Birthday Week!

Why celebrate for just one day when a week is so much longer!?  Kevin was at a conference for most of Birthday Week, but as luck would have it, Alaina was in Kansas!  She was attending a conference one day while she was here, so she managed to swing an all expenses paid trip to the lovely state of Kansas (and while not as tropical as some of her former conference destinations, we were thrilled to have her).  Kevin arrived back about a day and a half before Alaina left, so we did have some time together as a big group.  Alaina brought her camera, photography skills and a handmade outfit for a little photo shoot (pictures to follow... Gwen had mixed feelings about the outfit, but Stephanie was quite the little model in it) and we also had a chance to go to Stephanie's school for "Week of the Young Child" to do activities with the kids.  Alaina brought doctor supplies to play with, I did a density experiment with soda cans (did you know that diet sodas float and regular sink? I didn't, and it made for a fun demo/activity).
Here is our first round of pictures, and there will be ones with cake later!

Future Blue Hens?

Dr. Stephanie at school

Gwen's actual birthday

Alaina was testing the background and got these cute shots.

Alaina got "upgraded" at the rental car place when they goofed her reservation. 

Easter 2015

Easter this year was a reminder of Easter last year, when we were only weeks away from Gwen's arrival.  It is so crazy how fast time passes, and it is hard to remember not being a family of four.  This year went much like last year... An egg hunt hosted by our wonderful city with the requisite bounce houses for the kids, church Easter morning and a visit from the Easter bunny.  Oh, and Kevin and I installed a shower door together with some help from Stephanie and minimal disruption from Gwendolyn. Admittedly, that is not generally a part of what we do on Easter, but I had to mention it because it was a big accomplishment and turned out to be a family affair.  Gwendolyn can pull herself into a standing position, but isn't big on moving from that position or setting herself back down, so she spent the part of the day she didn't spend napping standing and holding onto a bead maze watching the shower door action unfold in the bathroom, while Stephanie kept herself busy, sometimes helping us, sometimes frustrating us, sometimes entertaining her sister, sometimes entertaining herself.  Would it have been easier without kids in the mix?  Sure it would have... but then it wouldn't have been worth mentioning on the blog, and I am pretty excited to brag on our shower door install.

Daddy made me wear the basket as a hat. Everyone thought it was so funny, but really, I kind of rocked the look.  

Stephanie wouldn't sit with the Easter bunny, but she happily volunteered Gwen.  We took pictures and removed Gwen from his lap before she even knew what was happening!

Proof that it did warm up at least a bit!

The Easter Bunny made his way to our house while we were at church!

Buzzy Bee is just as happy as ever to be included.  Look at that smile, it is no wonder she loves him!

And the end result of our labor!  AND Alaina will not have to share the guest bed with the shower door next week when she visits, which I am sure she appreciates!

Photos from the vault

Kevin and I have never been accused of being high tech.  In fact, until embarrassingly recently, I had a 428MB memory card in my camera.  This was super annoying when we wanted to take a bunch of pictures, like say during a vacation, but it at least made us good at emptying the camera memory onto the computer and sorting through the pictures.  A year or two ago, however, I upgraded to a memory card that has, you know, actual memory.  It makes taking thousands of pictures easy, but it also allows me to ignore the memory card for years on end.
Kevin requested that I empty the memory card for an upcoming trip he is taking, and I was surprised by the number of pictures that I have just forgotten about.  Of course, I want to share all of those here! It is distinctly possible that I have already uploaded a couple...  if that is the case, then I guess you get to enjoy again!

This one is now so funny to me, because I feel like Gwen's life these days is all about watching her sister, and it looks like it maybe has always been that way!  And what a little baldy she was!

Kevin took Steph to a car show last year when I was working.  

At a hotel near BWI for a very early flight home from VA.  I bet you can't tell from the picture that is one of the only nights ever that Gwen had a terrible night sleeping... when we had a 7am(ish) flight the next day, of course!

I really hope Gwen still fits in this next Christmas...

This was Downtown when Santa landed on the roof of Weavers Department store and had to be rescued by the Lawrence Fire Department.  

At the recommendation of one of my fantastic students (in the picture with Steph), I signed her up for Junior Dance Day at JCCC.  She got to learn a dance routine with the Golden Girls dance team and perform it a half time of the basketball game.  

Our girl Tessanie

I think there is something to love about the way that kids mispronounce things.  My mom still talks about a few of our words from when we were little (I apparently couldn't quite get a handle on the word fish, calling it pish instead) and I remember when my nephew called me Trissy instead of Krissy, so I know that these sweet little  mispronounciations will stay with us for a long time.
In particular with Stephanie, though, I have become slightly obsessed with the sounds that she makes with S plus a consonant.  When she first started speaking clearly enough that most people understood her, there were still a few words we didn't understand.  We finally figured out to add an s sound to the front of what she was saying, and voila, we could get 9 out of 10 correct.  "Sp" just loses the s sound and speech sounds like peach.  But when you listen carefully, it is often more than just leaving off the s sound, s plus consonant often make an entirely different sound in her hands.  "Sm" makes a p sound, so smart, small and smoke are part, pall and poke.  "Sl" keeps the s, but adds a w, so slip and slight are swip and swight.  "Sn" is a t sound, so snore is tore.  Typically, "st" just drops the s sound, so start is tart, except in her own name.  As if she doesn't want to lose the s sound but can't get "st" to come out right, she will very clearly tell you her name is Tessanie, and no one ever can figure out her name when she tells them.  It makes me want to nickname her Tess, but I don't want her to think I am mocking her,  because I am not.  It is just that being with Tessanie is an adventure... Because doesn't it sound exciting and dangerous to take the eligator to the number three floor?  The only chance to do that is to take it with our girl Tessanie.

The magic word

Ack!  What happened to January?  I have been stalking my friends blogs (and you two know who you are) and I am always bummed when they haven't updated in a while, and I just realized I haven't even put up Christmas pictures yet!  That still won't happen tonight, because I can't be bothered with my computer and camera right now, but I have had this story rattling around in my head for a while, and I thought it was time to post it.
One of my motivations for this blog was Stephanie learning to talk and the hysterical things she comes up with.  The other side of that is her learning what words mean and how to use them correctly.  This can be frustrating for me, because sometimes her use of the things we say can sound awfully sassy, even though I realize that is not her intent (ask me when she is 15 and I will be able to tell you a different story, I imagine!).  For instance, there was the period of time that we spent trying to teach her to ask for things nicely by saying please.  She now frequently asks nicely for things and says Thank You, and You're Welcome.  The unintended consequence of these lessons were the occasions where she insisted that WE say please for absolutely everything we asked her to do... At the time, it came across as super sassy, but she eventually got a handle on what was please worthy and what was not and stopped demanding we say please for every little request.  And, on the flip side, I have learned that sometimes we can say please several times to no avail, and it seems to not be as magical of a word by which I have often heard it referred.  Stephanie is not always cooperative, in fact.  There are moments during which one might even call her uncooperative.  One might also acknowledge that she is four years old and one should probably have more realistic expectations, though one might defend oneself by reminding you that high expectations are good!  The other night, though, as I made her scoot out of the way to make room for her sister, she moved.  Immediately.  No questions, no complaints, and it occurred to me that is nearly always the case.  When it comes to Gwen needing something, Stephanie obliges.  No please or bargaining required.  She just does.  Gwen needs a bath?  Stephanie pulls together a towel, outfit and diaper before you can get upstairs.  She is complaining in the high chair while I get her more food?  Stephanie gets her a toy.  We have to leave story time to change a diaper?  Stephanie is in the bathroom and handing me wipes.
There are moments that Stephanie gets annoyed with her.  Mostly she doesn't like getting kicked during reading time or getting her haired pulled (and really, who can blame her), but in that moment that she moved over so Gwen could be with us, I realized that her full cooperation with Gwen is really something very special, and that maybe Sister is actually the magic word.