Many people hate that their child sucks their thumb. I think I'll hate it if she's like 15 and still doing it but for now it's her lifesaver. That and her blankie. I can't imagine what it would be like if we lost it. At least we know she can't lose her thumb... right????

I've basically decided that it's impossible to hold Sky without cramming your nose into his cheeks. There must be some magnetic forcefield.

Miss Lil loves playing on the stairs. You know I still call her one of my "babies" but she's not a baby anymore. Holy cow. When did that happen????

Sometimes Lily and I go for short walks. Yesterday I saw some dandelions and I seriously was thinking in my head, "awww. This could be one of those cute mother/daughter memories of me teaching her how to blow off all of the seeds." It's funny how it's always so different in my head than it plays out in reality. So I showed her how to blow on it and ended up getting my arm covered in spit from her attempt. Note to self: let Lily hold it herself next time.

You know you're a parent when it's exciting business going on a date. And all we did was go to Southpoint Mall and walk around, but it was very much needed. So thank you Papala for watching the babes. And today I was given the best calling there is in the entire church (according to my sister-in-law, April, who has the same calling) --- Primary chorister! I'm so excited about it, too. Although I have to say that it's really weird leading the Primary in the same room that I was once in when I was their age. Talk about flashbacks. But April has been oh so kind and has let me steal all of her ideas and so there is a lot of fun to come! I'm so excited!

M.R.S. Degree

Aren't little girls supposed to try wearing their mom's high heels instead of their dad's dress shoes??? Maybe all of my 5 inch heels are too big for her, although I have seen my nieces do it... hmm...

Skyler's first french fry (or "deathsticks" as my parents call them) :)

Lily has the appetite of a teenage boy.

Sucking on his socks... YUM!

McDonalds Playplace. Lily chowed down her food so quickly so she could go and play just so she could sit at the bottom and play with these things. She didn't even want to climb around. Crazy girl.

So I just had an eye opener experience when I realized that today would have been the day I would have graduated from BYU-Idaho with my degree in Elementary Education. Obviously that didn't happen. Instead of getting a cap and gown I ended up getting two kids. This may sound weird but every day I still wake up amazed that I'm 21 with two kids. I did NOT plan my life to look like this. One of my life's great lessons has been to not judge. I have to admit that I was one of those people who said, "those girls who get married after their freshman year are complete idiots and only go to school to get their M.R.S. degrees." And what do I do? Go to school for a year and get married, of course! I also was one of those people who just thought it was ridiculous when people would get married and have a baby right away. See the pattern???? My new goal in life is to stop judging people otherwise I'm going to end up having to learn a lot more lessons. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like had I not gotten married so young. And, honestly, I can't imagine it. But even as I write this I have Lily in bed with me as she's dancing to music from Glee and I'll take her any day over a cap and gown I would have worn for one day. Someday I'll get it but for now I'll just have dance-a-thons with my kids. One other thing I have learned from our experiences is that a Bachelor's degree can't get you a job immediately but getting my M.R.S. degree sure did get me a job right away and I just have to count my blessings that although it's tough it's my dream job. Thank goodness Heavenly Father knows what He's doing when I'm completely clueless.....

Happy Easter, Y'all!

Skyler loves hugging (and sucking on) Nanni's arm during dinner. It's pretty adorable.

The next few are pics of Shelley Lake (one of the places of my childhood). Ben thinks it's so interesting that in NC so many parks are based around lakes. Well I guess that's just how we roll.

Bamboo

Those ducks are so overfed. They barely wanted our food.

Is there anything hotter than seeing your hubby with his kids???? I'm sorry, it's just the truth.

We were invited to dinner and an easter egg hunt at the Baldwin/Dart house. Lillers had a blast!

We had Lily do a practice run in our backyard the day before so she would have a fighting chance. Then we did this one at the party. And today she had her third one from the Easter Bunny and it was old news. Ben ended up getting all the eggs for her. Haha.

Skyler had fun, too, even though he wasn't able to join in the hunt. Next year, Bud.

Well life's pretty fabulous. For the first time in almost a month I can say that none of us are sick anymore!!! SWEET! This has meant that we spend much more time outside and we're all getting darker. Ben of course has pulled a reverse Michael Jackson and is all tan now. And I'm coming to realize that my children are Ebony and Ivory since Lily tans super well and Skyler's whiter than me (didn't know that was possible). Lily and Skyler also got a kiddy pool from the Easter Bunny. It's so amazing how Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny all have such fabulous taste.

Mooncrawling

Hope y'all don't mind some ABC crackers.....

Ben and Jerry's free ice cream day! Yum... except Lily ended up stealing Ben's ice cream instead of eating her own.

Skyler's been doing his rocking for a while now and he's just starting to crawl a little more. Although, I help him learn the crawling skills I am not looking forward to his mobility. It is always a sad day when they figure out they can basically do whatever they want. But for now he's in what I call the "mooncrawling" stage because he usually just pushes himself backwards when he's "crawling." He knows how to crawl with style. :)

This week has been the week of projects. Ben installed a new microwave over the stove for my parents. We've also been working on some landscaping around their yard. It's been wonderful to be outside. Skyler's been really sick (double ear infection, sinus infection, and teething) and so he's been almost inconsolable. I have to take care of him mostly by myself since he's a mama's boy. The one thing that makes him calm down is being outside. But since we've had a little bit of rain I just have to stand next to the window a bunch. Poor little man. Other than that life is pretty bright over here. And not to rub it in or anything but it's going to get up to 80 this week. OK.... maybe that is rubbing it in. MWAHAHAHAHAHA.

The Quote of the Day for Us

As everyone who reads this blog knows Lily can be quite the hand full. Today has been no different. Heather asked Lily to bring me Skyler's clothes. Well she didn't, so the whole family goes looking for the missing clothes. Heather sees them and as she picks them up she says, "I have the eyes of a bloodhound's nose."

Sadly to say this seemed a lot funnier at the time, but I still get a petty good chuckle when I think about it.

Oh, the Joys of Life

What are those things called that you use to squeeze the mucus out of babies' noses with? I call them snotsuckers because I can never remember. Anyway, Lily was using a snotsucker as a pen and was writing a bunch of notes to us.

Is there anything better than little guys in baby ties?! And, yes, I realized I put his clip on on even though his shirt is unbuttoned at the top. That's what happens when babies start outgrowing their clothes...

When I go into the bathroom to do my hair/makeup Lily will often follow me and and close the door behind her. She'll pull herself up onto the toilet and start going through my stack of baby magazines or play in the sink (or brush her teeth for 20 minutes, which seems to be the favorite). We just love our girl time. The other day she was really fascinated in my makeup. So I let her put a some lip gloss on (which ended up being all licked off because it was peppermint flavored) and then I let her put on her own blush. She looked great with it all over her chin. You can't really see too much in this picture... but let me tell you she was a little beauty queen.

The best swimsuit in the history of swimsuits. Bless you Old Navy for creating a swimsuit with little tulle tutus.

Thank you tree in the front yard for making me miserable. I'm just praying that I have allergies. We've all had colds and my parents are getting over their bronchitis, but just today my mom was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Hopefully we'll all make it through this wedding season alive.... if not bless the person who ends up being responsible for my children. You're going to need all the help you can get.

Just for Ben's mom--

Day 2 - Bird/Build Day!!!!!

Unfortunately, on day 2 of vacation Lily of course woke up sick -- really sick. So we switched around our days in hopes that she would get better soon, so on Tuesday we just stayed home with our activities. Although I know they say to let sick children rest and everything but Lily just wanted to be outside running around, with her little nose running the whole time. So outside we stayed for a good portion of the day because it was 75 degrees! YUM!

Notice how he only has one sock on. It seems like every time I take him out of his crib he has taken off one of his socks. I would think it was weird but Lily went through a phase like this when she would always pull up her left pant leg. Poor kids can't help that being bizarre is in their genes.

Time to make bird-feeders!!!

Although we hung all four of our pine cones on Tuesday none of them are still hanging from the trees because of squirrels. That's alright. I don't discriminate. In fact, I'd rather see squirrels around than birds.

"Hey Ben, do you think you could just whip out a bird house for me?" *gets wood and whips out a bird house* "thanks." Being married to a handyman is the BEST. :]

Ben and my dad helped a family in our ward move a couple of weeks ago and so they gave Ben their grill since they didn't want it anymore. He was happier than a kid on Christmas Day.

Well, yesterday Skyler and Ben woke up pretty sick. And this morning I woke up sick. I just laugh that we haven't really been sick this winter but the week we declare to be vacation week we all get it. Haha. So our activities will be delayed until we're all feeling better. The good news is that our first daffodil bloomed yesterday! Yay for spring coming!