Easter 2010

Easter this year was very nice to us.  Uncle Jason and his new girlfriend, Amanda, came to visit us along with Grandma and Grandpa Bilberry.  It started Friday night when we all went out to eat at a place called Tijuana Willies. We were also celebrating Jason's 22nd birthday.

 

Saturday everyone slept in a little.  I had to snap a photo of little Bren and Jeff, it was too cute.

 

Late morning the girls got to open a belated Christmas gift from their great aunt and uncle.  Kadyn and I made resurrection rolls together (bummed no one got pics of this).  She really enjoyed it.  It was a fun and yummy breakfast.

 

After everyone got ready the boys went to a classic car museum and the girls stayed home with the kids and dyed Easter eggs.

 Late afternoon we played a little Wii and Baba cooked hamburgers for the family before we jetted off to see a the Branson show called Shake Rattle and Roll.  We were fortunate that we were able to get free tickets thanks to Ruth, the mother of one of my daycare kids and performer in the show.  It was fun listening to old hits from the 50's.

Easter morning the girls woke to their Easter baskets full of goodies, a few small gifts, and a note from the Easter bunny.  The note informed them that Jesus wanted the girls to have fun on Easter to celebrate his resurrection so he asked the Easter bunny to hide some eggs.  The plain eggs were for Brennan to find and the Noah's Ark themed eggs were for Kadyn to find (they were hidden in more difficult places).  We all went to a lovely service at church after all the Easter egg fun, and then took a scenic drive by Table Rock lake on our way to Branson Landing to eat some yummy Easter dinner at The White River Fish House.  After our meal we came home, relaxed to a movie, and then said goodbye to Jason and his girlfriend.  Grandma and Grandpa Bilberry will be leaving us tomorrow.  Overall, it was a wonderful Easter.   

Four words

Brennan finally hit the 3-4 word minimum the Parent Educator expects to see at her age.  Here is a nice video of that and a few chuckles in between.  Granted Banana is "nana" but it's close enough for this Mama.  Brennan will be going to see an audiologist and ear, nose, and throat specialist this Thursday to see if she needs to get tubes.  She's had 4 ear infections in the last 6 months and they are starting to get resistant to antibiotics.  When I took her in for her last well check she had an ear infection in each ear.  This was a week after she had been on meds for one ear infection. Very frustrating.  Anyhow, because her language skills were behind at her last screening and because she's had so many infections that are resistant to meds in the last 6 months we are going to see if we need to move forward on getting tubes.  Hope you enjoy the video.  It is one of my favorites.

From 2010-03-30

March pics

I just wanted to share a few recent pics of the girls.  They sometimes are known to fall asleep in the van when we are getting across town.  Drives me nutty as it is usually around Brennan's nap time, and she almost never goes back to sleep inside.  Therefore, her naps those days usually only last 10 minutes, a far cry from the 1.5-2 hour naps she usually takes in her crib.  Anyhow, I digress.  Kadyn doesn't nap anymore, but something about the motion and humming of the engine or perhaps the heater blowing on her causes her drift off in the van.  This particular day I decided to let them nap a little longer and just parked in the garage, rolled down the windows, grabbed a chair, and read a magazine by the van while they snoozed away together.

Next up we have Mama showing the girls (at Jeff's request) how to do a teapot.  A learned the teapot when I was very young, and my mother put me in gymnastics.  It was the precursor to learning how to do a handstand which Kadyn seems to be very interesting in doing these days.  Not the most flattering shot, but who cares?

Next we have the girls during one random lunch.  I just happened to catch them during a moment that turned out funny.

Then we have a beautiful rainbow that Jeff just happened to see glancing out the window.  It was Kadyn's first time to see a real one.  She was excited.  It was a good review of a lesson on the flood that we had done last summer.  It was fun to show her God's promise for real.

Just Bren

Just a few pics of my youngest.  In these two photos I was trying to capture Bren's latest boo boos.  She got a little independent of me on nice springy afternoon while we were outside and tried to walk off on her own down our our sloped driveway.  She took a little nose dive into the pavement.  Surprisingly, she didn't cry much. It did look much worse in person though I must say.

The last picture I was trying to capture that crazy hair of Bren's.  Some days it actually lays down, but most days it's just wild.  I keep thinking any day now it will get too heavy and finally lay down, instead she just keeps looking more homely and crazy.....but I love it! I did give her a little trim yesterday as Jeff wasn't fond of the mullet it was starting to become.  Let me say, it was NOT easy cutting that kid's hair.

Lastly, I have a video of her one evening when we were alone just the two of us.  I drug the little kitchen into the living room to keep her occupied.  She thought that was cool to see the kitchen out of it's usual spot and was having a good time opening and closing all the cabinets while saying her favorite word, "Uh oh."  Too cute not to post.  Click on pic to see video.

From downloaded 3-21-10

Happy 4th Birthday Kadyn!

OK, these two pics were not taken on her ,but they were too cute not to post. It is Kadyn posing as a mini me and a mini Jeff.  She tried on both our glasses.

This is part one of the festivities which happened a week ago.  Kadyn shared a party with one of her good friends, Mollie, whose 4th birthday was last weekend.  They went to build a bear, and she got to make a pink unicorn she's been eye balling for awhile. 

After build a bear, they both got to go out to eat together.  They were treated to the birthday song by the staff at the restaurant and got a free dish of ice cream.  She had a good time.

We started out the actual day of her birthday opening her first present, a camera.  She then got to take it to her very first circus to capture some of her day in photos.  There were tigers, mini horses, dogs, elephants, clowns, and tons of acrobats.  Kadyn didn't react the way we expected her too.  Mostly she was sat back and soaked it all in, quiet as a mouse.

We ended our day with a birthday cake and opening of a few more gifts, one of which included a brand new scooter.  She didn't really act all that excited about the scooter but quickly realized how cool it really was and then fussed when it was time to go to bed because she wanted to ride it more. 
Overall, it was a really relaxed, fun, and memorable birthday.  It is hard not having family to help us celebrate our childrens' birthdays, but we feel blessed to be in an area that we have a wide selection of things to go do and see to make all birthdays different and memorable.

Happy birthday Kadyn!  We love you so much and love seeing you grow.  We look forward to spending many more years with you.  I am going to cherish this next year as much as possible because it is our last year together 24/7 before you go to school. Drip, drip.  I hope it doesn't go too fast.

Just curious.

Easter is coming, just around the corner.  I have been stewing over what to get Kadyn.  I think every family is so unique in how they celebrate this holiday.  We used to only get a big basket of candy and a chocolate Easter Easter bunny every Easter.  I do, however, remember one special Easter where we found a new vinyl record in our hunt for eggs with kid's songs on it.  That was a very special Easter indeed.

What's weird is I don't remember what I got Kadyn last Easter.  I do remember getting her a potty chair for her second Easter which we filled with little chocolate easter eggs (Jeff thought I was gross, I thought I was funny).  We've moved way beyond potty training obviously, so this year I'm scratching my head wondering.  Her birthday is so close to Easter, it almost steals all my ideas for what I could get her for Easter. 

We will dye eggs, have a Easter egg hunt, and of course eat lots of candy, but for some reason I feel there should be a little more too it.  So....I'm curious.  How do you plan on celebrating your Easter?  What   traditions have you started?  What do you get your kiddos?  As some point, I need to sit down and read the Easter story to Kadyn so she doesn't forget the true meaning of this holiday.  I'd really like to make a bigger deal of it, I'm just not sure how yet.  Keep in mind, if you share your traditions with me and I like them, I may just have to steal those ideas.  No hard feelings OK? :)  This Mama wants to make a bigger deal of Easter because....it is a BIG deal!