A Visit from Mimi and Papa

A couple of weeks ago, we enjoyed a visit from Mimi and Papa (Jeff's parents). The weather was gorgeous, so we went to Centennial Park for a picnic lunch. Kaitlyn got to feed the ducks, and we even saw a mama duck and her ducklings.

And Ethan took his first solo steps! He's not a fan of grass, so when we let go of him, he took a couple of steps so that he wouldn't fall down into the grass. He was SO proud of himself! After that, he was eager to try out his new skill and would walk several steps to me before lunging into my arms. I wouldn't say he's officially walking yet, but he takes several steps by himself each day, and he can walk pretty well when he holds on to one of my hands.

The tulips were exquisite and Kaitlyn loved examining them in closer detail. We've been reading some books about plants and flowers, so this was her chance to see the parts of a flower up close. She is such an inquisitive little girl and loves to learn about everything.

A picture with Mimi and Papa in front of the train. We're heading up to NJ next week to visit with them and some of our friends. I'm sure we'll have many more pictures to post when we return!

Ethan's 1 yr. pictures

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff took some one-year pictures of Ethan. Such a happy, joy-filled little boy!

Making the sign for "Touchdown!"

Sitting in his new rocking chair

His favorite thing to do--"reading" books

Although he's not walking on his own yet, he's standing by himself for several seconds. And he loves to walk beside me while holding on to one of my hands. He walks behind anything he can push (toys, wagons, strollers, chairs), and lets out a mad cry when he gets stuck. He's also starting to use that mad scream when Kaitlyn takes something away from him...or when he wants more food. And if he sees his beloved bananas, he will immediately start begging/crying/screaming for them. Even when we're in a grocery store. Fun.

Kaitlyn will be three in a few weeks. I have a hard time believing that. She is at such a fun age (well, it's fun most of the time!). She cracks us up with her questions, comments and observations about life. Some funny things she has said lately:

"Be careful, Mommy! Don't go too fast! The policeman is going to pull you over and write you a ticket." [I'm not quite sure where she got that since I have NOT been pulled over lately!]

"Ethan Daniel Krinks, you may NOT throw food on the floor!" [yep, guilty. I say that.]

Her prayer one night: "Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Kaitlyn, Ethan, Kasha [our dog], Doggie, Teddy Bear. Thank you for the lights and the butterflies up there [on her wall] and the closets and preschool and Megan [our sitter] and the mall [???]." Afterward she asked if God was a boy or a girl.

One day, I saw Kaitlyn gathering up all the loose change she could find around the house. Then she went into the bathroom to put on some of my makeup. When I asked her what she was doing, she said something like, "I have to get ready and get my money so that I can go to the mall and ride the school bus and the truck that looks like Mater and the apple and the car and the merry-go-round." [All coin-operated rides. Despite her obvious fascination with the mall, I promise that we don't go that often. But when we do, it apparently makes a big impression!]

And finally, we've been enjoying the nice weather lately. Here are some pictures from Bicentennial Park.

More Easter Fun

Isn't he just about the cutest thing you've ever seen? (not that I'm biased at all!) Yesterday, we went to our church's Easter egg hunt. It had been raining in the morning and was still very wet outside, so the event was moved indoors. Kaitlyn and Ethan were in the same age group, and they got to hunt together. The eggs were "hidden" all across the floor. I have never seen so many plastic eggs in one room. What cracks me up about the picture below is that the egg hunt is almost over and yet there are still lots of eggs that have not been scooped up. I expected a mad frenzy in an effort to get as many eggs possible, but all the kids were milling about content with the eggs already in their baskets. Guess most of the little ones haven't learned the vice of greed yet!

One of the advantages of having the hunt indoors is that Ethan got to participate. I wasn't about to let him crawl around on wet grass, so this worked out well. He was quite content to just play with the eggs the whole time.

The kids had fun sorting through the goodies in their Easter baskets this morning. Ethan got some sunglasses. He's not too sure he likes them yet. He's going to be one cool dude this summer!

We managed to squeeze in some quick Easter pictures before church this morning. And it's a good thing that we did because Kaitlyn was a mess when she got home. Scuffed shoes, lost bows, and ripped tights. Easter outfits are not designed to survive the playground! And to top it all off, she had a poop accident in her dress at the end of church. Lovely. But enjoy the pre-mess pictures!

Easter Eggs

We're knee deep in Easter eggs around here--both real and plastic! Yesterday, Kaitlyn and I dyed eggs. We managed to keep the mess mostly contained. The hardest part was convincing her that she had to let the eggs dry before she could touch them. She was dying to play with them. And she loves eating them as much as she liked making them. She requests an egg at every meal now.

Today was the Easter Egg Hunt and Party at her preschool. The eggs were "hidden" in the grass for the kids to find. The hunt lasted all of 5 minutes, while all the parents were busy snapping pictures. Kaitlyn found lots of eggs and she had so much fun opening them to find the prizes inside.

It was a little breezy so Kaitlyn kept pushing her hair back during the hunt. Her bows had fallen out yet again. I have got to find a way to fix this child's hair so that it stays out of her eyes! Her hair is so fine that no hair accessory will stay in for very long. I suppose I could try bangs again, but I wasn't crazy about that look the last time her hair was cut.

After the egg hunt, we all went back to the classroom for an Easter party. We got to see the crafts they've been doing lately, as well as enjoy some yummy treats by the party moms. In the picture below, Kaitlyn is feasting on an iced sugar cookie while her teacher is reading an Easter story to the kids.

More Easter fun to come with an egg hunt this weekend at church...

Skittles Rainbow

We've been on spring break this week. In honor of spring's arrival, Kaitlyn made a rainbow out of Skittles and glue (with a little help from mom.) She diligently sorted all the colors and was all too happy to snack on the art supplies from time to time.

Other fun excursions this week included meeting Daddy for lunch and visiting his office, going to the mall (and getting ice cream), playing at Chick-Fil-A (and getting ice cream), and playing outside with our next door neighbors. Kaitlyn even got to hold a live earth worm in her hand and was thrilled. Oh the joys of childhood!

A Year in Review

Here's a look at Ethan over the past year, starting with the day of his birth.

Ethan's 1st Birthday Party

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan! It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by since his birth. He is such a joy in so many ways. He loves to smile and is a very laid-back baby. He loves to sit in a big pile of books and flip through all the pages. He will "walk" if you hold on to his hands. He likes a wide variety of food, but he refuses to feed himself yet. He is the sweetest little boy and loves to cuddle up for story time and lullabies before nap.

Today, he had his first birthday party. Gran, Papa Bell and Aunt Lindsey joined us for the fun. Enjoy the pictures!

Kaitlyn was SO excited about his birthday party, mainly because she knew it involved balloons and cake--two of her favorite things. Here she is posing in front of the party table.

Ethan was all smiles too as we sang Happy Birthday. Notice the look of anticipation on Kaitlyn's face. She can't wait to dig into the big cake!

Ethan immediately dug into the icing. Guess he liked the feeling of it on his hands because he kept going back for more.

Since he wouldn't put the icing or cake in his mouth, I decided to feed him a few bites. He didn't actually spit it out, but he was clearly thinking about it for a while. I wouldn't say that he liked the cake, but he didn't hate it either. Not surprising since it was his first taste of pure sugar.

Then I realized that I forgot to put his birthday hat on. So I put the hat on, and he started tugging at the string...with icing all over his hands.

Our messy little birthday boy with icing all over his hands, face, ear and hair.

After a quick bath and outfit change, we opened presents. Of course, he liked the wrapping paper most of all, but he now has some fun books, toys and puzzles to explore later.

Happy Birthday little boy! I look forward to another year of milestones and adventures with you!

Kaitlyn's Spring Program

Today was Kaitlyn's spring program at her preschool. Her class all wore yellow shirts and sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and recited "Little Miss Muffet." Well actually, no one in her class really sang or recited. Rather, they all got a bit of stage fright and squirmed and stared out into the audience while the teachers tried to lead them in song and rhyme. Pretty typical for a bunch of 2 year olds! The older classes were quite entertaining though, and it'll be neat to see Kaitlyn in that environment again next year.

Some pictures for your enjoyment...

For some reason, Kaitlyn decided that she wanted to puff out her cheeks for a good portion of the program today. Not sure where that one came from! Here she is sitting in silence as her teachers valiantly try to get them to sing.

Getting ready to go back up on stage with the whole group. Still puffing out her cheeks.

At this point in the program, Jeff was trying to corral a very restless Ethan, so I manned the camera. As soon as I stood up, she saw me and started smiling excitedly.

Here's a picture of her whole class after the program. So cute in their matching shirts!