Easter and The Bunny

So this year Kiersten completely cracked me up. All she could talk about was "The Bunny." And the way she said it, you could practically hear the capital letters as she spoke. She wanted to get a basket of eggs ready to leave for The Bunny (like we left Santa a plate of cookies at Christmas time). It was funny because once she saw The Bunny at an Easter party, she wouldn't even give him a high 5 - she was terrified of The Bunny. Maybe someday I'll have pictures of my children sitting on the Eater Bunny's lap, or even Santa's lap for that matter . . . maybe someday!

We started out our Easter celebration the week before Easter with a primary Easter Egg hunt/activity at the park. My favorite game to watch was when they had the kids put a lemon between their knees and walk a distance and then drop the lemon in a glass without using their hands. If only I had gotten my camera out and gotten into position in time . . . !
I'm not quite sure what Tanner was up to, but it probably involved "Ready, Set, GO!" since he's always about to take off! I don't think he ever learned how to walk - he just runs!

Kiersten did very well at balancing an egg on her spoon - I don't think she dropped it even once!

Kiersten has always loved sack racing, ever since she and I tried it a year ago. Luckily there were lots of other children who wanted to participate so I didn't have to this time! (It just isn't pretty, especially when I'm way too big for the sack and have to lean over just to keep it up!

Tanner was super happy to find just one or two eggs - he didn't get that he was supposed to get all that he could. Oh well, this was one of the times in his life that he was very good about sharing with the other kids!

Then on Sunday I let Kiersten wear her Easter dress since Easter Sunday was General Conference and we weren't going to church. I'll have to post pictures later - like when I take some. (With 8am church it's a mad dash out the door every Sunday and I figure we're doing well to have everyone fully and appropriately clothed and there on time. I can't remember to take pictures too!)

Then Kiersten had all week to look forward to dying Easter eggs once Daddy got home from work on Friday. They had lots of fun, while I did my best to keep Tanner from making a big mess and dying more than just the eggs!

On Saturday, the day before Easter, Kiersten's dance class was asked to perform at the local Easter celebration. They did very well, for having learned the entire dance in just 4 weeks. Some things never change, and Kiersten is still very concerned about making sure she is right on her polk-a-dot.

After the girls danced, I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up with an entire jumping castle to ourselves for 20 minutes or so, so I took Tanner in and let him jump until he was exhausted (which, we learned, was not even enough to satisfy him!). He had a ball, and thought he was pretty big stuff.
Easter Sunday morning Nate and I were woken up to Kiersten running down the hall and telling us that The Bunny had been to our house, and that he'd left Tanner an Easter basket, but he hadn't left her one. I assured her that He didn't forget about her and that if she would just look harder I was sure she would find hers too. Then I rolled over and Nate and I went back to sleep! Eventually she found her basket on the other side of the couch and she was delighted with her Cinderella doll and Tanner LOVES his bubble gun - I think in just 2 days we've managed to go through all the bubble solution that came with the gun - good thing I have gallons more!

I didn't think we'd put that many sweets in their baskets, but Tanner decided he needed to try and eat all of it before breakfast. So it was no surprise when he spit up chocolate only a few hours later. Thankfully he did that on my tile . . . unfortunately he walked through it and on to my just-professionally-cleaned carpets (thanks Jamie - I loved Jim - he did such a good job!) to show me how yucky he was. And the best part is that I've now put away their baskets, with most of their treats still in them (at least what Tanner didn't eat in that first hour or two), and they seem to have forgotten about them!

Kiersten's Scripture

A few weeks ago Kiersten was assigned to give the scripture in Primary. During quiet time on the week she was given the assignment (so a week before she actually gave it), she decided to write out her own scripture, or talk as she calls it. (It doesn't matter if she's asked to give the scripture, article of faith or an actual talk, she calls them all talks!) Here's what I found: If I remember correctly, it says (I know this because she read it to me!) the first couple of lines are "crazy writing" (nonsense). Then it says "verse 4; in Adam (chapter) twenty five We believe that men will be punished and not for Adams transgressions."

Well, at least we know she was listening at some point to some thing!

Kiersten's First Post

kiersten we
wa
ud
wont
yor
frends
kam
help
selabrat
my
brthday
i
love
my
famley
i
love
skoowl
in
skoowl
the
ledr
i
tokt
a
baot
is
keoo
wen
i
gro
up
i
wont
to
bey
a
mthr
wen
igro
up
i
wont
to
bey
a
mathr
wen
i
gro
up
i
love
it
wen
i
hav
a
brathr
i
lik
my
brathr
and
tanner
thegnks
it
is
fun
to
hav
a
big
sistr
the
wacky
substitute
my
frens
are
hailey
masy
cordr
wyitt
jona
sidney
kiersten
i
love
you

Laughing and Jumping

This post is really for Grandmas and Grandpas and anyone else who might care. (Don't worry, we won't be offended if you don't watch the videos - we won't even know!)

We thought this video was a pretty cute shot of Tanner laughing and jumping, over a light-up bouncy ball that . . . bounced!

I was going to post a couple of other videos, but apparently the files are HUGE and either won't load, or will take all night, so I'm not going to post them. They weren't that great anyway! :)

Planting our Garden

I don't think that planting our garden is all that exciting, especially since we haven't yet figured out how to grow things in Arizona and most everything dies before the end of the summer, but I just had to share since everyone else seems to be buried in snow and cold weather!

Yesterday we planted the flowers in the front yard and today we planted some vegetables in the back yard. (I start small, and once those are in the ground I can go back and get more. I've had too many plants die before I can even get them in the ground because I bit off more than I can chew!) Tanner loved his "vo-vel" and he liked to scoop dirt out of the flower bed and onto the sidewalk. Once he missed the sidewalk, and poured a shovelfull of dirt right down my pants! Kiersten quickly lost interest in digging and planting, but she loved to water the plants once they were in.

My hope with planting earlier this year than we have in years past is that they'll survive longer - they may only make it until June this year, like they usually do, but that gives us 4 moths to enjoy them instead of the usual 2 1/2!

Tanner speaks . . . a little!

About a week and a half ago we had a speech therapist come out and evaluate Tanner to see if he had a true speech delay. I was warned ahead of time that he had to have at least a 50% delay to qualify for speech therapy, and I didn't expect him to do that poorly. Turns out he did! According to this speech therapist, an 18-24 month-old child should have 50-100 words, and Tanner has about 15.

However, in the days since the speech therapist came Tanner has added several words to his vocabulary . . . several of which are pretty cute!

-"ba-lee" is "please"
-"nut-nut" is "night-night"
-"lee" is "lid" (like for pots and pans)
-"dee" or "dee-dee"is "CD," "DVD" or "movie"
-"hovel" or "vo-vel" is "shovel" and "watering can" (but sometimes watering can is "bubble")
-"bow" is "ball," "bowl" or "computer" (Nate's laptop, and I have no idea where that came from, except that's what Tanner says as he points to the laptop!)
-"hoos" is "shoes"
-"yeah" is "yes", but it's never just said, it is usually yelled as loud as he can with all the excitement and enthusiasm he can muster, even if I'm asking if he wants green beans for dinner
"-lella" is "Cinderella" - yes, my little boy doesn't say car or truck, but he recognizes Cinderella and calls her by name!
-"hoo-ey" means that he has a stinky diaper (I said "whoo-ey" once when changing a stinky diaper, and that's stuck ever since)
-"wah" is what he says when he sees a dog; I think he's trying to bark

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now.

Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance

Every year Rancho Sahuarita (the community where we live) has a Daddy Daughter Dance around Valentine's Day. Usually it is on Sunday, so Nate can't take Kiersten. This year, however, it was on a Saturday, so he signed them up. Kiersten was so excited that she picked out her dress and accessories weeks in advance (including a veil, all the jewelry she owns, and an old black purse of mine). She got quite upset with me when I tried to hang her dress in the closet, because she was afraid that if I put it away she wouldn't be able to get ready! She also told me that she was going to be very brave when it was her and daddy's turn to dance. I tried to explain to her that everyone got to dance at the same time and that it wouldn't be like dancing on the stage. I don't thing she really understood until she got to the actual dance.

Here they are, ready to leave for their Daddy-Daughter-Dinner-Dance-Date (say that one ten times fast!)
A self-portrait while they waited in line. Nate commented on how many dads were wearing pink ties. I think he was impressed, or scared, I'm not completely sure which!
The clubhouse went all out for dinner - macaroni and cheese, pigs in a blanket, chicken, fruit, Capri Suns and cupcakes for dessert, and served on the finest china with the nicest silverware they could find! :)
One of the highlights of the evening for Kiersten was getting to choose a corsage (they had several colors and styles to choose from). She was so excited that they had flowers for her. So excited, in fact, that she wore it to church the next day. When Kiersten came home that night she told me that she'd been a "crazy dancer, but Daddy didn't dance crazy." Come on, Dad! What were you thinking! :) Kiersten and Nate had so much fun. It would be so nice if we could make this a tradition . . . if only the clubhouse will continue to hold it on Saturday nights!