Happy Easter! Isaac's first Easter!

We had a blessed Easter- It was just the four of us and we enjoyed ourselves. Grace and Isaac awoke and immediately began asking if the Easter bunny had visited. Ya right. Isaac awoke and wanted to eat, and Grace wanted to watch a video. After convincing them that the Easter Bunny brings gifts, we all meandered downstairs. Grace cared only about the small package of jelly beans attached to her light-up ducky...well, she cared about Isaac's jelly beans too, of course. We then put on our Easter duds and headed to church. I had to feed Isaac as soon as the service started. By the time he was finished and we headed to the sanctuary it was completely full. I mean there wasn't even room in the very back to squeeze in a chair. What a blessing to have such a full church of people to celebrate The Resurrection of our Lord! It was awesome. We happily sat in the hallway and worshipped. After church we went out to brunch. Our meal was delicious and both of the kids were perfect.

All of us at the restaurant.
Grace and Isaac in their cool Adirondack chairs that the Easter Bunny brought for the deck. The Easter Bunny worked hard putting those things together.
Easter goodies pre- Grace and Isaac.
Grace eating her jelly beans for breakfast.

On Good Friday we went to our church's Easter Carnival. We begin by having an egg hunt at a local nursing home so the residents could enjoy the children. We then watched a clown do a magic show and then headed to church for games and lunch. It was a blast and we had about 80 children attend.

Here is Grace watching the magic show. Isaac was being held by one of my many friends who needed their "baby fix."

Grace having her face painted...she wasn't too sure about the whole process.
Grace and her best bud Ryen. Ryen's mom is a photographer- Ryen has had lots of practice smiling. Grace purposely will not smile for the camera right now. :-)
Cutest baby at the carnival!Grace with her prized orange bunny rabbit balloon. Grace doesn't get that you have to wait in line to get your turn with the clown making the animals. She simply believes that you walk up in front of everyone else and get the animal made for you immediately. So I got her to stand in line 4 or 5 times, but inevitably she would get bored and run off, only to return later. Finally, a friend of mine took pity on her and let her cut in line.

PreSchool Easter Party

Grace's preschool had their Easter party today. It is most fun to see the children of the parents in charge of the party have complete and total meltdowns. Thank goodness it wasn't us this time!

Hayden, Grace, and Ryen.
Grace needed more and more sprinkles on her banana split.
Grace's wild class.
And this is my little Isaac and his latest trick. He is a rolling maniac. He spends most of his time lying on the floor, grabbing his feet and rolling onto his tummy. He does it over and over and over and over again. The only think is, when he gets onto his tummy he inevitably pins one arm underneath his body, so he has a hard time pushing up his head and also rolling back over. So I can't leave him for a second as I have to constantly pull his arm out from underneath him. He doesn't care, he just rolls onto his back and starts all over again. He is just so cute. Grace didn't do this feet thing until she was 6 months old. I guess Isaac is a little better at entertaining himself...

Grace and Isaac's Big Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday Grace and Isaac hosted their first Easter Egg Hunt. In preparation for the big event Grace and I undertook the challenge of coloring our own eggs the night before. (As if I didn't have enough to do.) Not exactly sure what I was thinking as Sid was going to be home late, but nevertheless I am always up for a challenge. All in all it went well. We dyed the eggs and then added some aluminum highlites. Grace then put them in an Easter Basket and we had a centerpiece for our table the next morning. Isaac was eating his keys while we manhandled the eggs.


On to the Easter Party. Sid "hid" 104 eggs the night before by car headlights in our backyard. It was fun to wake up the next morning and see the yard littered with bright colors. Grace was SO excited! Around 10:15 our guests started to arrive. Grace had 7 friends over and Isaac had 3. There were 7 mamas and we barely kept order. After some fun Easter snacks the hunt started. Grace, Hayden, and Jonathan were all about the eggs. Between the three of them they gathered about 100 of the eggs. After the hunt it was playtime. The kids played, wondered, ate, fought, jumped, fought, had meltdowns, had a great time and fought. The babies slept, ate, and cried. The mamas ate, tried to talk and mostly ran between babies and toddlers. We had a blast too.
Grace picking up eggs as fast as humanly possible.
Jonathan and Grace grabbing the last eggs.
Grace, Hayden and CJ on the trampoline.Grace and Hayden having their 4th snack of the morning.
Below: Isaac just taking it all in stride- hanging on the deck with his little buds.
The next generation: Emma- born March 2nd; Isaac-born Nov 19th; Spencer-born Nov 29th; and Evan-born Jan 31st.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Hope you had your green on today. If not, Grace was trying to find you so that she could pinch you. No kidding, I didn't really think that she would understand the whole pinching premise when I explained it to her- boy was I wrong. She even wore green pj's to bed in order to prevent personal pinching throughout the day and night. That's my girl.


We borrowed this jumperoo from our friends Brian and Marisa. Isaac loves it and spends an easy 30 minute stretch in it at least twice a day. Geez this kid is a breeze. Somebody needs to pinch me.
Grace put this diaper on her baby herself and she did it perfectly. I hired her to change Isaac's diapers, but she quit and didn't even give a notice.

It's Official...

We have another thumb sucker in the family! (I know what you were thinking...and you've got to be kidding me!) Little Isaac has been doing this for a while, but we took away the paci this weekend (I know, border-line child abuse) and the little guy happily switched over to full-time thumb-sucking. No more middle of the night trips to put that paci back in his mouth! It is the most precious thing to see him do this. He got a new 'nite nite' too over the weekend. He and Grace both had green blankies and it was too confusing, so Isaac now has a blue and black one and he took to it immediately. He is sleeping and napping great and I am also starting to catch-up on four months of sleep deprivation. Phew!



Yes, you are seeing this correctly- we bought Grace an injury device for the backyard. Sid and Grace are making sure that it is in full-bouncing condition. We do have an enclosure net for the perimeter and Sid put that on today.
Grace loves this thing- and after only 30 minutes of bouncing today, she was so tired that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. That's what I'm talking about.
This is Grace trying on her new bathing suit...and holding the palm leaf that she got in Sunday school yesterday morning. Great combo. But how cute is my little girl in that suit?

Our big, little guy

Isaac had his four month appointment today. I cannot believe my baby is already four months old. He weighed in at 17 lbs 1 oz and is a whopping 26 inches long. He is in the 90th % for both height and weight...just like his big sister. He is rolling all over the place and absolutely loves to play. He actually gets fussy if you hold him too much- no kidding. Could my children be more opposite??? He had his first bites of rice cereal today. He LOVED it! He literally laughed and smiled through the entire meal. I took a before and after picture, but he didn't waste a drop so the kid was as clean at the end as he was when he started.
Time has flown by over the last four months and the adjustment to having two children has been easier and better then I could have ever wished for. I've heard it said that the adjustment from one to two is extremely challenging, but those who prophesize didn't have my "first time experience." And I don't say that just b/c Grace was colicky and often sick-looking back I had just quit my job, Sid was traveling 3 days (sometimes 4 days) EVERY SINGLE WEEK and we had absolutely no family to help. Janice drove up often from Atlanta to help-out and that was a relief- I will be forever grateful. But most of the time the days were long and it was tough. Grace hated being in the car so we didn't go out as much as I needed to and so we spent much time walking and strolling. It was lonely, honestly. Plus I went from a stimulating graduate school program and teaching economics classes to reciting the ABC song and reading Dr. Seuss board books. I often wondered if I was where God wanted me to be. Now, looking back, God was in every aspect of my life. I was able to enroll Grace in the Mother's Morning Out program at our church when she was three months old. Her teachers were so loving and patient. My friends would bring me dinner and hold Grace so that I could shower and just catch my breath on many nights when Sid was out of town. Janice was able to come up once or twice a month to lend some relief. Grace was born in the summer and she loved being outside- and so that is where we spent lots of time in those early months. I thought that being a stay-home-mom was going to be easy-boy was I wrong. There is nothing on this planet more challenging if you do your job correctly. On particularly tough days I fantasize about getting in my car and driving to a place where the people speak using words with more than one syllable and understand what an interest rate is. I imagine going to the bathroom when I actually need to go, rather than when I can find a free moment to go. I imagine eating a meal all by myself and not having to share "piece of bites." But then I wake up and know that no one else on this earth is going to do glitter glue, paint, and stickers all in one hour with a two year old. I know that no one is going to rock Isaac back to sleep for the third time in 30 minutes and so I know that this IS where God intended me to be; raising my rugrats. Both of my children make me laugh every single day. They fill me with joy and are a constant reminder of Jesus and His love...and His sense of humor.
Grace and Isaac watching Little Bear... Grace's healthy breakfast of a poptart. Yikes!
Isaac before his cereal supper. So excited and doesn't even know what he is in for.

Isaac was extremely helpful with his spoon throughout the entire process-

Easter Photos

I had Grace and Isaac dress up in their Easter duds and dragged them out for a photo shoot. All and all it went pretty well. Grace was entertaining as she certainly had her own opinions on how the session should go, but she did well. Isaac was all smiles- as usual. Our Sears photographer was anything but good, but with a little schmoozing we got her in the Easter spirit.

Gone Fishin'

What a beautiful weekend! Grace and Sid decided to head out on Sunday afternoon for some fishing in the pond behind our house. I say fishing in the sense that they both had their fishing poles and that's about it. It was still too cold to fish, they didn't have the right kind of bait, and Grace is so noisy she scares the fish in neighboring ponds, let alone the ones in ours. But they both just enjoyed going through the motions. Because it was so nice Isaac and I headed out to join them. One of the first things we saw was this tiny baby turtle. It was so cute even though the darn thing was a snapping turtle. He didn't snap anyone- don't worry.

Not so sure if she wants to hold the turtle. And how cute are those pig-tails? Are you kidding me?
Okay- Maybe I will hold it, but just for a minute and then I will drop it on the ground. Good thing it has a hard shell.
The fishermen. And let me note that Grace's pole is actually designed for the swimming pool. It has a magnet on the end and special fish that go with it. At the ripe old age of two and a half she was knowledgeable of the bait she needed and apparently "magnet" was perfect.
Daddy and daughter, with poles in hand, off to the dock to feed the ducks and geese.
Isaac chose his fishing outfit in spirit of the day. And since he is so unbelievably cute I just had to take his picture.