The Cutest Easter Bunny EVER

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a cuter bunny than Emily. She doesn't look quite as amused as I was though;)


"Seriously. Not THAT funny."

"Why God? Why?"

Easters Past

Dan and I can hardly believe we're on our fourth Easter as parents! We've had so much fun the past three years "helping" the Easter Bunny make the holiday fun for Ben, and Emily! I know I shared last year's Easter pictures last year, but I wanted to share some pictures from Ben's first and second Easters, along with my faves from last year!

Ben's 1st Easter

Our camera was being repaired during Ben's first Easter, but we were able to capture at least one photo of him in his nerdy little outfit:) The quality is TERRIBLE, as it was taken with our video camera. You get the gist of how adorable our little 7 month old Ben was, though!

Ben's 2nd Easter

Ben was 18 months old for his second Easter, and he really enjoyed it! He loved the Curious George themed basket, and really had fun looking for eggs at home and at Mimi's.

Our little cutie, showing off his new crab sunglasses.

Finding eggs filled with treats!

Four generations in one picture! I was 8 months pregnant with Emily:) This was my grandma's last healthy Easter and we were all so excited to spend it together. She adored Ben and loved having a baby around for the holidays. She always made Easter really fun and special for me, my brother and my cousins and we all miss her so much! I hope Easter is a kick-ass party up in Heaven, Grandma(GG)!

Ben's 3rd Easter and Emily's 1st!

At 2 1/2, he just started to understand Easter...at least he understood that it was fun!

Ben loved finding his special eggs and seeing what he got in his basket!

Emily loved crawling around, picking up the eggs and shaking them. She liked pulling things out of her basket, too!

Their favorite Easter goodie(and the thing responsible for my favorite Easter memory to date!) were the little bottles of bubbles we put in their baskets. Ben and Emily spent a good 15 minutes laughing and watching as Dan blew bubbles for them. You can tell in this picture just how much they all enjoyed it!



We hope this Easter is even more fun the last three have been:) Stay tuned for more pictures from tomorrow!

Ben's Swingin' Good Time

Apparently the swing-drought is over. Now they BOTH enjoy the swings...in moderation. Ben likes to sit on them, but not be pushed very much. Emily likes to both sit, and be pushed, but only lightly, and only for a short time. Oh, how I long to be one of those parents shackled to the park-swings, pushing the afternoon away. It seems so peaceful...all you have to worry about is making sure your kid doesn't accidentally kick someone running too closely by the swing set. Instead, we spend maaaybe 5 minutes, then we're off to our next daring adventure. Lately, they can't be bothered with the age-appropriate play areas. They want to run with the big kids. Run, climb, potentially fall off of things. It's exhausting!

Ben, after an over-zealous attempt on my part to push him on the swings.

Much happier to do his own thing!

He liked Emily pushing him, at least! Whatever, dude.

Weeeee're Home!

Ben and Emily have received the world's BEST hand-me-down. A Little Tikes Playhouse, dubbed "The Little House". My aunt and cousin brought it over to Mimi's house today and never have you seen two more happy and excited children! They couldn't wait for us to build it, and thankfully that took mere minutes. As soon as they walls were up, they climbed in and played for over an hour. Regrettably, the Little House can't come home with us, since we live in an apartment with no backyard:( This news was quite devastating to Ben. He's slightly consoled by the fact that he can play with it whenever he wants to at Mimi's. He's talked about it all evening and can't wait to play in his little house again! Emily loved it, too, but had her usual issues with sharing. She wanted to be the only one inside the house at any given time, and took it upon herself to scream bloody-murder at poor Ben-Ben when he tried to come it. Eventually, he figured out how to by-pass the tantrums by climbing in through the window. Apparently, it's just the super-fun door she objects to him using? Regardless, this toy is a huge hit and we're so excited and thankful to have it! Thank-you so much, Auntie Moe:)


It's so much fun to open and close the shutters on their little house!

"I'm home!"

A tearful picture of Emily. This little house was just too much fun for her to share. Too bad, Chicky. It's Ben's house, too!

Ben is so resourceful:) She wouldn't let him through the door, so he just climbed in through the window. Eventually, she calmed down and shared more readily. They loved taking turns knocking on the door and telling each other to "come in!".

They Call Him Maverick

My Aunt Moe brought Ben and Emily their belated Christmas presents which included this SUPA CUTE bomber jacket. We took it out of the box and he immediately exclaimed, "I love it! Put it on!". Phew! He's been known to shun gifts that don't meet his lofty expectations. At first, Ben looked like the Fonz. Then, my cousin Tony handed over his aviators and the final result was even MORE handsome that Tom Cruise, circa the '80s. If he didn't already have a little cousin named Maverick, we might just change his name!


Looking far too cool

Upon hearing he looked like Tom Cruise, he immediately flashed to Tom, circa Oprah's Couch and he insisted we take it off. Either that, or he was too hot. I like to think he's just exhibiting good taste by not wanting to be compared to certain over-zealous Scientologists.

Santa-Homer and some Cheetos

My mom has an animatronic Homer Simpson dressed as Santa. When you press his button, he says "Homer-isms" and even sings and dances to his versions of holiday songs. Ben has been weary of this toy since birth, but I showed Emily it today, and discovered they both liked it! I left the room for a bit, and came back to them laughing and trying to feed Homer their Cheetos. Something tells me the real Homer Simpson would have approved:)

Baby Callie's 1st Official Benmily Show Update!

With thirteen weeks or so left to go, I felt the need to begin some pregnancy updates on this blog; sort of introduce Miss Callie as I know her now. I am 25 weeks along and I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. She definitely makes her presence known, however! I seem to have a pleasant mixture of symptoms from both my past pregnancies. I have the heart-burn and bad skin that I had with Ben, the pelvic discomfort, greasy hair and frequent braxton-hicks contractions I had with Emily. One thing is the same: lots of migraines, fatigue and irritability(sorry, Dan!). What's different is her activity-level. She's so much less active than Ben and Emily were in the womb. I feel her kicking and moving throughout the day, but it's really subtle. I'm hoping this means she will be a calm, serene, Buddha-like baby! Ha! She probably just likes to reserve her energy for her all-day-and-night screaming fits;) We'll find out soon enough!



Here's some info I recieved in my email about Miss C at her current gestational age:


Your baby rivals the average rutabaga in weight -- about 1 1/2 pounds. (Length: 13 1/2 inches, head to heel.)