16 and 23

Stephanie seems to be good at counting... As she is my oldest child, I am not sure what the skill level should be, but I am satisfied with her abilities.  She understands how to count in the higher numbers, though sometimes needs prompting with the first number.  For instance, once she'll get to "twenty nine, twenty ten", I say, "twenty ten is called thirty", and then she starts in on "thirty one, thirty two..."  except for the numbers 16 and 23.  They are missing, and have been for a while.  Yesterday she asked me what 10 plus 10 more was.  I said 20.  She said 21.  I said, no 20.  She insisted it was 21.  I told her to count it out, as I had already realized she was asking me 10 plus 10 because she was counting her fingers and toes.  She had already done the counting, and then was asking me to see if I knew the answer.  So she counts out loud, got to fifteen, then jumped to seventeen, and thus arrived at 10 plus 10 is 21.  She used to combine the words "fifteen and sixteen" to make a number like "fixteen", but she has apparently more recently decided to settle on keeping 15 and wholly ignoring 16.  I do correct her from time to time, but I don't make a big deal out of it, as I think it will work itself out. 23 is also missing, which is interesting because 33 and 43 and 53 are not missing.  But ask her to count to 25, and 23 is never there.  As a person that enjoys math, I can leave or take 23, as I don't find prime numbers that interesting, but I do really miss 16.  16 is a great number, it even has a square root, and not all numbers can claim that honor.  I am certain we will get them both back with time, but in the meantime, Stephanie can say with confidence that she has 21 fingers and toes.

Cupcakes!

We took a few days to get to it, but we did celebrate Gwen's birthday with cupcakes.  Happily, as an April baby, we were able to take the party outside, which we did primarily for clean-up and nice picture purposes.  Stephanie helped her open presents (one from Stephanie and one from Granny Gen) and also did the honors of making a wish for her and blowing out her candle.  With Stephanie's help on all of those, Gwen was able to concentrate all of her efforts on cupcake eating... and eat she did!

What is that thing behind me?

Stephanie wanted a picture with her.  Gwen wanted to eat more cupcake.

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!