Pictures!

Post bath time crazy hair. 

Baby/kitty jail

But we're not too broke up about it at the moment.

Holiday playing with her bunny house.

Looks like Johnny's not wearing a diaper.

Now you see it...

...now you don't.

And there it is again.

Daddy and Holiday playing Cooties.

Mommy and Holiday playing trains.

Did you find the dolly's bottle?

"gnaw, gnaw, gnaw"

Checking out Preschools

We took a tour of a local preschool yesterday for Holiday.  We're trying to find a place to get her in by fall.  So she's second on the waiting list although they do give priority to kids that will be full time Monday through Friday students.  We just don't know when she'll get in.  Holiday was really impressed when we first walked through the entrance.  We got a big "WOWWWWWWWW!" out of her.  She just wanted to jump in with both feet.  The staff member we were talking to said that was great because when a lot kids show up for the first time, most of them are shy and hide behind their parents.  But yeah, we told her she could play on the preschool play area while we checked the rest of the place out and it was as if she already had dismissed us and moved on to better things.  You know in the "what? you're still here?" kind of way.  Holiday is really ready for real preschool.  David and I like the way they run things there so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Birthday Party Report

We had a really good turn out for Holiday's 4th birthday party, 21 people altogether.  Some family, some old friends and some new friends.  The new ones come from Holiday and Johnny's daycare.  I reserved the 'jungle room' for Holiday's party.  It seemed appropriate for the Dora the Explorer plates/cups/napkins we got.  We dished up the food right away.  David made some sandwiches, ham or turkey with cheese on french bread for all the adults and peanut butter and jelly for all the tykes.  There were beverages and snacks to fill in the meal.  David made a party playlist for the party, Adele's daddy thanked us for playing real music and not just 'wheels on the bus' on repeat.  Then David cracked out the party game of 'pin the tail on Swiper' (from Dora the Explorer of course).  After passing out party favors to the kids we sang Happy Birthday to Holiday, she blew out her number 4 candle and we chowed down on cupcakes that I made.  I made chocolate and some banana flavored ones, they were both good but I think the banana ones clearly won.  I found a good recipe for frosting and I think I heard someone made a comment how the frosting tasted like ice cream.  Then I decorated the cupcakes with either a chocolate bunny, a marshmallow peep or a couple of peanut m&m's.  The room was quiet with everyone eating cupcakes, that means everyone liked them. :)  Then Holiday opened her presents and got all sorts of stuff.  She got a lot of clothes, but she honestly likes getting new clothes.  Then the kids hit the museum itself and which is like a giant indoor play area with tons and tons of different fun things to do.  It would take me all day to describe it all.  David shadowed Holiday while I kept an eye on Johnny.  I even was able to nurse Johnny and have him take a nap on me in the frenzy of fun.  I don't think many people even noticed that's what I was doing there was so much color and fun and loudness going on so it's like the perfect camouflage.  After Johnny woke up I found David and Holiday and Holiday was not happy about leaving she was having such a fantastic time.  Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.  They also fell asleep good that night.  Now Holiday is having a blast playing with her new toys and strutting around in her new clothes.  Pretty Awesome.

Happy Birthday Holiday!

Yesterday was Holiday's 4th Birthday.  We gave her main birthday present yesterday and the little stuff we'll give her this Saturday for her birthday party at the Seattle Children's Museum.  Her main present was her first bicycle, with training wheels of course.  It's a pink Disney princess bike with streamers on the handlebars and a basket that looks like a carriage with a place for a baby doll and a place to stash whatever else (like her doggie she always carries with her).  We stopped at a park on the way home so she could ride it around in a nice big area.  She hasn't figured out the brakes yet, she just puts her foot down when she wants to stop.  Now we're looking forward to the weekend for her party.

Growing kids

We had a nice quiet weekend (since it rained a lot) and now we're settling back down into our regular routine again.  Both the kids seem like they've grown.  Clipping Holiday's nails it just felt different.  She remains a 4T size but she's filling them out more.  She has several 3T pieces left in her wardrobe which I believe she'll grow out of soon.  She's still working on the bedtime potty training but is getting better.  Daytime and nap time she pretty much has down.  I've been putting 18-24 months onesies on Johnny this last week, but still using 12-18 month pants.  We think his height is coming from his torso, which is also true of David and myself.  I weighed him the other day and he's just over 23 pounds.  I'm sure his legs will catch up soon.  I'll probably keep him in pants (as opposed to shorts) until he's walking on his own.  Crawling is his primary mode of locomotion right now and I'd rather keep the scuffs to a minimum.  He's using baby walkers a lot more and moving the furniture around like they are walkers too.  So one of our dining chairs might end up in the hallway because he walked it in there.  He can walk if someone is holding at least one of his hands and is actively trying to keep him stable.  He can stand up on his own if he's distracted by something and not realize that's what he's doing.  If he looks up and realizes there's nothing to hang on to he usually bails and just sits down.   I haven't seen him take a step on his own really just yet, but I feel he's getting close.  Holly was 15 months old when walking seemed the way to go for her.  Johnny says 'dada' when he's happy and 'mum-mum-mum' if he's hungry/tired/upset which usually means he wants me.  The other day he was getting into something and I told him, "No...that's icky."  He then parroted back to me the word 'icky'.  Johnny is doing much better with finger foods now.  He's also become a bit of a biter so beware of the chompers.  I mean it...it hurts.  Got me on the face, crawled up my back and got me there, my ankle and my big toe when I was sitting in a half indian style on the couch.  So he's a nipper...ninja style.

Back from Wasco

And we're back from our Wasco road trip.  The kids did great, but I think we owe a lot of that to Dora the Explorer and the back seat dvd player.  The hotel rooms worked out well enough that we could get everyone to sleep in a decent manner and still be able to nurse Johnny.  We kept a space in the back seat of the van open for me to get back there to nurse Johnny on our stops while we were on the road.  Most places don't take nursing mothers into account so I made sure I always a place to do it.  Holiday enjoyed seeing all the new stuff, like mountains, rivers, cows, sheep, etc.  We had a nice visit with Grandma Linda and Uncle Mike.  Both kids liked Grandma's house with new places to explore and get into.  Holly liked the room she took naps in.  Probably the highlight was Easter and Holiday sure loves Easter baskets.  Probably her favorite item she got was that little pink purse.  She keeps it with her as much as possible.  The rule at daycare is one toy and one blankie from home (just so it's easier to keep track of everything).  So Holly begrudgingly leaves her purse at home...doggie still has top billing.  Holiday didn't want to come home at first, she wanted to go back to Grandma's house because she had so much fun.  But now we're all happy to be home and are resettling back into our daily lives again...even Holly...a little bit begrudgingly.