Sister Sleepovers

Sister sleepovers have become a coveted weekend activity at our house.  The girls live for Friday and Saturday nights, or any non-school night, so they can sleep together.  They have tried these in the past and just not been able to do it.  They couldn't settle down and messed around too much unable to go to sleep.  So, when they brought this up again, we established some ground rules: a couple giggles, share a secret, and then they needed to go to sleep.  To our amazement, the first night was a complete success.  So, they were allowed a sister sleepover the next night.  And...it worked again!  Now, it's almost a given...unless there is some reason during the day that they haven't earned it...which is rarely the case when they have this to look forward to.  I LOVE that they have this bond...this closeness, these giggles.  I can only imagine the secrets they are sharing.  :) 

Sawyer often wants in on the sister sleepovers too.  We tried a sleepover with Sophie and Sawyer one night which lasted all of about 1 minute before Sophie came out tattling about something Sawyer had done to her.  :)  However, Easter night we tried a sibling sleepover at my Grandma's house.  Surprisingly they were all asleep within minutes and stayed that way all night long.  Peaceful...Perfect...Precious.  These are the moments that make a parent just want to stop, soak in and treasure. 

Kindergarten Concert

There are 6 Kindergarten classes at Lainey's school...19 kids in her class. Her music teacher did an amazing job with all of these kids! They put on a fantastic concert for us in March! I love watching Lainey's animation, her excitement, her interaction with friends, and just her pure innocent joy! I love, love, love this little girl!

The Kindergarteners

Lainey spies us :)

Look at her - OUR KINDERGARTENER!

OK...well, I've been trying for a very, very, very long time to get videos uploaded for you to see of her concert and it's just not working. So, I'll just post the pics. I wish you could see her animation in action, but these are still cute. :)

Easter

What a BEAUTIFUL weekend Easter was.  The sun shone gloriously!  The day was a little brighter, the earth felt just a little better...truly...all glory to HIM!  Christ is RISEN! 

*We visited my Grandma Keller in Humphrey for Easter. My brother, Scott, drove up Saturday to join us.

Easter Sunday morning.  Sawyer 2 1/2, Lainey 6, Sophie 4 1/2

*Saturday morning my grandma, Matt, the kids and I walked to the park for the Easter Egg Hunt.  Following that, we had a hotdog meal at the new city hall.  Then, the kids and Matt snuggled onto sleeping bags and pillows brought from Grandma's house to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel at the city hall accompanied by fresh popped popcorn.  FUN!  Saturday night brought lots of games of Scrabble and visiting.

After the hunt the kids with their candy.  I liked the philosophy.  No matter how many eggs the kids collected, they turned them in for a FILLED bag of candy!  There were some good things in that bag, so nobody walked away disappointed!

Dying Easter Eggs Saturday afternoon.  Things went pretty quickly this year.  I am going to have to boil more eggs next year.  :)

Sunday morning Sawyer looking through the Easter Bunny's surprises.

Sophie showing off an egg she found the Easter Bunny had hidden.

Lainey hunting for eggs.

Lainey pointing out an egg the sneaky Easter Bunny hid outside.

Sawyer was on the run, right with the girls this year.  It was so fun to watch him be so excited and so involved with everything!

Lainey in her pretty Easter attire.

This kiddos with Uncle Scott on Easter Sunday morning.

Before I explain the extra child in the picture, I do want to point out the church in the background.  This is Humphrey St. Francis.  Sometime I will try to take and post pictures of this beautiful church.

Our extra kid we've been toting around for a couple weeks is Flat Owen.  If anyone has heard of the Flat Stanley that many schools do, this is the project we've been asked to participate in for our friend, Owen Maggio, in Colorado. We take Flat Owen with us and try to take pictures of him with us doing things we enjoy doing or places that are special to us or in our area.  We'll be sending him back soon, but the kids have really enjoyed having Owen with us.

My Grandma...in her apron...in the kitchen.  Where else?  :) 

Big Boy Bed Addendum

I forgot to add this little tidbit to the Big Boy Bed post.  We have switched out our bathroom doorknob with Sawyer's bedroom knob after this little incident.  Matt was traveling and about 3:15 in the morning I hear a tiny little 2-year-old boy voice next to my bed..."I ice keem, Mom.  Mom, I ice keem."  I struggled to open my eyes as I reached out in the darkness to rub his little head.  But, instead I felt a frosted 1/2 gallon of frozen ice cream sitting on my bed.  Hmmm...I explained to Sawyer that it was the middle of the night and he could not have ice cream, everyone was sleeping, and tucked him back into bed.  When I took the ice cream back downstairs to the freezer EVERY single light was on...I'm talking the laundry room, hallway, foyer, bathroom, etc.  I just have to wonder how long he was down there...and what else he was all doing before he had finally settled on wanting ice cream and came up to my room. 

Then, about 1 1/2 hours later, I hear that same little sweet voice beside my bed.  "Mom, I potty in pottychair.  I want new jammies."  In opening my eyes (a little quicker this time) I see a naked little boy.  Thankfully, he had taken off his PJ's and diaper and really gone potty in the pottychair.  But, he had decided he did not like the PJ's he was wearing and had taken the stepstool into his room, opened his top drawer but just couldn't quite see to choose a different pair of pajamas.  It really bothered me that he had most likely been up for 1 1/2 hours doing...well, who knows what. 

With the girls, we would put a child safety lock on the inside of their door handle.  That worked really well...and would have worked well with Sawyer too...EXCEPT his partner-in-crime (Sophie) taught him on the first day in his room with his big boy bed how to "crack" the code of the child safety lock...and I might as well not even use them now.  :)  So, our new solution was to change out the doorknob with the lock to the outside.  Would child psychologists agree with me?  Probably not.  Do I sleep better at night knowing my little boy is safe in his room...absolutely.

Big Boy Bed

I'm a little behind getting some posts done.  Sawyer moved into a big boy bed 6 weeks ago on February 23.  He dictated the move really...asking to move into a big boy bed and head-diving out of his crib when he wanted out.  So, out of fear of him hurting himself and wanting him to experience this exciting new step in his life...we took down the crib.  I must admit it was a little sad/odd taking down the crib.  It's the first time it's ever been down.  Every other time a new baby has forced the child's move into a big bed (Lainey at 19 months and Sophie at 23 months).  But, I got over it quickly when I saw the elation and pride on Sawyer's face.  He didn't have one night of crying being in the bed...he just jumped right in and hasn't stopped talking about it since. 

Feb. 23 - Ready for bed...jumped right in!

1st night snuggled into new big boy bed...and yes, I am aware he is on pink sheets.  

I wasn't prepared for the move that night.  :)

There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby/child.  Precious.

The look of 2-year-old PRIDE!