Easter

Easter was the day after Emeline's birthday party, so unfortunately it got overshadowed a little bit this year.  But just as Christmas was more fun this year as Emeline understood it was Jesus' birthday, we tried to help her understand that today we were celebrating that Jesus is alive!

Easter morning opening up goodies from Mama and Papa and Grandma Chris.

 

 

 

 

Trying to get some pics of the girls all dressed up for church. It was a bit chaotic.

 

 

Most of the pics I got involved a drill.

 

Some friends had us over for an Easter celebration including a homemade Indian food feast and an egg hunt for the kids.  It was another excuse to put on their dresses, and I was able to get some good ones of the girls all dressed up after naptime.

 

 

 

Then we enjoyed some delicious food and fun times with friends.

Emeline always loves the strollers.

And she enjoyed hunting for eggs with Asher.

And Kate had fun playing ball with Lucas.

Happy Easter!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Party

For Emeline's third birthday party, we chose to have a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom themed party.  We got to incorporate her love for letters, dress up, dancing and fun with friends.

The decor!

Dress up, cake, and coconut hunt bags.

 

The party started by inviting friends to put on grass skirts and beach hats and have a dance party.  The girls were pretty into it, but some of the boys were a bit put off.  

Kate tried on the costumes too. 

After most of the guests arrived, we rounded the kids up for story time, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom of course :).  The kids loved it and asked Wes to read it again! 

Meanwhile, I hid some "coconuts" in the backyard for the following treasure hunt. 

Josh by far was the victor.  His bag was overflowing!

Some fun with parachutes and balloons.

 Then food and fun!

And last but not least, Emeline's favorite part, candles and cake!

 

 

 

 I think a good time was had by all.  Happy Birthday Emeline!

Three years and Nine months

We've got another double update today!  The big 3 for Emeline and 9 months for Kate!  I can't believe how big these girls are getting.

Katie Sue seems to be getting more and more active every day.  She's still not technically crawling, but she can move herself around pretty well and is very close.  She is pulling up on everything, but hasn't quite gotten up to stand by herself yet.  I'm sure we will see that any day now.  So between the almost crawling and the almost standing, I'm sure we will have some good mobility coming up quick!

Kate likes to babble a lot, and it's wonderful to listen to. We hear 'ga', 'ba', 'ma', 'ne', 'ahh', 'gee', and maybe a few more.  She's also starting to develop quite an attitude.  When she doesn't get food or a toy she wants she can get quite frustrated.  She makes one awesome pouty face.  I need to try to get that on camera.

Kate has turned into quite the eater.  I think she has eaten just about anything we've put in front of her, including chili and some Indian food recently.  I'm impressed!  She can gnaw through a lot with only her two bottom teeth.  The top two are on their way, and now doubt responsible for the past month or so that she's forgotten how to sleep.

Look at how shes' grown.

 One week, 6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long (birth weight of 6 lbs 14 oz)

One month, 9 lbs 9 oz, 21 inches long

Two months, 10 lbs 14 oz, 22.5 inches long

 

Three months

 Four months, 14 lbs 8 oz, 25 inches long

Five months

Six months, 17 lbs 7 oz, 27.5 inches long 

Seven months

Eight months, 18 lbs 15oz

Nine months, 19 lbs 11 oz, 28.25 inches long

Emeline at three, where to begin?  I had trouble summing up so much about her for this update, so here are some things I've noticed about her lately that I want to remember.

I am so impressed with how much she is learning about the world and how things work.  She is pretty articulate, and I've been realizing over the last few months we have moved into a place where I need to make time to pay attention and listen to the things she's saying.  That may sound harsh, but she used to, and still does, talk A LOT.  But it didn't always have a lot of meaning.  She isn't just repeating things or narrating what's going on, she is is thinking about her world and talking about it, and it's important for me to listen and participate in conversations with her.  Sometimes after nap time, if Kate is still sleeping, Emeline and I get to sit and talk together.  Sometimes over snacks, sometimes over tea.  It can be very refreshing.  She is insightful.

She prays, she asks questions, she pretends.  She's memorized some of her stories.

She likes imaginative play a lot.  Loves to put babies to sleep, change diapers, cook, clean, shop, you name it.  Her play is a lot more focused in that way, but she still doesn't like to sit still much.  She likes crafts for a few minutes, but sitting still for too long cramps her style.

She's awesome at riding a tricycle, and she's starting to get the hang of her balance bike.  She's great at climbing, jumping and running.  Often, when I put on my running shoes to go for a jog, she says "I want to run too!".  And sometimes when we get home from an outing, she asks if she can run around out front first, and she runs up and down the sidewalk.  Just yesterday she ran 20 laps up and down our hallway.  Maybe she'll be a runner yet.

She's been out of diapers during waking hours for about 5 months.  She often, but not always, takes a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon, and sleeps 10-11 hours at night in a BIG big girl bed.  She can get dressed and put on her shoes by herself, but often refuses to do so.

She can draw a circle and tries to draw faces, though they are hard to recognize.

She is compassionate.  When she sees someone crying or sad, myself included, she wants to comfort them.  She wants to know what's wrong and she wants to help.

She can recognize many letters, but not all of them, and she's working on learning some of the sounds they make.  She can count to at least 15 in both English and Spanish, and is working on getting to 20.

She's a tall girl!  38.5 inches tall (76%) and 36 lbs (89%).

We tried to get some photos of her with her sheep, but the dolly couldn't be left out.  Here is our big three year old!

 

And here are our two favorite girls!