Home of Steve, Christine, Katherine, Ally, Rosebud, and Rex
Easter was special this year as it was the second day home for Rosebud, our new Golden Retriever. The girls had a great time hunting for Easter eggs while Christine and Rosebud watched. Rosebud also got her first bath. Christine and I remember fondly giving Bisco, our previous Golden, his first bath. Rosebud and Bisco had pretty much the same reaction: “Please get me out of here!”. Rosebud spends a lot of time sleeping and “going potty”.
Easter
Spring break was very exciting for the kids–5 to 6 playdates and one day home with Dad. They went on two Easter egg hunts at friends’ houses and played with their cousins at Aunt Pat’s house. Our tradition has also been to give the kids a few spring/summer outfits and a toy each. This year we bought ginormous stuffed animals at BabyStyle. Katherine’s animal is a lamb – no surprise – and Allison got a big giant purple hippo. They spent at least a couple hours afterwards dragging these huge stuffed animals around the house.
Other major events:
Easter Egg Hunts
The kids had a great time this weekend, hunting eggs three times. First, they went to Trilogy, then at our house and then at Grandaunt Pat’s house. I consolidated their stashes this morning. And, boy, do they have a LOT of candy!
Perhaps the most memorable moment occurred during the Trilogy egg hunt. Allison was with my mom, while I helped Katherine uncover eggs on the other side of the clubhouse. Unfortunately many of the older kids had scooped up the younger kids’ eggs on the way to the other side of the clubhouse. So, Katherine found 23 eggs – Allison got none. Thanks to some of Grandma’s friends, Allison received a few prized eggs after the hunt. Katherine also let Allison pick several eggs from her bag. You can see Allison checking out her half dozen eggs; she kept opening and closing the eggs looking for more candy and treats.
The next morning the kids raced around the house looking for another round of eggs. Allison looked for one color eggs; Katherine two-toned eggs. Bisco also managed to get some treats after Katherine put her basket down on the floor and left it. During the minute that she was gone, he snarfed around 10-12 chocolate eggs and kisses. Luckily, it wasn’t enough chocolate to make him ill (since he’s a whopping 75 pounds), but Katherine was pretty upset at him. We managed to find replacement candy, and all was well. ๐
Katherine was particularly psyched to find one egg with two quarters in it. She exclaimed, “The Easter bunny gave me money to save for college. You won’t have to pay for my college!” Ha!
In the pictures you’ll see the kids riding the Gator at Aunt Pat’s house, Katherine at a Build-A-Bear party, kids with Lolly the clown, dying eggs with Grandma Bush and celebrating Grandma Chang’s birthday last weekend.
Take a Load Off!
Allison’s favorite movie these days is Madagascar. She will say out of the blue, “What a bunch of pansies!!” or “Pansies!!” (Yes, we’ve told her it’s not very nice, but that seems to encourage her!)
Last Friday we had Steve’s parents over for dinner. Katherine raced to answer the door, with Allison right behind her. What did Allison say? Quoting Marty she said, “Come on in – Take a Load Off!”
Pre-Easter Festivities
Today was an extraordinarily busy day for the kids. We started with a pancake breakfast at Trilogy to benefit a foster child home in Seattle. Then, Katherine and I went to our weekly Chinese school, then to lunch and back home to meet Steve – who took Katherine to a birthday party at KidsQuest in the afternoon (whew!) Allison went to my mom’s house for a nap and then a visit to a nearby friend’s house. We then went to a friends house for pizza dinner. We’re just about all done in.
Perhaps the most endearing moment of the day occurred when the kids spotted the rather tall Easter Bunny at the breakfast. For only $2.50, we had a picture taken of the kids on our laps next to the bunny. Neither wanted any part of sitting on his/her? lap, especially the bunny must have topped 7 feet tall with the long ears. As we ate, they continued to peek at the bunny, which decided to mosey on over for a visit.
Poor Allison cowered in her chair. She first leaned away from it and gave a half-hearted wave and “bye Easter Bunny. ” As it came closer, she leaned her head onto the table, covering her eyes with her hand to hide. I reached over and held her – she bravely peeked over my shoulder and repeated several times, “Bye Easter Bunny.”
The girls fell asleep as soon as we put them down tonight – in anticipation of some serious egg hunting tomorrow, a brunch with friends and then a dinner with Steve’s extended family.
Lucky Number Seven
So, why are the kids holding their hands up? Given the wide age range in our potluck group, the moms decided to ensure a fair distribution of eggs by labeling the eggs. The oldest kid had the hardest to find eggs, and the unlabeled eggs were easier to find. Katherine was #7 and eagerly passed her verbal test with flying colors:
Mom: “Katherine, if you see an egg with this on it (holding up 8), what do you do?”
Katherine: “Put it back!”
Mom: “What if you see this (holding up 7)?”
Katherine: “Put it in my basket!!”
According to Steve, she did well at the hunt – not taking the other eggs and helping scout the remaining unmarked eggs at the end of the hunt.
Sibling …Something
It’s not full blown rivalry yet, but Katherine and Allison have developed their own style of playing together. Katherine sometimes adopts teacher mannerisms telling her baby sister, “That work is not ready for you yet, you can’t touch that yet…hey, you’re not supposed to play with that…”
Other times, they make a beeline for each others toys. Katherine decided to take out some puzzles the other day, which intrigued Allison to no end. She crawled right over and reached for puzzle pieces. Katherine informed her, “La boca no…no eating…Allison, you’re too young for this!!” We then talked about giving Allison other toys to keep her preoccupied. As soon as Allison started playing with plastic keys, Katherine came right over, snatched the keys away and said, “I need these for my Beetle.”
Telling Katherine to ask Allison to take things is a bit dicey. She will say, “Allison, may I take the keys….” and if Allison waves them around, it becomes an implicit yes. We’ll have to work a bit more on taking turns and not grabbing from the baby.
The good news is that Allison has spirit. She gets mad when Katherine takes her toys and works really hard to keep up with Katherine. She also tries so hard to play with her sister, for instance knocking over block towers that Katherine has made. One of Katherine’s favorite activities is to give Allison a checkup with her medical kit – giving a fake shot, listening to her chest with a stethoscope, tweezing out splinters, etc. She says, “I’m Doctor Bush, you’re the nurse and Allison is the patient….No, I’m the nurse, you’re the doctor…” (it just keeps going and going.)
The Globe
The globe in the picture has special meaning – it used to belong to me many years ago, and I’ve given it to the girls for playtime. Katherine latched right on it, telling me that it wasn’t wooden like the one in school and that the globe didn’t come off the base.
She then put the globe on wooden stool and started the birthday circle that they have a school. The song goes like this, “Katherine’s been around the world three times, she’s been around the world three times, she been around the world three times, been around the world three times.” (to the tune of happy birthday). Then she warbles, “…it takes 12 months, 52 weeks and 365 days…”
Did the Easter Bunny come yet?
Katherine was so excited for her three egg hunts this weekend. Yesterday’s hunt was with our potluck group of friends, with about a dozen kids in attendance. Allison unfortunately didn’t experience the hunt – she decided to take a 2 hour nap! We’re pretty sure she’s moving to one nap a day. Katherine did a great job, according to Steve, of finding her 12 eggs. She ate 3 pieces of candy at the party and lobbied hard for more.
The second hunt was this morning at 7:30AM. At 5PM, I heard a Lambey rattle and Katherine padding in our room. She asked, “did the Easter bunny come yet?” We told her no and to get in bed and go back to sleep. At 7:30AM, she woke up and said, “The Easter Bunny Came!!” My mom, Steve and Allison, Katherine and I wandered around downstairs trying to find all 41 eggs that had been hidden (ahem) the night before. The hardest location was courtesy of Steve…inside one of his shoes. That was the last egg to be found. Steve thinks there is one more egg still in the house. Hope the dog doesn’t find it first!
Allison really didn’t grasp the concept of putting eggs in the basket. Her inclination was to crawl, grab the egg and then stick it in her mouth. Thankfully, Katherine was generous (??) enough to lug around two baskets and put Allison’s mixed color eggs in the second basket.
The last egg hunt was at Steve’s aunts home this afternoon. The cousins trooped around the house looking for plastic eggs with grapes inside. ๐ Katherine made up for lack of candy by spotting Swedish Fish in the bathroom. The interchange went like this…
– As Katherine walks by with her mouth bulging…”Katherine, what’s in your mouth?”
– “Mmgbbbh”
– “Katherine, you have to tell me what’s in your mouth”
– “No” – walking off with her hands behind her back which are holding another Swedish Fish
We’re working hard on truth-telling; Katherine is prone to telling us what she wanted to hear or what we want to hear. It’s time to start increasing consequences.
Perhaps one of the most memorable experiences this weekend was Katherine driving a child sized Gator. (Steve has pics and we’ll post later.) Imagine her cousin Kevin driving the Gator with Katherine beside him. Then imagine Katherine driving, squealing like mad, and heading straight for the house. I had to almost cover my eyes. The good news is that Steve ran besides the Gator and then figured out how to slow it down. Still it was unnerving to see her head down a hill laughing so hard she could barely steer. It got even more interesting after I went inside – she apparently put both hands above her head (while driving) and had a great time.
We’ve got a live one
Steve and I can’t let Allison out of our sight. One of her favorite tricks is to keep an eye on Katherine. Once her big sister opens the gate and heads upstairs, Allison makes a beeline as fast as she can for the stairs. She pulls herself up and heads upstairs. This happens in the blink of an eye – like say less than a minute before she gets up to the third stair.
This afternoon Steve and I were cleaning out the garage. I was busy puttering around when Steve came outside. I asked him where Allison was and he said that he had put Allison in the far corner of the family room with toys. Within 1-2 minutes, I heard a slight thunk-thunk sound, and the door which hadn’t been closed entirely, started to open. Allison wedged her little fingers around the door, pulled it open and stood at the door with a big smile as if to say “So, whatcha doing?”
That all said, she’s a total trooper. I must have lugged her around the garage and house for a couple hours during our cleaning session. She also got to ride the tricycle for the first time today – big smiles from her and Katherine who pushed her.