April 2012

At the end of March we traveled to Indiana to attend my friend Liz's baby shower and to visit my mom. This time we made sure the DVD player worked--and the trip went wonderfully. Plug in children and drive. Talia did pretty well too. It was wonderful seeing my mom. I really do miss her living so far away. The kids had a blast as well. Poor little Talia came down with a fever Friday night--and that left my mom and I going for a Meijer run at 3:00 in the morning. (Perhaps that is why she slept so well on the way to Indiana....hmmmm...) My mom had scheduled family pictures the next day and poor little Talia cooperated, but was not so happy. (She looks so sad in the pictures.) Liz's shower was wonderful and her baby bump was adorable. Bri (Liz's cousin) came up with a fun game where we cut apart pictures of Liz and Adam and put together what we thought the new baby would look like. I ESPECIALLY enjoyed this part. We has a fun luncheon and the kids got to meet Grandma & Grandpa VH. Alaina especially enjoyed playing with the new paper dolls that Grandma VH gave her. Sunday we attended church with Uncle Joel & Aunt Jamie and then had dinner together afterwards. It was nice to get together again and talk. (Unfortunately, I and Uncle Joel were pretty tired--and I think I fell asleep at some point.) Monday morning we visited our favorite Amish store with my mom. We stocked up on many of our basics (including 50 lbs of whole wheat flour). I love that place. I wish we had stores like that here in Madison. After our "adieu's" we were on our way home. Which we were all happy about (bigger 2 being plugged into the DVD player) except Talia. She cried A LOT. After this return trip home, Talia decided she did not like her carseat very much anymore. (And to this day --July 2nd as I am writing this--she now arches her back and stiffens her body so you have to fight to get her in her carseat.) Poor girl doesn't realize she has many more years yet in a carseat. Rob's birthday followed shortly after. Since we had Lifegroup (our church group) that night for dinner we decided to celebrate Dad's b'day at lunch. Rob came home and we made him a yummy lunch with beer bread and of course a fancy peanut butter chocolate cake. YUM! The kids made some drawings for Daddy and we gave him a coffee mug with the kids pictures on it. I got him a Badger shirt. It was a good day. In the coming week we attended an Easter Egg hunt at our favorite green house. The kids really enjoyed searching for eggs. Even Talia got into the spirit of things. Afterwards they enjoyed petting the horse on the farm next door. On Easter, after attending church we went to Pop's and Debi's. I of course tried to get lots of pictures with the kids all dressed up, but it is near impossible to get all 3 looking at the camera and smiling. Alaina likes to strangle her sister in attempt to get Talia to look--and then she doesn't look and then once we get her to look, Ky will be looking elsewhere because he is bored. UGH! And as you can see from the crying Talia pics, she was just done. Oh, well--at least I tried. Debi had given Rob Brewer tix for Easter day, so we were able to leave Ky & Alaina with them and attend a game with Talia. It was a nice game. Unfortunately, they lost. Talia got lots of attention from people nearby because she is cute--you know--she eyes people up and gives them her cute smile and they are "hers". I have to say, that having a baby you meet more people than you ever would. Too bad people aren't always so friendly. Anyway, while we were at the game the big kids had fun with an Easter hunt at the grandparents house. In fact, I think they were bummed when we came back and said it was time to go. With the warm weather of April (the unusual warm weather), we were outside a lot more than normal. Unfortunately, Talia had an issue with the ground--grass, pavement--it didn't matter. She would cry if you put her down. It was pretty funny. And a little bizarred and worrisome since we were going camping in June. We were pretty excited when we finally did get her to sit down outside and she didn't cry. (Notice that picture!) Kylan had his annual buzz cut. He was pretty excited about it. I was not. I like his hair longer (I think it makes him look younger.) When it is all buzzed off he looks older. He was pretty excited after his cut and kept saying he looked like his friend Owen. Which actually he did--they both have similar hair color and freckles. Alaina's ballet ended in April. She really loved the class and would do dance moves at home. I can't wait until next winter when she can take 4 year old ballet. Anyway, I will be updating with videos of her ballet soon. Stay tuned for the next blog entry which will be Talia's 1st b'day.