Hoppin' Around

Could I love this little face any more?  Nope.  I could not.  Our little Dude had a fabulous Easter holiday.  The whole idea of Jesus on the cross and rising from the dead is a bit lost on him still, but we're working on it.  He did, however, fully digest the idea of hunting for plastic eggs filled with sugary goodness.  The poor kid is typically sugar deprived as Tim and I don't have much of a sweet tooth.  He very much treasures his bag of Jesus candy and his 2 piece per day allowance.         

We started off Easter festivities with our neighborhood's annual egg hunt at the park.  Not so much a hunt - more like a slew of eggs strewn about in the baseball fields.  But the kiddos love it and walk away with approximately 3 eggs, which are gone by the time we get to the post-hunt park outing.   

Squirt took it all in.  Hard to believe that next year she'll be hunting eggs herself:(  My little babe. 

 

Oh the love Dude has for Miss Riley.  Most of the time the feeling is mutual.  He can be a bit smothering:) 

 

Not Easter related, but Grandma gave Duder his first "bigish boy" bike for his birthday.  After an initial, very dramatic wipe out on the driveway, he's starting to get his feet wet. 

This is our favorite Squirt face.  ALERT and READY for whatever might come her way.  Dude has forced her to be too oh too familiar with this stance.  Note, her perma-bib.  We go through 3 a day.

 

We took Dude and Bradster to the Wildlife Experience's Eggstravaganza over the weekend.  They had fun, but sorry kids.  Never again.  Absolute chaos.  

Easter day.  After church we headed to Oma Bosch's for our annual chow fest and egg hunt.  Everything about this day is just pure fun.  The food was especially delicious and plentiful.  The weather was predicated to be rainy and miserable, but the skies smiled on us and allowed for most activities to take place in the great outdoors. 

Our little fam.  We looked at our kids last night and just smiled at the way we were all brought together and how amazing it is that these two perfect kids are ours and each others. 

They matched.  Our little Squirt in her dress from our friends, the Kroms.  10 on the darling scale huh?

The lovely ladies, minus a few.

Of course his egg hunting bag ended up on his head.  Where else would one put it?

 

We now have to do multiple rounds for the egg hunt.  You can see the 10 reasons why in the above shot.

As Dude calls her, "Auntie James" and her little cutie Cohen.

 

Uncle Mark, Heater and Noly were matching plaid men. 

Oma and Opa, ravishing in their purple.

 

"Mmmm.  I don't know where the blue egg is Nolan.  Let's look really hard."

 

Oma Bosch sat in the window to avoid the cold.  The kids kept their noses to the glass to be the first to find out the next color of the hunt.

 

Duder got tired of racing people to find the eggs, so he sat his little bootie right next to Oma and "helped" her decide on which colors to choose. 

Reasons to Smile

1. We're gettin' healthy.  Remember a previous post about my "new found dedication" to working out?  I'm not linking to it out of pure humiliation.  I was laughed at by my immediate family members and needless to say, they were right.  I worked out 3 times and folded.  Well, a brand spankin new Lifetime Fitness opened up within walking distance from our house.  Our neighbor friends have been joining, working out, swimming with the kids, utilizing the 2 hour per day allowance of child care (what????), having coffee dates in the cafe...you get the picture.  We caved.  Granted, we cut a bunch of "stuff" out of our budget to do so, but we're SO glad we did.  We're actually working out...at least 3x per week.  Dude adores the childcare center and all the kid stuff they offer. And Tim and I are really getting into this whole concept of getting healthy, together.  Despite the Big Macs we both downed in the corner of the locker room on Sunday before our workout, I'm really quite proud of us thus far.

2. Dancing. Minus the occasional wedding, I haven't danced on a Saturday night since college. This past Saturday I danced. My bootie off. And it felt so good. Thanks to Maria for turning 22 (+ just a few) and organizing a crazy fun night at the dueling piano bar. We needed an adult night out, free from poop and spit up.  That stage is calling our names back already.... 

3.  My healthy, happy, beautiful children.  I'm just in love with these kids.  Squirt gave us her very first true giggles this past weekend.  I screamed so loud for Tim to come that I scared the giggle right out of her, but it came back.  On top of that, our little darling has been sleeping 7:30pm-6:30am these days and wakes up with smiles and kicks.  Melt my heart.  Duder asks for her in the morning and exhibits pure joy when he sees her chubby cheeks.  Melt my heart again.  We remind ourselves every day just how blessed we are to parent these little bundles of health and happiness. 

4.  My bestest and I are celebrating 10 years of "in good times and in bad" this summer and are hittin' the road, sans our little lovelies (thanks to my parents' generous babysitting offer).  Tim still manages to adore me after 10 years of "me-ness" and that requires a celebration.  Seattle, here we come!  Our friend's family B&B on the coast will be our place of retreat, plus some QT with Tim's west coast fam.  The anticipation is half the bliss for me.     

5.  Last...we got a disc of smiles from my photographer genius friend Amy, with hundreds of the photos she had taken back in January.  We had a few select favorites already and NOW we have hundreds more to gaze at.  I'll be posting more of them as the months go by.  A couple cuties are below. 

That wraps up the happy for now. 

  

Pics Worth Posting

I've got a whole bunch of Squirt shots that need to be viewed by her cyber fans, so here you go.  Our "little" girl wore a 12 month dress today.  It fit.  Really well.  She's growing by leaps and bounds and is doing amazingly well in every way possible.  Day care is going smooth as silk, she's sleeping like a champ, eating like an even greater champ, reaching for things and grabbing hold of toys, squealing like an over sized mouse during much of her awake time, and lovin' life.  Despite her rapid growth, we have noticed that she's losing the rolls that you could hide a small puppy in.  Those rolls are become average in size now:(  I'm totally enjoying my days home with Dude and Squirt and miss them like a whole buncha crazy the days I'm working.

 Dude could swing every day of his charmed little life.  And Squirt is rather enjoying the swing herself.

 Bath time has come a long, long way.  As you can see, enjoyment has been discovered amongst the suds.  Dude no longer hides under his covers when Sis gets clean. 

Like I said, no more hiding for Dude.  He sits on the counter and "helps." 

Duder is growing in his fun factor, if you can imagine that.  He is truly a "silly" little monkey and loves nothing more than making people laugh and talking.  Non-stop.  By "non-stop" I mean he.does.not.stop.talking.ever. It amazes me how much the child knows and how easily he picks up on the vibes and information around him.  Some his latest "dudeisms" are below. 

*During his prayers last night, totally unprompted....."God bless Grandma Vogelzang to the airport and we miss her so much and we miss Grandpa Jerry in da heaven."  He definitely understands that it's a big deal when people go to heaven.  I was clenching my heart during that prayer.

*Tim and I were talking/whining about getting up twice the night before (once with each child) and Squirt not eating very well that morning.  Dude looks at me with his head tilted and says, "Mom, it's just part of da day." 

*"Mom, I can play wif dis chord now because I turned four.  When I'm five I will play wif da plug too." 

*I got irritated with Dude for taking 45 minutes to put on his socks.  He says to me, "Mom, did you want to tell me dat you're sorry for being mad and unpatient and dat you love me so much?"  How do I stay irritated after that? 

Quality Grandma Time

We survived the week, proud to report. I slipped back into my work chair and felt like I had never left, so that was encouraging. Squirt's cutest pictures were strategically placed behind me so I wouldn't automatically stare at her all day, wishing I could squeeze her oh so squeezable cheeks. She had a great week with April - eating, sleeping, smiling....all the things that point to a happy babe. And Dude loves having his baby sis there. He informs everyone that they are only to touch her toes and makes SURE that April doesn't give her table food. Only milk! Big bro knows best.


Last weekend feels like a month ago, so it's probably time I update this. We had Tim's mom in town, which was super. She's awesome with the kids, super helpful around the house and more than generous. We all love having her here. We went out to eat, played outside, picked out a new big boy bike for the duder, Tim and I had the luxury of going out to eat with Cara and Wes while Mom babysat, we cheered on our little soccer "pro" at his 2nd game of the season etc. etc. 

Soccer is proving to be much more enjoyable for all of us this year.  Dude actually participates in the games, chases the ball, yells "Yipee!" and listens to his coach.  No cones on his head thus far.  It's really a parent's soccer dream come true.  Does he actually access the ball and play the game as it should be played?  No, he does not.  But he tries, minus whining and crying for peanut butter jelly sandwiches.  And that is forward progress.  The goal for this year is to teach him NOT to box out all the other players while trying to obtain possession of the ball.  Pushing small little girls to the ground is not proper etiquette. 

 It may look like he got the ball, but he was GIVEN the ball to kick off.  Not bad form huh? 

 Once again, we're on Riley's team.  And Avery too.  These two are really quite the pair.

 The parental tunnel.  Probably the best part of the morning for the kids.

Mom came out mainly for Squirt's baptism, which went smooth as silk.  Squirt was in her very best baby mood for the ceremony and didn't flinch when the water hit her hair filled head.  Dude was in his very typical chatty mood.  He started by loudly kissing Tim's cheek and doing his cheesiest smile for the congregation.  When Pastor Sam took Squirt, he loudly informed him that "She will spit up on you!"  She did not, thank goodness.  We had a small group over for lunch and took Tim's mom to the airport to wrap up the day.  Thanks for coming out Mom!  It's always a treat. 

 The aforementioned kiss during the ceremony.  Good capture Cara! 

 Our little baptized princess.

 Aunt Cara was making these two crack up.  How cute are they?  Lando got all dolled up the day.

Our little stud.