Let the festivities begin

Easter is here, and Bailey loves to dye eggs.  This year we went out to Caden and Tyler's house to do it with them.  The kids had fun, and only a couple of eggs got dropped and had to be eaten right away.  We are looking forward to the rest of Easter weekend and more fun to come.

 

 

There's Gonna Be Trouble

Bailey seems to be catching the boys' eyes already.  One of the boys in her class, John, spends most of playtime chasing her and trying to kiss her.  John's mom and I were joking about it, and she informed me that John said "I can't help it, she is just so beautiful."  Quinn is another boy in her class, and they have become quite the little pair.  They wait for each other before leaving the room so that they can hold hands.  Quinn came over for a playdate yesterday, and he is very sweet to Bailey.  The teacher has commented they are cute with each other.  Be prepared Dad. 

On a somewhat similar note but a little more disturbing, Bailey asked me if I knew what tongue kissing is.  I played dumb and said no.  She stuck out her tongue and said "You and a boy stick out your tongues and rub them together."  Fortunately she added "But you only do it when you are married."  To which I replied, "You are so right.  You will only do that when you get married."  Oh if I could only make all of her decisions for her for the rest of her life. 

SPRING! And Super Nature Girl

It was a gorgeous day today and we decided to walk Bailey to school.  I had to get a picture of the girls because they just looked so cute. 

  

 

OK - I can explain Bailey's outfit.  They had dress-up day at school today for the Easter party.  They were supposed to either dress "fancy" or as a superhero.  My daughter didn't want to be any old superhero.  She made up "Super Nature Girl."  She wore all kinds of animal prints and jewelry.  Then she added the zebra cape I made her.  On the walk to school she told me all about the amazing powers she has.  She can remove water from roots if a plant gets too much, she can move trees if they are making shade and killing grass, and she is a defender of animals all over the globe.  I love her.

Super Nature Girl to the Rescue!

 

Going Against the Grain

Miles took Bailey ice-skating today.  Miles City has an indoor rink, and today was the last day of free skating for the season.  This was the first time Bailey had been on skates for at least a year, and it was probably her 5th time on skates ever.  Luckily they had walker-style helpers for the kids.  As you will see in this video, Bailey was a fan of the walkers.  Unfortunately she wasn't a fan of skating in the correct direction.  That's my girl - doing things her own way. 

Pile O' Blankets

The girls love to pile a bunch of blankets in the crib and play in them.  OK - Bailey actually does the piling and then asks me to put Josie in with her.  Josie loves it for about 5 minutes.  Those are a pretty cute 5 minutes though. 

Josephine

 A couple pictures of my baby girl.  She is such a happy baby!

Leprechaun Obsession

After learning about Leprechauns at school Bailey has become obsessed with catching one.  She spent hours setting up a coin trail, trap, house, and snacks to lure one in.  She got it into her head that he would come sometime before midnight on the day before St. Pats Day.  We let her stay up and wait, and she says she made it until 1:00 am.  We went to bed around 11 so I am not sure if it is true or not.  Unfortunately she didn't catch a leprechaun, but she did find all of the snacks gone this morning.  All we can figure is that a little guy came during the night and gobbled up the green goodies. 

Oh well, Bailey got green pancakes, eggs, and milk to make up for the lack of a little green man. 

A few updates ...

Here are a few things going on around here:

• We moved Josie out of our room and into Bailey's room.  The plan has always been to have them share a room.  We only have 2 rooms upstairs, and I don't want either of them in the basement.  Josie transitioned just fine, but surprisingly Bailey had a tough time.  Lots of tears.  I still don't really know why because she had been so excited for Josie to come into her room.  Things have finally settled down though.  
• Josie is sleeping much better - only getting up to eat once.  I am still looking forward to sleeping all night long, but I am pretty happy with only one feeding at this point.  
• Grandpa Wayne is here this week and we just finished painting the basement.  I am going to post pics of the project tomorrow.  We are quite exhausted.  I am not sure what is about painting, but it sure wrecks your body.  Maybe I am just horribly out of shape.  I LOVE the results though.  No more primer white walls with white trim!
• Miles has been very sick this week, which is no fun for anyone.  He is keeping his distance from the girls and I so that we don't all end up sick.  He has had to work on and off, but he is hoping to have some down time and recover this weekend. 
• Last but not least - I learned that you can cook bacon in the oven.  YES, IN THE OVEN!  We love bacon around here, but I hate the mess it makes.  Microwaving it takes forever and the microwave smells for days.  Using the stove top or griddle makes a huge greasy mess.  I looked it up on the world wide web (where everything is true) and found a way to cook it in the oven.  It came out perfect.  We had delicious BLTs and very little mess.  It doesn't take much to get me excited I guess. 

I am sure there are other things going on in our lives, but that is all I can think of for now.  I have a feeling the paint fumes have gotten to me.  

A New Cousin

Jacey Diane Muscha was born on March 11th to Aunt Jen and Uncle Travis.  She joins her brothers Tyler and Caden.  Her and Josie will be about 7 months apart, and they are sure to cause all kinds of trouble together. 

Look out Tour de France

We finally got around to taking off the training wheels from Bailey's bike.  She informed me that she is the only one of her friends who doesn't know how to ride a bike.  I guess that makes us horrible parents.  In an effort to redeem ourselves we worked with her today.  I have to give her credit, she really stuck with it.  She was very determined to get it.

Unfortunately there was a bit of falling involved.

When she was about to give up I told her I would take one more quick video and then we could head inside to have some jelly beans.  Yes, the stores have suckered me into buying Easter candy.  This is what happened.  (see video)

Don't be too alarmed.  What you don't see is her popping back up and saying "Can we go have the candy now?"  Overall she made some good progress, and I'm sure we will be biking all over town soon.

More Tooth News

Bailey has been quite concerned that the Tooth Fairy would take her tooth.  She REALLY wants to keep it for her tooth collections.  She is obsessed with collecting everything and has collections of special objects in various jars, bowls, bags, and anything else that will hold them.  So she wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy and asked her to please leave the tooth.  She also mentioned that she would like to receive some money but only if she could still keep her tooth.  She said it would be okay if she didn't get any money, just DON'T TAKE THE TOOTH.  I told her she could think about it until she was ready and after about 3 days she decided to finally put the tooth under her pillow along with the note.  That very nice Tooth Fairy gave her $1 and left the tooth.  She was very happy with the outcome, but did mention that she didn't get a toothbrush.  I guess the Tooth Fairy didn't realize that leaving a toothbrush is the thing to do these days.

In other news - Josie cut her first tooth!  It is barely poking through, but it is definitely there.  I guess the balance of teeth in the universe is equal again.   

Not that I'm comparing them, but ...

Here are a few comparison shots of my girls.  I know they are quite different creatures, but it is fun to see pictures from the same ages. 

 At Birth:

Josie

Josie

Bailey

Bailey

6 Months:

Note the difference in hair.  Bailey had already had at least one hair cut by this time.  Josie still has very little hair.  She is my little fuzz head. 

Bailey

Josie

The Sweetest Sound Ever

Baby giggles have to be the best thing in the world.  Miss Josie has been sick with a cold which has made for some miserable times.  But today she was in a great mood for a bit so I grabbed the video camera.  Doesn't it just make you smile?

Does this mean she is growing up?

My baby girl lost her first tooth.  She worked at it for a couple of hours because she wanted to surprise Dad when he got home.  We couldn't get it out, and I am too chicken to really yank on it. When Dad got home he suggested she start spinning it around.  Sure enough - it came right out!  Smart Dad.  I was happy for her, but kind of sad too.  She is growing up WAY too fast.

Congratulations Kiddo!

Spearfish/Rapid City Weekend

We headed out on Thursday afternoon for the Black Hills area.  Our friends Todd and Lonna Potter live in Rapid City, and we have been meaning to get to their house for a few years now.  When I got ready to write this post I realized I forgot to take any pictures of them.  Bummer.  But we had a nice time at their very cute house.  I went shopping in the "big city" for a bit on Friday, and everyone else headed up to the dinosaurs on the hill.

 

After our time in Rapid City we headed to my brother's house in Spearfish.  It was nice to see everyone, and Bailey had lots of fun playing with her cousins.  Josie loved all of the attention too.

Noah

Hannah and Josie

Tommy and Miles

 

Elyse and Josie

Traig and Josie

It became very obvious that Bailey was exhausted when we saw this happen about 20 minutes after we left for home this morning:

Yes, she fell asleep with a sucker in her mouth.  I pulled it out when she started drooling.

Go Bison!!

Miles is an NDSU Bison.  Laura is a SDSU Jackrabbit.  They made a friendly little wager when their teams met up this year in the FCS playoffs.  The loser had to pose for pictures in the opposing team's t-shirt.  You can probably guess who lost when you see these incriminating pictures.  Sorry Laura.

Togetherness

Last week Bailey really wanted to watch a movie with Josie - in the crib.  So I let her climb in and I set them up with the DVD player.  It was quite cute for about 10 minutes until Josie lost interest and insisted on leaving the theater.  Bailey stayed in the crib and finished the show. 

I know, I know ...

I said I would post every other day.  I remember.  But we are in South Dakota for the weekend so I am a bit behind.  I promise I will catch up when we get home tomorrow.