Playing at the Budd's

Yesterday we went over to the Budd's to play & have dinner. The girls had LOTS of fun playing with chicks, toys, going on a walk, and doing all sorts of wonderful things. I had to stop at the "scenic viewpoint" on the way over to try and get a picture of Mt. Hood, because it was gorgeous, but I didn't do it justice.

As you can tell, we had a great time, and the kids were WORN OUT.

SKIRTS!

Jessica makes the CUTEST skirts with a reversible apron. She made this one for Ellen (kind of--it's a long story involving a somewhat greedy Emily).

Ellen was excited, but has refused to wear it until she can walk so that it doesn't keep getting in her way.

Emily is in love with hers. She had to borrow a shirt from Brooklyn so that she could wear it immediately. I didn't get a shot with the reverse of her apron, but it's cute, too.

Her father's daughter

Emily actually figured this out all by herself. She made some louder sounds with it, but it definitely sounds like some gas is being passed. Creative AND funny.

Jelly Bellies (belly flops)

My parents went to the JB factory last weekend and bought us a bag of the "messed up" jelly beans. I thought they'd make a cute picture, which they kind of do, but then there's the whole "messed up" thing...lots of siamese beans in the mix.

YES!!

I don't know why, but I absolutely love when kids fall asleep in random poses. Ellen FINALLY did--half sitting up, half slumped over. Poor baby.

Fort

Jon made this AWESOME house for Emily out of the old computer boxes. She loves it, and has spent a lot of time playing inside. And keeping Ellen out.

Car + bucket = hysterical Ellen

For those of you who keep up with us on facebook, this is a different video.

Allergies

I've always had sinus-y allergies, and have treated them by taking a zyrtec daily, supplemented with some tylenol sinus when necessary. Over the last month or so, however, I've been battling hives, and I'm not sure what's been causing them. I went to the doctor twice and was put on steroids, which is one of those "treat the symptoms but not the cause" solutions. Tuesday I finally had my appointment with an allergist. I had the scratch test done, and reacted to everything, including the control (saline). So it seems that I'm allergice to dust, mold, mites, trees, flowers, pollen, dogs, cats, etc. But not feathers. I had a score of "0" on feathers, and a "3" on saline. Anyway, that did skew the validity of the test just a bit...so they drew 9 vials of blood (I asked if they just wanted a bag) to do more tests. I'm on different drugs now, and when I go back in a week and a half, I'll possibly do more testing, depending on the effectiveness of the new prescriptions. Apparently the Willamette Valley is one of the worst places to live if you have allergies. Oops. Here I thought I was escaping the poison ivy!

Awesome big sister

When Emily and I were at the check-out in Target, the lady gave her an old frog gift card (because my daughter is one of those beautiful people who is always getting things for free). Emily immediately asked, "Can I have one for Ellers?"

So sweet!

Also, we're back on the potty-training wagon. She's been wearing big girl underwear, and after she had her first accident she came up today and told Jon, "Daddy, I need to wear diapers again." She was heartbroken. The Auntie Kim Easter Bunny had brought her some new undies, so she's been proudly motivated.

Guitar

Ellen got a guitar for her birthday from Uncle Jim and Aunt Christie (and Jeremy, Lindsey, and Danny). Ellen. Can't you tell?

Playing

Tomorrow promises to bring more box adventures.

Emily "fixed Ellen's hair" while I was making dinner. They played with blocks in the bathroom. Of course.

Easter

The Easter Bunny came during church, because Emily was up before 7am. It actually worked out pretty well. She had a little jelly bean hunt.

Ellen understood that these were supposed to be tasty almost immediately.

Candy bracelets were a hit. Except when Ellen stole them.

Oh. And Ellen learned about Peeps. She likes them.

A lot.

Easter eggs

Ellen started out perfectly content with graham crackers while Emily did eggs.

We started with a lot of pink eggs.

Then most of them got re-dipped.

"I WANT TO DYE EGGS, TOO!"

The poor, poor table. Luckily a little Clorox spray made it all better.

The finished eggs were kind of cool. I had to fight my urge to control her dyeing, but some of what I would have deemed "over-doing it" ended up looking awesome.

One of my co-workers shared this AWESOME secret (which, consequently, re-invigorated the potty training)...dump the dye/vinegar mixture into the toilet tank, and when you flush, you get a cool color surprise. Needless to say, there was LOTS of time on the potty. And some disappointment when it was over.