Happy Birthday Auntie Katie!!!

Lar's baby sister's birthday is today and we all wanted to wish Auntie Katie in Chicago a Big Happy Birthday! Hope it is a good one Kate.

Zoe (2m) and Kate (many more months)

Kate and Sean all dressed up

Easter trip to PA

Well, we all survived the 10 hour car trip (11 on the way home due to an accident that shut the interstate down). Zoe did pretty well, much better than we thought, but it was still exhausting. She doesn't sleep in the car, partly our fault from always trying to protect her naps and make sure she was home to sleep in her crib, but she is also a butt-in-the-air-tummy sleeper which is a difficult position to get into in the car seat. Lar drove the whole way (by his own choice) so mommy was the entertainment. We played games, tickled, read books, tried to watch videos (attention span on a 2 y.o. is just enough to start to get into the story and then takes it away), and sang. I must have sang 8 out of the 20 hours, and most of it was one or two songs repeated over and over. Zoe's particular favorite is B-I-N-G-O, but instead of claps when you omit a letter, I thought it would be cute to bark. Zoe loved it and Daddy was no help, he kept egging her on to "ask Mommy to sing the woof woof song". Now, I want you all to try to sing it. The B, the I, the N are all pretty easy, but that G verse is the kicker. Now once you have practiced, practice again, and again, and again, for 4 hours or so. Yep, that was my life for a greater part of a day. What won't we do to keep our children happy?

Daddy and the rest of the men spent Easter weekend (and then some, about 30 hours total) building a 2600 piece swing set that Grammie and PopPop Ide got the kids. They braved the 45 degree temps, with rain and wind, to get it done. Thanks guys!!! Almost everyone is sick now, but that is beside the point.

The result

First swinger




Look what fun!

Zoe and Pop Pop

Zoe and Grammie I

Zoe and Aunt Shannon. Sorry Kate-
apparently we didn't remember to take pics
when you were there :(

First Easter Egg hunt

Really, I can keep it? And put it in this bucket?

Daddy and Zoe

Finger painting with chocolate pudding

Mommy painted on Zoe

Talking on the "walkie" to Mommy

Pop Pop's motorcycle

She loves tractors


We gave potty training a mild attempt while we were there. Zoe wore panties a few days and had a few accidents, but by in large she knows when she needs to go, and we know about when she usually goes in her diaper, so we just tried to take her frequently around that time. Turns out the bathroom is a pretty fun place to play too. There are doors to be open and shut, cabinets that open and shut, little potties and big potties to choose from, and the list goes on and on. The more we went, the more playing and less pottying we did, so we will wait and little while longer and try again.

Zoe is starting to know how to push Mommy's buttons. Of particular interest is smashing/throwing food and dumping the kitty food out. I just try to keeping saying, "this phase too shall pass", but those thoughts keep interrupting the "counting to 3 and then you are going to time out" episodes.

Hope you all had a great holiday too. Enjoy the pics.

Just call me President

This year I wanted to start doing something on the side that would be fun and make some extra cash too. I love teaching and being a mommy, so I thought I would do something that kind of hit on both areas. So started doing a little research into how to start a small business. Lots of library books, Internet researching, tons of time, and a little stress later, a baby business was born. As of March 30th, I am the President and Owner of CPR Adventures Inc. I have been slowly acquiring all the things necessary to run this thing and last night the final pieces of equipment arrived. Zoe helped us unload the manikins.

"Baby"

Giving loves and rocking the baby

Is this where you push Mommy?


I think the baby went poopy.

Zoe did well all week at daycare. No crying when she goes in any more! She seems to like it there and her vocabulary is growing everyday. Daddy still worries about the other kids being mean to her and says she needs to learn to fight, but there have been no problems yet.

Just a few days and we are heading to the great PA. Can't wait to get there and relax. We will need lots of time to recuperate after the 12 hour drive with a toddler.