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Easter Egg Hunts

Easter Egg Hunts

The kids had a great time this weekend, hunting eggs three times. First, they went to Trilogy, then at our house and then at Grandaunt Pat’s house. I consolidated their stashes this morning. And, boy, do they have a LOT of candy!

Perhaps the most memorable moment occurred during the Trilogy egg hunt. Allison was with my mom, while I helped Katherine uncover eggs on the other side of the clubhouse. Unfortunately many of the older kids had scooped up the younger kids’ eggs on the way to the other side of the clubhouse. So, Katherine found 23 eggs – Allison got none. Thanks to some of Grandma’s friends, Allison received a few prized eggs after the hunt. Katherine also let Allison pick several eggs from her bag. You can see Allison checking out her half dozen eggs; she kept opening and closing the eggs looking for more candy and treats.

The next morning the kids raced around the house looking for another round of eggs. Allison looked for one color eggs; Katherine two-toned eggs. Bisco also managed to get some treats after Katherine put her basket down on the floor and left it. During the minute that she was gone, he snarfed around 10-12 chocolate eggs and kisses. Luckily, it wasn’t enough chocolate to make him ill (since he’s a whopping 75 pounds), but Katherine was pretty upset at him. We managed to find replacement candy, and all was well. ๐Ÿ™‚

Katherine was particularly psyched to find one egg with two quarters in it. She exclaimed, “The Easter bunny gave me money to save for college. You won’t have to pay for my college!” Ha!

In the pictures you’ll see the kids riding the Gator at Aunt Pat’s house, Katherine at a Build-A-Bear party, kids with Lolly the clown, dying eggs with Grandma Bush and celebrating Grandma Chang’s birthday last weekend.

Take a Load Off!

Allison’s favorite movie these days is Madagascar. She will say out of the blue, “What a bunch of pansies!!” or “Pansies!!” (Yes, we’ve told her it’s not very nice, but that seems to encourage her!)

Last Friday we had Steve’s parents over for dinner. Katherine raced to answer the door, with Allison right behind her. What did Allison say? Quoting Marty she said, “Come on in – Take a Load Off!”

 

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 Photos

I should note that the pictures are from the following events:

1) Christmas morning at our house

2) Christmas afternoon at the Bushes

3) Christmas evening at the Fialas

4) After Christmas Tea at our house with the Fialas and Ramsays

5) Trip to Aquarium

6) One of our several days of snow

 

Katherine’s 5th Birthday Party

Katherine’s Party

Part one of Katherine’s fifth birthday occurred this morning. We took the girls to Pump it Up where a bunch of kids from class and a couple little friends stopped by for bouncing. We have many pictures to slog through, but I picked just a couple representative pictures for now.

When I asked Katherine what was her favorite part, she replied, “the whole thing…I loved the whole thing.” This referred to a full hour of bouncing, pizza, juice boxes, a butterfly cupcake cake and balloons. Katherine was excited to show Allison how to bounce and even took her to the water fountain several times for drinks. Allison did end up with a very wet shirt, but loved playing with the big kids.

I think many of her friends had told their parents what Katherine loves now: arts and crafts. Katherine spent the whole day lugging all her gifts around the house and trying out different parts of each arts and crafts kit. She even gave up stories tonight to color in a velvet picture. What else? She toted around a Lego ambulance that she constructed almost by herself! And, she spent a good half an hour playing with a Calico Corner dollkit which matches Allison’s house nicely.

All in all, it was a fun but exhausting day.

This is “Baking Soda”

I often have these surreal moments when I know that Allison is trying to say something, but it’s not coming out right. This afternoon we played with a USA puzzle, one that has say 12 pieces instead of 50. As she worked, Allison muttered to herself, “these are the lines…this is the boot (e.g. Louisana)…this goes here…and this is baking soda.” At that, I had to interrupt and ask, “what is baking soda?” She pointed to a state and repeated herself. Thinking hard, I finally figured it out, “You mean …Minnesota!” Allison then replied, “OK…OK…it’s Minnesota” The wierdest thing about this is that I hadn’t told her this, so this must be from Mom and/or Patty.

Did the Easter Bunny come yet?

Did the Easter Bunny come yet?

Katherine was so excited for her three egg hunts this weekend. Yesterday’s hunt was with our potluck group of friends, with about a dozen kids in attendance. Allison unfortunately didn’t experience the hunt – she decided to take a 2 hour nap! We’re pretty sure she’s moving to one nap a day. Katherine did a great job, according to Steve, of finding her 12 eggs. She ate 3 pieces of candy at the party and lobbied hard for more.

The second hunt was this morning at 7:30AM. At 5PM, I heard a Lambey rattle and Katherine padding in our room. She asked, “did the Easter bunny come yet?” We told her no and to get in bed and go back to sleep. At 7:30AM, she woke up and said, “The Easter Bunny Came!!” My mom, Steve and Allison, Katherine and I wandered around downstairs trying to find all 41 eggs that had been hidden (ahem) the night before. The hardest location was courtesy of Steve…inside one of his shoes. That was the last egg to be found. Steve thinks there is one more egg still in the house. Hope the dog doesn’t find it first!

Allison really didn’t grasp the concept of putting eggs in the basket. Her inclination was to crawl, grab the egg and then stick it in her mouth. Thankfully, Katherine was generous (??) enough to lug around two baskets and put Allison’s mixed color eggs in the second basket.

The last egg hunt was at Steve’s aunts home this afternoon. The cousins trooped around the house looking for plastic eggs with grapes inside. ๐Ÿ™‚ Katherine made up for lack of candy by spotting Swedish Fish in the bathroom. The interchange went like this…

– As Katherine walks by with her mouth bulging…”Katherine, what’s in your mouth?”

– “Mmgbbbh”

– “Katherine, you have to tell me what’s in your mouth”

– “No” – walking off with her hands behind her back which are holding another Swedish Fish

We’re working hard on truth-telling; Katherine is prone to telling us what she wanted to hear or what we want to hear. It’s time to start increasing consequences.

Perhaps one of the most memorable experiences this weekend was Katherine driving a child sized Gator. (Steve has pics and we’ll post later.) Imagine her cousin Kevin driving the Gator with Katherine beside him. Then imagine Katherine driving, squealing like mad, and heading straight for the house. I had to almost cover my eyes. The good news is that Steve ran besides the Gator and then figured out how to slow it down. Still it was unnerving to see her head down a hill laughing so hard she could barely steer. It got even more interesting after I went inside – she apparently put both hands above her head (while driving) and had a great time.

We’ve got a live one

Steve and I can’t let Allison out of our sight. One of her favorite tricks is to keep an eye on Katherine. Once her big sister opens the gate and heads upstairs, Allison makes a beeline as fast as she can for the stairs. She pulls herself up and heads upstairs. This happens in the blink of an eye – like say less than a minute before she gets up to the third stair.

This afternoon Steve and I were cleaning out the garage. I was busy puttering around when Steve came outside. I asked him where Allison was and he said that he had put Allison in the far corner of the family room with toys. Within 1-2 minutes, I heard a slight thunk-thunk sound, and the door which hadn’t been closed entirely, started to open. Allison wedged her little fingers around the door, pulled it open and stood at the door with a big smile as if to say “So, whatcha doing?”

That all said, she’s a total trooper. I must have lugged her around the garage and house for a couple hours during our cleaning session. She also got to ride the tricycle for the first time today – big smiles from her and Katherine who pushed her.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It was a very festive weekend as we celebrated the Year of the Dog. On Saturday morning, Steve and Katherine headed down to Gene Juarez salon for Steve’s haircut with Katherine as a curious observer. She did well, all things considered, watching our hairdresser wash, cut and comb Steve’s hair. Allison and I then met them at Paint Away, a local ceramic painting store, where Katherine slathered six different colors on a small valentine dish. Steve’s original intent had been to surprise me with the dish. If you ask Katherine though, the dish is for her baby sister. How’s that for sisterly love?

Afterwards, Katherine had her regular haircut and we headed home. It became apparently clear as the afternoon wore on that Katherine observed not only a haircut that morning but also the pedicure and manicure area of the salon. She repurposed one of her kitchen wooden trays to include utensils, a comb, hair bands, barrettes and a bib. She sat next to me and gave me a faux pedicure – which consisted of taking a plastic play knife and moving it around the heel of my foot. Then…she asked me to pick a color and used the corresponding utensil to “paint” my toenails. Lambey received a haircut as well, with the bib serving as a cape and a baby blanket as a towel. That evening my mom came over for a noodle dinner and gave the kids the traditional red envelopes.

This morning, Steve’s parents came over to visit with the girls briefly. We took care of some errands and went to my mom’s for a New Year’s celebration with Steve’s Aunt Pat, Uncle Art and his mom. Katherine had a blast – eating her way through two eggrolls, curry dumplings and other treats that my mom put out for dessert. We had a nice time catching up with family and kicking off another healthy and happy year!

You’re Getting Hotter, Cooler…

One of Katherine’s occasional games is hiding this blue squishy thing that her Grandma Dottie bought her at the aquarium. We tell her to leave the family room while one of us hides it then exclaims “done!” Katherine then wanders into the family room using hotter, colder as hints to find the squishy thing. Funny enough, she loves to hide the squishy thing but doesn’t realize that she needs to be quiet during the hiding process. During one of her turns to hide, she told me (while Steve was in the hallway), “It’s with the gears.” The next time, she dropped it behind the couch, but made such a racket with the plastic gear box that we all knew exactly where she put it!!

Need Milk, Mama

I can’t figure out if Allison is a really fast learner of sign language or if she was just waving at me this morning. One of Allison’s more endearing qualities is to wake up at 4AM with a dirty diaper. It’s almost like she’s on East Coast Time. Anyway, as I was cracking open Allison’s diaper at 4:30AM this morning, she let out several wails and proceeded to open and close her little fist as if saying “I want milk!!” I had been using this sign with her that day. We’ll see this coming week if she continues to use this sign – hopefully not at 4:30AM anymore.

Allison’s vocabulary of sounds is growing. We’re hearing “awa,” “adada,” “ava,” “aza” – lots of good consonants. Everyday she is growing and developing. This seems to be a huge period of growth. I can’t wait to take her to her 9 month checkup to see how she’s tracking.

What a Week!

What a Week!

Christmas was chock full of family meals and get togethers this year! We kicked off our week with Christmas Eve dinner with our immediate family and grandparents. My mom, the Bushes and Great-grandpa Vasvary visited for a potluck dinner featuring ham, potato buds, beans, salad, rolls and cheesecake. Katherine was so wound up and managed to convince the Bushes that she should open just one present Christmas Eve. This morphed into two gifts…a Bodyworks book and gift card. Anyway, we managed to get her to bed after reading the “Night before Christmas.” She gave me one last instruction before going to sleep, “Mama, be sure and tell Santa not to put a candy cane in Allison’s stocking. She’s still a baby!”

The next morning the crew arrived at 8:30AM (what dedication!) to see the girls open their presents. Katherine was agog at the stockings which were stuffed the night before and at the plate of oatmeal cookies which were nearly gone. We first tackled the stockings and the gifts wrapped by Santa (aka Steve who insisted on wrapping half the stocking gifts at 1:00AM the night before!).

Then…on to the gift opening!! One of my goals this Christmas was to keep the number of gifts under control. We sort of accomplished this, as Steve and I gave the kids only a small handful of gifts. Between all the family members, the girls managed to receive clothes, instructional DVDs and music CDs and toys. Katherine was super happy to get her candy cane and Carl book. One disappointment came when she took a Hallmark Lambey out of her stocking, “This isn’t Lambey…”

We then ate brunch which included a strata, more ham (see a theme?), fruit and a Christmas bread. Katherine fell asleep several hours later with Bisco, both sprawled on the couch for two hours. To cap off the excitement, we headed off to the Fialas for dinner and play with the cousins. This Christmas was eventful in that Katherine really interacted with her cousins for the first time. We attribute this to her Montessori learning environment. Or, it could be her natural development as a three year old.

That week we also hosted a brunch with the broader set of great-grandparents and Fialas. Brunch included….ham again, yogurt/granola, quiche, yummy breads, fruit, bagels, etc. A subset of folks played bridge before dispersing.

Eating More Solids

Allison has continued to expand her eating repertoire to include peas and brown rice (oh yumm!) and cereal finally. Patty’s key learning today: warm the food! We’re really trying to feed her at least 2-3 times a day. She’s grown as a result to 14 lbs and 9 oz – a 1.5 lb increase since her 6 month appt – and 36.25 inches. She still lags many of her peers at 5-10% weight and 25-50% height. She’s going to be a skinny kid!!