Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter at home this year. With the due date only 2 weeks away, we decided it was best to stay close to the hospital!
Elsie was excited to see the Easter basket from the Easter bunny. New bubbles for the warm weather!

Elsie found the candy pretty quickly. "M&M's!" she shouted!

The Easter bunny brought a bunch of bows, and Elsie tried them all on at once.

Time to find the eggs!

Elsie asked for candy all day. "My see basket on floor," she asked, since the basket was being kept on the counter. After each meal, she got a few M&M's or jelly beans from her basket.

"My got a brown one."

Elmhurst Easter Egg Hunt

We left Elsie's gymnastics class a little early to get to the Elmhurst Easter egg hunt. Daddy skipped basement duty in the morning to join us at the hunt.

It was a cool, wet day, so I was not expecting a huge attendance. The swarm of 1-3 year-olds and their parents was amazing...and slightly terrifying for Elsie.

Elsie and Daddy found a couple pencils and some bubbles by hanging out in the back. Elsie even shared a pencil with her friend, Emma, who arrived just a couple minutes too late to get anything from the hunt.

Elsie had fun playing with the bubbles until she tried to eat them. No wonder the bottle says not for children under 3!

The best thing about the Easter egg hunt was that Elsie finally stopped being scared of the Easter bunny. Its amazing what some chocolate eggs will do for your reputation!

The sun came out after the hunt, and we moseyed on back to the car. Elsie did one of her favorite things on the way back - walking on the curb.

Spring!

We finally experienced a warm, sunny, 80F Sunday! Elsie was confused about why her short sleeves would not roll down and why we did not need to wear coats outside. But after a few minutes, she was loving that it was "warm outside."

Elsie is getting pretty good at saying "cheese" for the camera.

Mommy took the opportunity to wear some cute sandals to church in celebration of the warm weather. They came off as soon as we got home, and Elsie was quite excited to give them a try.

"Wrong foot" she told me when they didn't fit quite right.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday with his favorite cake - yellow with chocolate frosting. Elsie was hoping for an Elmo cake, but was not disappointed once she got to try some.

Probably not a surprise, but Jack was unable to blow out all 34 candles this year in one breath. I guess that is a combination of getting older and having so many candles on your cake!!

Getting ready for the new baby!

Elsie had a good 2-year checkup. She checked in at 34.25 inches and 28 lb, 12oz. The doctor confirmed that Elsie is a good eater...and that it was time to give up the pacifier.

So, after Elsie turned 2, we started working on getting ready for the new baby. First was ending the pacifier use at nap and bed times. It was shocking how well Elsie did!! We just explained that she was a big girl, and big girls don't use pacis. Elsie did so well, that after a few weeks, we decided to move on to the next milestone...the big girl room and big girl bed.

Elsie had been helping us get her new room ready for a couple months. We started moving more and more toys into her new room, and then it was time to move Elsie! The first night in the big bed, I think she was asleep within 5 minutes! We had one night were she fell out of bed and multiple nights of Elsie taking off her jammies. But, Elsie now knows that she has the room with the big bed and that her old room is for the baby. So smart!

"My sleep big bed like Mommy and Daddy."

Post-party relaxation

J-Mas and Papa Pete were a big help with the party clean-up. After nap time, the boys got to work in the basement, and the girls relaxed upstairs.

As the winter wears on, Elsie has been getting more comfortable with being out in the snow! We still had plenty of snow left over from the blizzard, and Elsie wanted to play! Elsie stayed right on top of the snow, but Mommy sunk in with every step!

Elsie's 2nd Birthday Party

Elsie had a birthday party with some friends from school, Ava, Lucy, and Kati-Anne. All were excited about the Elmo theme, the balloons, and seeing each other all dressed up. The girls enjoyed playing at the table and in the kitchen with the food.

Elsie has started drinking coffee and sharing with Mommy and Daddy. Yum!

Then came time for the real food. Elmo pizza for the girls!

The big girls got to eat at their own table. They just thought this was normal, since they do it at school every day. But, this was new for the parents!

Time for Elmo cake! J-Ma and Grandma helped Mommy mix all of the bright colors for the cake.

Elsie struggled to focus on blowing out the candle. It was too much fun being the center of attention with everyone singing happy birthday to Elsie.

"My eat Elsie's birthday!" Elsie has chosen to abbreviate this sentence. There were quite a few red mouths, hands, and dresses after the cake. I think we may have added a bit too much food coloring... It came off on the sheets during nap time!

Daddy did a good job managing the presents. Difficult with four excited girls!

Elsie was very excited about the tutu she received from Ava!

Celebrating Elsie's Birthday with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came up for a night to celebrate Elsie turning 2! Time to open another present!

"Like Mommy's vacuum!" Elsie was pretty excited about her new vacuum. And I was pretty relieved that she associated the vacuum with me and not the cleaners that come every couple weeks!