EASTER

Going through the Easter Baskets My girls love to sing.  They sing all the time.  Especially Emma.  She sings to put herself to sleep, she sings while she plays, in fact we have to ask her to stop when she starts singing at the table.  BUT, when she is in Choir you would not believe that she enjoyed singing at all.  This is how she looked singing on Easter.  (She is the one with the hat covering her face)

And another happy picture of her singing. The sister hug they have perfected.

I love this one!

Puppet Show

Many of you have heard me rave about my Learning Tower.  It came with some add on that I had been saving for a day when I needed them.  Our oldest daughter Kami gave us a gift certificate for the new wine bar we have here in our town along with babysitting for our Christmas present.  We finally had a chance to use her present.  So I thought it would be a good time to bring out the Learning Tower puppet show.  It also comes with a drive thru sign, a lemonade sign, and a grocery store sign.  I had some alphabet puppets that I had made when I was teaching pre-k years ago so I brought those out too!  The girls had so much fun.  Meilynn especially enjoyed it.  I love the Learning Tower!

Meilynn has fun with Merry Mouse She has never seen a puppet show, but she knew just what to do. Emma liked climbing on it better!    Emma holding the baby kangaroo and Meilynn the mommy Meilynn having fun with the puppets

Putting on a show Emma and Meilynn watching Kami and Meghan show them how it works The "big" girls having fun

Instrument Petting Zoo and more

First of all I want to thank you all for the advice on what to do with the Bunny Bed.  I still haven't decided what I will do with it.  Also, I want to thank the person who suggested putting the "L" on  all of the left shoes and showing the girls the "L" that is formed with the thumb and index finger to match the "L" in the shoe.  I took it one step further and painted their big toenails on their left foot.  They now know what shoe goes on which foot 90% of the time.  Thank you for the awesome suggestion!

The flower girl dresses we ordered from flowergirlsdressforless.com came in the mail two days after ordering.  The girls wanted to try them on so bad.  Here they are holding the green sash that they will wear on the dresses. Meilynn showing us the flower They were almost a perfect fit.  They are a little long but hopefully they will grow a little taller by August. We are just starting swimming lessons again.  Last year we were in the Mommy and Me swim class and I had to have someone come with us.  This year the girls hang on to the side and I don't have to get into the pool with them. Learning to blow bubbles Emma looking fashionable in her goggles Emma hanging on the side and Meilynn with the teacher. Not afraid of the Bunny this year. At our local University they put on a family concert and an Instrument petting Zoo.  The kids hear a concert and then they get to touch and play any of the instruments they wanted. Here we are in front of the sign, Meilyn in blue and Emma in Brown Emma enjoying herself Big sister Kami came with us What is this? Emma having fun

Cleaning out the garage and the Jump Zone

We finally got to cleaning our garage out after our remodel.  One of the things that is going is this bunny bed that I absolutely love.  It was a major purchase back in the days when we were a young couple.   I fell in love with it and we bought it for our older daughter.  After raising two daughters we realize that if we went to twins after their cribs that then there would be another purchase down the road for full size.  So we thought that it would be a good idea to skip the twin beds and get the full size beds next.  The best thing about a full size bed will be that I will be able to lay down with them to read their story, do their song, and prayers.   I was holding on to this bed hoping that some day I would use it.  Mike says it has to go.   Speaking of bed time, we pretty much do the same thing every night.  We head upstairs for baths at 7:30 if they have not had naps and about 8:00 if they haven't.  They both go into their rooms and pick out their jammies and panties.  While I run the bath water and pick up the bathroom.  Then they come in get baths, brush teeth, floss ( they love to floss!  I found these colorful ones at Target and I have to limit them to flossing once a day) and go potty.  We then go into one of the girls rooms and I comb out their hair.  They each choose a story or if I am in a hurry,  I choose two stories (this way I get to read what I want once in awhile)  We read them together and then whoever woke up first from nap gets put down first.  The other one can go in their room and read or wait in their bed.  I then pray and ask them if they want to pray.  I learn so much about what was memorable in their day from these prayers.  (Last night Emma asked God to help Daddy to not hurt her feelings)  What happened was at the dinner table she kept standing up on the step of her high chair (we use them at the tables without the trays).  He couldn't get her to listen so he brought his fist down hard on the table.  That got her attention!  He little lip quivered and she said  "Daddy, you are hurting my feelings"  He of course explained that she could have fallen over and hit her head on the tile.  She is our one that I worry will keep us at the emergency room.  She fell down the stairs just yesterday and scared me to death.  About the hurting my feelings.  At the park that morning a little girl kept saying, "Hi" to Emma and Meilynn and they would not say "Hi" back.  So on the way home I was explaining about hurting someones feelings.  I think we need to work on the concept a bit more.  Meilynn always starts her prayers with  "Dear Jesus,  Thank you for me and then she goes through everyone she knows while slipping "me" in several times.  I can tell that a lot of what I have said throughout the day has sunk in listening to their prayers.  Then they choose a song.  Meilynn chooses "Baby Beluga almost every night because she has figured out that this is the longest song I sing.  Then Daddy comes in to kiss them and tuck them in.  Emma still wakes up during the night.  She is just not a good sleeper.  That is our bedtime ritual.   Now how did I get so far off the topic of the garage?

The Bunny Bed I love all of the colors and the worn feeling it has. The last of the things to put away. The girls found these old stools of Kami and Meghan's Writing on envelopes I was throwing away. This kept them busy a long time. We have a new thing in town called the Jump Zone.  It is jump houses and slides inside.  We met up with a friend and had a great day there.  We were waiting for the day Emma got her cast off to check it out. OK, not a very good picture, but they wouldn't stop moving! Meilynn walking down the ladder.  Not a fan of the slides but loves the jump houses.  I have so much more to post so keep checking back, I am trying to get it done.

Cast Off, Spring in the Desert, mixing colors

After four weeks it was time to get Miss Tippy Tails cast off.  I was a little worried about how she was going to react since waiting in the waiting room was terrible.  She was pushing her face into my chest and was clinging on.  On the walk to the room where we were getting it off she was hanging on to me and whining. I had left Meilynn home with Daddy because I knew this might happen and I didn't know if I could  handle both.  When we went for the blood tests the one watching was crying as much as the one getting the test. We had talked about what it would be like and that the machine would be very loud.   I could tell that the Dr. taking it off was thinking oh no, this is going to be difficult.  He even told me that this was usually very hard at this age because the blade and the noise scared the kids.  Well Emma just hopped up on the table and was ready.

Here she is being very brave! Not a peep out of her.  She was very interested in what was going on.  The Dr. was pleasantly surprised since he had seen her coming down the hall hanging on me.  We were able to keep her cast and she calls it her "little arm".  Needless to say, every baby in the house has had a broken arm since. Right after getting the cast off we headed out to go motorcycle riding in the high desert for the weekend.  Here is Emma giving a little pose.  I don't know where they come up with this stuff.

Meilynn with her pose Playing outside the  motorhome.  We usually go where there is just dirt and sand, but this time we went to the upper desert and spring was in bloom Wild Flowers There were yellows and purples everywhere The girls in the Rhino Emma fell asleep on our long ride to find a monument to fallen riders Daddy takes Meilynn on a potty break The Husky monument, where riders are remembered

My friend Debbie and her daughter Courtney came over to our motorhome with some new markers that were like paints.  The girls loved it. At Target we found these little fizzy pills you put in the bath (kind of like Easter Egg dye)  Emma chose blue and Meilynn chose yellow.  They found out that yellow and blue make green. Playing in the bath.

Is This Right?

  

This is a question I get asked at least 10 times a day.  The girls, Emma especially, change their shoes anywhere from three times a day to 5 times.  From slippers in the morning, to dress up shoes, to tennis shoes, to flip flops or sandals and back to slippers again.  They do not seem to be getting the idea of which shoe goes on which foot.  They don't put them on the wrong foot, they find me and say, "Is this right?"  Sometimes it is, but usually not.  They think that I can tell if they have it on the right foot when I am downstairs and they are upstairs.  After I hear this five times times two it becomes a question that I don't want to hear.

I have tried showing them the curve of the shoe and their foot.  I have tried telling them it buckles on the outside, the big part is where your big toe goes, etc.  I don't remember this being an issue for Kami and Meghan.  Maybe it is because I have two at a time asking. If anyone has a better solution to teach them which shoe goes on which foot, please let me know! They do have the most adorable feet and they wear the same size. Out on a ride on a Sunny day London Bridge

Take the Keys and Lock Her Up Sunglasses Daddy giving them a snack.  Chocolate for Meilynn and Graham Crackers for Emma.  She still will have nothing to do with chocolate.  Lucky girl!

Rice Krispie Treats

At our Chinese Dance Class the girls tasted Rice Krispie Treats for the first time.  I had some left over marshmallows that were pink from Valentines Day so I told the girls we would make some that night.  Big sister Kami dropped by so she was given the supervision duty of the Rice Krispie Treats.

Meilynn and Emma excited to make rice krispie treats. The ingrediants The best part is picking the rice krispies off of the wax paper and the spoon! Yummy!

I don't really recommend making rice krispie treats for three year olds.  There is not really much for them to do.  But I think that they will agree that even though they are not that much fun to make they are fun to eat!

Great Week

We had a really great week.  Daddy was away in Florida so we filled it with activities.  The FCC in Irvine had a Chinese Cultural  Dance class.  They are going to be offering it weekly, but Irvine is just a little far for a weekly class.  Emma loved it and Meilynn tolerated it.  Meilynn would still like Mommy to sit with her and this class was without Mommies.  They did great and it was fun to meet up with some other girls from our local FCC. (Families with Children From China) Emma doesn't let the cast slow her down one bit. It was a great group of girls and even one boy.  He was so cute. Loving bananas and coloring at the same time. These girls can eat!  Even if they are still tiny.  They still weigh in at around 26 or 27 pounds.  They can each eat a whole banana, that is if I give it to them the way a monkey would eat it.(In the skin) Yummy! Only a true friend would do this!  This is my friend of over 26 years.  She had her children when I had my first two.  And then she had her last son Jacob much later.  She has welcomed our daughters with open arms.  Even though our lives have changed from what we expected to be doing at our age she has stuck with me and still loves me.  Here she was up helping Emma cross the bridge.  She, (Emma) has suddenly developed a fear of walking across the bridge where you can see the ground through the slats.   I noticed that my girls are more fearful than the other kids so we are making a point of visiting the parks more often. This is a major improvement for Meilynn.  She usually will just go down the slide on her tummy.  She doesn't care so much for the swings. Emma loves the slides but is afraid of the jiggly bridge.

Here are the girls at Church Sunday singing in the Choir.

One of my friends had a opening of her art show.  We had a great time looking at her work.  She has amazing art.