The other day the girls and I were taking turn reading Franklin the turtle books.  Abby was reading every other page with my help of pointing to occasional pictures.  She got Franklin down pretty well, but then after saying his name at least six times, we turned the page and she started to read again, this time pronouncing his name as "Franklinstein."  he he-I love being a mom.

More Artwork

Jeana's Art teacher at her school is fabulous.  They are always doing fun things.  In fact, one day I had to pick Jeana up early for a dentist appointment and she was so worried she would have to leave art class, when I got there, she came out of the room crying because she was missing it, so I went back in and Abby and I hurried to help her finish her project so we could still make the appointment.  She then told me she loves art so much and wants to be a teacher too, so she decided she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up.  This position is steps up from the little mermaid that she wanted to be a few years ago...so progress is occuring.  Jeana's artwork, along with the rest of the school, had their art displayed at a local park in the spring.  Jeana insisted that we not miss it and told me about it for weeks...so of course we went.

We met up with a few friends, and here they are petting a carpenter bee.  Who would have thought there was bee that didn't sting?  Instead their downfall is they burrow into and eat your wood (aka decks, homes etc...) but hey, they don't sting!

Helping Outside

The girls were helping Dad cut down yet another tree from our yard (I think that makes 10.) Always a project around these parts.

Then of course, they had to beautify their own little house with a small vase of flowers (aka Dandelions.)

Saturday boredom

David and I were busily trying to catch up on household chores, while the girls were sent into to clean up their room.  In the end, instead of a clean room, I guess they decided it would be more fun to build a person...though I must admit it was pretty ingenious.

Opening Day

Opening Day for the Red's is always a big deal here.  I guess since I'm not a local, I don't understand it, but it is pretty much a holiday 

around here.  People take off work, there are events all day, a parade downtown and then of course, the first baseball game of the season.  David and I went last year and well, I felt like I had 'been there, done that.'  However, David and his love for sports, felt differently and when our neighbor offered to sell us tickets, he had a hard time saying no.  Our compromise was, I would bring Abby and join him for the parade, and he could go to the game with someone else.  Aaah...it was nice.  Abby loved the parade, though it was wet and cold and I didn't have to find a babysitter.  Worked great.

Easter Fun...

I have always wanted to try my hand at a braided bread Easter basket.  I always see pictures of really cute ones in magazines and thought it would be fun.  Well, in the end, I decided it wasn't very fun or successful so unless someone has great tips...that was a one and ONLY attempt.
Here are the girls with our friend Lynn.  She is a sweetheart.  We had to take a picture with them in their Easter Dresses with her because she was overly kind and actually got the girls Easter dresses.  So, thanks Lynn for making my girls look so cute!
Here is my attempt to take a cute Easter pic of the girls...obviously this is as good as it gets.

Abby sportin' her Easter Basket with her good friend 'Pinkie Pie' this was her reward for stopping thumb-sucking.  We worked for months on incentives, punishments, sticker charts,nasty polished, toys etc...and nothing worked.  So, Abby and I sat down to chat to see what she thought would work.  She proceeded to tell me about this toy she had seen in a store months earlier.  I faintly remembered seeing it, but didn't know where we found it, so we got on to Amazon.com and found the pony.  I printed off a picture and she carried that picture around forever.  I told her if she could go two weeks with no thumb, she could have it.  I didn't even have to give her warnings...it worked like a charm.  Thumbsucking was over!  She did great for months, then we tried to get rid of pull-ups at night (she is a very deep sleeper) and out of spite of getting her up to potty one night, she deliberately looked at me, then stuck her thumb back in...and well, nothing has worked since...even taking her toy away.  Oh well, hopefully she'll get over it someday.  I did have a dream a few days later that I had another baby and was adamant  that the baby only take a pacifier!  Hee hee.  Though Abby was such an easy baby because of it....just didn't know it would be so hard to break the habit.  

Jeana posing with her Easter Basket.  She got a cooking nintendo DS game...that she LOVES.

Posing with Easter Bunny at a local church Egg Hunt.

Look what we found!

The girls and I love to make treats for the 'grandmas' who live on our street.  So, we made so yummy Easter Nests to take around....

Of course the spring day we delivered the treats, it was raining hard...so after delivery, the kids made the most of the weather.

Egg Drop

Jeana's school did a 1st grade egg drop from the top of the school roof to see who's eggs would survive.  They had been talking about animals and reptiles and this was a fun end to the science discussions.  The kids were so excited and families got to come watch.  In case you haven't figured it out yet or don't know, the local theme here for the city is flying pigs, weird I know and I don't really get it, but I asked Dave to bring home some goods to wrap the egg in from work.  So, he came up with supplies and the idea (convenient theme for the project,) and left it up to me to create the idea with Jeana.  We had a good time making it and there were lots of really creative containers.  At the end (and all week) we heard that there would be two awards choices, those who's eggs "survived" and those who's eggs "almost survived"  Luckily, Jeana's was a survivor!

Cubby

Last year we went to Disneyland and Sea World.  Of course the souvenirs at Disneyland were double the price, yet the winner of the most popular souvenir was from Sea World and was this silly little polar bear in a purse.  Jeana has carried that thing around with her everywhere, slept with it every night and dressed it a million times over--still!  I guess it was a successful purchase.  The only ironic thing is that the day we were at Sea World, it was so hot, we had seen almost everything and decided to just let them choose a toy then leave.  The only exhibit we hadn't seen was the polar bear...which of course is the toy she chose to help her remember the trip.  

Abby's Ballet Recital

Abby Took Dance lessons with two friends this year through the YMCA.  They all had a great time.  The teacher did a really nice job and always let the parents come and watch the children practice at the end of the lesson.  There were a few battles of getting her to dance, but she always had a good time when there.  I asked her after the recital what she thought of dance. She told me she LOVED it, however, I think part of that came from the excitement of the night because they got a bag full of candy  and they got to dress up in pretty costumes.  What more could you ask for?  The recital theme was Candy Land-- they were peppermint twists.