Easter (Part III)

On Easter, we headed over to Aunt Alice's for some more Easter fun with assorted family and, of course, Grandma.  The girls really had fun.  Alice had such a wonderful egg hunt set up for the kid in her back yard.  The girls enjoyed the hunt but made me laugh because they would, again, only get one of each kind of "special" egg or treat.  I'm really not sure where that came from but it was really sweet.  If one of the grown-ups pointed out something that the girls already had, they would peek in their basket and say, "I already have one of those."

Checking out some slugs that got onto one of the dyed eggs.

Searching with Grandma.

Checking to make sure they had each found the same things.

After the egg hunt, we had a wonderful Easter brunch and then played with the other kids for a while.  We also had "nap time" in Alice's room.  Not sure how that got started since my girls nap about once a month!  All that fun wore Kayden out though.  She fell asleep on the way home and even stayed asleep when transferred to her bed.  I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened in her life!

Keeley, Kayden, and Etta "napping"

Reading with Alice.

Everyone preparing to nap.

Thank you, Alice, for hosting such a fun brunch.

Mind of a 2.5 year old

On the way to Easter brunch we all sat quietly in the car.  No one was talking.  Suddenly, Kayden says, "Mom, who was watching us when you and Dad were making the baby?"  Ummm....I quickly steered that conversation to who would watch them when he was born and thanked my lucky stars the question was asked when it was just us and not once we actually got to the brunch!!

Easter

We've not really made a big deal out of the Easter bunny, but I have gotten baskets for the girls each year.  They love hunting Easter eggs but had already decided that we always did that and it wasn't the Easter bunny.  This morning when the girls got up I told them there was a surprise for them in the living room.  After checking out her basket, Keeley asked if we bought it all.  I told her the Easter bunny brought it.  She looked at me sternly, put a hand on her hip, and said, "Mom, tell me what really happened."  So I told her that I bought the goodies.  I few minutes later we were getting buckled in the car and she says, "Mom, you have to tell the truth on Easter."  Wow.  Such shame for this mama!  Christmas this year should be interesting.  I wonder if Santa is out too?

Easter Egg-ing (Part II)

We told the girls that we could have an Easter egg hunt at our house on Saturday with Oma.  Unfortunately, Oma ended up not being in town, but the girls still wanted their Easter egg-ing on Saturday so Kelly and I set about putting up the hunt in the back yard.  They had a blast as you can see!

 

Baby K's Name

I know the suspense has been driving everyone crazy, but we just couldn't agree on a first and middle name.  I was unwilling to pick a first name until we had a middle name I liked.  So, here we are at 9 months and a little bit pregnant but we finally have a name that we are ready to share!

We were actually going to wait until he was born just in case I changed my mind again, but Keeley is smarter than I thought.  After a doctor's appointment Wednesday, I gave her the option to go back to school for a little bit or to come by some things for the baby's room. She chose option two and then asked what we were buying.  I told her we were buying letters to put his name on the wall.  She said okay and left it at that - until we started walking into the store.  Holding my hand in the parking lot, she stopped mid-stride and said, "Wait.  How are we going to pick the letters if we don't know the name."  I told her we had some options and could just return the letters we didn't need.  She seemed appeased by that and didn't ask more questions - even when she was choosing his letters one by one for me.  Later that evening Kelly was hanging the letters to check spacing with the pictures and the girls came in.  Keeley said, "I like it.  What does that say?"  So, here we are forced to share the name because I have a very inquisitive 4 year old!

Here are two shots of his room.  One with his name.

 
His full name is Killian Jacob Culhane.

Dates

Tomorrow and Thursday morning, Keeley has evaluations for her eating issues.  Because it is a 4-day weekend on top of that, I told her that she needed to work hard today and tell her friends she might not see them until next week.  It was also "show and share" day but we totally forgot about that.  When her teacher brought her to the car, she said, "I guess we won't see you until after Easter."  I told her that may be the case but that I was going to try to get Keeley back in time for class.  While Keeley buckled herself in and talked to Kayden, Ms. Stem tapped on my window and said, "She told us today during show and share that she wouldn't see us for a couple of days because she was going to have a Mommy-Keeley date and talk to some new people.  I'd treasure that if I were you and not rush to get her back to school."  Sweet girl.

Tired

The girls insist they do not need naps.  I beg to differ. We sat in the car for a good thirty minutes with them passed out in the garage this day.

Easter Egg-ing

The girls have been dying to go "Easter egg-ing" for a while now.  Finally, the first of our Easter egg adventures arrived yesterday. Last year we had an Easter egg hunt with the Martinez boys and had so much fun that Monica and I decided we should do it again.  It got off to a bit of a bumpy start however because I forgot to bring the Easter baskets (quick stop at the Dollar General fixed that...) and Judah wasn't feeling good (He perked up pretty quickly when it was time for the hunt though.  Kids are amazing like that!)

The kids all had lots of fun.  My girls cracked me up because Keeley kept finding Kayden to show her all the pink eggs and Kayden kept sharing the toys she found with Judah and Levi if she already had them (Judah wasn't running to fast since he was sick and Levi only had eyes for the eggs so he ran past all the other goodies!).  When the kids were all done hunting, Keeley lined up her loot and hand out any duplicates she had to the boys and Kayden did the same with her toys.  Very sweet.   Here are some of the action shots.  I know you are all shocked by Keeley's clothing choices.

Keeley motioning Kayden over to the pink egg she found for her.

Kayden had to let me empty her basket out because it got too full, but she couldn't wait to keep searching.

Blowing bubbles.  Look how crazy her hair is!!!

More bubble blowing!

Look how excited she is to be searching for plastic eggs!

Thanks, Martinez family for having us over again!!

Creative thinker

Kayden has been potty trained for several months now.  We rarely have accidents, but we also frequently suggest she go to the bathroom.  At school they are trying to teach the kids body awareness and they don't suggest as often as we do at home. As a result, she has an accident almost every day at school.  They never say anything to me.  She comes bouncing out of school all smiles in play clothes instead of her uniform, hands me her bag, and says, "I had a tinkle accident.  My clothes are in there."  I wash the clothes, send them back, and the entire cycle repeats.

Yesterday at pick-up, the lead teacher walked her out instead of the other teacher.  She said, "Kayden's clothes are in her bag."  and then she paused.  I was afraid she was going to say that this was becoming a problem or that we needed to have a meeting to discuss solutions.  But, instead, she said, "I'm not entirely sure they are wet.  She told me they were as she was sitting on the potty and I don't like to second guess the kids right in front of them." another long pause...."but, I think she may just like to change clothes at school."

Yes, that would be my child.  That is exactly what she is doing.  She tires of her uniform and thinks it is fun to go to her cubby and get out play clothes to wear instead.   I'm sure it only took a few times to realize the teachers just take her word for it.  Since they have the kids help clean up any accidents, I'm sure she puts her own clothes back in the bag to send home.  Too smart.  I'm beginning to think we are going to have a very, very hard time staying ahead of this one as she gets older!!

Martinez Boys

On Thursday, the Martinez boys came over to play on our new swing set.  All six of the kids had a great time.  I'm loving that we can play outside so much now.  This is the perfect weather!!!

Nothing in this picture is safe.

This is how a lot of the playdate went.  As many kids as possible on or near that slide.

Judah liked to go down on his tummy.

Blaise kept using the stroller to practice walking.  Keeley was not so pleased with his decision.  This is the only picture I got of Simeon.  He was busy exploring the entire yard and didn't stay close to the other kiddos.

Posing in her new glasses and her leotard, of course.

The big boys.

The girls' solution to their inability to pump their legs yet.

Sweet smile!  He was obsessed with that big slide.

On the phone!

Thanks for coming to play!

Baby K

Well, it seems as though Baby K was starting to feel a little too neglected because he tried to get our attention on Tuesday.  I woke up crampy and started having contractions.  I was out at the time so I figured once I got home and was able to rest that they would go away - no such luck.  A call to the doctor's office had me picking up the girls early and heading in to see Jeanean.  When we were in the office, she was trying to figure out the best plan based on how strong the contractions were, how frequent...I started to get a pretty strong one and she said, "Your face is starting to flush and I can see you wincing, you need to go to the hospital to get monitored."

A panicked phone call to a friend (thank you, Deitra) found a home for my girls until Kelly could get them and I headed to the hospital.  They had me on monitors, did a test to see if baby was likely to come in the next two weeks, ordered an ultrasound, and did some blood work.  My contractions never became regular although they did get strong enough for them to come in to give me pain monitor so they could see how I was feeling as they watched the contractions. Around 6pm, they just stopped all together. All my tests came back perfect and the ultrasound looked great.  The ultrasound tech even gave me this cute picture (she just told me to hide it since she wasn't supposed to take them!)

The only bad news was that he was breech at the time.  I have 6 weeks for him to turn around and stay that way!  Our stay in the hospital did prompt us to get moving on a crib, bigger car, and  I think we have finally picked a name - we aren't telling just yet though!