Easter

I found out on Wednesday evening that our boss was giving us Good Friday off of work, so I sent the girls to daycare for their class Easter parties and stayed home and decorated and cleaned the house.

Bridget's teacher said that B didn't really know what to do at the start of the egg hunt, but after they showed her what to do, she was a pro and was even picking up toys off the playground and putting them in her basket!  This is a picture that one of her teachers texted to me the other day.  B's class was playing dress up Bridget let them tie a bandana on her - she ended up looking like a little garden gnome!

Audrey also had fun at her class party.  She was very proud of her bunny ears and after I took her picture in them, she told me to be sure tosend the picture to Aunt Tina. :)

On Saturday I woke up with pink eye and after two days of having to soak my left eye open in the morning, I was lucky enough to find a CVS clinic open on Easter Sunday.  Unfortunately, I had to attend two Easter celebrations looking like someone threw acid in my eyes!

Saturday afternoon we went to a party at a neighbors house.  The girls had a blast playing with the other kids and the Crawfords did a wonderful job with their egg hunt.  After everyone ate, the adults hid about 300 eggs in their yard.  They let Bridget go first to get a head start and she and Audrey quickly filled their baskets.

After the kids finished, the Crawfords hid two eggs with big money in them for the adults and I am happy to report that I found the $50 egg!

We had Andy's whole family and my Mom and Dad up on Easter Sunday.  Poor B didn't take a nap that day and between that and all of the Easter candy, she was a mess by the end of the evening, as evidenced by these two pictures:

 You can see the rest of the Easter photos here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZM3DRozaNGlp

I had to stay home from work yesterday because Bridget woke up with a cold.  I still had dishes from Sunday to clean and I wanted to put away the new Easter decorations and B just wanted to be carried all day (what's new).  I was tired by the end of the day and Andy had a work meeting, so I was on my own at bedtime.  Audrey is the master of finding reasons to come out of her room and I had finally had it, so I yelled "Audrey, get back in your room!  I am tired of this battle EVERY NIGHT!!"  She said "Ugh!  You are being so..... MOTHER-Y!" and stomped off!  I am so not looking forward to the teenage years if it's this bad at 4...

Bonnets and Bugs

The girls decorated Easter bonnets with Grandma Mary last Friday and were so proud of them.  They wore them all night and even had to wear them to ballet on Saturday morning. 

After ballet, we played outside for most of the day.  Audrey found a caterpillar in the front yard and we put him in a jar to watch him turn into a butterfly.  Audrey named him Charlie.  Andy told me to set him free so he wouldn't die in the jar, but by Sunday morning he was starting a cocoon and by Monday, we had a full cocoon.  I looked him up on the internet to see what he would turn into and unfortunately, if he makes it, Charlie is going to be an ugly brown moth. 

Audrey has been so interested in watching Charlie that I am going to buy her a monarch butterfly kit so we can have something pretty to watch!

I got out of the shower on Sunday to Bridget saying "Mommy, I paint my eyes!"  I think she's going for the Kesha look.

I never made the girls an appointment to get their 2 and 4 year portraits made and luckily, their daycare had picture day last week.  In the past, the school pictures have been horrible.  The girls didn't smile at all and looked miserable.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got their proofs back yesterday - they turned out adorable.

In the one where Bridget is touching Audrey's nose, they said that the photographer asked her to put her arm on Audrey's and she reached over pointed at her nose instead!

We have a busy weekend ahead - the girls have their class Easter parties on Friday, then we are having an egg hunt and dinner with some neighbors on Saturday, and then I offered to host Easter dinner so there will be lots of cleaning in between parties!  Happy Easter to all!

Shortly after I showcased Audrey's lovely artwork on the blog, Bridget grabbed a pen and drew a smiley face.  Pretty good for a two year old!

The last gymnastics session of the season started yesterday and Bridget was so excited to be back there after having the week off last week.  Both of her teachers commented on how well she is doing and how strong her arms are, which is funny to me because she is so tiny.  I guess that's why she's good at the gymnastics moves - not much to move! 

Bridget is dicovering the fine art of dress up and insisted on taking a wagon ride last night in a Snow White dress and pom poms.  :)

Andy was watching a DVR'd episode of Swamp People the other day.  If you haven't seen it, it's about alligator hunters on the bayou.  Audrey was in the room playing with her Lalaloopy dolls (the latest obession) and the next thing we know, she had a little story line going with her doll, Peanut Big Top, a hunter figurine and a platic alligator.

The hunter was Peanut Big Tops daddy and he was out hunting alligators.  Audrey will make a great actress one day with her vivid imagination and drama queen attitude!

Miscellaneous

Here are the pictures from the park that I took from Ella's blog.  The babies had a great time swinging - I think the two of them could have stayed on the swings all day!

The swings were full, so Jill had the great idea to double up the girls.  At one point Bridget asked "Where Ella?"  :)

Here is a cute shot of the girls on the bouncy zebra.

Here are some photos of Audrey's various methods of artwork.  This is a jellyfish that she drew:

In this photo, she turned her doll into a clown (luckily that was washable marker):

She made this family photo using an app on my iPhone where you stamp pictures with your finger.  It's Mommy, Daddy, Audrey, Bridget, Hazel, Amos, Spot, Avalanche and Wingnut.  Sometimes when she does this, there is a third dog for Roscoe too.  I think it's sweet that she still includes Wingnut and Roscoe in her family pictures

And finally, here is a quick video of Bridget saying "You betcha Mommy!"

Flower Children

On Saturday, Audrey's ballet teacher let us come into the classroom to see their recital routine.  It was SO cute.  The girls were all over the place - some were dancing, some were just staring at the moms.  Audrey just kind of half-assed it.  I think she was being shy, but she looked bored.  Here is the ballet part.  If you watch the little blonde on the left, she is actually watching the teacher and doing the routine.

This is the tap part of the recital.  This time, the blonde girl is on the right and Audrey just looks just as bored!

After ballet, we met some friends at the playground.  I didn't have my camera (heck, I forgot to bring extra diapers!) so I will have to get some pictures from Ella's daddy!  Here is one from my phone of the girls on a bouncy zebra together:

Audrey is now into picking me wildflower bouquets, which is so cute!  When I picked her up from daycare on Thursday, she had a bouquet that she had picked on the playground.  On Sunday,  I let them pick a couple of tulips and azaleas from the yard and they spent a good deal of time arranging them in my small vases.  Audrey decorated our dinner table with the vases that night.

Audrey told me that they were flower technicians picking wedding flowers.  She also said that her wedding dress is going to be red with a flamingo and that her wedding flowers are going to be red roses.  We will have to remember that!

I'm glad that the girls are back in daycare now.  I think they were watching too much TV at home with Daddy.  If you say "Nationwide," Bridget will sing "Is on your side!"  We were out somewhere a couple of weeks ago and Audrey had to go potty.  When we got into the stall, she asked "Is this toilet paper gentle on my skin?"  I bought some Angel Soft toilet paper last night and she recognized the package.  She picked it up and said "Is this Angel Soft?  It's gentle on my skin." She then proceeded to take a roll out of the package and squeeze it like they do on the commercial!

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Andy has been out of work since around Christmas time.  He started a new job yesterday in a totally different field, but he is very excited about it and is actually using his forestry degree!

While he was home, the girls were used to staying up late and sleeping in with him.  He has to be at this new job at 6:30 am, so I am on my own getting the girls up and ready for daycare.  Luckily they woke up fairly easily on Monday and they had a good time at school.  When we were leaving yesterday, a little boy yelled "Goodbye Audrey.  I'll miss you!"  This morning, however, when I woke Audrey up, she asked "Where are we going?"  I told her that she was going to school, and she said "Again??"

I have also been trying to get them to bed earlier for the past few nights.  Bridget STILL has to have one of us sitting next to her bed in order to go to sleep, and Audrey is the queen of excuses to get out of bed.  I started keeping a list:

• I'm hungry
• I'm thirsty
• Avalanche is in my room
• Bridget is crying and keeping me up.
• Bridget isn't crying and it's too quiet
• Bridget left her baby doll in my room
• Your old Barbie is in my room
• My iPhone is on
• I don't like the color of my walls

I usually ask her what the best part of her day was while I'm tucking her in and forgot to do so last night.  I thought she was asleep, but she came walking into my room at about 10:15 saying "I'm having trouble sleeping because you forgot to ask me what my favorite part of my day was."  I asked her what it was and she said that it was coming home from school!

This past weekend, we went and had dinner with the Korey's and Bridget was all about Baby Andrew again.  He's a wee bit bigger now than the last time she held him:

It was fun watching Audrey and Emma play because they are at an age now where they go off and play together.  They were both super sweet about including Bridget (when she wasn't holding the baby) but I'm sure in a few years, she's going to the pesky little sister!

Audrey's ballet recital dress came in last weekend and I was a little worried that she wouldn't want to wear it because of the colors, but she seems to like it. 

Her class is going to be dolls in the recital and her teacher wants their hair in a ponytail with ringlets.  I have a month and a half to learn how to do ringlets and get Audrey to sit still while I use a curling iron on her - wish me luck!

Bridget Palin

I think Bridget is ready to move to Alaska and join the Palin clan.  Daddy already has her chopping wood, and now she likes to play with (water) guns and he has her saying "You betcha!"

We are still enjoying this great weather, but I think poor B has allergies.  Her eyes are all watery and puffy but I don't think she has a cold.  I called the pediatrian yesterday to see what kind of allergy meds I can give her and they said that I could give her Benadryl but I may not want to because it might make her sleepy.  And the problem with that is...?  :)

Audrey is still obsessed with flamingos and Grandma H found this bathing suit while flipping through a catalog:

Audrey insisted on wearing it while playing outside yesterday. 

Andy took Amos out on the canoe on Sunday to see how he would do.  He said Amos did fine until he randomly decided to jump in the river.  Luckily he is a better swimmer than Roscoe was.  Roscoe couldn't keep his back end up and would struggle to keep his head above water, but Amos did well enough that Andy just kept the boat next to him and steered him to shore.

Here are the explorers in the backyard yesterday:

This one is kind of fuzzy but I like how they look like they are actually canoeing and looking at something other than the back yard!