Easter and the Happenings

 To say we've been busy lately is a bit of an understatement. It feels like we went from having nothing but time to having to pencil things into our schedule. We have karate, play dates, errands, work, school, all the normal stuff of a family with growing children. And it's only getting worse (but better?).

Ethan is officially enrolled in FULL DAY kindergarten, starting in the fall! Next week we have a Kindergarten round up/prep for both kids and parents.

 He's ready, but am I? We've been reworking our parenting with him, not in big life changing ways, but in small (hopefully meaningful ones). He's been having a rough time, which makes our lives difficult. Tantrums, attitude, not listening, you know the normal kid stuff. But, now we have 2 of them! She feeds off of him, and then he feeds off of her. Disciplining a five year old is different than a (almost) two year old, but you have to be fair and consistent with both. Ugh, exhausting!! Applause out there to the mamas and dads of more than two, it's tough work. But we like to be able to change as they do and that's what we're doing, this is new so I can't tell you if it'll work or not but I hope it'll bring us closer together. Cause I can't resist this face:

 Or this one

 Then there's our chatterbox. She's in the stage where she doesn't understand why she can't climb into a book and go fishing with Thomas the Train, all her stuffed animals are babies for her to care for, she loves cooking and playing in dirt, but also likes snuggling with her mama.

 Potty training is, slow. She's just not quite ready, but when she is, that'll be it, won't take more than a few days. She acts shy but then will talk about you for days afterward, even if she never said a word to you. She LOVES her brother and will laugh hysterically with him over anything, except sharing (we're working on it). Her laugh is contagious and she knows it. She loves to scowl and sing happy birthday.

 She also really likes Disney movies, Monsters, Inc and Lion King, especially. Hopefully, she'll enjoy a trip to Disney World this summer.

 Easter was really fun this year. It was Michael's birthday so it proved to be a little challenging. First off because the kids wanted to get him a life sized boxing robot, where do you buy that?! And on a budget? Secondly, it was hard to make it special for him and then make it special for the kids in a completely different way. But the Easter bunny helped me out a lot

 Here's that scowl, she opened every piece of chocolate, took a bite and threw it back in her basket.

 One of her all time favorite people, anytime we leave the house she wants to go see Grandma.