Amelia

Age: 18 Months

Height 30.5 inches

Weight: 26 lbs (a heavy, compacted 26 lbs)

Known For: Giving cute smiles, throwing temper tantrums, giggling (in a raspy tone), and saying "MINE!"

Achievements: Randomly saying numbers (the correct one) out loud while Allison and I are counting. If you try to get her to count from number 1, she won't do it though. Running like crazy. Pointing to nose, face, eyes. Saying animal noises.

Getting in Trouble for: Playing with the dog water dish (yes, she is still doing this - though she has expanded her repertoire to include trying to fully submerge her face into the bowl). Picking on Allison and trying to pull her down to the ground. Arching her back while Mom or Dad tries to get her into her car seat.

Favorites: Playing outside, especially the swing, puzzles, books, Dora, and eating!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Whenever we go into the toy department at a store, Brian has to set off all the talking toys at once. Allison came across a basket of baby toys a few weeks ago and was setting them off all at once. Of course when I pulled the camera out, she stopped so Brian helped her a bit.

Allison Dresses Herself

I finally got around to pulling video off of our camera, so I may be adding some video clips over the next few weeks. This was taken in January; please note that the shirt is on backwards and the pants are inside-out.

Happy Sibling Day

The other day, I was in the kitchen doing dishes and the girls were playing in the living room. I suddenly realized that it was way too quiet so I ran into the living room, because as every parent knows, quiet means trouble. When I reached the living room, I stopped in my tracks and a tear came to my eye. The girls were sitting about three inches apart watching TV together. It was a simple thing, nothing special, but they looked so sweet and innocent. It kind of reminded me of the scene from Forrest Gump, when Forrest and his newly-found son were sitting next to each other watching Sesame Street.

One of my favorite things of being a parent is watching the girls interact. I love watching them play together and when Allison looks out for her little sister. Don't get me wrong, there are times they drive me crazy, especially when they fight or grab toys out of each other's hands. However for 95% of the time, Allison and Amelia warm my heart and make me glad to be a mom.

So for this Sibling's Day, I put together a little slideshow (3 minutes long) from the last year. I hope you enjoy.

Happy Easter

Today we celebrated another wonderful holiday together as a family. The day started off bright and early with the kids discovering their Easter baskets. Of course Allison had to check out what was in Amelia's basket. Allison received a Crayola keyboard and mouse set for our computer and a Melissa and Doug lacing bead set. Amelia received a Little People farm truck and a shape puzzle. By far Allison's favorite treat was an ice cream cone filled with Jelly Bellies. As you will see in pictures below, she didn't put it down for most of the morning.

After they checked out their baskets they searched for eggs. Amelia could have cared less about the egg hunt. She was happy with the candy that was inside the first one she found. Allison had a ball finding the eggs and with a little help from Mom, found them all - even the ones that the Easter Bunny hid in hard-to-find places.

After the egg hunt we got the girls dressed up for church. Brian's parents and sister came along with us. It was a beautiful service. I love the music on Easter Sunday. At the end of the service, the choir and anyone else in the congregation that would like to join, sang Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. I love listening to the choir sing that song, it gives me chills. I pulled the kids out of nursery early so they could listen to the song with us.

These family photos were taken after church. You can tell that the day's activities were catching up with Allison.

The girls had fun twirling in their dresses until they were dizzy.

After we put Allison and Amelia to bed, the adults had lunch. We had grilled salmon, roasted veggies, baked potatoes, and bread. When the girls woke up we had dessert and then the girls colored the Easter eggs we forgot to bring to the party yesterday. Amelia had more fun trying to eat the dye rather than coloring the eggs.

Easter Party

On Saturday we attended the annual family Easter party at my cousin's house. The girls had a fun time and we were exhausted by the end of the party chasing after them.

When they first arrived at the party they were very excited to see their Papa.

I handed out buckets for the girls to collect eggs during their hunt. Amelia had another idea on how to use it. Maybe she was the smart one since it was starting to sprinkle outside.

Allison did a great job with the egg hunt. She collected a lot of eggs.

When Amelia found her first egg, she was content with the piece of candy that was inside. She could have cared less about all the other eggs that were around her. I finally talked her into finding some more eggs.

It is a tradition to have a pinata at most of our family events. It didn't take long for Amelia to figure out how to hit it. Since she is the youngest out of all the cousins she got first dibs at it. Everyone was shocked (and the kids were disappointed) when she broke it open. Ha, Ha, just kidding, even after a good beating on it by the older kids, that thing never broke open. The adults had to pull it apart to get the candy out.

Allison was very focused on coloring her eggs. Thanks to my cousin JoAnn, who had a spare dozen eggs since we forgot ours at home.

Overall it was a great party. Thanks to my cousin for planning it. We had a wonderful time.