Silly and Sweet at 25 Months

Emma loves to giggle, and most of the time can be found with her head thrown back, laughing about something.  She loves to be silly and loves to tease Lucy as well.  Emma will chase Lucy around the house yelling "ROOOAAARRRR!  I'm a big monster!" while Lucy screams, "Mom!  Emma's going to bite me!"  All the while, Emma is cracking up at Lucy's fear.  When Emma isn't pretending to be a monster, she is still chasing Lucy but will say, "Pop goes the weasel!"  Emma also gets a rise out of Will by saying, "Daddy Anne, I need you!"

I love to ask Emma, "Who loves you?" Emma responds with, "Mama, Dada, Lucy, Grandpa, Swiper" and then throws her head back laughing.  Emma's humor with Swiper has not stolen her love for both of her grandpas who she talks about all the time, especially on her pretend phone.  Here she is below reading a story to Grandpa T. while Great Grandma J. looks on.

When Emma isn't being silly, she can be found climbing.  I caught her trying to get something off of Lucy's dresser in the below picture.  No matter that the stool she chose to use is actually a rocking cradle.

Emma is just as sweet as she is silly.  The other night I was snuggling her before bed when she wrapped one arm around my neck, and her other arm around her doll Polly and said, "I've got both my girls!"  

Here Emma is below next to a patch of daffodils.  I always tell the girls that daffodils bloomed on the day Emma was born and tulips bloomed on the day Lucy was born.  Every time Emma saw daffodils this spring she would squeal with delight saying, "There's Emma's flowers born!"  

This girl has grown an inch since her birthday a month ago.  

And if it's possible, her personality continues to grow as well.

Spring Fever in April

April flew by with both girls birthdays, Will's spring break and lots of fun and projects.  Spring fever hit us in full force, and despite the winter like temperatures we rolled up our sleeves and worked hard and played harder this past month.

Let's start with the fun.  Below are the girls with Great Grandma J. at the Sunday brunch we had with Will's side of the family for the girls birthday.

The girls wanted a rainbow cake and kept changing their mind as to what type of theme would decorate the top.  I finally told the girls that I would make a surprise cake for them since they couldn't seem to make up their mind about anything except the rainbow colors.  In an effort to avoid food coloring, I made a rainbow out of fruit and found two rainbow My Little Ponies to put on top.  I may have been the most excited one when I revealed the cake to them on the morning of their birthday brunch.   

Here are Emma and Lucy with Uncle Mike and cousin Ellen enjoying a story time snuggle.

I took the girls to Rochester Play (think indoor playground) with a friend of mine over spring break and ended up meeting another friend while there too.  It was crazy busy, but a great time was had by all.

We spent time at our neighborhood Elementary School playground bundled up in winter gear...

...and took advantage of the cold wind and soccer field to fly the kites the Easter Bunny brought the girls.

We even took a class on Catching Rainbows at the local nature preserve, since the girls love rainbows so much.  It was cute to seem them in a class together.  Lucy was intent on following directions and listening to the teacher while Emma was fascinated with people watching and staying as close to Lucy as possible.

Since the temperatures of April were more like winter than spring, we had an indoor picnic in the living room while watching a movie for a family movie night.

We made crafts almost every day...

...and I even had a chance to work on a craft of my own!  I decorated the shelf that Will made in Lucy's room with scalloped wood trim, mod podged fabric and a fresh coat of white paint.  Thank you Pinterest!

We did tackle some outdoor projects, although they would have been a lot easier if it had been warmer out!  Here is Will below, espaliering a pair of apple trees we planted last fall along the west facing wall of our garage.  Pretty much this means that we are going to train the trees to grow two-dimensionally along the wall in an effort to save space.  It will take several years for us to get the shape just so, but once it is set we shouldn't need to train it anymore - just prune it annually and enjoy the apples.

We also attempted to remedy a problem we are having with our chickens.  The lowest three chickens in the pecking order of our flock are literally being pecked at until they have bald spots on their backs.  This has been happening since the weather got cold but doesn't seem to be letting up now that the weather is getting warmer.  We read online that you could put aprons on the backs of the chickens to give their feathers a chance to grow back and the other chickens to forget about bullying them.  Around this same time my favorite pair of jeans ripped beyond repair.  I decided to use the comfy soft denim to make the aprons.  It was a little emotional for me to cut into my favorite pair of jeans but at least it would be going to a good cause and it wasn't like I could wear them anymore.

Unfortunately, the chickens didn't seem to appreciate the sacrifice my jeans had made for them and found a way to get out of the aprons before any healing could take place on their backs.  We are back to the drawing board on this situation.  Anyone want a set of three chicken aprons?

The most exciting project we worked on this past month however involved our latest endeavor.  I have decided to start bee keeping this year!  I have spent the last year researching the heck out of all things honey bees and have talked to many seasoned bee keepers.  I have never been afraid of bees, and I am taking this as a good sign for my new hobby.  The more I read about bees, the more fascinated and excited I became about the prospect of having my very own.  Thanks to Will who built the two hives for me, and to Lucy and Emma for not laughing at me when I tried on my bee suit for the very first time.

Ironically, I may be more afraid of the smoker that you use to keep the bees docile while I work on the hives than the bees themselves.  To tackle my fear of fire head on, I spent the month of April practicing how to light and keep my smoker smoking.  The first time I lit the smoker I started screaming when the flame rose about a foot out of it.  Will thought this was hilarious and is looking forward to seeing me handle 30,000 bees at a time.  The more I practice, the more confident I feel and I am hoping that the same will hold true for handling my bees.  I am as ready as I'll ever bee and can't wait for our bees to arrive next week!

Lucy At Four

Since Lucy hasn't had her own post since she turned three, I thought it would be nice to do a separate post on all things Lucy for each of her birthdays from here on out.  Below is a picture I took of Lucy when she was dancing to the radio with me in the kitchen.  Lucy loves to dance to music.

Lucy seems to have a grasp of the English language better than Will and I most days.  Sometimes this can be highly entertaining and at other times super frustrating!  

This morning while I was brushing Lucy's hair our conversation went something like this:  Me: "Lucy, hold still!"  Lucy: "Well, I didn't hear a please OR a thank you mom."

The other day while Will was driving in the car with the girls, Lucy told him from the backseat: "I love Mama to the moon and back.  And I love Emma to the sun and back.  And I love Luke to heaven and back.  And I love you Dad to the sidewalk and back."

When Lucy is excited, she will yell "Don't say another word!"

In the below picture, I went into Lucy's room in the morning to start our day and this is how she greeted me, yelling "STOP!" while holding a miniature Stop sign from the train table.

Lucy loves picking flowers and arranging bouquets.  One of the benefits of having a "lawn" and not grass, is that the weeds grow a lovely assortment of flowers all season long.  Here Lucy and Emma are below picking me a bouquet.

Lucy loves playing with Will and loves swinging too.  Put those things together, and this is what you get.

Lucy loves being creative with her art supplies.  I've noticed that she doesn't "do" coloring books as you or I would.  She uses scissors, tape, staples, markers, crayons, colored pencils and glitter sticks on coloring books like I have never before thought possible.  She is definitely an outside of the lines kind of girl, and seems to be at her happiest when she is creating on her own terms.

Lucy's other favorite past times include building with her Duplo Legos, listening to stories and looking at books, and playing with her dolls.  She gives birth to twins multiple times a day, and loves having visitors come to admire her new babies.  She loves telling us their birth weights and if they are sleeping through the night or not.  She is a great mommy and is very proud of all of her babies.  Sometimes it is hard to show excitement when we've done the make-believe role-playing for the thousandth time, but it is always worth seeing Lucy's happiness when we do.

Lucy is a fun loving girl who knows exactly what she wants.  She enjoys making deals with us and negotiating situations to her advantage.  Life is never dull with our girl and we are looking forward to seeing her grow and change over the next year!