Baa Baa Black Sheep, Easter and Grace's 6th Birthday!

Now, I know my kiddos are adorable, but look at this face!  This is a 4 week old lamb that belongs to my kids's babysitter Ele.  She brought it over to play in our backyard with the kids and some of their friends the Friday before Easter.  Holtz even got to feed it with a bottle!  So cute!

I know this picture isn't in focus but I find it so hilarious I break out in laughter every time I see it.  The cute little lamb looks as if it's ready to have more to eat than just a bottle.  I'm not sure what was going on in this picture but I'm certain that Holtz wasn't running from the lamb- it was the sweetest little animal.  It sure looks like Holtz is running like hell to get away from it though.  Did you notice the lambs tongue licking it's lips??  Run Holtz Run!!!

Grace with her friends Megan and Savannah-  I forgot to put in my last post a story about the haircut I gave Holtz.  I decided to give him a haircut myself and after grabbing the kitchen scissors and heading upstairs, Grace said, "Mommy, don't you know that Santa is watching?"  ha ha- I always told her that to keep her from cutting her own hair.  I explained to her that I thought Santa would understand considering Easter was coming up and I didn't have a car to take Holtz to get his haircut (Evan was out of town).  Thinking I was in the clear, I proceeded with cutting Holtz's hair again reminding Grace and Holtz that they should never ever do it and that this was just a special circumstance.  I'm not kidding, the next day, Holtz grabbed a pair of scissors and cut his own hair.  I about died!  Luckily it was just a tiny bit off the top.  Guess I learned my lesson.  Never cut hair here at home.

 "You lookin' at me?"  You've got to enlarge this photo- ha ha ha!

Holtz and his bff Lolo-

Ring around the rosie with Savannah-

Finally, it's a pig pile!  

Time to decorate Easter Eggs!  This year, we attempted to dye brown eggs.  Grace giving the appropriate 'Easter bunny' ears to Holtz.

Here are the prepared eggs.  We used some rubber bands to make white stripes on the eggs, used crayon to draw designs and of course draw Grace (brown eyes) and Holtz (blue eyes) eggs.  

Dip, dip, dip...wait, wait, wait...

and wait...

Wow- BEAUTIFUL!  These were, by far, the most beautiful eggs!  We used food coloring with water and vinegar and in one of the cups, I also added a little vegetable oil.  This made the egg look marbled.   Some we did a solid color, some two colors...

The most beautiful colored eggs- so rich in color!

Eggs are done...now time to decorate the house for the Easter Bunny's visit tonight!  

I am on the brand new social committee in our neighborhood.  We are responsible for planning events for the neighborhood.  I have volunteered my time to just come up with ideas for the events and then others are the ones to put it on and either use some of my ideas or not to plan the details of the specific event.  The first event was an Easter egg hunt at the neighborhood clubhouse.  I actually didn't go to the hunt but Evan took the kids.  We had no idea how many people were going to show up and I guess they were extremely short on eggs.  Poor Grace didn't even get any!  Talk about traumatic!  Luckily, her buddy Abigail, gave her one of hers.  For some reason, they held the hunt for the 3 and under group at the same time as the 4 to 8 group so Holtz didn't get to participate either.  Bummer but was a learning experience.  Don't you just love Holtz's new camera smile. Oh lordy- 

Could it be???  Yes, the Easter Bunny came to the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt!  Grace was thrilled to see him...Holtz, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure what to think!  Can Grace pull Holtz up to meet him?

Nope!  But our buddy Justin (Megan and Lolo's dad) helped.

Grace looking sweet...Holtz isn't so sure about all of this Easter Bunny business.  He has his big sister's hand though...so he's A-ok.

No Easter Bunny...don't get any closer... It took Holtz about 2 seconds after this to get the heck out of there :)  Afterwards, Grace said, "The Easter Bunny looked like somebody dressed up in a costume."  We said, "well, maybe it was one of the Easter Bunny's helpers" to which she replied, "No, it was the Easter Bunny."  Got to love her!

We had our friend's over for dinner afterwards.  These two pics were taken after dinner before everybody headed home.  In this picture is Lauren and Megan Wedeking, Abigail Hiens, and Holtz and Grace.

Will the Easter Bunny come tonight??

Yes!  The Easter Bunny came to Sandersville Road!  And, look at that, there are hidden eggs (smile)!  Wake up kids!

Although Grace didn't get any eggs at the neighborhood hunt, she found LOTS of eggs at our house!

Oh Ralph...

Holtz always shoves as much food in his mouth as possible these days.  He also has recently started making a whimpering noise when he's faking being sad.  It's so dramatic...not sure where he learned it.  On a positive note, he has started helping us brush his teeth.  He has mastered how to spit while brushing so has graduated to fluoridated toothpaste.

We headed to my Dad's and Billie's house afterwards for lunch.  Billie's daughter, Kate, and her family were there too.  I know this is kind-of corny but I think my Dad's house is so beautiful in this picture.  Very Easter-ey.

Guess what!  The Easter Bunny came to visit Dad's house as well...and there was an Easter egg hunt!  Here is Grandpa and Holtz!

This is Kate's youngest daughter, Julie.  I wish she lived closer to babysit- she is an absolute doll!

 Grace found eggs at this hunt too!

 So, Dad is now raising chickens (shhh, not for eggs...to eat)!  Ha- the kids LOVED them!

 Poor Mike needed a ride to Lexington to catch a flight and had to squeeze in the back.  I took this picture right before leaving my Dads.  The kids were both zonked with-in 5 minutes so not only was Mikey squished but he was forced to be silent!

Talking about Easter, let's not forgot who was born on Easter Sunday 6 years ago.  That's right...Grace is 6!  For the first time, instead of having her party at our house (and me doing all of the decorations and cake), we had the party at Legacy Gymnastics which is where she's taken lessons for several years.  I had the hardest time weeding out friends so we pretty much invited everyone.  The kids, and parents, at Grace's school have been so good to us (helping Grace with her adjustment into kindergarten)...how could I leave any of them out?  Not possible... On top of her new friends, she had all of her buddies from the neighborhood too!  Hello Big Party!  All of the kids had a BLAST!  Here's a picture from the beginning in the small gym.

You can't see, but Grace is jumping on a trampoline in this picture below...and her buddy, Thomas, is cheering her on.  Sweet!

And now, in the big gym.  Grace is in the pink leotard and blue shorts jumping into the foam pit.

 More trampoline.

This is one of Grace's classmates's younger brother, Francis.  He and Holtz had a blast playing in the water fountain.  I know I probably shouldn't have let them but how could I not...it was precious!  I wish I had a recording of Holtz laughing here- it was the best- so funny!

After the hour of gym play time, the kids went to the party room for an hour to have pizza and cake.  Here is Grace's DQ Ice-cream cake.

Do you see all of the kids looking like they are blowing the candle's out with Grace?  She has the best cutest friends.  We did decide to wait to open up the presents until we got home because the poor kids would be so bored.

 Dad and Billie drove down just for the party- thanks!

The day after the party was a beautiful day!  We went out to Panera Bread for breakfast and then played out back most of the day.  Here is Holtz being messy!

And Grace being clean :)

 We made the kids virgin strawberry daiquiris (with whipped cream on top)...ha ha ha.

Grammie with her daiquiri...  Another thing Holtz has started doing that I don't know where he learned it is saying God Dam*it.  At first, we were sure that he was saying something else and we just didn't understand him (because where in the heck would he have learned it- thanks Daddy) but after hearing him say it several times we are pretty certain that GD is what he is saying.  I guess the good thing about all of this (on top of it being somewhat hilarious) is that he uses it in context.  Peanut butter on his hand...GD.  Spilled milk...GD.  Seriously!  I was for sure he was going to drop the GD bomb in front of my uber religious mom while she was in town but somehow we lucked out.  Instead he started chanting Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama...he may as well have been staying GD in front of her.  Ha ha ha- well, at least we can laugh about it!  Well, mom wasn't laughing, but she may after reading this post.

 Cheech with his daiquiri- omg.  This was spilled from the virgin drinks :)

"Mom, I swear I'm not taking sand up to the clubhouse to dump all over the floor..."

 And now, Monday April 16th , Birthday Day, has arrived.  Here is Grace getting ready to head out to school.

 Opening presents from us after school...

 I let her pick out another DQ ice-cream cake for home since her other one was finished at the party.

 Helping Holtz lick a candle- she is such a good loving big sister.

 Cracking herself up- hilarious!

Since getting her tonsils out, Grace has been waking up with a dry pull up in the mornings (for like 6 days in a row).  She must truly be getting better sleep!  We tried, for the first time in a long time to have her wear underpants last night and dang if she didn't wake up with a wet bed!  We'll try again tonight.  Big girl Grace!  Looks like we are in the homestretch!

Holtz's goose egg on his head, from the baseball bat incident, has led to two black eyes.  This picture looks kind-of bad but it doesn't even do it justice!

 All of us at Panera Sunday morning.

Hope everybody had a great Easter.  Love and miss you all!

Notre Dame Bowl Game, Birthdays, Snow and Bye Bye Tonsils

 Hello world!  Here is Holtz, who is very proud to be a pilot like his Uncle Mikey!  This shirt is a riot!

 We've been enjoying the early warmer weather.  Holtz got a tricycle from Santa for Christmas and on Jan. 6th, we went out for Holtz's first tricycle ride!  He did great!  It was nice that we could do it so early in the year, and didn't have to wear a heavy coat to be warm enough.  This season is crazy- it's been so pleasant outside.

 Grammie came in town a day earlier than Holtz's 2nd birthday party and was able to join us for lunch at school with Grace.  Evan, Holtz and I try to go every other week (on pizza day, of course)!

 Holtz's 2nd birthday was a football theme.  He is obsessed with football so it was perfect!

 The best present of all was from the Milhollands- they gave Holtz a drum set!  They, of course, were thinking it was going to be the most annoying thing- ha ha- but it really wasn't too bad.  The party got very loud after Evan set it up.  All of the kids rocked out-

Here is Holtz with his buddy Lauren.  Holtz loves to have her over to play and read books.

 Grace is starting now to practice for her spring ballet performance.  She will be dancing in The Sorcerer's Apprentice & Other Tales: Peter & The Wolf and Mother Goose Adventures.  She will be dancing to Rain Rain Go Away during the Mother Goose Adventures.  It looks really cute from what I've seen in rehearsals.  If you want to come, her performance is at The Lexington Opera House on May 3rd, at 7:00pm.  She is gaga about ballet now since she took part in the Nutcracker last December, She is constantly twirling, leaping, etc. all over the house.

 Evan's cake for his 43rd b-day.  For his birthday, we (with some of our friends) went to Comedy Off Broadway here in town to see Craig Shoemaker.  We had the BEST time!  Shoemaker is hilarious.  Evan ordered the tickets on-line and put a note that read something like, "it is my husband's birthday- sit us up front."  Such a nerd...we were put right in the front though.

 Holtz got a toy vacuum for Christmas and loved it so much, we figured we'd get him a real vacuum!  (grin).  He and Grace love to use it and vacuum about every other day.  Yay for this!

 Graces started taking private swim lessons from a student, named Chelsea, at Transylvania University.  She is so much more confident in the water now.

 I took Grace to see Disney Live at Rupp Arena on February 19th with our neighbor's Savannah (Grace's buddy) and her mom Dana.  It was fabulous!

We have been hoping for a good snowfall since we didn't get to sled at all last year.  Well, on March 5th, we got it!  It snowed 6 inches in one night here.  School was cancelled (heck, everything was cancelled)! Evan took off a couple of hours in the morning and we went across the street behind the school to go sledding!  It was sooooo much fun.  We couldn't wait to go sledding until after Evan was off work because it was supposed to warm up to the 60's that day so we had to take advantage of it while it was here!  This picture of Ralph, I took in our back yard.  He loves playing in the snow.  (I love this picture of him- such a sweetie)

 This is Holtz, Grace and in the back Savannah.  This is such a great picture- if you click on it, I think you can make it bigger.  It was so great sledding because we had tons of snow but temperature-wise, it was pleasant out.  Made for a slushy bottom of the hill but was perfect because we could stay out for a long time!

 Evan helped the kids make a snow girl in our back yard.  Is it summer yet??

 Hot cocoa after sledding- ha ha ha!

 Oh my goodness- it has happened!  The tooth fairy has been to our house!  Grace lost her first tooth on March 11th!

 Her very fancy tooth fairy box made by her Mimi (Evan's mom).  Isn't it beautiful?  The tooth fairy must have thought that losing her first tooth was special because she got $5 worth of quarters in her box!  They just barely fit!

 I wish all of you could be here when the pear trees bloom throughout our neighborhood.  They bloomed about 3 weeks early this year.  The pictures really don't show just how beautiful they are.  It's like they are snow covered when it is 60-70 degrees outside.  A warm winter wonderland- just stunning!

Grace has had an exciting couple of months.  I took Grace to her ENT (Dr. VanMetre) to follow-up regarding her hearing...or lack there of.  I don't know if you remember but since she was little, she's had conductive hearing loss.  She kept getting water behind her eardrum  (off and on) so everything that she was hearing sounded like she was underwater.   We opted not to put tubes in her ears because she wasn't having repeated ear infections and she was supposed to outgrow this issue.  Well, she has never really outgrown it.  At her appt, the ENT looked at her tonsils and said they were large!  He said if her tonsils were that large, then her adenoids were more than likely large too.  This explained a lot!  (She is a mouth breather, snores, ears not draining, very tired all of the time- not getting good sleep at night, etc).  So...Grace had her tonsils and adenoids removed on March 29th (the Thursday before Spring Break).  She did so well.  After the surgery, the nurse told us that usually the kids stay out until 20-30 minutes after being taken out of the operating room...well, Grace woke up while they were wheeling her out- thank goodness she didn't wake up 10 mins before!  Her first couple of days she did really well, didn't even need much pain medication.  Now though, I am giving her pain meds every 4-5 hours around the clock to keep her comfortable.  She's lost about 2 pounds (that a lot for such a little girl) but now is slowly gaining it back!  She's been watching lots of movies, eating lots of popsicles and her favorite rainbow sherbet.  She's started eating some softer foods too (cereal, mac and cheese, cottage cheese, peanut butter sandwich, etc.)   She is having some throat pain but the majority of her pain is her ears.  Her voice sounds a little like she's on helium :)  Her gown (below) was huge so Grace had her arms tucked in and pretended like it was a blanket.

I get this magazine from Lowes in the mail and in it was this project...an outdoor chalkboard!  It's incredible!  Even though Grace had her tonsils out, we have been trying to get outside for 20 mins or more a day (except the first two days).  It really seems to help her feel better.

Now, quick stories about the kids.  I know it's hard to believe from this sweet picture below but Grace has become quite the tattle-tale.  We used to always say under our breath, "Nobody likes a tattle-tale except us" but Grace has taken it to extremism now.  Poor Holtz has no chance around her.  Also, Grace's idea of sharing these days is, if she wants something from Holtz, it's her turn and if he doesn't give it to her right then and there then he isn't sharing- and she is soooo dramatic!  Oh my!   She's reading so well now and loves to read by herself, to her dolls, and to Holtz (she's actually reading to Holtz right now- cute, cute, cute).

Holtz is still going potty on the potty off and on.  I'm not pushing anything still- if he wants to go, great, if not, I'm not losing sleep over it.  He did go 'stinky' one time on the potty- on his 2nd birthday but nothing since.  Wonder if it scared him?  Ha!  Holtz is very polite now, always saying please and 'ank yume' (aka thank you).

This pic below shows off Holtz's unfortunate goose egg in between his eyes (actually looks a lot worse now).  Grace 'accidentally' hit him right in between his eyes with a baseball bat- dang!  Thank goodness it was plastic.  This pic also shows off my very first little boy haircut- thank you Google for the tips on how to cut hair!  Looks pretty good to me!

On Dec. 29th of last year, on our way home from our trip to FL, Evan and I were lucky enough to get 4th row 50 yard line seats to the Notre Dame vs. Florida State bowl game in Orlando (thank you stubhub.com).  Although about 90% of the stadium was wearing red and chanting the tomahawk chant (so annoying- with their tomahawk arms) and the fact that we lost, it was an absolutely incredible experience!  Earlier this year we went to see Van Halen (Feb. 18) and Jimmy Buffett (March 3) with our neighbors (Dana and Chris) at the YUM Center in Louisville.  Van Halen absolutely (surprisingly) rocked while Buffett was kind-of a dud.  We've been to lots of amazing Buffett concerts so I imagine it was because it was indoors- was really weird.  We just got tickets to his concert in Cinci at Riverbend for August 2nd so we'll give it another shot.  

We are so proud to live in Lexington and have enjoyed cheering on our the Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Team. National Champions- woo hoo.  I'll tell you, I know Notre Dame fans are die hard and crazy- I would say Cats fans rank equally as nutso.

Last but not least, I completed my CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training last week.  I know a lot of you probably think it's geeky but I had so much fun taking the course.  It was nice to get out of the house and I met some really special people (one who just lives down the street- small world)!  The kids and I got to meet the firefighters who are in our district and we are hoping after Grace feels better to take a field trip to the fire station.  Here is a link to pictures from our final simulation-  a tornado went through town-  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lexkyem/sets/72157629689544137/  I swear they picked the biggest people to rescue- all of America needs to go on a diet!   I signed up, with some of my CERT classmates for the CFA (Community Fire Academy) course in August.   I actually am going to be certified in CPR during that course- fun!

This has been a lot but I think I am finally caught up.  Whew!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!