Spring Break 2014 and Easter Sunday

 On Thursday of Spring Break this year, we were able to meet up lots of family members for a day at the zoo. Edward, Amanda, Tripp, Liam, Melissa, Dylan, Brooke, Renee, Caroline, April, McCall, Amanda's mom (Wanda and her 2 granddaughters, Alexis and Laken) were all able to come and Wanda was able to hook us up with free admission and bracelets for the kids that allowed them to ride the train, the carousel, feed the giraffes and so much more!

 Maggie enjoyed feeding the giraffes as much as Riley did! She squealed with delight when it licked her hand.

 Uncle Edward (sporting his extra long beard) has a chat with the boys after lunch.

 We didn't actually see the real tiger (much to Riley's dismay...as he wore his special tiger shirt just for this occasion), but this statue always makes for a fun photo op.

 The kids love to draw with their "colors" as Maggie calls them. Riley is writing a lot now. He likes to draw charts, ladders, and spell words like Nan, Pap, and Dad. Maggie loves to draw circles!

 Over Spring Break, there was a little work that needed to be done outside. Luckily, Dad had his "little helper" right beside him the whole time as they repaired the stone barricade and put down some new mulch. Riley got so excited about helping that he had trouble finishing up his lunch. What a beautiful thing to want to spend time with his dad and feel important and needed!

The day before Easter our church hosted an Easter Fest for the kids. Riley and I went together and he got to go around to nine different stations and collect plastic eggs to put in his carton that tell the Resurrection Story. I can't wait for us to start incorporating this tradition in our family the 12 days before Easter. The stations also had different multi-sensory activities like making a Resurrection Roll with crescent rolls and marshmallows to eat at the last station, writing a note of praise to Jesus, having juice and bread to remember the Last Supper, planting a seed in a garden, putting toothpicks to symbolize thorns in a crown, dying an egg, painting a rock, and seeing Ms. Leslie dressed as an angel and lighting a candle. There were Scripture verses and a short narration to go along with each activity. I really thought the event was a wonderful way to remember the Easter story and to teach it to children. Of course, Riley was most excited about opening each egg to see what candy was inside, but hopefully some of the messages sunk in as well! :) 

 On Easter morning, I made the family some cinnamon buns shaped like crosses, "stones" (like the one rolled away from Christ's tomb), and of course, bunnies. The kids enjoyed the candy and prizes in their baskets and they got an extra treat a few days earlier when Nan and Pap mailed them an Easter package complete with books, more sweet treats, and the favorite by far...a copy of Disney's Frozen DVD!

 We couldn't quite get everyone looking and smiling at the camera at the same time, but it still makes for a memorable moment. Church was packed and we ended up having to sit in chairs along the back wall. The music and message were still amazing though. After the service we got to go to Mom and Dad's for a delicious meal of ham, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, pistachio salad, rolls, deviled eggs, green beans, and 3 different delicious desserts (carrot cake, berry pie, and cake with fruit topping). Melissa, Rodger, Dylan, Brooke, and Kelly were able to join in on the festivities as well. We hid lots of Easter eggs in the backyard, played a few rounds of "What's in Your Milk" (Kelly's favorite try to make you laugh game), got to listen to the kids play the "compuno" (as Riley calls Papa's electric piano), and I got to celebrate with Kelly by giving her a belated birthday gift.

One other event that we got to do during Spring Break was visit with some of my favorite girls--Sara, Carson, and Carrie. Carson's daughters (Camryn and Reagan) and Carrie's kids (Noah and Kaitlyn) were able to join us for a pancake and donuts dinner, Easter egg hunt, and lots of rolling down Mr. Dennis hill and playing on his swingset. Not quite the same Spring Break trips we had in college together, but still enjoyable! 

Before I end this post, I have to include a few funny sayings and random updates:

• After playing outside for a bit, Riley turned to me and said, "My eyes are hot. I got to cool off in the sun!"
• A few days after we were blowing "raspberries" on the kids' stomachs, Riley looked at Chris and told him, "I'm going to give you a strawberry-blueberry when I snort on your belly!" I LOVE it! 
• Maggie continues to talk in longer sentences and is learning to reason really well. Just today, I called to Riley (who was upstairs in his bed) that we were about to start a show and Maggie said, "No Ra-Ra sleep. Tired." 
• Maggie is also continuing her independent streak (which I doubt will end any time soon). She doesn't want any help walking up and down stairs. And she likes to go "slowly" up the stairs as she says and then "fast!" She doesn't like for you to buckle the strap to her car seat and insists, "No, I do it!" 
• Her love for music and songs is growing as well. She is now singing the "God our Father" mealtime blessing, "ABC Song", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Mockingbird" and my "Goodnight" song that I made up. 
• Riley is about to start swim lessons on Monday and to help get him ready we went and practiced in the pool at the YMCA yesterday. He was excited for days about it and pretty much carried his snorkel and mask with him everywhere he went. Unfortunately, the mask didn't seal well and when we ducked under the water to get our heads wet, he came up sputtering and full of water. Hopefully, this won't scar him too much and he'll be able to be brave for his swim lessons. 

Come-See-Me Half-Marathon

 We are so proud of Daddy! He ran his second half-marathon this past Saturday (April 5, 2014) that was a part of the Come-See-Me Festival. This was their first attempt at organizing a race of this length and though it did have a killer hill at the beginning and end of the course, Chris said overall it was a good experience. He finished in under 2 hours and the kids and I loved being able to cheer him on at mile 10 and the finish line with our handmade posters (that also made nice mats for snacking on as you can see below).

 Ronnie ran the 5K earlier that morning and waited around to see Chris finish. He ran with him part of the way in the stadium to help spur him on to finish strong.

 Riley wrote his poster all by himself!! I love that he knows how to write his name and how to spell Daddy already. He was very excited to wear Daddy's medal and eat some of his post-run snacks.

Pint-Sized Irish Welcome Spring

 Spring has sprung and we are so thankful for the warmer weather! We are hitting up parks again and spending lots more time outdoors. Riley has taken to shooting baskets with Dad and Maggie loves going for rides on her scooter and bike.

 For Lent, the kids and I created a Prayer Chain. We listed the names of 40+ family members and friends and take one name off each day to pray for. It has been really sweet to hear Riley's prayers first thing in the morning. Most of the time he asks God that the person "do good things and be a good listener and have a good day."  I like it because it's a great way to start our day thinking of others.

 For St. Patrick's Day, we had fun with an assortment of activities. My two little pint-sized Irish helpers made a Fruit Rainbow complete with marshmallow clouds and then made short work of devouring it!

 I made some Leprechaun "Rocks" out of a water and baking soda mixture colored with green food dye and hid a coin inside each rock. Then when we poured vinegar over the top, the kids loved watching the fizzing reveal their "surprise".  To add a little more science into our day, Riley helped me make a Liquid Rainbow (see the jar on the window sill below) that explores density and how some liquids rise to the top of a surface while others are heavier (such as honey and dish detergent).
We also mixed up a batch of Lucky Charms marshmallow treats. I have to admit that they weren't quite as tasty as Rice Krispie treats, but the kids didn't seem to care. :)

 We watched a video about the meaning of the holiday and learned about the real Saint Patrick who lived long ago. And the highlight was probably going on a Scavenger Hunt after nap time using clues that were hidden around the house.  The clues led to a "pot of gold" which were Hershey chocolates in shiny wrappers. 

 I'm one LUCKY mom to have been blessed with these little angels in my life! I love being able to make holidays special for them and am so thankful that I have this time at home to spend time of these extra activities. 

 Who said you aren't supposed to "play with your food"? Between making "meatball eyes" (as Riley likes to do using round food objects like meatballs or grapes and the tongs of his fork) and olive fingernails (I think Maggie started this one), these two kiddos keep us entertained at dinner time!

 So Maggie has been expressing a lot of interest in going potty lately and by accident one night, I let her play around with the Froggy Potty while I was cooking dinner. I showed her how to sit on it and prompted her several times and read her a book to get her to stay on it a little longer. However, somehow between stirring the pasta pot and plating our food, I missed her actually going pee-pee in the potty! We did a happy dance and she earned a jellybean. About a week later, after Nan and Pap's visit, I decided to try the full-on potty training day like I did with Riley. I loaded her up with juice and snacks, bought her Minnie Mouse underwear, let her run around without any clothes on for the first half of the day, showed her several potty videos and songs, etc. She had a lot of accidents that day and when I'd catch her peeing on the floor, I'd rush her over to the potty. My analysis by the end of the day though is that while she is interested and wants to try it out on occasion...she's still a little young to know what to do.  So we'll wait and try again this summer.

Speaking of Nan and Pap...we had a great visit with them last week. The arrived Monday afternoon (Riley was so excited, he couldn't sleep for his afternoon nap) and were able to stay until Friday. Chris took off school on Tuesday and we went as a family to Discovery Place in Charlotte. The kids had an awesome time playing with all the interactive experiment stations, seeing the fish in the aquarium, riding an air compression chair up and down, and getting soaking wet at the water tables in the children's area. After changing clothes, we headed over to Rock Bottom for a nice lunch. On Wednesday, Nan and Pap entertained the kids while I taught my music lesson at Kids R Kids and went grocery shopping and later to tutor. Thursday we all went out to eat one last time at Charanda's Mexican restaurant so that Chris could introduce his mom to the fish tacos that he absolutely loves to eat there. The kids were really sad to see the go and really loved the extra attention! Luckily, they only have to wait until May to see them again at their joint birthday parties.

To wrap up, I have compiled a few more memorable moments:

• Maggie's language and learning skills continue to impress me. She likes to count as she slides down each stair from the top of the landing to the den. The other day she counted to five without any help and then skipped a few numbers and said seven, eight, nine. I've heard her count up to 12 (give or take a few missing numbers in the middle) and then she gets excited about the number 20 because that's the number we count to when we play hide and seek. 
• Her empathy skills are precious. Now when she hears someone coughing or is hurt, she asks "Okay?" as in "Are you okay?" It's so sweet. 
• Riley is still up to his some old tricks as well. He now likes to take off his socks and hide them under the couch. We checked one day and there were 3 different pairs of dirty socks just hanging out under there. He also likes to shed his socks and shoes in the car and the other day when I asked him why he does this, he responded with "It helps me relax!"  He'll then ask for the window to be rolled down when we get in our neighborhood and proceed to stick his foot out. 
• At supper time, the kids have a pattern of eating a few bites and then turning around in their seat. Maggie usually says it first..."Back". This means that she wants to have someone pat her on the back while she lets the vibrations change the sound of her voice. Then Riley will follow and ask for the same thing. 

My Little Love Bugs

 Aren't these two little loves just precious?? I love these smiles and sibling side hugs!

 And look how much they've changed in just one year? Amazing!

 So, we made Valentines for each other and we also mailed a few to some church and family members.

 Two weeks after our Winter Storm 2013 that I blogged about, we got an actual real snowfall of 5-7 inches. Riley went out sledding in this outfit above and had a great time! And school was closed Wednesday-Friday. Friday happened to be Valentine's Day, so we celebrated with some small gifts (see pictures below) and by the 3rd day of being "snowed in", the kids and I were ready for some fun. So I found a few cute ideas online and we invited Callie over to join us. We "painted" cotton balls and then baked and smashed them. Then we played tossed pom poms through heart-shaped holes hanging from the doorways, hopped along with Heart Hop Scotch, did a heart/cup relay game, rolled the dice for a heart candy trading game, stacked the heart candies into tall towers, and danced around and followed crazy directions while we played Musical Hearts.

 I added some "heart"-felt love and craziness to our lunch plates today.

 Here are the boys shoveling the snow off the steps. Or as Riley put it, he was "getting the snow on the road". Always the big helper!!

 Maggie is double-fisting it here with one of our favorite snacks--"yogurt and crunchy things". She also really loves applesauce too!

And here are the latest highlights in our family this month:

• Riley is super sensitive to smells, especially for foods he doesn't like. We often hear him ask, "What I can smell?" To which is followed by, "I don't want to smell that." And then he'll try to get us to move our plates or eat somewhere else!
• For those times when the food is acceptable to his nose and his taste buds, Riley will give me the highest compliment of all time--"Mom, this is the best food I 'never' had!" At least, I think it's a compliment! 
• Some of us (I won't name names) have gotten a little too comfortable with each other and sadly flatulence has become more common place in our home. Upon hearing one of these sounds, Riley remarked, "That was a serious toot!" 
• Signing up for the Dolly Parton Library and having a book mailed to our home each month is really an awesome way to add to our home collection.  Riley fell in love with this month's book Night House, Bright House by Monica Wellington. It uses some rebus pictures to complete each rhyming line and one phrase in particular tickled Riley's funny bone. "Poppycock, said the block." Not sure why, maybe because it's such an obscure, random word, but Riley could not stop giggling the other night. He requests this book often and will then go around shouting "poppycock" to you for the next several minutes and then burst out laughing. It makes us all smile.
• Riley has a remarkable memory. The other day, he was telling Grandmama that he wanted to go to the park with the big ship where you feed the ducks. This is the park in Union that we've visited only 1 or 2 times with Mommaw and Poppaw. Riley pays attention to things like this and in fact knows the names and playground equipment of various parks in town as well for Cherry Park, Manchester Park, and Cedar Crest. 
• Our little Mags continues to amaze us with her sweet manners and thoughtfulness. Chris handed Maggie her juice cup the other day and without prompting, she responded, "Thank you, Daddy." She is quick to tell anyone "bless you" each and every time you cough, hiccup, or sneeze. 
• The other funny Maggie-ism lately that we have fallen in love with is when she is watching something she likes and responds with "Whoa....Cool!" 
• It is quite evident that Maggie gives Irving the most attention of anyone in our family. Besides constantly bringing him his bone and sitting beside him while he lies in dog bed, she also loves to greet him in the morning with a cheerful, "Hey-ee, Dog-gie!" We love the inflection in her voice when she does this! 

 And this just about sums it all up! All you need is LOVE!!