Bunny Day

The Easter Bunny came early this year since he knew we were heading on vacation. Catherine was the first one up and was thrilled to see the haul:

Chocolate for breakfast is always a good choice.

Seth was a bit nervous, apparently, but his candy was gone the fastest:

Elise was a little overwhelmed but soon adjusted and began demanding all her loot:

And, finally, Aaron and his hair:

Happy Bunny Day!

Egg Dyeing

Elise was super excited to dye eggs.

Or maybe she was offended to be left out of the fun.

Aaron worked really, really hard on his eggs.

It was adorable.

Seth turned his into people, who then had wars and smashed each other.

Catherine's were also people, but they were much more civilized.

She was very proud of her crazed look in this picture. 

Egg Hunting

Our neighborhood has an annual Easter Egg hunt. Last year it ended in disaster thanks to some Catherine dramatics. This year I told Jon his attendance was mandatory. Things tend to go more smoothly with two parents. 

Aaron did some great egg hunting

As did Elise

Seth made a killing.

I had to tell him to stop.

Catherine also made out quite well.

Ridiculous piles of candy.

I told them next year they're limited to 25 eggs each.

The Pumps

Grandma & Grandpa gave Aaron a Groupon for a visit to the bouncy place for Christmas. The weather was so nice this winter that we hadn't used it all up. We had to sneak in one last trip before it expired. 

Seth, as always, was thrilled to be there. But he was even more thrilled to be able to escort Elise around. 

Despite how it appears, she LOVED the pumps:

These two spent a good deal of time playing together. Love:

We (of course) met up with the Knoxes. Bekah was awesome with Elise:

Another successful trip to the pumps!

Conference & Sunshine

We had a lovely batch of sunshine at the beginning of April. Since it was General Conference weekend, we met up with some good friends for a nice walk along the MA & PA trail. 

Bekah, Brie, Elise, Kaia & Paul on a rock along the trail

Of course, with a combined 10 kids between us (not counting teenagers), we only made it about 1/4 of a mile before we had to head back for the second session. 

Elise thoroughly enjoyed Conference and made sure her Daddy gave all his attention to her and not to the boring old television:

The sunshine continued into the next week, so we decided lunch this day would be a bag of potato chips which we ate on the driveway while listening to the Moana soundtrack (all as requested by Aaron):

Despite what it looks like, this is not walking.

This is standing triumphantly:

Of course, one must eventually take a break from the sunshine and enjoy some device time with one's friends. Paul & Luke were happy to oblige. And Elise was just happy to have people around:

Bits of March

I made a cake for our ward Relief Society party. I didn't feel like dealing with fondant and had the brilliant idea to get flowers from my friend Tiffany instead. They were gorgeous and so much prettier than anything I could have made.

Same RS Activity.

Sometimes (most times) I like to pretend I'm actually a Knox girl, too. 

Traditional first-day-of-spring free Rita's. 

Definitely too cold to be eating Rita's that day.

A local chocolate maker opened up their factory for free tours one weekend. I got a group of friends together and we stood in line for a long, hot time together.  

Standing in line is better with friends

Eventually we made it inside, where we were given glorious hair nets: 

Elise kept hers on for approximately 12 seconds.

Aaron and his Kaia love: 

Seth, engrossed by the film about chocolate production: 

As part of the tour we got some delicious caramel popcorn and a small goody bag of chocolates.

Thank you, Wockenfuss!

One Sunday Catherine actually let me do her hair. I researched how to do a waterfall braid for her. She loved it, but not enough to leave it in all the way through sacrament meeting. Sigh...

My Aaron

Aaron has taken up Minecraft, in the great tradition of his older siblings. 

So far all he does is blow stuff up and fill giant crevices full of ocelots, but it's his favorite.

Aaron & I both caught Elise's strep throat. He was tired and miserable.

He never naps anymore and especially not in the middle of the floor.

After debating for some time, I finally set up a meeting to see if Aaron qualified for any services through the school. They did some tests with him and found that he has a mild-to-moderate delay in his speech and comprehension as well as some delays in his motor skills. They're assuming the motor skills will improve on their own (I'm not as sure), but he did qualify for three meetings a month with a speech therapist. It was really validating to find out that he really does have some delays and that I'm not just a paranoid mother. I hope this helps him get things figured out!

Some Aaronisms:

*He was playing a matching game with Jon & Catherine and told them he had a lion on his card. Jon checked and found it was actually a dolphin. Aaron's response was, "It's kinda like a lion." (Best guess? Lions have sharp teeth and are scary. Sharks also have sharp teeth and are scary. Dolphins and sharks are the same thing in Aaron's world. Thus, a dolphin is kinda like a lion). 

*At a ward activity I lost track of Aaron. I started scanning the room and saw a group of teenage girls. My first reaction was, "I bet Aaron's right in the middle of them." He totally was.

*Jon has been waging war against the dandelions in our yard. Aaron loves to help. He'll go find a dandelion and sit next to it until Jon comes to dig it out. His commentary about the pulled-up flowers is always, "Ew. It's uh-gusting."

*One Sunday I was wearing a green skirt. Aaron watched me walk into the room and said, "Mommy, you have a pretty green zombie dress!" Why, thank you, son.

*Aaron only gets to play on devices when Elise is napping. Which means he spends all day telling me that "Lise-a-bug is tired. Lise-a-bug needs to take a nap."

Aaron & Elise

These two spend a lot of time together. Their relationship can be clearly defined as "love/hate." They love playing together, but there's a lot of pestering (mostly from Aaron). But I have high hopes that one day they'll be best buddies just like Seth & Catherine are. 

Enjoying a snack outside on a warm day

This is how we ride to meet Seth & Catherine at the bus stop.

I get to push both of them since Aaron still hasn't figured out pedaling.

We usually spend our mornings playing in the basement together: 

Two flash-crazed babies:

Elise is starting to think about walking. She'll take a step or two, but nothing impressive yet. She was really close to walking before she got sick. She lost probably 2-3 weeks of progress during that time. I'm guessing she'll be walking (or running) within the next month! 

Harry Potter, Legos & Guns

It took longer than I thought it would, but we finally have a Harry Potter lover!

Seth's Lego creations have (finally) moved beyond vehicles. He now creates entire worlds with characters who battle each other. He and Gabe can spend hours waging Lego wars together. 

(he took all these pictures himself)

He also built himself a rifle and an AK-47 out of Legos.

How he knows what an AK-47 is, I have no idea. Little boy collective conscious, I suppose.  

Seth has been such a good kid lately. He's always willing to help and has done his jobs without complaint. We've also figured out the key to helping him "remember" to put away his stuff. We tried taking his stuff away and charging him money. Didn't bother him. But make him get off his computer or stop reading to do it? Suddenly he's remembering things a lot better. 

Little Lise-a-Bug

Elise had a rough start to age one. She got what I thought was a nasty cold and fever and was up to hang out with me at 6 am. 

Early morning snuggles

And more snuggles the next morning at 6 am.

When her fever wouldn't go away and she was just exhausted and miserable for days, I finally took her in. The pediatrician and I were sure it was the flu, which was going around. We were wrong: it was strep throat.  

Asleep on my chest at the doctor's office.

After we got some antibiotics in her I was hopeful she'd bounce back quickly. Not so: 

A day or two later she woke up covered in a light rash. Still not sure if was from the strep or if she had roseola on top of her cold + strep, but once it cleared up she started to perk up: 

Then she was back to her normal tricks. Like amusing herself by looking through plates: 

The dishwasher is still her happy place. We have to wait until she's asleep to load or unload any dishes. Otherwise she's right there, either sticking dirty dishes in her mouth or putting clean dishes on the floor: 

Check out the glory of her hair! 

It's not Aaron hair, but Elise hair has it's own magical powers: 

This is her other favorite activity: emptying all drawers and cupboards.

Definitely my favorite stage of babyhood: 

She was also a big help getting our garden ready: 

Thanks to a never-ending runny nose, it was almost a month before I could take her one-year pictures. But they turned out so cute! Worth the wait.  

Such a beautiful little girl. 

 She is quite the adventurer. She never wants to hold still. She's always exploring and getting into things. Lately her favorite activity is climbing things. I found her in her walker several times and wondered if Seth had been putting her in. I finally caught her in action:

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Ta-da!

This picture is the perfect representation of Elise right now. She went from being a very easy-going, relaxed baby to one with strong and frequent opinions. Since she still can't say any words, her opinions are expressed by flailing, crying, grunting and lunging. Or this glare. Little Miss Sassy Pants!