Easter Weekend - 2012

We went to Illinois for Easter this year - the weekend included dying Easter eggs, family time, playing outside, hiding Easter eggs, hunting for Easter eggs, and our first experience at a hibachi restaurant - all good times! Enjoy!

With splashy dyes we decided to go topless, haha.

 

Or markers. :)

 

 

A little fun in the backyard.

 

 

 

 

Easter morning -
waiting for Daddy to see if the Easter bunny came.

 Looks like it!

 

 

 

 

 

  

The Easter Bunny may have overestimated
the amount of eggs necessary for two girls. ;)

 

 

April 2012

We had a busy April -  here are some of the highlights!

Someone found a stool... and the Easter candy.

Coloring is an impromptu sport -
it happens wherever there is room!

We have experimented with the potty.
Small successes, but mostly she thinks it's a toy. ;)

I am the luckiest momma around!

Casey took Mallory to the dollar store so she could pick out my birthday gift... $14 later, I was the lucky recipient of everything shown here! Complete with a card that read "Happy Birthday 4-year-old! (Oh, don't forget the mocha from McDonald's which was Daddy's addition to the gift and the only thing that didn't end up in Mallory's toy box, haha.)

 Birthday festivities.
The girls were using sand for lotion..................

Mallory picked out the cake - yes, that's a guitar.
Hey, it was ice cream cake. You didn't hear me complain. :)

The following week was my dad's 60th.
We had him and his wife along with my brother and his family over for dinner and cake.
It's not 60 candles, but it sure was a lot of flame. ;)

 

Stay tuned for Easter pics and a trip to the zoo!

NYE 2011

We went to my brother's house on NYE for dinner and ... well, not much else. While we were making dinner, Ember and Mallory found their way into some fairy costumes that had us all giggling. (I can't help but point out that they are only 10 weeks apart. I guess we should stop hanging Mallory upside down before bed every night - she just keeps growing taller!)

They are two peas in a pod!

Mallory looks a little "Harry Potter meets Fairy Princess" here - 

about to cast a spell with her wand.

We all came downstairs after dinner and Abby was not excited about the 'no stairs' restriction.

So we moved the gate to the top of the stairs.

This gesture was lost on her. :)

Until it was her idea. 

Then she was thrilled and pretty proud of herself.

She even posed for a few other pictures.

When the littles went to bed, Mallory and Ember were interested in a snack. Being the parents of the year that we are, we figured the 5 gallon tub of gourmet popcorn would suffice. They were totally on board and proceeded to eat not with their hands but with spoons and utensils from the play kitchen.

And you can see that the silliness continued ... Mallory is in a hamper and Ember is sitting on a doll stroller.

When that got boring ... they switched.

They topped off their evening with a little coloring by the fireplace (there was no fire!) Us big people had a few drinks, watched a few movies and some of us even updated our blogs. We really know how to party!! (and we're totally okay with it. :))

Tidbits from Christmas

We started the Christmas season with Mallory's program at her school. 

She sang 3 songs with her class: 

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

Frosty the Snowman 

Sleigh Ride

She had a lot of fun and did a great job singing and doing the hand motions, even if she was the only one in her group of 10 kids that didn't want to wear the Rudolph nose. :)

 

First we had a little fun with Grandpa & Grandma Lynn.

Waiting patiently for her turn to open...

Princesses for Mallie

Tools for Daddy

A kitty keyboard for Abby

Sewing supplies for Mommy (not pictured!)

And who wouldn't enjoy a little Tequila for the holidays?

Then we traveled four hours south for some more cousins and Christmas fun. 

Christmas Eve Mass

I love this picture of Abby taken after Mass

and it totally reminded me of THIS picture of Mallory taken after Mass in 2009.

Saying goodnight to Ryann on Christmas Eve

(matching jammies, tee hee)

Cookies & milk for Santa, 

carrots for the reindeer

Christmas morning.............

A jammies picture, but not without tears...

We had a fun-filled Christmas day! A whirlwind of gifts, food and family (too much of a whirlwind to take many pictures appparently...)

After a wonderful weekend, we headed back to WI to wrap a few more presents and celebrate one more time with Grandma and Papa Butschli. 

Everyone can use a few Cooties in their life, right?

And one can never have too many princesses...

...or kisses from Grandma

...or hugs from their sister

...or smiles from a cousin

It was definitely a very merry Christmas around here!
(and January has been pretty merry too!)