"Happy Easter to me!"
(We let the girls open these Easter baskets from Grampa Gary and Gramma Pam on Saturday morning so they would have a chance to enjoy the contents without being rushed off to church right away.)
You would think it was a real chick. She handled it so gently.
This year we actually dyed eggs with Mattaya. Gramma Julie came to help.
Mattaya loves to sniff vinegar.
Helping dump the vinegar on the dye pellets.
Experiencing the egg hook.
Bombs away.
Attempting a mean face...I don't remember why.
Taking an egg out.
Discussing how to decorate the egg with stickers.
Deep in concentration.
The girls got to open their baskets from us that afternoon.
(I swear Easter Eve was AT LEAST as fun as Christmas for Mattaya.)
After months of talking about and inventing pretend harmonicas, she FINALLY got one in her Easter basket. :) She initially called her harmonica her "moka"...but now our friend Micah is "moka", and the harmonica is "mokaka."
No, we didn't slap her across the face. Yes, we gave her a bite of pears.
Getting ready for church on Easter morning.
Even Daddy got all dressed up! Doesn't he look soooooo handsome?
Still very excited about the Easter basket.
We got to spend the afternoon with Gramma Mabel, Auntie Net, and Auntie Marlys at Grampa Dave and Gramma Julie's house. They had also joined us for the pancake breakfast at church, which Mattaya talked about for a few weeks. Apparently eating pancakes for BREAKFAST atCHURCH with RELATIVES was a radical event for her. :)
And there were even more Easter presents!
(Why did I not crop myself out of this picture? Because I'm too lazy. That's why.)
Mattaya had a little Easter egg hunt at Gramma's. Mommy had stuffed the eggs with acceptable snacks instead of candy. ;)
Marlys gave Mattaya this pink rabbit, which Mattaya loved...but Mabel thought it was much too pretty to play with. ;)
Bubbles!
And sunglasses!
Grampa found all this quite stimulating.
Having my cakes and eating them TWO!
Easter afternoon, we celebrated Lynette's birthday and my birthday.
Mattaya sang to me while she ate her "galishus" cake.
(delicious)
Blowing bubbles in the garage.
The weather wasn't fabulous, but we enjoyed Grampa's large garage. :)
We invented a guitar so Mattaya could sing some SteveSongs.
I let Mattaya play with my Spiderman game...which she didn't really interact with the way I was showing her...instead she lined them all up in a row. I have NO idea where she gets that. ;)
She did try to play with Daddy.
Happy Girl wearing her Happy Easter outfit from Auntie Marlys.
Mattaya often imitates what Makenna is doing.
Makenna: "I look up to you, Big Sister."
Contemplating her first bite of apples.
"Ya know, I think this isn't too bad!"
Mattaya feeding her "Baby Rabbit" some breakfast.
It's a very special day when Mommy lets her play with dishwater. :)
And then Matt ordered a djembe!
Very exciting day for my beloved drummer boy.
Play-doh pizza...with paper pepperoni and cheese. :)
Hilarious, right?
Unimpressed with the peaches.
Mattaya feels very special when she wakes up to find a real tablecloth on the table. I usually only pull out the tablecloth for guests, with whom we eat AFTER the kiddos are in bed (7:00ish). We leave it on until Mattaya gets to eat on it. She feels like a princess. :) Just this past weekend, she was excited to not only eat on the red tablecloth but ALSO to eat breakfast without her booster seat. She sat on the chair and put her arms on the table. She looked around a bit then said, "Eat. At the table. Like Luke. Happy birthday!" We're not really sure what that was all about.
Ready for church. Kind of. Except that her tights were at least one size too big, and the shoes were a mystery to Daddy (and he seemed not to find the hair bow). But we're thankful for our Daddy who takes such good care of his girls!
Letter of the Week
No, I promise I'm not teaching her to read or anything crazy. This is the result of an idea I had for getting some color on the walls of the playroom (pictures coming in the May batch), AND it's been really helpful for her to have one structured activity each morning. So far she's really enjoying it. In this picture she's saying the A sound. ;)
"Mommy thought it was a good idea to give Mattaya a sheet of stickers. *sigh* "
Using a carrot and fingerpaint to stamp apples on the letter A.
Learning to put change in the bank. She thought this was SO FUN, and she was so proud of herself when she finished her "job".
Explaining to her audience about sprinkling cinnamon on top of the muffins.
Oo. Prunes.
You thought I was kidding, but she actually does talk to her "studio audience" (invisible occupants of the dining room, which she can see through the space under the cupboards). I don't watch cooking shows, so I'm assuming she got this from the episode of Blue's Clues when Steve makes banana cake?
That "smile" looks like it hurts.
Mattaya is such a sweetheart. She tries to be so helpful and is getting really good at following directions. This day she took it upon herself to try to put Makenna's socks back on.
The end of Week 1 : A
No, we did not show her any Frankenstein flicks. ;)
It was finally warm enough to wear short sleeves! She looked down at her arms as if she hadn't seen them in 9 months, looked up at me, and said, "Princess arms." So she walks about displaying her princess arms for all to see. :)
Finally convinced her that her princess arms are just as visible if she puts them down.
Stirring up some YUMMY cookie salad!
Making a caterpillar with Gramma Julie.
Makenna received "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" DVD for Easter, and Mattaya has been rather consumed with caterpillars since she saw it.
And then it was warm enough and dry enough to play at the playground with Daddy!
They saw a ladybug at the park (which she is still announcing like it's news). ;)
Swinging like a big girl now.
I didn't catch any pictures of it, but she will actually rest on her elbows now. She gets so excited about the camera that she flings her arms back and starts bobbing and bouncing.
Ode to the Letter B
She loves to sing. She has Daddy's singing ability.
A pretty mellow girl. And we're so thankful!
Mashing bananas for banana bread. Mattaya LOVES to help in the kitchen.
It's just so good to relax after all that play.
Making a butterfly!
Super Taya!
She totally soaked herself playing in the sink, so the cape was my solution (I didn't want to go upstairs to find a dry shirt while I was making dinner and supervising 2 kiddos). I didn't realize until much later that her pants had also been soaked.
"This is what I made today."
She's always very excited to show off the day's projects to Daddy and "Moka".
Now that the weather is really decent, I've been able to get out to walk a bit! And this year Mattaya actually keeps her sunglasses ON. :)
Chillin' in the shade while Daddy and Mattaya play (yep, Daddy snapped her onesie outside her pants...and if you ask him, he'll blame it on me).
I found some really inexpensive [but not totally junky] squirt guns for Matt and Mattaya. This day was actually warm enough to use them! Mattaya became really involved in squirting all the bugs on the house.
It cracks me up that she just goes and does this. It's not even something Matt and I do.
Big yawn.
Doesn't everyone cover up with a blanket while sun-bathing?
Singing a fingerplay about bears.
Coloring Time
Makenna is mellow, but she definitely knows when she's being left out (and she lets us know she's displeased with that). She's cool as long as she is in our presence and peripherally involved in what we're doing, though.
The Sisters
Matt did a relay march with a 50 lb. ruck.
(This is the "before" picture.)
Happy
First swim lesson!
Makenna actually seemed not to notice that we were in the water.
(Or that it was freezing.)
It seems that every year, Matt is prepping for an inspection in April and undergoing an inspection in May. You'd think I'd learn and just sign up for a different session of swimming. But no. Thankfully, Grampa was a good sport and got in the water with Mattaya.
Makenna: "Will you PLEASE take me out of this frigid water now?"
Showing off a summer outfit to Daddy. :)
Mommy: "Hi, Sweet Girl! Can you show us some funny faces?"
Good one!
Tongue tricks AND some drool. Thanks.
Silly Mattaya
"Pappakes" are her FAVORITE thing to make.
(I think that's thanks to her Curious George Makes Pancakes book.)
Blowing out the 'c'andles on the 'c'ake.
So she breaks apart my salad tongs (yes, they're made to do that), brings the two pieces to me and asks for "earrings".
Tummy time
Makenna is good at rolling from tummy to back.
Kissing her beloved 'c'aterpillar.
Later I found this. Apparently caterpillars love to have honey for lunch.
Mattaya: "Yes, Mother, I'm HOLDING her."
Makenna: "Whatever. I'm cool."
The second week of swimming Daddy was working and Grampa was out of town. Miss Valerie to the rescue! Both girls were still able to swim. :)
Had to cut more knots out of Makenna's hair. Ugh.
She surprised herself by being able to pick up the puffs!
She quickly got them TO her mouth, but the letting go was a trick not easily mastered.
Week 4: Letter D
5 seconds before this she was hysterically calling for Mommy to come help. She was stuck. I pulled out the camera, and her frown and tears became a smile and a laugh. Silly girl.
Grampa Dave & Gramma Julie took a quick trip to MN and came back bearing gifts (from themselves AND from Auntie Cindy!).
Makenna: "I have no idea what's going on, but I like attention."
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