Easter Bunny

The kids had the annual Easter Bunny photo taken this morning. It was pretty funny! We were already at the mall picking up a few last minute items for the Florida trip and we saw the bunny all alone with no one to cuddle. Max was VERY interested and Alia just wanted to know "why" were we going to take a picture with the Easter Bunny. After some persuasion that involved Mommy and Daddy getting their picture taken too, we managed to leave them all on their own and got these two hysterical smiles on the first try! The photographer told Alia to "smile real big". Can you tell?

Swim Lessons

Here are a few clips from our most recent session of swim lessons. Max and Daddy just completed Angelfish (6-18 months) and will be moving to Blowfish (18-36 months) next time. Alia was in Catfish 1 and will be giving that one another go. It took her quite a bit to get used to trusting her teacher in the water and just the different format of the class. We are thinking that after some serious play time and practice time in the pool in FL she will be ready to tackle Catfish 1 again in April :-) At the end of the video you can see her buddy Carson and Max's buddy Landon in the pool too!

Cow Bowling

The kids and I were introduced to the fun game of cow bowling by our friends Robin, Todd, Cash and Addie Jordan. My kids still need a little practice, but sure had fun ...

This was on sick day #4 ... Alia was feeling much better but both kids had to be quarantined due to the pink eye situation.

Sick Day(s)

It was a pretty long week around here. Last week Alia had a yucky cough, but seemed to feel fine otherwise. On Saturday, the luck ran out and she started running a fever. On Sunday, we took her to urgent care and they said everything was fine. She still had the fever Monday, so Tuesday we took her to the pediatrician. That was when we found out that she had bronchitis/walking pneumonia and an ear infection. So we started antibiotics. At 4:00am on Wednesday morning, Alia came in to our bedroom to report that her "eyelashes were stuck together". So, I made another doctor appointment for 4:10pm suspecting that it was pink eye. While waiting in the doctor's office that afternoon, I noticed that Max had one goopy looking eye as well. So, we got a big ol' prescription for eye drops. By that evening, I started feeling yucky. I went to the doctor on Thursday evening and he said that I don't have an ear infection, but since we are flying to FL on Tuesday and my ear is still really painful, I have a feeling I'll be going somewhere and seeing someone before then for a second opinion. Fun, huh?

It was a little tricky entertaining the kids inside all week. The good news is that the weather was horrible, so going out didn't even look appealing. Painting was a big hit for a couple of days!

Max checking out big sister's work

very focused

experimenting with some new approaches

Alia pointing to the picture of an airplane that she painted

Max holding up his "fish" that he painted. He was so proud! It was absolutely precious.

Silly Boy

Max really likes it when I get the camera out and start taking pictures. He loves saying "cheese" while running back and forth through the house and holding up objects for me to photograph. As you can imagine, I don't get too many quality pictures from these little sessions, but it sure is funny and cute!

Hey Mom ... Here's my duck!

This was an action shot ...

a pretty impressive photo if you would have seen the speed he was operating at.

Monkey Do

We call Alia "Monkey See" and Max "Monkey Do".

One evening we were driving to the rec. center so that I could teach my class and Alia fell asleep in the car. Max was the one that brought it to my attention. Luckily we arrived a few minutes early, so I decided to sit in the car as long as I could and give her a little rest. Max always wants to do whatever big sister is doing :-)

Alia sleeping ...

Max pretending to sleep ...

Partying

Max and Alia recently helped their friend Nick celebrate his 3rd birthday at Munchkin Playland. Here are a few pictures from the party.

Sneaky Max

A little girl very much enjoying her special treats

Look closely at this picture and you will see a little Max Andrew IN the doll house. Nick had done this earlier and our little "monkey do" had to give it a try as well!