April Favorites

Happy Easter! It's been a busy month full of many celebrations (Easter and birthdays). We have been enjoying our time with friends and family and despite the RIDICULOUSLY AWFUL weather we have had this month, we have even enjoyed the sunshine on a few occasions! Here is a series of pictures from April so far: there are quite a few but they are all my favorites for different reasons. Enjoy!

LOVE Kate's legs! This is her favorite spot on a sunny day...she just watches Ellie on the swing set and cracks up at her sister's silly antics.

oh Kate!

What a good Daddy he is...

Can you see the pink egg at the top? Ellie really had to work for this one!

Egg hunt number 2

Egg hunt number 3 (Easter morning)

Egg hunt number 4 at Nana and Papa's house! My word!

The McDonald grandkids: Cole (3 months), Ellie (4 and 1/2), and Kate (1 year)

My Not-So-Girly Girls

It all started with a bug house. Today was a beautiful, sunny, spring day. Kate had just begun her long daily nap and Ellie wanted to play outside. I thought it might be fun to surprise her with a new bug house. Ellie LOVES to catch bugs, worms, frogs, etc and she is always stealing my kitchenware to make habitats (this completely grosses me out and then I can never use the items again because I think they are tainted for life). So this was a brilliant little dollar purchase. Of course the bug house was a hit and before long, Ellie had captured a frog, several beetles, a spider, and a worm. She soon had a following of 6 neighborhood friends who wanted to be part of the fun. And then the kids took it to a whole new level. Frogs were no big deal. Instead, they all decided it would be more fun to find snakes. Yes, SNAKES. Plural. Out here in the country, there are many little garden snakes lurking about (although I refuse to admit that they are anywhere near our yard, park, play areas, etc) so the kids got a big bucket and somehow (I am not even going to ask about the details) they captured several of them. And all the little boys ran away but guess which little girl was the ring leader and LOVED LOVED LOVED to hold the snakes. Yep. Ellie. I'm trying not to pass out just recalling the moment I turned around and saw my little "sugar and spice and everything nice" holding a slimy, slithery, creepy, SNAKE in her grasp. So much for my girly girl! And then there is Kate. No matter what I do, she is covered in crackers, boogers, and banana.

Ah, gotta love 'em though, ya know? :)

One Year Ago Today

One Year Ago...

And today...(unfortunately there aren't many pictures with Dan because he was deployed to the capital and left early. :( I think the Grandma's might have a few on their cameras so I will re-post if possible) Kate was a little shy with the cake so we tried again with a cupcake...I think she got the hang of it this time! Happy First Birthday Kate! You are so special to us and your love has blessed our lives more than we could ever imagine.

Sick

I was just telling my sister how lucky I feel that we as a family almost NEVER get sick. Of course, shortly thereafter, we all came down with the stomach flu. UGH. I don't know which is worse: the actual flu or being stuck at home for days trying to keep two little girls entertained. :) Ellie was starting to get bored by the second day so I made some kind of elaborate tunnel/fort/treasure hunt maze in our hallway/family room. Ellie "dressed up" as a safari princess (?), drew a map, and packed a bag of the essentials. She had a ton of fun (so much that she kept re-hiding the treasure so she could do it again) and it gave me 30 minutes of peace!

BEAUTIFUL Ellie ready with map in hand!

I don't know about you but I ALWAYS pack a hairdryer when I go on treasure hunts! Tee hee! Ellie felt that this qualified as an "essential." Gotta love little girls!

And she is off!

Uh oh. Took a wrong turn...better check the map...

almost there!

Ta da! The silver egg!

And a picture of some fun later on with Kate. As you can see, Kate loves to be exactly where Ellie is, even if it means squeezing underneath her!