Sick Little Man

Although I felt bad Simon was sick for five days...I enjoyed all the extra snuggles I got.  

He finished his medicine today and this is what Lily looked like at 12:15 this afternoon.

Looks like more snuggles for me this week!

A Beautiful Mess

This is why my house is rarely clean.  As I am mopping one floor another floor is getting special attention from other family members.

I simply closed the door after I saw this.  I just couldn't even deal with it.  Jason was so awesome and helped me pick up every single piece of glitter and whatever else was strewn about.  Love him and the kids who made the mess.  Although according to the oldest child it was only the youngest child who made the mess.

We now have a Two and a Three year old!

April 2010

April 2011

April 2012

 I find it so hard to believe he is two already.  And looking back at his pictures over the last few years, I can't believe how much he has changed!  I love this little man SO much!

We went to the zoo to celebrate.  He watched the porcupines the longest.  It was a very windy, quick trip to the zoo.  We were out of there in an hour.  It's not a big zoo, but I was expecting to be there longer than an hour.  

 

I learned a lot while decorating these cupcakes.  That's a whole other post!

He was amazed by the smoke after he blew the candles out.  

Our new pet, Blaze.

He was SO excited about his basketball hoop.  

His new bike from Nanna and Poppy.  

The more birthdays I plan for my kids the more I get excited about them.  I have started decorating more...just simple things like banners, crepe paper draped from the fan to walls and lots of balloons.  It's amazing how just little things can make such a difference.  

I will do a separate post about Simon and his two year old stats after his check-up in a few weeks.

Easter

Gram and Granda came to visit just in time for Easter.  Jason and I went to church on Good Friday, shortly after they arrived, and we spent Saturday playing and doing some prep work for lunch and dinner on Sunday.  We had a nontraditional, but oh so delicious, dinner of beef and chicken kabobs, rice pilaf, roasted vegetables and fruit salad.  

The kids opened some gifts. 

We had our first family Easter egg hunt.

We dyed eggs using a wire whisk.  Such an amazingly smart idea!  No, it was not my own, I saw it on Pinterest.  

The kids had a lot of fun and they created some beautiful eggs.  This was before they decorated them with stickers.  

We had a gorgeous day and enjoyed celebrating with Gram and Granda.

Weekend in Review

We had an amazing weekend!  Great weather, lots of family time, a circus, relaxing, making memories and simply loving being together.  

Taking a break from throwing rocks and enjoying the scenery.

Jason had the great idea to let them bring their rain boots so they could step into or put their feet in the water.  They loved it!

 

Waiting for the Picadilly Circus to begin.  They were both very excited...well all of us were actually!

Over-priced ice...It did last the entire circus, and the kids loved it so it was worth it.   I am not sure where Lily learned to pose like that, but I love it!

 

 

The straw barely left her mouth the whole time!

Painting in the sunshine.

Two-handed painting

This is how we ended our weekend...in the sunshine, having fun (well, Jason not so much...he does not like it when the paint makes an appearance).  

Spring in February

It is no secret that we have had an incredibly mild winter.  I have been loving it and taking full advantage of being able to be outdoors!  

Lily has always loved books and reading and just recently Simon has also discovered the joy of books.  He and I read for almost an hour the other day while Lily was at school.  We would finish a book and he would say, "More" stand up and pick another book off his shelf.  I loved it!  

 It is so neat to hear Lily "read" the books to Simon.  She has memorized quite a few of the stories we read regularly and she can recite them almost verbatim.  

 Pointing out her name in the book.

 I brought our sensory table outside again and broke out the cloud dough.  They shared the space and limited amount of cloud dough so well.  It made for a very pleasant experience!  They scooped and dumped and created ice cream cones and just had fun. 

 When there are cars coming down the street we tell the kids to get on the grass so they are safe and they always check to see if it's Jason's car.  There is so much anticipation and they are both saying, "Daddy?" and just waiting.  They typically recover fine when it's not Jason arriving home.  If it is Jason...watch out man, the race is on and Lily always wins and Simon cries because he wants to get there first.  I have asked Lily a few times to let Simon get to daddy first so he is not so upset and she lovingly obliges as she waits her turn for daddy hugs. 

  

 "Chase" is Lily's favorite thing to do these days.  I can't tell you how many times a day I hear, "You want to chase me?"  The girl just loves to run and she is getting fast.  When I do chase her I have to actually run to keep up with her.  Every once and a while she convinces Simon to chase with her.  She is quite a bit faster though and they eventually forget who is chasing who.  

My little boy is getting so big.  He officially looks like a toddler now.  I don't see anymore baby is him and it kind of breaks my heart.

And this little girl is so excited to turn four, she is simply beside herself.  She tells everyone she is "almost four" even though we still have five months to wait until the big day.  I am definitely not wishing the days away.