for the girls

Philly prayers

In YM/YW the other day, one of the young men was wrangled into saying the prayer. It went a little something like this:

"Yo, check this out. Dear God...."

Easter (totally late, I know)

For Easter this year, we started the festivities with a few visits from the Easter Bunny to the YMCA. Lil absolutely LOVED the Easter Bunny. She sat on "her" lap for hours, bouncing up and down.

Then we had an Easter egg hunt at the park with our friends on Saturday. It was cold and drizzly again this year, but we got a lot of loot anyway.

Then the Easter bunny brought lots of presents instead of Easter baskets, and also hid eggs all over the house. That tricky bunny even hid them on top of the pictures hanging on the wall (Xander thought this was soooo funny). Grandma also sent a bunch of presents that were set out as well. Xander asked for days after who got him which toy... the Easter bunny or Grandma?

Then we got all dolled up and went to church. Lil wore her new Easter dress and her red patent leather shoes, and Mommy wore the shirt that Aunt Jane so sneakily bought for her.

After church we went to our friends house and had a delicious Easter dinner with all of the families in our date night babysitting group. It was delicious!

Even though Lil looked so cute in her dress, she had a goopy eye all day. We thought it was a clogged tear duct, like she had when she was a baby. But then it got more and more puffy and red. By the next day she looked like this. Poor baby!

"Follow the Prophet"

Xander has learned a new song. Well, one line of it.

The Wave

Lil is practicing for "the Crown". I'm not sure if she wants to be Miss America or the Queen, but she's got the wave down perfect. She waves hello and goodbye to everyone. She waves at inanimate objects. She even reaches out behind her when I am rocking her to sleep and waves at whatever is back there. Sometimes it is a little creepy when it looks like she is waving at someone, and there is no one there. Here is a little sample, waving to Daddy:

**sorry for the lovely side view of mommy

real crawling

She crawled on her hands and knees on Thursday. About 6 "steps" (or should I say "knees"?). So I know she knows how. But she still prefers to sweep my floors with her belly.

today

We went to Adventure Aquarium today. Two of my Young Women came with us. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I forgot my camera. It was one of those mornings. The house was a mess. The kids wouldn't nap. Xander wouldn't stop asking me questions. I scuffed up my new shoes. I almost forgot my debit card in the ATM machine while getting cash out for parking. After getting the cash out, I realized I already had $20 in my pocket (plus I found out later that they take cards). I couldn't find my parking vouchers, which is why I needed cash in the first place. We were late getting to the girls. Then the GPS sent us all the way there on Broad St, so we were even later getting to the Aquarium, so we missed seeing the Backyardigan characters, and we were late getting home for my date. Because we were late getting home, we couldn't go see the movie we wanted to see. Do you see what I mean about one of those mornings? BUT... despite all of this, it was a great day. We had fun at the Aquarium. The kids napped most of the way there. I learned more about these two YW in four hours than I have in an entire year. They experienced something new. Lil was happy all day. The Aquarium was giving out FREE Jr Frosty coupons, so the ol' be-good-and-I'll-get-you-an-ice-cream bribe ended up being free. And Brian and I had a delicious meal at Outback Steakhouse, then rolled ourselves over to REI to ogle at all of the gear we can't afford (I really want those $35 shoe inserts! Lame, I know. But seriously!).

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

So, Lil is in love with the Easter Bunny. He came to the childwatch at the YMCA tonight, and she sat on his lap the entire hour... bouncing up and down, waving her arms and laughing. Funny girl! He also gave Xander an Easter egg with candy in it. He was so excited because he has been asking me for a month when the Easter bunny is going to come and bring him some eggs with candy in them.

We colored eggs tonight for FHE. Xander thought I meant we were going to color on the deck with his egg shaped sidewalk chalk.

Xander's going crazy... who wants to come along?

In the middle of the night, Xander comes into our room:

Xander: I'm poopy.

Brian changes his diaper, not poopy.

Xander: I got somethin stuck in my teeth. It hurts. We need to brush my teeth.

Brian brushes his teeth.

Brian: Better?

Xander: No. It still hurts. I need to brush them again.

Brian: (after brushing again) Better now?

Xander: It's all better now.

Brian puts him back to bed.

The next day:

Xander: (squatting up and down) I'm skinny. I'm too skinny to play. Can I sit on your lap? I'm too skinny, so I need to sit on your lap.

Prayers

Xander's prayers always go a little something like this...

Xander: "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Please bless us **this is where he either says something that we did that day (ie - go to Hailey's house, go to the park, etc), or if we didn't do anything or he can't remember what we did, he will start asking us if we are going to go somewhere**"

Mommy: We're not going anywhere. Just finish your prayer.

Xander: "Please bless baby sister, Mommy, Daddy, Xander. Mumble, mumble, mumble. (He mumbles something at this point in the prayer EVERY time, that we have yet to figure out what it is he is saying.) Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."