An Easter Story...

Erin & Elaina had what I might consider their first "real" fight on Easter morning. Heather got pictures of how the fight progressed:

Little Erin was happily exploring the goodies in her Easter basket...

Big sister Elaina (my typical 2-year-old who is still learning that everything in the house does not belong to just her...) comes along and pushes it just out of her reach. Erin gets upset....

Elaina starts examining the Easter eggs right in front of Erin,
who is mad mad mad by now!!...

Then Elaina gave the basket back, said she was sorry, and Erin of course forgave her.

And they lived happily ever after.

(And will never fight again because they've both learned their lesson...right?!?)

Easter Egg Hunt

We did the Easter egg hunt Saturday morning since Heather was leaving that afternoon and wanted to be apart of it. It was nice to not have to have a hectic Easter Sunday. And we are so grateful that the Easter Bunny in California sent goodies and the Easter Bunny in Canada sent goodies as well!



Elaina had so much fun searching for candy and Erin was just as excited to watch Elaina collect all the candy. Who doesn't love to watch a 2 year old get excited about a room full of candy?!?



It took Elaina a while to notice that the room was full of candy - first she noticed a big pink egg on the back of the couch (it faces her room) and so she spent about 5 minutes looking at it, unwrapping it, and then start to open it and eat it. But then the look on her face as she noticed that the room was full of TONZ of candy all over the place was priceless...and then she just went crazy :)



Each of them got 2 sets of Easter headbands in their baskets which were a huge hit as well! So thank you to the Easter Bunnies who helped make this Easter so much fun!!!



And as you can tell, Erin was content to eat the tag on her new toy duck since everything ends up in her mouth anyway, whether it's edible or not

Easter Festivities

Easter was so fun this year with Elaina being a little older, and of course as we have Erin to enjoy it with us too! On Friday night we did dyed Easter eggs. While I was setting everything up, I stuck a dye tablet in each of the plastic cups but hadn't added water & vinegar yet...and of course my mischievous little Elaina discovered them while I had my back turned and she ate some of them!!! So you'll notice that her face, mouth & teeth are dyed pink!











Elaina just took charge and knew exactly what color she wanted each egg to be...most were a combination of every color.































And....the finished product!!!

I'm not sure why the grumpy face - we really were having fun. Maybe she knew we wanted her to smile so she did the opposite...she does that sometimes, she's two! :)

Shopping at San Marcos

While Heather was here I decided to drag everyone out on a girls-day out shopping excursion #1 because I LOVE to shop #2 because I always love girl time #3 because I needed a dress to my sister's wedding and the mall in College Station is pretty pathetic. So my friend Kristi recommended some outlets in San Marcos, which is 2 1/2 hours away. It was a really pretty drive out there and we were able to spent the WHOLE day out there. It is the most beautiful mall... (and yes, a mall can be beautiful!!!) consisting of 2 huge outlet malls side by side and some of my favorite stores in the world...and of course great outlet prices! Apparently, it was even rated as the third best shopping in the world by The View (not that I give much weight to their opinions, but if anyone is going to rate a mall that high, it's worth checking out, I think). I was in shopping heaven! And as a bonus Elaina and Erin even had fun and behaved so well all day. I was amazed at how well they did. And in the end, I left with a dress for Jen's wedding - mission accomplished.

On the way out, Erin slept, and Elaina sang. Everyone was happy :)

Time to stretch - on the drive out!

Thank goodness for these little rides all along the sidewalk...they were something for Elaina to look forward to in between stores, helping to keep her happy all day, which in turn kept Mommy happy too. Thank goodness Elaina hasn't learned that if you put in a quarter, they move up and down. We'll hold out as long as we can without telling her that.

Elaina definitely inherits the "Ames" genes in her love for shoes - just like her Mom, her Aunts, and her Nana. It was so funny to see her trying to put these on and then try to walk in them!

Aunt Heather Came to Visit!!

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've updated my blog and so thanks to my friends that reminded me that it's been a while (and it's makes me feel good to know that people read it!).

This last month has been kind of a whirlwind! My sister Heather came to visit for 11 days and of course had so much fun with the girls and they adored her. Elaina & Erin are lucky enough to have 9 aunts & uncles and none of them are married (yet) or have any kids of their own, so our girls get a lot of love & attention from extended family. I'm excited for April to when I get to go see my family in Canada and welcome a new brother-in-law into the family in the beginning of May!

Here are some pictures of our time with Aunt Heather.

Popping Bubbles

Making Cookies in the Chef outfit that we love :)

See the play-doh snowmen?

We love blowing bubbles!

Just dancin'

New stuffed animals - Erin loves her new pink puppy and Elaina's
already putting diapers on her new friend, Grover


Sidewalk Chalk!!

Lots of lovin!

This is how Elaina passes the time while we shop for shoes...

My 10 Favorite Things Erin Has Done Recently

1. Sits up on her own (this happened about a month and a half ago, but I'm still proud of her!)

2. Plays with her toys and if she's anywhere without a toy, she's looking around for some

3. Reaches her arms out to be hugged or cuddled. Lots of times she'll twist her body around to face me if she wants to be held close.

4. Eating solids - I know it's weird, but it seems like Moms like to talk about what new foods their babies can eat....me included....so here's Erin's list: carrots, green beans, rice, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, applesauce, barley, peas, pears, peaches, squash, cantaloupe. We're going to buy crackers today and see how she does with those.

5. Erin likes to be nestled up in the corner of her crib with her head huddled in between the bumper pads. So when I lay her down in the middle of the bed, she immediately scoots herself up into the corner using her legs but not her arms. So it's like half crawling. But she doesn't every do it anywhere else. It's really cute. She does rock back and forth on her knees, so I'll sure she'll be crawling for real very soon!

6. She ADORES Elaina - whenever Elaina is around, Erin's eyes are glued to her and she has a big smile on her face, ready to see what she's going to do next. You can just tell that she is so anxious to be doing everything that Elaina can do and to be her little playmate.

7. Erin sucks her thumb when she's tired

8. She sits up in the bath now and discovered how to splash the water - boy is that fun!!!

9. The most ticklish part of her body are her thighs - even the slightest touch, and she laughs hysterically.

10. She waves bye-bye.

My 10 Favorite Things Elaina Has Done Recently

1. I wasn't there, but a friend told me about this: A couple weeks ago at Enrichment, Elaina saw an older man with white hair & glasses talking to some of the men that were watching the kids in the nursery and she started waving to him, trying to get his attention saying "Look! It's President Hinckley!! Hi President Hinckley!!!"

2. Last week as I was putting Erin in her car seat, she started to throw up and my first instinct was to not let it get everywhere, so I put out my hand and caught it all in my hand (yuck!). Then I was looking around for a burp cloth or something, and Elaina walked up to me so concerned and said "Oh no Sweetie...Let's wash your hands....I'll help you...Oh sweetie, come here sweetie..." And then she took me by the arm and led me to the bathroom to "help" me wash my hands. She takes such good care of me!

3. After Sacrament Meeting each Sunday Elaina knows that as soon as the closing prayer is over, that means it's time for nursery. She jumps out of her seat and looks all around the chapel to try and find her friends and then she recruits them all to nursery with her. She'll take them by the hand and lead them down the hallway - it's cute to see her rounding up all the two-year-olds and taking them to class with her.

4. Whenever we go to our grocery store (H.E.B) they give the kids "Buddy Bucks" which is "money" (it looks like monopoly money) to insert into the game machine and they get stickers with it. Without fail, every time we get to the cash register Elaina walks up to the cashier and says "Can I have my money please?" She takes her money very seriously.

5. She gets I and YOU mixed up all the time, but my favorite is that when she wants to be held she says "I hold you..." It's so cute!!!

6. She is a great big sister and has lots of names for Erin: cutie & silly-head & she's copied my nickname for her: Erin-girl.

7. At lunch today Elaina decided that her toy cow was dirty and needed a bath, so she dumped her cup of water on him and cleaned him up (it wasn't so cute at the time!). Then when I got upset, she said "cow was dirty - cow's all clean now!"

8. She is learning to dress herself. Sometimes her underwear is on upside-down, inside-out and backwards, but then other times she does it perfect! And she can put her pants on. The shirts are a little difficult.

9. The other day she stuck about 10 post-it notes in a very straight line on the window sill and then she got a stick and started to wave it around and sing - it took a minute for me to realize what she was doing: she was leading the music and the post-it notes were the people in the choir. She has a million stuffed animals, I'm not really sure why the post-it notes because the toys, but her imagination is so big right now I guess anything can be a toy!!

10. I made meatballs last week and they turned out spicier than I wanted so I didn't want Elaina to eat very many. But she just scarfed them down and then wanted more! So after two, I told her that she couldn't have any more because she would get a tummy ache and I didn't want her to get a tummy ache. She obviously doesn't know what a tummy ache is because a couple minutes later she asked, "Mommy, can I have a tummy ache please?!?"