Easter 2014

Easter Egg Hunt

Today was our annual Easter Egg Hunt with our small group.  It was a beautiful Saturday and everyone had a great time.  Even Karys found some eggs!  So thankful for a wonderful small group. :)

Aliyah's eggs were all blue, pink, and purple.  Does that surprise anyone?  Sweet girl!

Sisters and Their Babies

Hope-isms

• "The only way I know how to read is by remembering."
• "I didn't forget, I just didn't remember!"
• "When I open and then close my eyes again then I go to the next dream. But once I open my eyes, I can't go back to the other dream."
• "It seems like when you tell Karys 'no', she thinks it means 'yes'" 

Peek-A-Boo with Karys!

Official 11 Month Pictures

I tried her 11 month pictures a couple of days ago . . . and got nothing good!

Take 2

It's pretty much impossible to get pictures of her anymore with these blocks because this is what always happens!

The one and only good picture we got.  Please ignore the fact that the first "1" in the "11" is upside down!!

"Frozen" Dance Party

This girl can be so silly. She absolutely cracks me up. And she loves singing and dancing to the "Frozen" soundtrack. I can't believe how well she knows the songs! I guess it shouldn't surprise me if I think about the amount of times the soundtrack is blaring through my house!

A Big Milestone!

Karys' first pony tail!!  Aliyah and Hope were pretty excited about it. :)  Karys wasn't as thrilled but with a little distraction she forgot about it and left it in for the whole day!

Her "cheese" face for the camera :)

Another "cheese" face!

The day has come!

Aliyah is potty-trained!  I started working with her on Friday and she had one accident each day over the weekend.  On both Sunday and Monday mornings, her pull-up was dry and by Monday she didn't have a single accident!  I will remind her or ask her sometimes but she has even started running to the potty by herself if she needs to go.  There were times that I thought this day was never going to come!  But it was worth the wait because it was so easy to potty train her.  Aliyah is so proud of herself, which is fun for this Mommy to see!  She loves being potty trained and I feel like her self-confidence has gone up a notch.  I really think that she thought she couldn't do it but now she knows that she CAN and it feels so good!! :)

11 months :)

All of my kids at 11 months!

Karys Alexandra: 11 months

Karys Alexandra,
You are one month away from turning 1!  How is that even possible?  I can't believe how quickly this past year has gone and how fast you are growing up.  You are dearly loved.  Your personality is so much fun - you are goofy, you are intense, you are cuddly, you are charming, you are entertaining, you are a sweet sweet little girl.  I just can't get enough of you!!  I miss you when you are sleeping (although it does give me a much needed break from chasing you around!) and I am constantly laughing with you, snuggling you, and enjoying you when you are awake.

What have you been up to this month:

• You are in size 18 month clothes.  You can still wear some 12 month pants but your belly hangs out of 12 month shirts.  You are wearing a couple of 24 month clothes but they are still pretty big on you.  You are wearing size 3 shoes and size 4 diapers.  
• You have 8 teeth.  
• Your hair is growing longer and it has a little curl in it!  It flips up in the back and on the sides - so cute!
• You are officially a walker and no longer a crawler. You have pretty much stopped crawling.  Whenever you fall down you will stand right back up (even if you are in the middle of the floor with nothing to pull up on) and start walking again.  No hands and knees for you!  You are even starting to try and run . . . it's pretty funny!
• You still love to push your little stroller or an Ikea stool around the kitchen and sunroom but even that isn't happening as much anymore now that you can walk without assistance.  You are really good at re-directing and steering the stroller and the stool to get you where you want to go and get you out of places that you get stuck.  
• You have learned how to climb up stairs and you can climb the steps up to the girls' room in 20 seconds flat.  Just today I could not find you anywhere, and then I heard your shrieks and squeals coming from upstairs.  One of the kids had left the door open and you took full advantage of it!  
• Your favorite places to play are the bathroom, the steps/upstairs, and Samuel's bedroom.  We often race around one step ahead of you shutting doors that have been left open.  We sing you the line from a "Frozen" song: "All my life has been a series of doors in my face!" as we go around shutting doors right before you can get to them.  You get so mad.  We used to let you play in the bathroom but you have been found cleaning the toilet with Samuel's toothbrush, playing in the toilet water, falling into the bath tub (no water in it), and pulling out every single thing from the drawers.  It is easier to keep the door shut. :)  Samuel's room is usually an okay place for you to play unless he has his legos or marbles out.  Or if he is creating something with duplos and doesn't want you ruining it.  
• You love going right the top of stairs but you aren't brave enough to try and figure out how to go down yet.  You take lots of tumbles and you often have a bruise somwhere on your face but you are a tough girl and rarely make too much of a fuss when you get hurt.
• Your shrieks and screams have just recently turned into more babbling.  You are putting some consonants with your vowel sounds!  You talk to us like we should know exactly what you are saying.  Sometime you'll put your face close to ours (or close to one of your siblings') and just starting babbling.  I love it!
• Your favorite toys right now are the two little babies (from Target) and balls.  You pick up the babies and hug them and pat their backs and rock them in your arms.  It is so precious.  But honestly, your favorite things to play with are not toys. :)  And usually something that you aren't supposed to have!  You are constantly, constantly, on the go and you are always finding something to get into, destroy, pull apart, rip apart, throw everywhere . . . etc.  I have dug so many things out of your mouth it isn't even funny!
• You love to climb into little chairs and sit - especially the rocking chair at Grandma's house and the rocking chair in the girls' room.  Just tonight you climbed on top of Aliyah's potty chair and then stood on it!  I haven't had a climber like this before so this is new territory for us!!
• You still love your pacifiers and usually have one in your mouth during nap time.  You went through a phase a couple of weeks ago where you liked to try and put your whole pacifier in your mouth.  The scary thing was, you could do it!
• You are pretty much down to one nap a day.  Usually between 12:30 and 3:30.  
• You nurse three times a day - when you wake up, after your nap, and then before bed.  You love to eat food.  I can't really think of any food that you refuse or don't like.  Your favorite foods are probably: toast with jam, cheese sticks, blueberries, pancakes, mac and cheese, grapes, and sharing a chocolate chip cookie with Mommy. ;)
• You are usually a really good sleeper at night.  Your crib is still in Mommy and Daddy's room (it will be until we move to our new house next month) and we really don't mind having you in there with us.  You are usually in bed around 9 and you will sleep until between 7 and 8 in the morning.
• You love to point at everything.  When I get you up after your nap or in the morning, you always point to the door - I think you want to know for sure that I'm not going to set you back down in your bed!  You also love to point at the microwave and for whatever reason, you love to touch the microwave - the numbers and the display screen.
• The weather is finally turning into spring weather (low 50s) and you love going outside to play.  If your see your siblings go outside you try to follow them.  If that fails and they go outside without you, you throw a BIG fit and point to the window or door.  You love to swing in your swing on the swing set and walk around the driveway and explore.  I think you will love this summer!
• You will often randomly clap during Church, especially while we are singing.  You don't clap as much as what you used to (it's an old trick now!) but yesterday when Grandma was making milkshakes you would clap whenever she stopped the blender.  Then today when I was vacuuming, you clapped when I turned off the vacuum.  I'm not sure why, but it was pretty cute!  I don't know if you were saying "more" or if you just thought we needed to be applauded for our work!! ;)
• You are not shy at all.  You don't have much stranger anxiety (you do have a little, but nothing like your brother and sister did!) and you go to nursery without a problem.
• You have started signing "more" when prompted.  You point to the palm of your open hand.  It is very cute!

Spring in Michigan

The weather has (finally!) turned nice.  It has been in the 50s and even a few days in the 60s!  We still have some big snow piles in the yard but I'm hoping they will melt soon!  The kids don't mind the snow as much, they are having fun putting their chairs in it!!  Silly kids!

**April 12 and the snow piles are gone!!