The Kids on Easter

We had a wonderful time searching for jelly beans and M&Ms in the front room. This was the first time that the Easter Bunny left candy out and not inside eggs. The kids were so excited as it was easy to see and the room was full of candy. Their eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. Alivia was so happy that she started twirling!

Alivia the tired princess

Alivia decided that a good way to occupy her time tonight would be to stamp herself. (Myles and I were cooking Japanese food and otherwise occupied.) She got out the princess stamp set and inked up. To complete the look, she took out a blue pen and put eyelashes over her eyebrows and lines under her eyes. What a beauty!! She was quite taken with herself. Addi, however, was not. His flat response to her exuberant shouts of: "I'm a princess!" was simple: "You are a tired princess with bags under your eyes."

(Luckily, she doesn't know what that meant and twirled happily.)

I love you!

Alivia has developed a love for mermaid, shark, ocean, swimming stories. Therefore, I thought I'd post some pictures of her a couple of weeks ago at the beach.

Alivia was cuddling with me in her bed last night after I told her her bedtime story, which was about the ocean, as usual. She was chatting about the shark/Ariel story I had told her when she changed gears: Mom, I love you. I love you more than bacon.

I'm honored to be above bacon on her list. I may, however, be below chocolate chip pancakes!

Whew, it's April and I'm just getting Liv's birthday pics up!

Knowing that Alivia is a bit too young yet to enjoy the big birthday party, we decided to drive down to the Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate her birthday. It gave us a chance to get out of the snow and have a fun mini-vacation in the middle of our wierd winter. Alivia was in awe of the big slides, but she had fun in the kid sections. The hot tub was her favorite diversion: her little body gets cold so easily that she spent lots of time in the hot tub just getting back up to room temperature! We went with the Bradshaws and the Thomases, so there was a lot of 'tag, you're it' with the kids. Lalisha and I had fun on the big tube ride, while the boys were on a mission to see how high they could get in the big funnel of the tornado ride. A fun time was had by all, and Alivia still talks about how she got to go to a Ho-towel for her birthday! We have watched you grow into a happy chatter box who loves to be helping and hugging others. Your charming smile warms our heart. Happy Birthday, Livvie!

We took all the kids from Little Bear Day Care to see Curious George at the Children's Museum. It was a wonderful adventure full of silliness! Alivia loved George's office and the market. Addison built buildings with the blocks, and had fun doing impersonations of the characters.

I just love that smile!