Trouble

Tonight I was giving the kids their baths, and both were extra tired and cranky as it was their first day of all day PDO. Maddie was insisting on getting out right away, so I was trying to lather her up quickly. She immediately stole the washrag from me to rinse herself off, as she likes to do. Tonight, however, she started acting silly and slapped the water with the rag a few times. Enjoying the water flying everywhere, she then took it one step further and flung the washcloth out of the tub onto me. I giggled a bit, which means Joseph immediately started doing it too. After a few very wet back and firths of tossing the rag into and out of the tub, I told both kids to stop it. They agreed, looked a bit defeated, until I saw the glimmer in Maddie's eye. Before I knew it, she was bending down to splash the water at me, sans washcloth. That little stinker is way too clever for only being 19 months old!

Easter 2014

Easter 2014 was lots of fun! Maddie found the first egg, and quickly realized these were the real deal when candy fell out. 

Joseph immediately started his hunting in earnest, realizing that some eggs seemed easy to find. 

We tried to explain that maybe the Easter bunny wanted some to be easy for Maddie and some to be harder for him, but that idea was lost on him. 

He got pretty excited when he saw his filled Easter basket, though!

Maddie wasn't sure what the big deal was, but thought she should check the situation out. 

Daddy helped her out and once again, she found some easy to access candy, among other things. Score!

The next pictures are classic big kid/little kid egg hunting. Notice Maddie pointing at the egg on the chair, and Joseph is no where nearby. 

Until he hears her, then he comes running. 

Making sure to grab to egg before she can get a chance. Yup, that's how it's done when you're an older sibling!

Eventually Joseph found all of the harder eggs, although Maddir did keep hunting and found quite a few all by herself. She's going to give him some stiff competition next year!

But honestly, Maddie's priority is only about the candy. And being a "nakey baby." She's in heaven!

So many choices! I was surprised that she didn't actually like the peeps very much, and that Joseph really liked them this year. He also made sure to let us know that he does not like jelly beans. Good things to know in the days leading up to Easter!

We quickly got ready for church, and although Maddir had her new white ruffle socks and white Easter shoes on at home, somehow they got left behind. Yup, she went barefoot for most of church. Awesome. Mom made her dress, so at least she looked cute from the knees up!

Neither of the kids would stand still long enough to take a good picture. We took family pictures at The Olson house after church and got a couple of better ones that I need to post. After brunch, we headed back to Mimi and papas to let the kids nap. They insisted on hunting more eggs, so we "hid" them over and over Sunday afternoon so they could have fun finding them. The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful Easter weekend!

Pre Easter Fun

Friday April 18th we relaxed at Mimi and Papa's since the kids were a bit crabby. The original plan was for the Jeppsons to head to StL on Friday so Joe kept his schedule as planned and got to StL around 5:30. Elliot had planned a bit of an engagement dinner partyy so we got to celebrate  their engagement some more!

I thought it would be fun to make them something for their new house and combined a few of my favorite ideas from etsy and Pinterest to make the canvas print. 

Saturday started the Easter fun, and we went to the church near Ashley and Mikael's house. They host an Easter egg hunt with games, petting zoo, pony rides and a bounce house that was a lot of fun last year. 

This year the weather was awesome and the littles were big enough to participate! Maddie did great at her first real egg hunt. 

She was a little confused that the eggs were all empty, but the hunt organizers had the kids swap their eggs for a bag of candy. Things looked up when she knew candy was involved!

Joseph wasted no time gathering eggs, but was really upset when he was told he couldn't find more than his allotted amount. He even saw the special golden egg, but was too busy crying that he missed his chance to grab it. So the tears continued when he watched another boy take the egg instead. It is so hard to be 4!

This year Joseph actually got on the pony and had a lot of fun! 

Maddie loved looking at the animals in the petting zoo and said hi to the pony, but wanted no part of touching it. 

Mason got to play for a bit too, before taking off for some extended Olson family pictures. He and our kids have so much fun playing together! 

Joseph really wanted to go see the Easter bunny, which was also at the egg hunt and available to take pictures. He was doing great until it was our turn and he changed his mind. 

Joe didn't want to push it, since we has already experienced a few meltdowns that morning. Maddie expressed some interest in the bunny...

Which quickly turned to tears. At least she sat next to him for a few minutes, calmly eating her fruit snacks! Bribery at its best. 

Later that afternoon we introduced Joseph and Maddie to the fun of Easter egg dye. 

Hoping to avoid staining their clothes, I stripped the kids down to their undies/diaper and let them have fun. 

Joseph really got into it this year. Maddie just wanted to be up on the step stool and a part of things at all times. 

The kids also got to decorate Easter sugar cookies and had a blast doing yhat too. Lots of sugar to prepare for Easter!

Engagement fun

Joseph, Maddie and I headed to St. Louis on Thursday April 17th to surprise my sisters and Elliot, who was going to be proposing to Jennifer that afternoon. Ashley and I had schemed and decided to make tshirts for the kids to wear, so I spent the week beforehand designing and making them. Joseph and Mason had matching shirts, and Maddie's said "flower girl dreams" with hand stitched flowers. They turned out super cute!

 While the kids waited to surprise Jen and Elliot, they got to spend some quality time playing together and watching papa drive the trains. 

Then the excitement got too much to bear, so we all headed outside to wait and watch. And wait. And wait a bit longer since Jen and Elliot got stuck on traffic. 

When they finally arrived, they were definitely excited and surprised to see us there. What a fun birthday for Jennifer! 

We all headed to the club for dinner, and the kids did pretty well, considering how late it was getting. There was an ice cream sundae bar, which helped, along with crazy sparklers on Jen's bday cake!

When we got back to my parents' house, Jen opened a few presents. 

The kids were super tired but having fun being silly together. 

Finally, after about an hour of them playing with each other and not going to sleep, Maddie got really upset and managed to climb right out of the crib, open the bedroom door and we caught her heading up the stairs. She refused to go back in the crib, so I laid her down next to Joseph on the queen sized bed where she promptly passed right out. 

Joseph was so excited to have her in the bed that he stayed up for another half hour, leaning over her to look at her sleeping and giving her kisses. I wish it would have worked out that they slept all night together, but it wasn't to be. Maddie got up around 1:30, was disoriented and had trouble falling back asleep. Oh well. The days of the two of them sharing a bed at Mimi and papa's isn't far off!