Hunting, Coloring, and Hunting Some More

There is a family in our ward at church who put on an annual Easter egg hunt at a nearby elementary school and this is our second year attending (I believe if you go back on this blog far enough you can see last year's pictures). The girls had a good time running and walking (I will let you guess who did what) to find the eggs. And, even though Bo ended up dumping her bucket, they ended up collecting quite a few eggs. It was freezing cold, but it was fun. Later that night we colored some eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. The next morning, as you can guess, the girls woke up to their presents from the Easter Bunny and they were able to hunt their eggs. Thankfully they found them all (I can only imagine what kind of a disaster lost eggs become. I don't even want to think about it really). We had a lovely time. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of them all in their matching yellow dresses, but if I am able to get my act together, we will leave that to the professionals.

"Run away, run away!" Some of you might know that movie, if not, shame on you! You are missing out on a masterpiece!

First catch of the day.

Aww, some Easter booty! You know, like pirates, savvy?

The sun is in my eyes, my hands are freezing and I am happy as can be!

Sun in her eyes. This looks like the one I took last year (see last year for details :)

She is very happy with her loot.

Now what do we do?

Right, we play on the playground and make funny faces!

"Um, is this slide up to construction code?"

Joy?

At some point, I know she will realize this is fun.

Yes, there it is... fun!

Stay Puff Marshmallow kids.

Again with the sun!

Crazy times call for crazy measures.

After the hunt, we partied with iLyn. This is her party face. I don't know if you can see her milk goatee.

Practicing sticking out her tongue for future endeavors with her sisters.

Boredom.

She always looks like she is going to deck someone.

Oh so happy!

Nothing completes eggs quite like princess stickers.

Although this is a regular pose with her, she really isn't doing what it looks like she is doing. I wouldn't keep a picture of that... I don't think.

Doing it herself.

Apparently not to be trusted with clothing.

We seem to have more pictures where I don't quite know what to say. Either my brain is completely fried (true) or my children do things that boggle my mind.

Her hair is getting so long!

Precious not-so-little-anymore one.

She is looking so much older these days. She is starting to grow out of her baby face and I don't like it one bit! :)

The girls with their gifts from the Easter Bunny. I would tell you why Boo doesn't have pants on, but then I would have to kill you.

This must have been the "ch" part of cheese.

And in this corner... iLyn!

She is about to give that bunny the old 1, 2... after she eats it!

Her humble victory face.

iLyn's Blessing

Again, better late than never (that, I believe, is becoming the theme for my life). Here are some pictures of the day we blessed iLyn. It was a very exciting day. Not only did we have a big meal prepared for the family for after the blessing (more work than I had physically performed in a while), that is the day David left the meal early to go to the emergency room (this would explain why he looks so pale). I thank the Lord for our many blessings, including the addition of our little iLyn and for David's recovery!

Bo with one of her random black eyes. I actually cannot remember what she did to get this one. It's pretty sad when you cannot remember how your children get hurt... as in it happens ALL THE TIME! They inherited my grace, as you can see.

She loves her picture taken.

It was after Valentine's day, but I had bought some material to make some skirts (it's a fun new thing that is pretty inexpensive) for the holiday and we never got them made. "Bama" stayed up to make them the night before. Thanks!

iLyn and Bama

I have been able to use the same blessing dress for each girl.

Daddy and iLyn. Poor guy looks so sick.

Trying to coordinate them all looking at the camera is like trying to do their hair... extremely difficult.

Getting closer to everyone looking...

Close enough. I still think it's cute even though Bo looks perturbed and iLyn is crying.

This is the best one of the family we got that day. There is a whole house for improvement but we tried.

She is the only baby to fit into this dress. Boo was too small and Bo was too big (I made them wear it anyway. I am a terrible mother!)

I usually have her hands covered with socks because she scratches. As you can tell, she didn't have them covered this day. Ye ol' wounds of war.

Looking pretty tired at this point.

Daddy and our baby girl.

iLyn with her bonnet.

He's Losing His Eyesight, But...

It has been a difficult month in the life of David's eyes. At first he couldn't see more than a few feet in front of his face. Then, with the regulation of his blood sugar, he could see better than he has in years. This last week, however, his eyes have returned back to their glass covered state. It was really strange to see his glasses back on his face. He looked so different to me, even though he has been wearing the entire time I have known him.

We also have something else exciting to share. No, it isn't the Phoenix job. We still haven't heard back from them. We read on the City of Phoenix website that they will be in a hiring freeze until they are able to secure more funds. Good luck. Anyway, he wrote a letter to the borough (that's like the county. I guess they have those in New York. Have never heard of it before I moved here) mayor to talk to him about a possible internship and to ask some questions for one of his classes. The mayor was very willing to talk to him and they set up an appointment. David met with him yesterday and walked out with the beginnings of a possibly paid internship with the Economic Development Dept. The woman over it had just told the mayor the day before that she needed more help. We consider this a wonderful blessing. David has decided he would really be interested in city management in the last few years. In fact, that is the reason he is getting an MBA. This internship is going to allow him to work in a field he is very interested in and to get some rewarding experience. We don't know all of the details yet, as he will be meeting with the woman in charge of the dept. he would be working in next week, but we are so very excited about this opportunity. In fact, he says he doesn't remember getting home because he felt like he was floating (and screaming too, apparently). I am so happy for him. It has been a long road to travel, but we finally feel like some of it has been cleared for us at this time in our lives. Hopefully this will lead him to a rewarding career for our family and for David. I am so "well pleased" with you my love! Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to our family. Ti voligo bene!

These Are the Days

I have to share a little moment I had yesterday with the girls. First of all the girls had their annual check-ups with the doctor. Apparently they don't usually book them together, but they allowed it for some reason. I dressed them in the matching shirts Grandma got them for Easter, matching hair styles, matching cowgirl boots, and different jeans (I had to draw the line somewhere). We got there and they had them put on matching hospital gowns. They were adorable. They had little tigers all over them. Of course, I realized later they were only adorable because they didn't have to wear them for anything serious. The doctor came in and we started the exam. I was out of the room for the first few minutes and missed the beginning of Bo's exam, but I guess the doctor talked to her about the day she was born. Two years later, she described to Bo that she was loudest baby, how she picked her up that morning to help her stop crying as she worked on her computer, and how they are now bonded. Bo was all business. David and I were laughing so hard because she was super quiet (which is not her personality at all). She was so cute in her little gown, legs hanging off the end of the table, and answering every question with a nod. It was precious. I guess we will just have to take her to the doctor when we want her to behave! Our doctor asked her if she was going to grow up to be a doctor and Bo nodded. When we went back out, she told the nurses that when Bo grows up she is going to be her doctor and take care of her.

Boo's exam went well also. She was so brave. They poked her finger (we said she likes to drink a lot of water and so she wanted to test her blood for diabetes) and she just laughed. All is well and her levels are fine. Our children are just walking fish, that's all. They also took her blood pressure, for the first time. She laughed at that as well. It's funny how, to avoid the appearance of fear, Boo laughs at things. They both did extremely well and we walked out with a clean bill of health.

Yesterday evening, David had to leave to work on a paper and it was just me and the girls for a little while. Little iLyn was tired and cranky so I was trying to get her to go to sleep. I wrapped her in a blanket and started singing to her while she laid on her side on my lap. Both girls came over to help. They both started humming to her to help her sleep. iLyn quieted right down and just watched both of them as they hummed and sang her hymns. It was a sweet moment for me to realize that, yes, I do have children (still bizarre since I feel 15 all the time) and they love each other. They are always trying to comfort the baby or make her feel loved. It is times like these that make all of those messy diapers, temper tantrums, and timeouts worthwhile. I am so grateful they are best friends and so grateful to have them :)

Here are a few pictures of a very bad hair day. I actually shouldn't say hair day, I should say just bad hair. When we moved back in here last summer, we had a horrible couch that replaced our old ugly, but slightly comfortable couch. It was so bad that we had a wire sticking out of one side and about six or seven blankets under the cushions just to be able to get out of the couch. Anyway, we talked to the maintenance man about fixing our couch and he came back with this monstrous, extremely comfortable, makes me feel like Lily Tomlin in her huge chair couch. It's wonderful. The only problem is that it is extremely static-y. It makes the girls' hair a mess every single day. It has also taught me that static hair can happen even when it is wet. Bizarre. I learn something new, or realize I am just not that smart, every day! Unfortunately, this is just a bad hair do Bo woke up with in these pictures. I will have to get some of the static pictures up another day.

Awesome do homegirl!

The profile.

She looks like she has on rouge.

????????

Boo's foot looks huge compared to her body. I still am confused about Bo and her stance.

Not quite awake, but at least they are happy.