More Easter

Finally getting around to posting the pictures of Easter taken after sunrise...
After church, we hunted for eggs in the backyard, of course. Only jelly beans will do inside plastic eggs in Arizona...chocolate melts too quickly and hard boiled ones spoil. So, Natalie collected eggs and Audrey collected rocks.









My parents joined us for the weekend and Aunt Ashley was here most of the time, too, but do you think I have a single picture of any of them or any of us together? No, I do not. I guess the camera just gravitated towards little girls in Easter dresses! Sorry, family! We love you even if we don't take pictures of you!

Little Stinker

Audrey does a very funny "stinky" face. I have yet to get the best one on camera...but I managed to get a pretty good one.

Sweet, thoughtful face...

Stinky face...

Now, imagine lots of repetetive snorting sounds coming out of her perpetually stuffy nose. That's what she does when she makes this face. Natalie can really get her going and she'll snort herself silly.

She did it to the sweet little ladies behind us in church the other day and they were laughing so hard. Here's this cute little girl wearing a ruffled dress and a hairbow peering over the pew but, instead of a sweet little smile, out comes snorty stinky face. Hilarious!

Happy Easter

At our house, the Easter baskets were unwrapped before 6am. Natalie's first sugar high had worn off by 7 and Audrey was already napping on the way to church at 8:15. That is one busy Easter morning.

Cute little bunnies

An egg from Natalie's basket...hence, the smile of satisfaction!

Sneaky Audrey managed to get a jelly bean out of this egg..and she liked it. Imagine that!

Audrey's new baby shades. Too cool! Now, if she'll actually wear them!

pure delight

pure delight + sugar

Audrey liking this Easter basket business.

Happy Easter!

Little Mover

It's becoming clear that Audrey is going to be our busy kid. Natalie is busy, don't get me wrong. The kid goes and goes and goes and talks or sings the entire time she's going. But Audrey GOES. She is all over this house...and in mere seconds.

She's basically walking with the aid of anything that she can push around (end tables, a step ladder, a dining room chair). If she can get it to slide across the floor, she uses it to stabilize herself so she can walk. I have yet to get our mini furniture re-arranger on video because I'm so dumbstruck when I see it happening that all I can do is stand there and stare. Today I at least grabbed the camera:






I should point out that our dining room chairs are not lightweight. Yet, she slides them around fairly easily...there is a little grunting involved. I imagine it will be like training for a marathon wearing ankle weights...once this kid starts walking on her own, she's going to be in such great shape we're going to struggle to catch her!!

Oh, and she's trying to climb. Why not? I say trying because I've stopped her before she's completed a mission but I've caught her with one leg in the kitchen drawer, one leg on my printer, one leg on the edge of the bathtub (it was empty...but still...a few gray hairs emerged that minute) and one leg on Natalie's rocking chair. I have a feeling she's going to be one of those kids that ends up on the top of the refrigerator some day.

Visitors

We had a great weekend with cousins and we were so sad to see them go today. Aimee and Emma came for some much needed sunshine and Arizona delivered it three of the four days they spent here. The first day they were here it rained non-stop. We were thrilled (rain is a bit of a novelty here). They were not (Reno has had a very wet winter).

Natalie adores Emma and when I asked her if she loved having Emma here she said, "it's like birds singing in the trees, Mommy!" I take it that's a "yes"!

Thanks for coming, girls. We love you! Come back soon!

She sleeps...finally

As many of you know (because I haven't stopped whining about it), Audrey has had a little trouble sleeping ever since last August. She was the sleepiest newborn ever but came out of hibernation around 3 months old and considered herself rested enough, apparently! It wasn't uncommon for her to be up two and three times per night and for over an hour each time. Looking back, it was probably her ears (recurring and ongoing infections) that caused most of the problem.

Well, her ears cleared up, I armed myself with no less than four books on infant sleep training and finally found a method that worked. She now goes down between 7:30 and 8:00 each night and doesn't wake up until 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning. That is huge progress for Audrey even if before sunrise is earlier than I'd like to rise for the day. She naps regularly, too. It's a whole new world. Such a cute little sleeper. Never before would I have risked waking her by taking a picture of her during a nap. I'm just getting cocky now! She wakes up a lot happier now, too. Mind you, she still screams to be rescued from her crib within 30 seconds of waking up because she doesn't want to miss any action but for those first 30 waking seconds she's a coo-ing, groggy, happy girl.

Always thinking...

I love four year old thoughts...especially OUR four year old's thoughts. Here are a few recently:

While digging in to her oatmeal one morning:
N: Mom, I know cold cereal is quick and easy, but a hot breakfast is so relaxing and enjoyable.

While riding in the car to school:
N: How are the people in the pan?
Me: What people in the pan?
N: You know, the people in the pan...did they get their houses back?
Ugh.

While coloring:
Me: You sure do have an eye for color, kiddo.
N: Yeah, I think it's this eye (points to her left eye) because I think this eye (points to her right eye) is for thinking.

After finding a princess doll that had been missing for two months:
Me: I bet Aurora is so happy to be back with her other princess friends. She must have been so sad all lost and alone.
N: She's just a doll, Mommy.

Today at lunch:
N: I'm having a birthday party for Noa (her baby doll) today. Do you want to come?
Me: Of course.
N: It's a princess party. You have to wear a princess dress.
Me: I don't have a princess dress.
N: Well then you'll just have to wear one of your wedding dresses.

Natalie was supposed to be napping the other day in our bedroom. Instead she decided to play dress up in Corey's gym clothes. She was very pleased with herself.