Welcome Ella!!

Last week Ella started day care at Ms. Keri's and we are so excited!! Ella and Hope are 4 months apart in age. Hope calls her "Lala"... isn't that cute?? Check out these photos taken of them playing together!! Jessica, Ella's mommy, and I are good friends, so we are a bit nervous about what kind of trouble these girls are going to get into when they are in high school!! YIKES!!

Church Picnic ~ April 26

Yesterday we went to our church picnic and had a great time! Hope got to ride the train, chase and hold two week old twin goats, pet a 5 week old pony and a young cow and fish at the fish pond. We also put money down at "The Treasure Chest" and won on number 22 (her birthday) on the first spin. She won a plush hot pink bat and ball set. And of course, she LOVED dancing to the live Polka music. She danced in the grass when she heard the music. She also danced on the dance floor with the grown ups as everyone watched. Then she found a little boy, Ethan- 3 years old, to dance with. They were precious together!!
Be sure to check out her latest dance moves in the video below!

Buscuit Brothers ~ April 25

Saturday, Hope and I had a date to go and see The Buscuit Brothers who had a little concert at one of our local churches. The Buscuit Brothers have a children's show on TV. We haven't ever seen them on TV as Hope only watches her sign language DVD's or the moving "Finding Nemo", so we didn't know what to expect. It was an amazing concert! I don't know who had more fun, me or Hope. She was a little shy at first since the music was so loud and we were right up front, but as she got more comfortable, she started dancing and clapping towards the end of the show. See for yourself in the video below!

First (and 2nd, and 3rd and 4th...) Temper Tantrum!

On the 22nd, Hope turned 14 months and had her very first Temper Tantrum (or so I thought). We had just come home from work/day care. The meltdown started when I took her out of her wagon (she wanted to ride longer) and took her inside the house. Then I went to change her diaper and she was kicking and twisting all around. After many unsuccessful attempts to get her to sit still I popped her leg. She kept doing it so I popped her leg again and that was it... she was arching her back and throwing her pacifier. I knew this was bad as she NEVER rejects her precious pacifier or "sucker" as she calls it, so I just put her on the floor. She was crying so hard, (you know that cry where they can't breathe?) so I called Keri thinking maybe Hope was hyperventilating and Keri said Hope had done this a few times for her and not to worry. She is just so incredibly mad and needs to cool off. Just ignore her and she will eventually get over it and she did after about 20 - 30 minutes. I have NEVER seen her like this and I didn't like it. What happened to my sweet angel I am always bragging about?? Well, that was Tuesday... she proceeded to have a couple more temper tantrums over the next few days. I guess the "terrible twos" aren't just for two year olds anymore?? My girlfriends all laughed at me saying "welcome to the club this is what we have been telling you about!!"
On a more positive note, Hope is really starting to talk!! She is saying all sorts of words these days. "Thank you, Hi, Bye-Bye, Lili, Ella, Popo, Papa, "Mammy" for Grammy, Ball, "Pope" for Hope, Becca, Kenny, Sucker" She is repeating a lot of what we say and the other day she even said "golf ball". She is still using sign language to communicate and is learning the farm animals with our new DVD. After I dropped her off at day care last week, she signed "Mommy Bye-Bye". Also last week, I had her in a new pair of shoes and Ms. Keri said she did the sign for "hurt" while messing with her shoes, so Keri took off her shoes and she was fine. Apparently her new shoes were hurting her feet and she was able to tell Ms. Keri! Isn't that amazing??

Giggle Box

This was taken last Sunday at our Easter lunch. It was taken with my photo camera, so it isn't the best quality, but the sound is what you really need to hear. Turn up the volume!! She is laughing and having such a good time playing with Austin and Emily.

Christina's Graduation Photos

My niece Christina is about to graduate from high school next month. Here are her Senior photos. Isn't she beautiful??!! She has a beautiful heart and sense of humor too! My favorite is the one with my sister (her mother) Shelley!!

Easter Sunday ~ April 12th

"Hoppy" Easter!! We started off the morning with Hope waking up to find the Easter Bunny left her a beautiful basket full of goodies. In her basket was a new sippy cup, socks, toys for her sandbox and a soft plush duck stuffed animal that has a body like a pillow. She loved the duck and sippy best!! Then we headed off to church. She was pretty good in church. We had plenty of snacks and toys to keep her occupied. At the end of the service, Emily was in the back of church and Hope could see her from a distance and started laughing and waving. It was so cute! She loves her cousin Emily!!! We were supposed to have an Easter egg hunt after church, but we had stormy weather, so they just handed out little Easter bags with the eggs in them.
Then we headed over to Granny and Popo's to have them take a photo of the three of us while we were all dressed up. You can't see in the photo, but Hope is actually wearing her baby stand of pearls Ms. Hofmann gave her when she was born. They are so beautiful and she looked like a little lady wearing them!! We got a great photo of Hope with Granny and Popo too!!
Then we headed home to get ready for the family to come over for Easter lunch. Granny, Popo, Aunt Janet, Uncle Barney, Austin, Emily and Reed came over. The weather cleared up and it was a gorgeous day so we ate outside under the carport. The kids all played and it was a great day!

More Easter Festivities!!!

Saturday, 4/11, we went to Jersey Barnyard and took some professional Easter photos. When we got there, we got to choose between live rabbits, live baby chicks and live baby ducks! Guess what we picked??? Hope sat on this beautiful white bench, in her yellow Easter dress and got to hold this tiny precious duck. At the beginning, the only way she could manage to hold him was by his neck!! So we got several photos of her giggling and holding this poor animal by his neck in one hand while doing the duck sign with her other hand! It was so funny!! Then she held him by his feet as he flapped all around trying to free himself. I don't have any photos to share with you as they were all taken by the photographer.
Here she is with the Easter Bunny later that day at the Easter Egg Hunt. She liked this one!

Good Friday ~ April 10th

Here are some photos from our Easter Egg hunt at the Country Club on Good Friday. When we got there, they had these huge sugar cookies in the shape of... you guessed it... a duck, so of course we had to have one since Hope LOVES ducks!! We should have waited until after the egg hunt because all she cared about was eating that wonderful cookie in her hands. We were able to get her to take a quick photo with the Easter Bunny. She wasn't quite sure what to think about her!

Easter at Ms. Keri's

Thursday, 4/9, we had our Easter party at Ms. Keri's. Ella came too!! She will be starting at Ms. Keri's soon and we are all so excited! I told Keri (H)ope, (E)lla and (L)aney are going to give her "Hell". All three girls all about the same age, so it will be fun!! (Plus... Ms. Keri wants to start potty training them at the same time this summer!! That should be interesting!!) Anyway, here are some of the photos from the Easter Egg Hunt.

Easter at Granny and Popo's

Last Sunday, 4/5, we had our Easter celebration at Granny and Popo's house. We had a wonderful lunch, dyed Easter eggs and then hunted for eggs. This was Hope's first real Easter egg hunt. She had fun with her cousins. She picked up a few eggs, but really wasn't all that excited about picking up a bunch. Once she had one egg, she was happy and content!