Blessed Easter

I love Easter more as an adult than I ever did as a child. Partly I think this is because many of my Easter memories were with my mom and sister solo with my dad on a trip somewhere. I find that slightly odd because even though, as a pilot, my dad was typically gone 3 to 4 days out of every week, I don't remember him being gone much. My dad was always great about being involved the whole days he was at home.

But returning back to Easter, for some reason I have memories of my dad being away, my sister (almost 6 years older) away at some friend's house, and my mother and I alone at home. I really don't recall many egg hunts, in fact the most noteable Easter memory may have been the one time it snowed that year and my chinese uncle Jack and a neighborhood friend walked the whole mile to the local Kroger for marshmallow eggs and jelly beans. That frigid walk felt like the longest mile of my life, at 7 years of age. In fact, I think Uncle Jack had to run home and drive to pick us up - we were that cold.

I also have a much greater appreciation of God's sacrifice - as a mother, but most importantly as a wretched sinner that has no business being anywhere near the glory of God. However, in some miracle of events that we can never fully thank Him enough for "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." I would post a few pictures, but I have so many that I love I decided to put together a slide show. Maybe it's the beautifully colored dresses, or the looks of genuine joy as the kids find 'candy gold', but I always end up with so many precious pictures that I can never decide which ones to include...

Kiss?

Kendall definitely has her super sweet moments...today at work I had an unfortunate accident...on the way into the bathroom, I somehow caught my pointer finger in the door.  It actually didn't hurt that bad, really surprised me more than anything, but suddenly I started to feel dizzy.  I head back to my desk, barely able to keep from falling over and put my head on my desk.  I sat there for probably 15 minutes - completely freaking out my two coworkers next to me...my ears were ringing, I had tunnel vision, I felt sick to my stomach, and sweat started to pour down my face and neck.  Finally the feeling passed, but the rest of the day my finger has felt numb and I get flashes of pain at the tip.

But that is actually not the point of this blog entry...I pick up the girls, we head to the park and then home for dinner.  As we are sitting down to play, almost more to myself than anyone, I say "Mommy has an ouchie."  The next thing I see is Kendall's head poking around the play house saying "kiss?"  I nod my head and she runs over and gives me the sweetest little kiss on the end of my finger asking "all better?"

This moment ties with another last week when she threw her arms around my neck and said "Bee miss you."

Thomas the Train

This post is a little delayed, but the 'lock out' incident of last week took precidence over this one at the time...a couple weeks ago we visited "Thomas the Train" at the railroad station in Grapevine.  It was a little chilly with the very strong wind, but the sun made it more pleasant.  I don't recall ever being on a train, so I found it interesting loading up into the old-fashioned car...the trip wasn't terribly long (it was carting mostly 2 year olds) as it moved in one direction for about 15 minutes, then reversed directions and came back.

Kendall wasn't hugely aware of Thomas the Train prior to the trip, other than that her cousin Jake is a giant fan...but after being pulled by him and now checking out his website, she can scream "THOMAS!!!!" with the best of them.

Here are some shots of the day:

Our Fam - minus Jake, who was next to me

but too short for the pic

Jake, Pa, Maili, Ella -

with Thomas watching in the background

They had a small petting zoo near by...Kendall just loved the animals, although you'll notice the "blur" of her hand "petting" aka "smacking" the poor bunny upon my request to touch the poor dear...

Bee and "Rosie"

Tread these waters carefully...Toddler on the loose!

I find Kendall to be intensely facinating...she is pint-sized but packs a punch of contradiction and extremity.  What can possess a child's mind to lovingly pat her crying baby sister one minute and then steal her pacifier the next?  Or give Mommy a 'Bee Hug' followed up by screaming 'No Mommy!'

Today was again a prime day for observing Kendall's greatness...this morning, Kendall and I were out back picking up 4, possibly 5, months of accumulated doggy doodie...or should I rephrase, I was picking up doggy doodie and Kendall was trying to shove the dogs in her playhouse, jump on my back, climb on the patio furniture, and dump bubbles all over her tricycle...so as I am thinking two things:

1. Picking up Doggie Poopie is like an Easter Egg Hunt without any of the candy reward

and

2.  How ridiculous is it that I have to buy oodles for dog food and also have to pick up the by-products from it?

I realize that the backyard has become ominously quiet...for my 2 year old daughter has gone in the house and...just like daddy...locked me out!  So I start peering through the screens of our back windows - trying to spot the little squirt and hope that she can remember how to unlock, not just lock - but the child is no where to be seen.  I run around the side of the house to try and catch Trenton's attention, who is mowing the front lawn, but he can't hear me.  The gate to the front of the house is locked - which I've silently (and sometimes not so silently - sorry neighbors) cursed numerous times from being locked out by Daddy - and now by Kendall.  I run back to the house and try banging again on the door and windows.  I start to get nervous - fortunately Leah is fast asleep in her bed - but Kendall being on the loose unsupervised can be horribly scary.

I realize then that Kendall is standing right by the window now - probably laughing and pointing her little chubby fingers at me the whole time - and I try to coax aka BRIBE her to open the door with candy and cookies...whatever will work faster...but she can't figure out the lock and tells me it's 'boken' through the window.

Finally I flag down Trenton over the fence and he comes to my rescue...little stinker.

I'll conclude with my Kendall laugh of the day...I had taken the girls in the double stroller on a run to the park while Trenton was 'de-thatching' our yard (what this functionally does, I do not know)...at any rate, on the way back from the park Kendall wanted to run herself and kept telling me "no talking - we running" over and over...

Move over Elmo...Abby has arrived!

Yesterday was Kendall's first experience with 'live theater'...1-2-3 Imagine with Elmo and Friends was in town and we wouldn't have missed it for the world.  Courtesy of Daddy, we were front and center, right in the middle of all the Sesame Street action.  Both girls did so well - in their own very different ways...I wasn't sure what to expect from Kendall, but true to her typical nature, she sat back and calmly took it all in...no giggles or laughter, no clapping or foot stomping, and really not much smiling either.  The first half of the 90 minute show she sat on Daddy's lap and Leah sat on mine.  In contrast to Kendall's seriousness, Leah was all smiles and laughter.  She would wildly swing her arms in the air and then pitch her head back to smile up at me.  The 2nd half of the show, Kendall sat in my lap...she didn't say or do much, other than point at Abby Cadabby and then ask "Abby?" any time she wasn't visible on stage.

Unfortunately, Abby dolls were the only Sesame Street character NOT on sale in the theater...I even snuck into a Target on the way home - no Abby...so we are all learning patience while Abby is on her 'trip' through the mail to our house - hopefully to arrive sometime later this week..

Below are some pictures from the show...

Snow, snow...oh yeah, and more snow...

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words...which is good, since I'm short on time and have lots of details to share...

Action shot of Jolie prancing through the crazy snow storm

we are having today

Cutie Pie Leah in Cousin Rachel's dress...I was meaning to get a shot of

her in the dress during Christmas, but I suppose Valentines Day isn't so bad.....

Another of the sweet bean...

Kendall, inspecting the snowy scenery

So I'm thinking she isn't going to like snow skiing...

if you need additional proof, check out

http://trentkrisfamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/snow-bunny.html

Was our house moved to Alaska overnight without us knowing it?

Oh the drama

I knew life with two girls would be fun, interesting, oozing with cute bows and dresses, and alas...full of drama.  I knew this because I grew up in a household with two other girls/women - my mother and my sister (poor Dad, but that's another post for another day)...however, today my life has been the epitome of the dramatic/moody/fussy female...

I won't go into all our family fun of the day, but this evening we decided to do a craft.  My sister is preparing a care package for a soldier recently deployed overseas and I thought it would be fun for Kendall to make something...but that would have just been too easy...for the child that has been scribbling all day on everything (including things she isn't supposed to - like feet, hands, cheeks, coffee tables, and chairs) would NOT draw on my carefully planned piece of construction paper.  It was probably because I didn't put her in the chair she wanted, even though ALL the chairs on our kitchen table are the same...or perhaps it was that I wasn't giving her the correct color marker, even though she thinks every color is "pink" and would throw them if the "green" wasn't pink or the "blue" wasn't pink...but the greatest of all was sissy, aka Leah...how quickly we went from happy, to tears, to asleep - and what kind of a 'mama-razzi' would I be if I didn't capture if all on camera?

and one of Princess Bee...