Easter

We had a lot of fun on Easter. Jane and Bruce both went to bed early because they wanted to be sure that the Easter Bunny would leave them something. Jane was in a hurry to check things out Sunday morning and found the Easter baskets in the kitchen. We had a quick breakfast while the kids went through their baskets and did a little coloring then we drove to Grandma and Grandaddy's and went to church.

After church we had a big dinner and then went outside for an Easter Egg Hunt.

We also had a chance to ride the horses (Jane's favorite activity). She is very posessive of her horse Star.

Then Bret, Jane, and I took a little walk in the woods...

Bret showed Jane how to look for tracks on the ground.

and then they climbed trees. Jane is getting to be quite the climber. First Bret tried climbing with her on his shoulders. That worked well, but Jane hated it. She wanted to try again, but on her own, so Bret followed her and helped her.

and then Bret climbed up and took a picture of Jane and me from the top of the tree.

Time Change

The time change has us all messed up. The kids are not enjoying their early morning wake-ups (and either am I). Bruce was really cute on Monday. When I went in to wake hime up, he didn't really wake up and did not cooperate with me. He kept grabbing onto the bars of the crib trying to stay in bed. I think this is the first time I've seen a baby try so hard to stay in bed. Then when I was trying to dress him he didn't want any part of it. When I unzipped his pj's, he tried to zip them back up and when that didn't work just held them together with both hands and said, "no, no, no, no". As I pulled one arm out of the jammies, he put it back in. I felt really bad making him get up since he wanted to stay in bed so badly.

The last couple of months have been so busy. Bruce is really growing up. He is becoming a regular little boy. He is talking a little more all the time and he and Jane love playing together. He definitely has his own ideas about what he wants to do -- more and more that is doing what the big people are doing.

Jane has been playing school a lot lately. She loves to be the teacher and teach the class their numbers, letters, and spanish vocabulary.

Here are a few pictures from some of the things we have done lately:

Bret rented a stump grinder and Jane helped him find all the stumps in the yard before they started.

While Bret was gone grinding stumps, the kids and I decided to have a special donut day. Bruce can now spot the Krispie Kreme box a mile away and Jane has been asking when we can go back to the donut store.


Here the kids are at the park.




Bret, Jane and Bruce w/ an airplane



Trying to get the airplane out of a tree...



... and Jane climbing in a tree

Super Bowl Party

Sunday afternoon we had a little Superbowl party in the backyard. Bret fried chicken and frenchfries. We ate in the fort and had chocolate cupcakes decorated like footballs for dessert.

Jane and Bruce had a lot of fun running around the back yard playing together. Bruce took his first trip down the slide all by himself without Mommy or Daddy at the bottom to catch him.

Christmas

(be warned... this is basically just a bunch of pictures from Christmas, not much description)

Okay, I'm really behind. It's New Years Eve and I'm posting about Christmas. We had a really long break, but the time has really flown.

We had one celebration after another. A big pre-Christmas gathering with the Gramlings, Christmas Eve with the Alexanders and then a quiet Christmas day at home.

The kids had a lot of fun. It got to a point where Jane wanted to get in the car and just drive to people's houses and get presents.
I am amazed that Bruce has left the tree alone. I was worried that he would want to pull it down. Instead he is just practicing his climbing skills. Every day I think he will get tired of his little climbs and move onto something else, but he just finds new ways to add onto the climb.

Christmas Program

Here are a couple of pictures from the Christmas program courtesy of another parent from Jane's class. Since Bret was out of town I had my hands full trying to watch Bruce and record their songs for Bret. K-3 (Jane's class) sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells.

The kids were all really cute and had a great time. After the program there was a little table with refreshments. Jane was thrilled. She got three cookies to eat on the way home.

Drawing...

Here are the kids doing what they like best -- drawing.

Jane was drawing a picture of the family



Bruce is just happy to scribble with markers, often on his face and clothes. He was drawing at the desk with us when he saw his chance and took it. He'll climb on anthing when given the opportunity.



Last night was the daycare Christmas program. Jane performed two songs with her class. I think I got some video -- we'll soon find out. Bruce enjoyed it even though it was after his bedtime. I think all of the people kept him entertained along with the teddy grahms and chocolate milk. We were home by 8, but it felt like 11 to me.

Happy Birthday Jane!

This weekend was Jane's birthday and she has more than celebrated. She started her parties on Friday at school. We made cupcakes for the class and she got to be the birthday girl at school.



Saturday she had her big party for all of her friends from school. There were 15 kids plus parents and a few babies in attendance. They all had a lot of fun at JumpZone. After running and jumping the kids got pizza and cake. By the end of the afternoon we were all worn out and ready for bed.

Here are a ton of pictures from the party:

Sunday we sang happy birthday and leftover cake for her actual birthday.

The birthday season wrapped up with a trip to the doctor for her annual check-up and shots. Jane got the scoop on shots from her friend Mia who had been to the doctor the day before. She came to school and reported on all of the details. Jane tried to negotiate her way out of the shots. The doctor told her she could pick a treat from the treat bowl after her shots. She told me that we could just go home and get a treat--We didn't need to stay for shots because we had treats at home. The negotiation didn't work and she did not take the shots well. Hopefully she will forget some of this before the next round of shots.