April 10

Ugh. And the sickness continues. It lingers. Intensifies. My poor babies.

Really, Daisy has the worst of it. She's been sick for a week, and things just keep getting worse. Caleb didn't get sick until Friday, and he's already feeling a little better. But Daisy. Poor Daisy. She's up every two hours at night, she's running a fever, she has crazy yellow goop coming out of her eyes, and her nose drips like a hose. Poor kid. She napped for three hours this morning; two this afternoon, and she was asleep by 7 tonight. I can only pray that she will sleep this thing off - soon.

Meanwhile, Caleb had a veerrrry tantrum-y lunchtime today. Grandmother gave him a giant chocolate Jesus fish for Easter, and he's been eyeing it since yesterday. So today I told him that if he ate a good lunch, he could have some of it. Only he didn't hear the "some". The poor child must have had visions of himself, smeared in melted chocolate, gobbling up the whole fish. When I only gave him a normal-sized piece, he lost it. Lost it. It was a violent, uncontrollable tantrum. He hit, scratched, screamed, cried. I had to restrain him at a few points. Finally he calmed down enough to sit quietly in his chair for a time out. When his two minutes of time out were up, the timer went off. But he pushed the timer button and said, "I will have another time out."

So he did. 

He repeated this process at least five times, until I looked over to see him wobbling back and forth in his little chair: he was sound asleep.

After naps, I took the kids to a new park near our house.

Caleb loved it! This was a see-saw of sorts. I was able to put my foot on the other end and bounce him. Fun!

He was quite tickled by the water fountain.We walked past it and Caleb stopped and said, "I'm just going to have a little sip of water first!" He seemed surprised and pleased when I said OK.

Swinging big-boy style, trying to figure out the whole leg-pumping thing.

My miserable little girl. Poor thing. But aren't her tights the funniest thing ever? They were a gift from Auntie Grace a long time ago, and they finally fit!

Poor baby. Feel better soon, Daisy!

April 9

Caleb and Daisy are still sick, and it seems to be getting worse by the day. Now they even have gunk in their eyes. Poor kiddos.

We hung out around the house today, and they were funny, funny, funny!

Yep. He found this hat that my dad brought over for Daisy, and wouldn't take it off. Then he discovered the awesome Lightning McQueen Easter basket that Grandmother brought, and it became his purse. Add in the  robot jammies, and .... wow. Just wow.

We played with Easter bubbles on the deck.

This boy can blow bubbles now! He definitely can't hold the bubble bottle without spilling, though.

Lunch time. Daisy had string cheese and a bowl full of mixed veggies. When she was finished eating, she gleefully dumped out what was left,

(can you see how much fun she's having?)

and put the bowl on her face.

We played several rounds of peek-a-boo this way.

Can you see how she's holding the bowl in place with her little lower lip?

Girl knows she's being funny.

And for her next trick...

she will balance the bowl on top of her head!

Oh! And now it's a hat!

A peanut-butter-smeared Caleb was endlessly entertained by Daisy's antics.

Can you see how happy she is, despite all of the snot that's encrusted her face?

She's so happy, it's ugly!

There's a cuter happy.

Don't you love those sweet little teeth? And there's a good look at her frenulum - you know, the one we had clipped when she was four weeks old? It's just fine now, thank you very much.

Sweet Daisy!

Yay!

April 8

Happy Easter!

This Easter has been more fun than the past few because Caleb is starting to understand the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. He loves to read the Easter story in his Bible stories book, and will start talking about it at completely random moments. For example, we were in the parking lot at Target the other day, and he looked up at me and said, "Oh! Jesus died on a cross!"

Why yes, Caleb. He did.

"I see a cross right there!"

There's no cross in sight. Nothing that even remotely resembles a cross. Ok, kiddo.

On that same shopping trip, I decided to buy some Easter cards to mail to our grandparents. I found some cute flowered cards, but really wanted to send something about Easter, not just springtime. I said this out loud to Caleb, and a lady stocking cards heard and directed me to the religious cards. And then, Caleb found the Jesus cards. I am kicking myself for not photographing them, in all of their cheesy religious glory. They feature a resurrected Jesus, standing in a field of daisies, with glitter all around His head.

Totally  not my style.

And Caleb loved them. He insisted we get the sparkly Jesus to send to our loved ones. So we did. And as much as I cringed knowing that people would think that I liked those tacky cards, I was pleased that my two year old chose Jesus over bunnies and flowers and eggs. 

So today, when he was feeling so crummy that we had to skip church, I felt pretty bad. I mean, our Lord probably felt more than a little crummy when He died on a cross for us. But we still skipped church, and I think it was a wise choice.

Easter baskets for my darlings. This year I ended up skipping baskets for Chris and me. I was disappointed about it, but I just couldn't find good stuff to put in them without spending a fortune.

She's smiling, but can you tell how terrible she feels? Poor Daisy. She was up every two hours last night. (Another reason why we skipped church today.)

Caleb, examining his new Muppets movie. He watched it right away, and loved it! I'm sure it helped that we bought the soundtrack a month ago, so he already knew all of the music.

I found this book for Daisy in the bargain bin at the grocery store. It's called Daisy, Daisy, and it uses the song "Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do" to tell the story of two dogs who fall in love. How could I pass it up?

Showing off her loot. The Cardinals shirt is sparkly, with puffy sleeves. Girl clothes are so much fun!

Later, we had both of our families over for Easter dinner. It was a relatively last-minute thing; I decided at church last Sunday that we should throw something together.

The weather was perfect, so we ate out on the deck.

The kids soaked up grandparent time.

And of course, they looked absolutely darling (if I do say so myself...).

Daisy really didn't like the feeling of the grass on her bare legs, but she really liked the eggs, so she stayed put. 

And the hat. Couldn't forget the hat. It didn't stay on long.

Just like last year, Grandmother hid eggs for Caleb and helped him find them.

We got to meet Sally's new beau, Mark. He didn't run away screaming, so I think we were OK...

Our happy family!

Daisy really liked her eggs!

Max, Ryan, and Emily came a little late, but Max wasted no time digging into the eggs. (Or balls, as he called them.)

Our Easter spread: Garlic-studded pork loin, fingerling potatoes, corn casserole, brussels sprouts, spinach salad, and rolls (my first-ever attempt at yeast bread).

Sally and Emily - I have such gorgeous sisters! (But we missed the other two - Jenny had to work, and Grace is much too far away in Texas.)

Caleb and Max were excited to check out the picnic table that Grandma gave Caleb and Daisy for Easter.

(Side note: overhearing Caleb's conversations is hilarious! Max doesn't talk with real words yet - mostly jargon - but Caleb absolutely carried on a conversation with him. The boys were inside and golf was on TV; Caleb walked up to Max and said, "Hey Max! Do you want to watch this show?" Love it!)

Max shot some hoops,

then got to work mowing the lawn. He really liked Caleb's lawn mower!

Night fell, and the boys were worn out. Caleb snuggled up next to Ryan, and the boys watched some Diego. How sweet!

April 7

Both of the kids are sick. They just have colds, but their colds are bad enough that we're considering skipping church tomorrow - and it's Easter Sunday. Boo. They're not too sick to go out, they're just sick enough that I'd feel guilty leaving them in the nursery at church. It's a tough call!

This morning, our new neighborhood hosted an Easter egg hunt. Caleb and Chris went, while I stayed home with a napping Daisy. It was close enough that the boys just rode the bike over.

I love the Easter basket on the handlebars. 

This was Caleb's third egg hunt of the season, with another tomorrow in our back yard. Somehow, though, he still hasn't mastered the concept. Chris informed me that Caleb only picked up three eggs, and walked past at least five more without even touching them. Oh well - less candy for us to confiscate.

(Side note: Caleb was enjoying the fruits of his labor, sampling his very first Starburst. He unwrapped an orange one and asked me, "Is this something cheesy?" 

I laughed and replied, "No, it's something fruity and delicious! It's a Starburst."

His response? "Do Starburst come from Starbucks?"

All I could do was laugh and say, "Yes, Caleb. Yes, they do.")

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight. Daisy loves spaghetti. 

Can you tell that she's trying to share her noodle with you?

Happy girl. She gobbled up her food, then reached for Caleb's. Caleb, meanwhile, ate grapes and three specks of Parmesan cheese for dinner tonight.

That hair is getting out of control! If only she'd keep a clip in it!

Bath time. I love his bubble crown!