books together, that's been it.

I'm not a flash card kinda Mom is what I'm getting at. 

Anyway it's cool to see how they learn, it just happens- amazing! And it's so cool to see that Roo is gleaning some things..She just hasn't been interested and it's exciting to see that some things are clicking!

Well the girls are asleep...So I will leave you with this thought, if L is for carrot... N is for SLEEP. It's been a long day!

New Blog..

Yes again.

I gave it a try, I truly tried to like wordpress. But in the end I just couldn't. I don't have a lot of time these days to blog. And I really need the easy format of blogger to keep up with it all. But the main reasons we left blogger have been resolved, they now (finally!) have added some new gadgets that are important to us: be sure to subscribe to the blog by email!!
And of course, you can always find us at www.familyofjoys.blogspot.com (only thing different is blogspot and not wordpress). We still won't be returning to the origional blogger site as security for our family is still important to us...Nicknames will continue! :0)

I'll be trying to catch up very soon!

The girls put the caterpillars together all by themselves! We hung this on our front door. :0)