Happy Easter!

At least if I post months late you aren't sick of Easter posts anymore, right?

The Easter Bunny visited our house on Friday night and as is the case in Wyoming, all eggs were hidden inside.

The older kids caught on very quickly.

And Devynee kept on flinching away from the flash.

Later on that day, we dyed our eggs!  Both kids only wanted to do things that they could do completely by themselves, so a lot of single color eggs were dyed.  Just fine with me! (Devynee was conveniently napping during this activity).

Kendree's faces in these three shots kill me.  I had to include them all.

I made the girls' peasant dresses using fabric from Devynee's crib set (will that stuff ever run out?).  They were surprisingly simple and I even got them done on Tuesday before Easter, so no late night rushed sewing. Hooray! Easton was just as thrilled with his coordinating bow tie from the Target dollar spot.  Bless you, Target.

After church and naps, we headed over to Laramie for some Wyo family fun! The kids opened up more presents...

Easton was thrilled with Devynee's finger puppets, as you can see.

Kendree did some twirling...

And some fancy posing.  This girl!

We also hunted for eggs, which by some weather miracle, could actually be gathered outside!

We had a wonderful Easter and are so grateful for our Savior!

Videos, videos, videos everywhere

Kendree Sings Little Bunny FooFoo
 
 Devynee Refuses to Walk
 
 Easton Reads a BOB Book
 

Devynee - 16 months

Time continues to pass, Devynee gets older and continues to stubbornly decide not to walk!

I kid.

Kind of.

Let's look at little Devy at 16 months:

• Devynee continues to sleep through the night, but has transitioned to just one nap a day.  This gets a little annoying if she happens to fall asleep in the car at 10 a.m. and I can not make her take an additional nap in the afternoon (well, I can try, but she won't fall asleep) and then is exhausted at bedtime.  Most time, she naps from about 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or so.
• Devynee is still in size 12 month clothes as mama is too lazy to get out the next size of clothes.  She wants to delay and just get it all switched out when it finally gets warm.  We shall see if this plan continues to work.
• She wears a size 3 or 4 shoe depending on the brand/style.
• She will walk across an entire room one minute, and then refuse to stand on her legs the next minute. We will never have to say that we forced her to do anything.  Devynee only does what Devynee wants to do.
• Devynee continues to love her dad the most, especially when he comes home from work.  If he is not fast enough at taking off his coat, the entire house hears about it.
• Devynee still doesn't have any additional teeth at 16 months.
• She has perfected the knee walk.  She is completely upright, but walks on her knees instead of her feet.  This has ruined several pairs of pants as it was warm for a few days and she was doing this on the cement outside.
• Devynee now says Grandma (mah-ma) and Grandpa (mah-pa) and always does the signs when she says their name.  She continues to refuse to say her siblings names and I can't think of any other new words.
• She does not like animals and even screams bloody murder when looking at the puppies behind glass at the mall. 

Devynee is a sweet little thing and is such a joy in our family.

Anytime that Devynee will humor Kendree and let her "hold" her is the best day of Kendree's life.

 But then she always has enough.

 Mama is usually able to convince her to sit for one more picture.

Instagram: February 2013

This is how both my older kids prefer to eat their carrot cake. #achipofftheblock

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, sassy, keep-you-on-your-toes, Kenny-girl!

Pleased as punch (bread?) that my second try at bread produced pretty good looking loaves.  Now to taste...

Someone spent some quality time with scissors today.  And no, she didn't have bangs before.  This is at the salon, but before the stylist had touched it. {sigh}

This kid's love for the Broncos is not to be messed with. #icouldntlovethosefrecklesanymore

The Boy

I wouldn't want Easton to think that the girls are the only ones who get face-time on the blog, so here's a catch up on him.

Easton continues to go to preschool two days a week through the school district and then an additional time with mama.  He is also starting a preschool run by the high school near us next week, so I would say that he will be sufficiently busy.

He loves all things super-heroes and will stare longingly at the DVD cases of the super hero movies that we own, as he knows they are "Mom and Dad movies" and he can't watch them yet.

Easton loves to watch sports with his dad. He never stops talking the entire time. Question, after question, after question.  It is hilarious to listen to, but I think if I was the one answering them, I might get a tad bit tired.

He is so excited for spring soccer and T-ball in the summer that he can barely stand it.  I try to explain that it won't be warm until June, but I don't think it is sinking in. 

Easton is reading some sight words, but doesn't have the interest right now to push this.  I work on it with him when he wants to, but we're taking it at his pace.  He got the BOB books for Christmas and those are the ones he enjoys reading the most.

We sure love this big five year old!

The incident

Kendree, my darling middle child, has always loved scissors.

Loved them.

And actually, she had some pretty serious skills when it comes to scissors (for a 2/3 year old at least).

A few days after her birthday, on February 21, the inevitable happened.

Kendree cut her hair.

I should have taken a picture of just how much hair it was, but this was not a "one lock of hair" experiment.  She meant business.

Here's the picture of the damage at the salon:

Let's just remember that she had NO bangs before this incident and while the stylist had parted and combed it a bit, she hadn't done any other trimming. In fact, she asked me if I had trimmed it up a bit at home and I told her that no, everything that had been done had been Kendree's doing.  The stylist then said that she actually did a really good job. (Not so sure that is something I want her to know...).

Now, she has bangs that essentially start at the middle of the top of her head, but since she did it, I guess that is what she wants.

This girl. Gotta love her.  Gotta make sure she has an early bedtime.

Kendree's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Kendree's birthday on Saturday, February 16th (the day before her birthday). I think this was only confusing to Easton, who insisted that she was not three yet and asked "Why are we singing to her? Her birthday is tomorrow!"

We had my family over from Laramie for pizza, presents and cake. Warning: lots of pictures ahead

She opened up her very own Princess Yahtzee Jr. game.

And Grandpa helped her with the biggest present of all....

Her very own PINK bean bag!

 Smirky-smirk.

 Also her very own superhero cape!

 Which she then wore for the rest of the present opening (She also ran up and down the hall with it streaming behind her, but we didn't have the video camera out).

 Mama made a few decorations.  Kendree requested an Ariel cake, so I went with a few other Ariel decorations.

 The cake.  You will notice the fingerprints all in the front.  A certain birthday girl climbed up on a stool and did some damage before daddy realized what she was doing (Mom was at the store, getting pizza and has no blame in this. :) ).

 The birthday girl!

 And finally showing off all of her attitude in her new dress-up high heels. I'll let you imagine the battle it was the next morning to explain that she could wear her new birthday dress and her new birthday coat to church, but not her new birthday shoes.

 Look at all that loot!  Thanks everyone!

Kendree is 3!

This little girl (excuse me, BIG girl) turned three on February 17th!

(don't ask why the pictures are in the bathroom, cuz the answer is that I have no idea).

 She requested this "roaring" picture all on her own.

And now a little about the birthday girl (from her own mouth)...

Favorite Color:  Pink 
Favorite Food:  Chicken and Rice
Favorite Movie:  Caillou
Favorite Sport:  Football
Favorite Subject:  Free play (at the very end of preschool, we let the kids play until their parents come)
Favorite Game:  Yahtzee Jr.
Favorite Restaurant: Anywhere with Pizza
What she wants to be when she grows up:  Mama
Favorite Animal:  Cow
Favorite Toy:  Tangled Doll
Favorite Book:  Lost and Found Book
Best Friend:  Bianca
Favorite Drink:  Chocolate Milk
Favorite Fruit:  Oranges
Favorite Vegetable:  Broccoli
Favorite Holiday:  Halloween
Favorite Thing to eat for Breakfast:  Pancakes
Lunch:  Corn Dog
Dinner:  Chicken
Favorite thing to do outside:  Draw with chalk
What Super Hero Power she would choose:  Stephanie (on LazyTown on PBS Sprout)
Favorite Song:  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Devynee - 15 months

Ahh, sweet Devynee.  She really is a good baby, but man am I about ready for her to walk!  She wants to follow me wherever I go but gets so frustrated that I am faster than her.  Let's learn a little more about little Devy at 15 months...

• Devynee is 18 lbs. 3 oz (5th %tile) and 30 inches long (40th %tile). Her head is in the 50th %tile but I did not write that down. We have a skinny thing.
• She is in 12 month clothes, but her length is getting to the point where I'll need to start looking at our 18 month stuff soon.  She also grew out of her size 2 shoes, but I don't know if she is in 3 or 4, as she only wears the Target Ministar Robeez knockoffs (the least headache for mama).
• Devynee continues to sleep through the night (7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.) and takes two naps a day.  Every time I think she may be starting to phase out that morning nap, she convinces me that it is absolutely necessary.
• Devynee is not walking, but will walk anywhere with her walker toy and will take 2-3 steps in between objects (most often mom and dad).  She can balance on her own for several minutes in the middle of the room.
• In addition to the things she was saying at 14 months, she now says, "more" (mo), "thank you" (take-oo), "please" (eeeeeze), "cracker" (cah-cah), "banana" (nana), "hot dog" (ha da), and "peek-a-boo" (pee-ooo).
• She is starting to really use head nodding and shaking, which is really funny.  She doesn't really say no or yes, but uses her head to answer questions.
• Devynee adores her siblings (but doesn't call them anything specific that I can tell).  She will follow them anywhere.
• Devynee seems to be more curious that my other kids (or maybe it's just been a while) as she is my first to drink toilet water (yuck!).
• She is a pro at wearing her glasses (most days) and aside from when she is sleeping and I take them off for that, I only put them on 2-3 times a day.  This is a huge step in the right direction.
• Speaking of her glasses, I get stopped at least once every time I am out with her as people ask me how I knew a baby that young needed glasses.  Most people who ask are grandparent age.  I always tell them that she was cross-eyed and you can almost see the look of relief on their faces as they mentally go down their grandchildren and realize none of them are cross-eyed. :)
• Devynee has not gotten any more teeth!  Just one lone tooth hanging out!

A 15-month close up. Smeary glasses and all.  It does give you a really good view of that tooth!

 And 15 second later when I am not giving her the camera.  Poor baby.

 A rare no glasses picture.  They have become so normal to me, that she almost looks weird without them!

Possibly the best purchase of 2013

Shortly after the new year (or possibly on New Year Day), I saw a blog that mentioned 5-year journals.

Friends, they are the best thing ever! At least for those of us that want to record snippets of every day, but can't commit to long journal entries.

I headed over to Amazon and started searching for the right one.  The girl that I heard about it from had this one, but I ended up purchasing this one. (full disclosure: mine says you are supposed to write about the little Jane Austen quote at the top of the page.  I ignore that instruction and just write what I want).

Basically, the idea is that you record 2-3 sentences about your day at the end of every day.  The things I record tend to do with the kids (surprise, surprise) or something at work or with Ronnie or other family that was significant.  I write as part of my nightly routine when I am reading scriptures and saying prayer and honestly, it only takes me 1-2 minutes, which I feel is worth it.  I have an entry for each day of 2013 so far, but admittedly have had to fill in two or three nights at a time when things are crazy, or I'm away from home and forget to take it.

I get a little giddy when I think that in 3-5 years, I'll be writing on March 4th and read that in 2013 it was the day that Devynee started giving real kisses, with the "mwah" noise and everything.

I realize that now some of you are mad that I didn't say anything around January 1, but who says you have to start on a new year?  If you think this may be a fit for you, order one up and get to writing!