The Vance's

jammies.

>> April 15, 2013

Teething sucks. Well, at least it seems to suck when you are a one year old with molars and canine teeth coming in. Poor Lucy has all the classic symptoms: runny nose, swollen gums, fever, drool and irritability.

I stayed home from church with her yesterday so she could get some extra sleep (since the previous night wasn't the best sleep of her life). We did a lot of cuddling.

I finally got her to sleep, but after 4 attempts of putting her in her crib and then waking up again I decided it was best to just hold her. Besides she's pretty adorable when she sleeps.

After a long nap she felt so much better! Then it was time to watch Matt cut the grass.

And finally...around 3:30pm she got out of her jammies and into some real clothes for the day (and only because we were going out to dinner that night).

in a week.

>> April 10, 2013

Kids are quietly napping so here's a recap of the week!

My kids are messy eaters. Lucy is in the "throw everything on the floor over and over and over again" phase and Carter just doesn't always notice when the food isn't reaching his mouth. It might be hard to tell but there are about 1,498 Cheerios on the floor and only 20 on the table. And, for some reason Carter is using a sifter as a bowl. Hmm.

Matt and Lucy had a date at Costco. Hot dog for him, apple slices for her and $300 spent on food/toilet paper/laundry detergent for us.

She's a riding machine! Trying desperately to keep up with her big brother when we go on "bike" rides now. And I know she probably doesn't need the helmet, but I'm a bit over-protective and wanted to get in a good habit.

I'm trying to encourage more arts & crafts, especially on rainy days. The kids can usually only last 10 minutes, but I'll take it!

This describes a typical day. Carter rarely wears clothes when we are home, Lucy hates anything that touches her head and they are always playing together!

Bath time is one of our favorite time of the day!

Carter and I had a date at the Everett Children's museum. We just love that place!

Putting him to work (although, to be honest, he was more than excited to clean out the garage!)

Fun times at Playdate Cafe!

Another Mama/Carter date for a nature walk in the rain. We are really trying to give each child some quality one-on-one time during the weekends. Carter had the freedom to splash in puddles, climb trees, get muddy, throw sticks and wander around the woods while having my full attention. And, it was so fun. We had such good conversations about friends, food, movies, the weather and animals together.

A morning of baking. One morning Carter randomly asked to bake carrot muffins together. So we did!

A day of shopping at Trader Joes. I let Carter push the kid cart for the first time and he was so careful to make sure he didn't bump into anyone. He said it was an important job to push the cart slowly and make sure all the food stayed together. When we got home he told me the cart was so happy because it found a big boy to love it. Apparently the cart was sad and lonely waiting for Carter to arrive at the store (only a 3 year old could come up with this stuff!)

And this morning, a trip to the Disney store. Yoshi ate the legs off of Carter's favorite Peter Pan figurine so we went to replace it. But I didn't want to buy the entire box of figurines from the movie so we somehow ended up with this huge Peter Pan doll. I've never seen a happier kid.

And it wouldn't be a good week without a trip to the park. Lucy just beams with smiles every time she gets in a swing. I love this face!

Easter Weekend.

>> April 6, 2013

WARNING: Lots of pictures of adorable children.

This year Easter fell very early and I thought for sure we would be spending it inside because of cold, rainy weather. Luckily I was wrong! It was the most beautiful weekend and we took full advantage of every moment outside.

Early Saturday morning we headed down to Matt's parents house for the day. After a delicious breakfast we headed over to the Puyallup Rec Center for an Easter Carnival. It was dumb. Long lines outside that formed into even longer lines inside just to buy tickets to then enter the carnival. Since my family is not known to be patient we opted to skip it and just go to the playground. To our surprise we discovered the huge Easter egg hunt in the back and claimed our spot.

Of course I totally forgot to bring a cute Easter basket so a reusable bag from the car became plan B.

After the 5 minutes of fun (because let's be honest....50 kids grabbing 500 pieces of candy doesn't last long) we headed over to the playground.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Vance's house, the kids got to open their Easter presents. Matt's mom always hid the kids' baskets growing up so she did the same thing for Carter and Lucy. The kids were so spoiled. Carter got a great new puzzle and some outdoor gardening tools! Lucy got an adorable swimsuit, book and a new ride-on toy! (Carter rarely wears pants and had just woken up from a nap when he started his hunt).

Then we headed outside for another egg hunt!

Lucy was SO good! She slowly searched each area of the yard and then casually placed each egg in her basket.

Carter had a different method. He would find an egg, eat its contents and then move onto the next.

I just love this picture. They are seriously the bestest of friends and looked so cute riding their "bikes" together.

Then it was time to color eggs. Last year we colored our eggs outside to prevent a huge mess in our kitchen and let the kids run around while they waited for the eggs to color. It was a huge success so we did it again!

I used lemon juice instead of vinegar in the dye. Lucy took her spoon and assumed it was for drinking!

We ended the day with an amazing dinner and headed home. Early Easter morning the kids woke up and we got ready for church. All I really wanted that morning was some cute pictures of the kids, pictures with me and one good family shot. I ended up with these. Not what I imagined but oh well.

We don't really make a big deal about the Easter bunny and baskets. Carter got more gardening stuff and Lucy got a new sippy cup and some dried fruit (yep, boring parents!)