Easter Beauties

These two clean up pretty snazzy-like!

Lily Kate has a killer pair of baby blues. Her hair is growing a lot and I'm testing it daily for the time when we can clip bows into it...until then, her assortment of headbands is continuing to grow.
Cotton-candy fingers add to his sweetness.

I did my best to tell Ace the real story of Easter and not confuse him that the fact that Jesus was tortured and put on a cross to die is a good thing. Now, when he goes down for his nap he wants "that Jesus story where he kicks death's hiney."

Taking time

I had a moment this morning. One of those "smelling the roses" moments where I'm thankful for every second that ticks by. I saw these little cleats on the stairs: a sign of a healthy little boy wish sunshine in his hair and energy to power cities. Also a sign of someone who loves his routine and is following directions by taking his shoes off when he comes in and putting them on the stairs.

Little moments are what I'm relishing:
A laugh and a toot at the same time
Ace's dimple when he's trying to get out of trouble
The way Lily Kate smells like her nighttime lotion when I wake her in the morning
"Mommy will you come wipe my hiny"
Two little hands that have learned to reach for Mommy
"Do you smell that?" (always after Ace toots)
A smile so big it wrinkles her nose
Ace's constant questioning as to when he's getting married
Watching Ace's endless car and truck races
The sound of Lily Kate learning how to giggle
Snuggles
Lily Kate's infatuation with her brother

I'm thankful for an end to busy, tax season. I can now breathe a little between projects and appreciate more pieces of my puzzle.

Honey saw the painted hineys in a magazine a few years back and we recreated the look when we were together at Great Wolf Lodge a few months back.

From the left: Braedyn, Brookelyn, Ace & Lily Kate.

School Pics

I have a library of TERRIBLE school photos of my own. But this little guy won't be embarrassed by this one when he gets big. Handsome!

And Mommy didn't even realize it was picture day.

My favorite part is his little crossed hands. Angelic.

Of course, I know there is a little devil behind this facade because we've been wrestling him so much lately. Ace has started to do EXACTLY the opposite of what he's told to do so we've instituted the token system around here (plus, we are tired of spankings): If you follow directions, you get a token. If you don't, you get a token taken away. Once you have ten tokens, you have $1 to pick out a toy at Target. Mucho motivation if you've spent any time around Ace.

He stayed at 1 token from Monday - Thursday with his waffling behavior but I'm happy to report that he's up to 6 tokens at the moment. He'll go touch #1 and say, "I got this for cleaning up the playroom." It's really cute that he remembers. No so cute: his behavior at the wedding last week that ushered in the token phase.

Un"bear"ably Cute!

Brittany and Todd had a beautiful wedding this past weekend. They were so sweet to include Ace. Here is Mr. Handsome in all of his ringbearer glory. This sweet smile is hiding all of the misbehaving that went on.

These two were unbelievable. Though they've only played together a handful of times before the wedding, I must have been asked ten times by other people in the wedding party whether they knew each other beforehand. They were fast friends and then practically brothers with the way they alternated loving each other and being mad at one another.
Jonathan managed a SHORT clip of the walk down the aisle.


Brittany was so patient and gracious with the boys. I think Kate and I are going to retire Pierson and Ace from their jobs as ringbearers until they can follow directions a little better...or until Lily Kate and Gray are walking!

Silence

The past couple of days, I've started thinking about the different kinds of silence around my house. I think my fellow mommies will totally understand even though my explanations are bad...


Morning silence - Before the kids wake up where you try to get as much done as possible. This silence is a little tense because you are scrambling to get things done and waiting for the first sounds from the monitor to let you know the kids are awake.

Crying silence - The silent seconds following some sort of boo boo where they are sucking in air for the big wail.

Naptime silence - This is bliss. In our house, it's only the sound of the monitor and heavy breathing.

Trouble silence - When you are working around the house and realize all of a sudden that the babble of little voices has stopped. Trouble's coming.

Mischief silence - This is moments of silence punctuated with little giggles or the pitter-patter of little feet.


After silence - This is the silence that comes after a crash, boom or bang. You don't know if you are going to hear crazy crying or if everything will be ok.

Discipline silence - When the kids do or say something they aren't supposed to and then look straight at you, silent and just waiting for your reaction. My LEAST favorite.

I'm sure I'll come up with many more but these are what we are experiencing at the moment.

Some Lily-Notes

Our baby girl is growing fast.

I had to lower her mattress because she figured out how to pull up.

She's gotten over her fear of Hula and they are now best friends. Lily Kate is a HUGE t-ball fan. (And apparently she is learning to steal her brother's toys...she absconded with Ace's stegasaurus and hid it in her carseat.)

She is teething in earnest, sleeping through the night, nursing less and doing everything babies do. She's not quite a snuggler but I'm hoping to change that. Her cries are super high and squealy. Her favorite person in the world continues to be Ace and Daddy is a close second. I swear she's on her way to saying "Mama."

We are loving our Lily.