Birthday party, Spring Fling, and SF photos

Has it really been two weeks since the last post?  Sorry about that!  We certainly have been doing things...guess we just haven't had a chance to share.

Two weekends ago we went to Alex's 5th birthday party.  Can't believe all of these little babies are getting so old!  Anyways, Emma and Drew had lots of fun helping their cousin celebrate.

Emma had some green candy on her piece of cake, which led to a green tongue.  Sorry the picture is sideways.  I tried everything to fix it, but it just won't show up vertically on here.  Just turn your head 90 degrees if you need to.

Another sideways photo.  Can you tell Drew was excited about holding that balloon?

Last week at school was "The Week Of The Young Child," aka, an excuse to have fun school-related activities like a pajama party and an ice cream social.  Wednesday was "Wear purple and yellow day."  Not one to miss out on a color-themed day, Emma was decked out from head to toe! 

Drew had on a yellow shirt, but that was the extent of his participation in purple and yellow day.  He has alot to learn from his sister.  Or technically, I guess his parents who dress him have alot to learn from her.

This past Friday was the annual Spring Fling at the kids' school.  After a rainy start, it ended up being a nice evening of fun and games.  As expected, Emma spent the whole night attached at the hip with her BFF, Elizabeth.

Drew was happy to mosey around and help himself to everything, including the water on the rain-soaked slide at the playground.

Saturday, we spent the day out and about -- more on that in a later post -- and then spent the evening relaxing.  Emma and I had some mother-daughter "spa time" in Mommy's bathroom.  Here is my little diva (ha) with her facial on, showing off her manicure.

 She chose pink, orange, and purple patterned nails.  Mommy wasn't so bold and stuck with plain old orange.

Last night, I put Drew in the pack and play (aka the last remaining way to contain him for any period of time) while I put away some laundry.  When I came back, this is what I found.

 He didn't get out this time, but it looks like our pack and play days are numbered!

And one final note, better late than never...
Tim has carefully and meticulously trimmed down our San Francisco photos to just about 800 or so.  No kidding.  But they are broken out by day, so hopefully you will find that a little less intimidating to look through!  We urge you to look at them all, at your own leisure.  It truly is one of the most wonderful trips we've ever taken and one of the most photogenic cities we've ever seen.  Here is the link to main page with all of the photo sets, including one of our zoo photos too: Enjoy!

And feel free to leave comments on the Flickr photos or "favorite" the ones you really like.  Tim is always appreciative of feedback about his photos.

Bookworms

Couldn't resist snapping this photo as we were getting ready to leave for school the other day.

Zoo crew

Before we cover our weekend, I have to share this school project of Emma's.  Their teacher asked them to write down (without any spelling help) what they would buy if they had a pot of gold.  I've enlarged the photo, so hopefully you are able to read Emma's answers below.  Adorable.

Now, back to our weekend adventure.  At sort of the spur of the moment on Saturday, we decided to pack up the family and head down to Zoo Atlanta to have some fun and enjoy the perfect weather.  Tim used the opportunity to take some great pictures, which we will share as soon as they are up on Flickr.  In the meantime, here are a few candids I took with my phone to hold you over:

Both kids had a great time, and I foresee more weekend adventures in our future!

Easter weekend

Our Easter weekend festivities started on Friday, with egg hunts and parties for the kids at school.  I have to show off the sour rainbow cupcakes we made for Emma's class.  Super simple, but a big hit.  After all, what five year old doesn't love sour candy, especially when it's sitting on top of a cupcake?

Then, as I was baking the cupcakes, I realized that I needed to send a peanut-free treat to school for Drew's class, so that he would have something to eat at his party too.  Not as fancy as the cupcakes, but these sugar cookies were still yummy.

Saturday we dyed eggs, but I didn't snap any pics.  That was an Emma-and-Mom-only activity...I'm not crazy enough to let Drew near cups of permanent dye!  We all went to bed early on Saturday night, though not without enduring the third degree from Emma first.  "When will the Easter Bunny be here?  What if you're not in bed yet?  What if I'm just turning over in my sleep and he hears me and thinks I woke up...will he still leave treats?  How does he know if I've been good, anyways?  Has he been watching me, or does he just ask Santa?"  Once she was finally satisfied with the answers to her questions, she slept like a rock, though she was up bright and early, ready to see what might have been left for her overnight:

Easter morning sweeties

Emma was so excited about her new dress, that she actually tried it on the other night and posed for a few pictures.  This is a re-creation of a photo I took of her when she was about one year old.  Except now she can actually play the piano!

The old photo:

My Easter centerpiece, another project found on Pinterest:

We had a really nice Easter meal with Grandma and Grandpa H and Great Grandma G.  The kids loved having them over.  Drew got in some fun time with Grandpa:



And Emma played games with Grandma.  She even got Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma to all play a game of Parcheesi with her.  Games are one of her favorite things to do lately!

This is how Drew passed the time when he wasn't getting attention from anyone.  Yes, I'm afraid we have gotten to the throw-yourself-on-the-floor tempter tantrums.  Fun times.

Can you hear me now?

As some of you are aware, Drew had to undergo some testing yesterday to follow up after a test at his ENT's office that indicated he might possibly have suffered some hearing loss after having repeated ear infections.  After an agonizing month of waiting, yesterday was the day.  We headed down to Children's Hospital bright and early with a hungry little boy who hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before.  Despite that, he was his sweet, adorable self and won over the entire nursing staff. 

It was an Auditory Brainstem Response test, where they play sounds and measure his brain activity to see if his ear is hearing and processing the sound.  For the test to work, he had to lie perfectly still, which meant he had to be sedated.  And that meant putting in an IV.  And THAT was the worst part of the whole day.  They called in the special "IV Team" that does nothing but put in IVs all day long, and it still took them three sticks, a special light, and an ultrasound to finally find a vein in his ankle after giving up on his hands.  Poor little guy was beside himself by the time the 20 minute ordeal was over, and so were Tim and I.  But the rest of the process went smoothly, and the test was over in about 45 minutes.

After the test, shaking out the cobwebs from anesthesia:

We are happy to report that his test went great, and his hearing is normal in both ears.  Thank you for all of the prayers and support!  We appreciate it so much!

Egg-cellent Saturday

The kids had a busy Saturday this past weekend.  They kicked things off by spending Friday night and Grandma and Grandpa K's house and doing the annual egg hunt at G and G's neighborhood clubhouse.  Drew did pretty good for a first timer.

Emma, who is a seasoned expert egg-hunter, got so many eggs they barely fit in her bucket!  She also colored a pretty egg picture.

All three grandkids with the bunny:

Once we got them home, there was time for a quick snuggle...

 ...and then it was time to head out to Fowler Park to play in the beautiful sunny weather.  Drew wasn't quite sure what to think of everything -- this was his first time at a big playground since he has been old enough to actually play.

He giggled for a little while in the swing, but then he realized that he was held captive and immediately wanted out!

His favorite part of going to the park was playing with the water bottles.  Emma's pink water bottle, actually.  He couldn't have cared less about his own blue one!  But he carried hers around everywhere, like it was his little puppy.  Thank goodness she is really good about sharing.

  

While Drew concerned himself with the water bottle, Emma was practicing her swinging technique...important since no one will be there to push her on the playground once she gets to elementary school in the fall!

Emma had a blast discovering everything the "big kids' playground" had to offer.  She has gotten so much braver than she used to be -- she even climbed the rock wall by herself! 

After that busy, fun-filled Saturday, we kept it pretty low key on Sunday and hung out with the Pillow Pets while watching a movie.

Lucky Emma gets to go back to the park today with her class.  They are taking a field trip there because it's Spring Break week.  Thursday is roller skating.  That should be interesting...