Kendall's 1st Easter

The girls had a fabulous Easter, and Kendall enjoyed lots of 'firsts.' We started the Easter weekend by dying eggs with Grandmama Jenkins. Kendall napped at Mom's while Haley and I spent time with Grandmama. I'm not sure who enjoyed the eggs more - Grandmama or Haley.

From Easter 2009

On Saturday, we spent time with the Starnes family. We started with an Easter egg hunt at Tami and Bryan's church. Kendall didn't participate in this hunt, but Haley had a blast. Bryan, Kevin, and the girls helped her find eggs, since she arrived late.

From Easter 2009

From Easter 2009

We enjoyed lunch and family time afterwards at Tami and Bryan's. The girls had fun passing Kendall and Savannah around.

From Easter 2009

Aunt Stacey brought treats for the kids; here's Kendall opening hers.

From Easter 2009

The kids' table at lunch.

From Easter 2009

Trampoline fun - for little AND big kids.

From Easter 2009

From Easter 2009

Abigail, with Kendall and Savannah - the first Easter for them both! Savannah's dress was worn by Haley and Kendall.

From Easter 2009

The Starnes' cousins.

From Easter 2009

The girls had just a few minutes Sunday morning to look at their Easter baskets before we went to church. Kendall expressed great enthusiasm about her first Easter basket ;)

From Easter 2009

Haley enjoyed hers, too. Note that these baskets don't compare to the baskets from Marynell; the Easter bunny knew not to even try to compete with her baskets.

From Easter 2009

After church...Mom made these dresses for me and my sister. I was 4 1/2 and Kendall was 1 1/2 when we wore these. Haley and Kendall Jane are nearly 4 and 1.

From Easter 2009

Our first Easter day celebration was at Mom's house. Here's Kendall enjoying one of her first Easter meals.

From Easter 2009

We had an Easter egg hunt after lunch. Mom and I 'hid' over 60 eggs for the kids. Haley wanted to open each egg and check out its contents before finding another.

From Easter 2009

Haley and Jake did a great job helping each other.

From Easter 2009

I'm not sure that Marie and Kendall did much hunting. They did enjoy sitting in a shady spot and playing with the eggs.

From Easter 2009

Marie is such a little love.

From Easter 2009

Kendall had fun with her eggs. She enjoyed shaking them to hear what was inside.

From Easter 2009

We also enjoyed Grandmama Jenkins' birthday. Jake and Haley helped blow out her birthday candles.

From Easter 2009

Kendall and RiRi had an important conference call after lunch.

From Easter 2009

Grandmama, Kendall, and Haley.

From Easter 2009

Later that afternoon, Haley enjoyed opening her basket from Marynell and O.

From Easter 2009

Kendall really enjoyed pulling all the toys out of her basket. At one point, she spotted a Pooh that was attached to the top of the basket. She bounced up and down and waved her arms excitedly then reached for it.

From Easter 2009

Sunday night, we celebrated Easter and Grandmama Wooten's birthday at Grandmama W's house. Haley helped Grandmama Wooten blow out her candles. Grandmama pointed out that she made her own birthday cake (pretty good for 85 years old, I think). She made the only cake that I think she's made for the past 15 years or so - chocolate with chocolate icing.

From Easter 2009

Kendall and Bailey, who just returned from her senior cruise.

From Easter 2009

Marynell and Kendall.

From Easter 2009

Click here for more Easter pictures

Easter Eggs

I haven't had time for a full Easter post, but I wanted to share this picture of my girls after one of their egg hunts. They were both very serious about their eggs. Each girl enjoyed each egg they found and carefully examined every one. More Easter pics will follow later...

Jake's 3rd Bday Party

I just realized I have no pictures of the birthday boy at his own party!!! Even with Mom there to help me, Haley and Kendall had us both pulled in multiple directions. Happy Birthday, Jakey!

Grandmama had a fun time watching the kids play. Here she is with Haley. CHEESE!

From March April 2009

Helen served the kids ice cream sundaes outside. It was a gorgeous day, and all the kids had fun playing outside.

From March April 2009

Haley got a little cake first.

From March April 2009

I tried to feed one to Kendall, but she was insistent on pulling it out of my hands and eating it herself. Here's the result...

From March April 2009

After seeing Kendall, a much wiser person (my mom) suggested that I should have scraped the blue writing off the top of the cake BEFORE giving it to Kendall. Oh, well.

Kendall and RiRi played inside for awhile (after I realized that Kendall was starting to show signs of sun burn from the am...).

From March April 2009

After a long day, Haley gave up and took a little nap in the car.

From March April 2009

Easter festivities...

Haley had her Easter party at school last week. I'm sure she had fun at her Easter egg hunt, but it probably didn't compare to how much fun she's had at home with her eggs and her candy.

Here she is after arranging her eggs and candy (she has done this SEVERAL times).

From March April 2009

Kendall has enjoyed playing with the eggs, too. We'll have to make sure that the Easter bunny hides eggs for both Haley and Kendall to find on Easter morning this year.

From March April 2009

Our biggest Easter to do so far this year was the Pine Island spring party. We had SO MUCH FUN. It was a beautiful day. Here is a pic of Haley playing at the party last year.

From Pine Island Easter Carnival 2008

And here are pics of both my girls this year. We had a blast. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Unfortunately, I packed everything but the sun screen, so the girls definitely have a little sun burn today.

Here are Marynell and the girls just after we arrived.

From March April 2009

Kendall had no problem with the Easter bunny. Haley, on the other hand, did not smile for her picture because she was ready to play.

From March April 2009

Marynell and I both had turns riding the swings with Haley. The swings were her favorite - they didn't have those last year. Haley rode them at least 6 times.

From March April 2009

We played several of the games, including the basketball game.

From March April 2009

Haley was very determined to get cotton candy early on. She enjoyed it and even asked for more after lunch.

From March April 2009

We enjoyed the slide. Haley rode a few times...

From March April 2009

And Kendall and I rode once, too!

From March April 2009

Kendall got tired of riding in the stroller and being carried. When I finally put her down in the grass, she was much happier.

From March April 2009

From March April 2009

We enjoyed a picnic of corn dogs, potato chips, and brownies.

From March April 2009

Haley rode the swings several times after lunch.

From March April 2009

From March April 2009

The one ride the girls did together was the train.

From March April 2009

We will definitely look forward to doing this again next year...

From March April 2009

St Pattys Day Firsts...

Haley's first St Pattys Day...

From March April 2009

From March April 2009

Kendall's first St. Pattys Day...

From March April 2009

From March April 2009

Pulling up

Kendall has been pulling up for over a month- as the days go by, she seems less and less content with her view of the world from a sitting position. She's discovering all sorts of fun things to do as she pulls up and climbs over and into things.

She can see eye to eye with her puppy dogs by standing up at the back door...

From March April 2009

From March April 2009

She helped organize her daddy's papers this weekend by opening his drawer and pulling stuff out (seriously, it was more organized when she was through with it than it was before).

From March April 2009

She has often stood at the front door to look outside. Today, though, she seemed to be telling us for the first time 'I want to play outside with the big kids!' Neighbors driving by stopped to look - they couldn't believe Kendall was standing at the front door.

From March April 2009

When Kendall disappears, I usually find her in her room playing with her toys. She will pull the toys out of her baskets and talk and play by herself for awhile before she crawls out to rejoin us.

From March April 2009

Haley came down with some sort of little bug on Friday. She didn't move off the couch and hardly spoke a word for a good 3 hours. She ran a fever on Friday and Saturday, but today she seems to have made a full recovery. She has run her mouth a mile a minute every waking moment today - as Kevin says, she's trying to make up for the past few days. Here she is conked out on the couch on Friday.

From March April 2009

No Snow for Colatown

Schools (and my work) were cancelled late last Sunday afternoon in anticipation of the big snow storm. I was excited about the possibility of staying home and playing in the snow with Haley on Monday, but unfortunately...there was no snow. The girls wore their winter themed pajamas to bed Sunday night, but we woke up to a clear, sunny day.

From March April 2009

Since I had the day off, we enjoyed breakfast together at home, lunch with Marynell, and the afternoon at a play gym. Kendall got one of her first non baby food breakfasts - she had part of a blueberry muffin. She definitely enjoyed it, and she's since had grilled cheese sandwiches, jelly sandwiches, and pasta. Kevin has given her raisins and honey nut cheerios, too (I was not in the house when this happened).

From March April 2009

Kendall enjoyed standing at the train table at the play gym.

From March April 2009

Haley had a blast. She does such a great job making friends. She has no insecurities about walking right up to other kids she doesn't know and asking them to play with her or asking them to be her friend. She is very persistent, too, even when she's ignored.

From March April 2009