Earphones!

A couple of weeks ago daddy brought a surprise home from work for Anna. He had stopped by a small hardware store and gotten Anna these earphones. She was thrilled! You might be wondering why an almost three-year-old would want her very own pair of orange stihl earphones. Well, you see Anna LOVES her daddy and any time she gets to spend with him, especially one-on-one is simply the best. One of her favorite activities is watching her daddy do yard work. She will sit on the top step of our front porch for an hour and watch as he mows, weedwacks and blows. She has asked on multiple occasions for her very own pair of earphones like the ones her daddy wears when he does yard work. Daddy did not want to disappoint, so he got them exactly like his! I love that our little girl can be entertained with such a simple activity of watching her daddy do yard work. She beams from ear to ear as she sits on that front porch. She even turned down going on a walk with mommy last week in order to stay behind to watch the yard work be complete!

Easter Weekend!

Easter weekend we headed to the lake. Although it was early in April it felt like it was the middle of the summer with temperatures approaching 90. Anna spent lots of time in the hammock with daddy and wanted a chance to push anyone and everyone on the hammock. It was so entertaining for her to swing us. Even Aiden got a turn. Aiden spent most of his time rolling around inside as he was not feeling well and had a yucky cold and ear infection. Anna practiced soccer. Her favorite thing to do are sideline throw-ins. We walked and walked as Aiden slept. Bubba, the neighbors dog joined us on our strolls. This was the highlight of Anna's weekend. She has been talking about Bubba since last summer. She even talks about Mr. Richard, Bubba's "daddy," whom I am not sure she has ever even met. Randomly throughout the winter we were asked, "What are Bubba and Mr. Richard doing?!" Anna got to see first hand and she was thrilled. Anna even helped grandaddy with an outdoor project as he repaired a walkway. It would have been a perfect weekend if the water would have been warm enough for Anna to have "swim lessons" as she calls it with daddy. Anna has been taking swim lessons for the past couple months. She looks forward to it each week. When I tell her she is going to swim lessons she will then ask, "with who?!" She considers swimming with daddy on the weekends swim lessons just as much as her time with "Ms. Cyncia."

Easter Egg Hunts!

Anna had so much fun at the two Easter Egg Hunts we happened upon this year. The first was by complete accident. We were out to lunch when the Kenglas were in town. As we all headed to our cars we saw a helicopter hovering over a field across the street. We quickly realized that Easter eggs were being tossed on the field below. We quickly packed the cars, raced across the street, dumped everything out of the cooler so Anna would have an Easter basket of sorts and arrived just as her age group was descending upon the eggs. She had a blast!

The second was at a small church near my parent's lakehouse. We were probably some of the only visitors but it was a morning of fun that first started out by taking a group picture, hunting for eggs, listening to stories about Jesus and best of all getting rub-on tattoos (a favorite of Anna's).

Daddy congratulating her on a job well done. She had enough candy for us all! :)

Staycation!

As I mentioned earlier the Kenglas headed here for a week in March. Carlos was here on business and Mary Beth and Elliot came to spend time with us. We packed in the fun. We headed to a park one morning and the science center another!

Ate lots of yummy food!

Strolled!

Napped on the go!

And Anna got lots of time with her Aunt Beth!

Candles!

Back to catching up...The weekend of my birthday Kevin and I headed to Charlotte. His parents came into town to keep the children. It was a treat to get away, have uninterrupted conversations and to sleep-in. Not to mention we visited Ikea and got some fun things for our new play area/office! Anna was thrilled with all her new "presents." Upon returning, before I could even take my coat off, Anna ushered us in to see what she had been working on. She could hardly wait to light the candles, sing "happy birthday" and eat a cupcake. Each time a cupcake was eaten, "happy birthday" was sung and the candle was lit and blown out. I am pretty sure lighting the candles were just as much fun as eating the cupcakes.

Not to be out done!

At the beginning of March we were at my parents' house skyping with Mary Beth and Elliot. Anna was so impressed with her cousins ability to sit up all by himself as was I. I told Elliot that he would have to show Aiden all his tricks when they came for a visit just a few short weeks later as Aiden was showing little interest in sitting up. Much to our surprise, by the time the Kenglas arrived, Aiden was sitting on his own as if he had been doing it for weeks! One of the hardest things for me as a mom of two is not having the individual time I had with Anna to spend with sweet Aiden. I often feel as if he lives in the carseat or stroller or he is placed in his exersaucer or on his playmate as I tend to Anna's needs and running a household. However, life for Aiden is surely more lively and entertaining with an older sister who loves to play with him, show him new things and is definitely his biggest cheerleader. There are trade-offs for being the second child but I am pretty sure with all the smiles we get from this little one he wouldn't trade it for the world! We surely wouldn't and we know Anna wouldn't!

Teeth

We have LOTS of catching up to do! The hours, days, weeks and months are flying by and our little ones are getting bigger and bigger not to mention developmental milestones are being reached by Aiden, Anna is learning new things each day, memories are being made and laughter fills our house as these two bring us so much joy. We have had some sweet family time over the past several months. Here's hoping I can do a recap over the next few days or at least hit some highlights. Here goes...at the end of February, overnight, Aiden had these two teeth popping through. One appeared on the 17th and the next on the 18th.