31 March 2013

Easter Day 2013

The Easter Bunny made his way to our house and filled the kids' baskets up quite nicely. Katelyn got a new book, Princess Dominoes, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers DVD, Rapunzel polly pocket and chap stick. Will got a stuffed elmo, ball, Rescuers Down Under and The Rescuers DVD and a dog that blows bubbles.


The Easter bunny left a little mess for Katelyn and Will when he filled their baskets. Katelyn was so surprised!
Just waking up and seeing what the Easter bunny did.
He left FOOTPRINTS!! That messy bunny!! Katelyn thought it was the coolest thing and couldn't believe that he could leave such a mess!


So excited about the things in her basket!


Daddy and Katelyn playing dominoes the other way! She doesn't want to play the right way; she just wants to line them up now.

Knocking them over!
Katelyn helped me sweep up the flour footprints. She was just jabbering on about how could he leave such a mess and maybe next year he will remember to wipe his feet before he comes in. And just how silly of a bunny he is. It was adorable and made the little bit of extra effort all the more worthwhile!
Brother/Sister LOVE!!

And posing of course!!

Such happy kiddos!
Family Easter picture before heading to church! Both kids did really well during the service.

Friends came over for dinner. The kids got to play, and adults got to hang out. It was a great day and as Katelyn said this morning when I asked her about Easter "Jesus rose from the dead!" Hallelujah!

30 March 2013

Ft. Leonard Wood Easter Egg Hunt and Bunny visiting


 Easter Egg Hunt #3 of the season. Fort Leonard Wood had their post egg hunt and bunny visit today. I mainly just wanted the bunny pictures but the hunt was fine too. It was windy and rather chilly.....not much of an Easter feel.

Will was not convinced the Easter Bunny was a good guy. I love the progression of these pictures. A first look of the paw and thinking where the heck did they put me to a - get me the hell out of here! The minute Jack sat him on EB's lap, Will was twisted around looking at him and I knew he was not going to be a fan!


 They had a little area set up for under 2 years of age and it was just a little photo op area. Very good thinking on their part!


And then the hunt began for the 2-3 year olds. What a chaotic event! There must have been thousands of eggs in the area. There was A guy trying to direct everyone on what to do, with no microphone and no one paying attention. The hunt was supposed to start right at 10, so a few minutes before he directed tried to tell everyone to line up around the rope but enough people either didn't hear the directions or just flat out ignored them and the kids just took off toward the eggs. He tried to yell to stop, but that wasn't going to do any good so he said ok just go. So those people that weren't there a few minutes early......ooops, guess you missed out. It worked out fine by me since it was chilly, Will was getting tired and it meant we could head home a little earlier!






One tired little egg hunter

Checking out what was inside all of the eggs to see if she picked up any lucky eggs

 

A basketful!

And she found 2 gold coins in 2 of her eggs! So we had to redeem them for prizes- a small squishy ball and a bathtub toy that squirts water.

And Katelyn sat our the Easter baskets for her and Will so the Easter Bunny would be able to find them and fill them. Guess we'll see what he brings in the morning! 

Happy Easter everyone!

25 March 2013

Project Life: Weeks 9-12


Here's a look into our lives over the past 4 weeks!






24 March 2013

{Watch Me Grow} 13 Months

Milestones/Firsts:
Full time walker - Walking EVERYWHERE!! He also got his first pair of real shoes and it took him a bit of getting used to. At first, he didn't want to walk at all with them on. The minute I put them on, he'd sit right down. If I tried to get him to walk a few steps he'd take a step and then sit right down. It finally all clicked when I had him walk in from the car one day. He held my finger and walked all the way to the garage and then it was as if the shoes were no big deal. Crazy kid!
 

He is starting to walk faster as if he's turned on his turbo booster! Not really running but it won't be long!

He also got and HATED his first haircut. In cased you missed it, you can read all about it here. I'm glad we got it cut. It sure makes him look more like a little boy! An adorable little boy!

 


 He waves bye bye all the time. When asks if he wants to go bye  bye to get Katelyn from school, he walks over to the shoe box at the front door and pulls at his coat and then walks around the house waving until we leave. So funny!

We also turned his carseat around. I was hopeful that it would make traveling easier, but I think it may be even worse. Now he can see us and is pissed that he can't get out. We went to St. Louis this past weekend and he refused to sleep during the ride there which was right during his morning nap time and then on the way home the next day he finally gave in 10 minutes from home, after having screamed or been upset a good chunk of the trip. It's just brutal. 









 Language:
Momma, Dadadada, Uhhh oh (Kind of)
He does plenty of jabbering but no solid words other than those 2-3. I can't wait until his vocabulary starts rolling. I love this stage!

Eating:
Still not the best eater and still eats baby food because he isn't getting enough finger foods. He still hasn't quite figured out to keep the foods in his mouth and swallow them instead of spitting them out. I'm hopeful that once some of those molars start popping in he'll get a little better. He wants EVERYTHING we have but nothing really stays in or gets swallowed. Until then, we keep giving it to him. One day it will click.

He found an M&M that got dropped and LOVED it, as you can see.

More junk food that he loved....oreos....well who doesn't?!?

 His other 2 favorites are pretzels and McDonald's french fries. Pretzels work great to keep him quiet during quiet times or occupied in the car. And the minute he sees a french fry he immediately starts whining for it. In fact, he knows when we've gone through the drive thru and will whine/cry the entire way home or until I give him a fry. I don't know if he just recognizes the bag or the smell, but either way, crazy. And we don't have McDonald's daily or anything.

He is still drinking from a bottle to get the majority of his milk intake but will drink from a sippy cup when he's eating or not crabby. But, when he's tired or hungry hungry, he wants a bottle. I'm not sure how we're going to get that to end. I guess some kids have a pacifier or suck their thumb....well this one has a bottle. I hope the sippy cup will become more and more popular and I can just slowly fad out the bottle. He even drank from a straw this weekend. He's not much of a juice fan, but will drink a few drinks.  Not the typical toddler, but I'm sure the not a fan of juice phase will not last long.

Sleeping:

Getting better :) Finally! Most nights...like 5-6 out of 7 nights he'll sleep until at least 5:30 or 6. I can give him a bottle then and he'll drink 8 ounces and go back to sleep until 7:30 when I have to wake him up to take Katelyn to school.

Travels/Events: 

We celebrated his 1st birthday the weekend after his birthday because Jack was away for work on his actual birthday. He had a great party!


"What am I supposed to do with this thing?!"


We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Rolla. He did pretty well but was pretty tired from screaming through his hair cut and then refusing to nap on the 30 minute drive. And it was pretty chilly out too.


This past weekend we headed to St. Louis and celebrated Easter with Family. The girls dyed Easter Eggs and then hid them. Will wasn't a fan of finding them; even when I put him right in front of the egg. He just turned and walked the other way. Maybe next year!

Playing with his cousin, David.


The Easter Bunny visited and brought baskets. He's checking out his loot!
 We spent the night and then the next day went to see Disney on Ice in St. Louis. He did pretty good until about the last act. He was tired, had finished all his milk and didn't want to sit on anyone's lap. But no complaints for a 13 month old!

 



Favorite Toys/Books:

Balls - He has quite the throw and seems to predominately use his right arm to throw, but will sometimes throw left handed. The verdict is still out.

His other favorite thing is whatever Katelyn is playing with. She had her purse out one day and he kept trying to get it from her and just was not happy without one. So she found one for him to carry around and he was golden. I'm sure Daddy loves this!

Cars - he knows how to drive them and will push them back and forth. Good thing he has that figured out already!

And anything that sings or plays music. This kid LOVES music!

Misc:

Loving the spring weather we got one day before it snowed the next. He is a fan of the swing!

Cute picture from the St. Patrick's Day parade


His new favorite spot. He climbs up on the fireplace ledge and just sits there like his on his thrown and king of the place. He has even figured out how to turn around and get down.

And lastly, he LOVES his sister! And loves chasing her around the couch and laughs so hard when she tickles him. I love watching them interact - it just melts my heart! I have to enjoy this while they are still loving to each other. I know we'll have a stage where she won't want him to bother her or he won't think shes so fun. Either way, I'm loving every second of it right now!

It's a Boy Thing!:(A new section because this guy is into.EVERYTHING!)

Playing in the toilet! - (Mar 17) Katelyn went to the bathroom and forgot to close the door behind her. I asked her where Will had gone to and she goes to check and yells "He's in the potty!" CRAP! He had dumped a bath cup and set of St. Patrick's Day parade beads into the toilet and had also used the cup to scoop out a cup or toilet water and poured it on the floor. Lovely!

Playing with the trash can. He lifts the lid and will try to take stuff out if it's getting full. Then if I get the trash sack out and tie it up but haven't gotten it taken outside quite yet, he'll try to play with the bag and the ties. Just flat out gross!!

Opening every cabinet and attempting to take things out. Luckily, I'm usually right there because I'm making dinner or something and continuously close them. But it doesn't stop him from just trying another. (We didn't install locks on the doors because we it's a rental and we are moving in a few months.)

 Boys, Boys, Boys! He is just so much more curious about everything compared to Katelyn at this age. She never bothered or had any interest in the bathroom. He is definitely keeping me on my toes!!

 Stats:
 ~23 pounds, 3 ounces (with clothes and diaper on)
Size 12 month clothes
Size 3 Diapers
Size 5 Shoes
7 Teeth


Disney on Ice - St. Louis

After our great day yesterday doing Easter things, we headed downtown to the ScottTrade Center to watch Disney On Ice's Rockin' Ever After. We hadn't mentioned anything about the show to Katelyn, but I did tell her the last night that we had a surprise for her tomorrow. I didn't want to answer questions for weeks about "how many more days" etc and I also didn't want Sadie to be sad that they weren't able to go with us.
But first, we had to deal with this......
 

The weather had been saying all week long that we were supposed to get snow on Saturday night and expect 5-8 inches. Well when we woke up on Sunday morning the forecast had changed and they said we'd get 8-11 inches in St. Louis. The snow started coming down around 8 AM and it was the hardest snow I'd seen in a long time (ok, well remember we lived in GA for a while). So while we are waiting around to leave for the show, the snow is coming down in buckets. The roads are getting covered but thankfully the plows were out in full force and it was slightly above freezing. And since we were already in St. Louis it didn't make any sense to NOT go to the show. We just hoped that by 3 PMish the plows would have had plenty of time to get the interstate in a much better condition that it was in the morning.  By the end of the day, they ended up with about 12 inches of snow! Yikes! (We only got about 2 at home). 



As soon  as we got in the car to go to the show, I asked Katelyn if she wanted to go see some people ice skating. She looked at me like I was crazy. Then I asked if she wanted to see some princesses skating and dancing and singing and she said "YES!" in a big way. Then I said, well how about we see  Belle, Ariel, Merida, and Rapunzel skating, dancing and singing and I got an even bigger "Yes, Yes and Yes!" It was just adorable seeing her face light up and see how excited she was. I knew she would love the show too but this was almost as much fun as watching her enjoy the show itself!

And we made it through the snow!! Mommy and Daddy spoiled her even more and got her a Rapunzel doll from the show. She held on so tight to her the entire day!! And kept saying "Thank you for my doll Daddy" - multiple times. Does this girl know how to warm and win over her Daddy's heart or what?!?

 



And Will loved running up and down our row until the show started.


2 very happy princesses that can't wait for the show to start!

Part of the crew.....the Hintz family was down a row at the other end.
And the show began! The first little act was Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy.
Then Pinocchio and Anastasia & Drizzle from Cinderella did a little skit. 
The Little Mermaid
Tangled (Rapunzel)
More Tangled
Brave (Merida)
Beauty and the Beast
More Beauty and the Beast


And it was a great show! Katelyn's face was glued to the ice the entire time and she hardly blinked! Well worth every cent of it!!

But them we had to drive home.....in the snow. Everything was pretty good going until we got about 30 miles west of St. Louis and traffic came to a screeching halt! We sat on I-44 for 45 minutes and didn't move an inch. We came up on a wreck with 2 trucks shortly after it happened. At least once traffic started we didn't have to wait long to get moving.  The whole drive was pretty miserable though because Will didn't want any of us to be too comfortable so he made sure we knew he wasn't happy. Ahhhh when will he become a good traveler??? I'm about ready to turn his carseat back around! But despite Will's terrible traveling it was a GREAT weekend!!!