Planting Season

We planted a small garden with zuchinni in it today. Baron was very helpful. He is very interested in growing produce. He helped his Grandma Holstein plant a very nice (and large) garden last weekend. We decided to start small and if it does well we will plant a larger garden in the future. I love Harper's cheeks in this picture. She is like a Cabbage Patch Kid watching us work in the yard.

Happy Easter!

I love church on Easter Sunday and all of the girls in their pretty dresses. Harper has an aunt and uncle with great taste. She was given this dress for Christmas and it fit for Easter! Thanks Carly and Tyler!

After church Baron helped me make deviled eggs for our lunch. He is very interested in helping in the kitchen so I am constently looking for ways to involve him.

Right before nap I realized I didn't have a picture of the two of them together. The Easter baskets were no longer in one place (just picture little toys and easter grass all over). The candy was already put away in hopes that it would be forgotten. So I just set them on the couch and tried to get a good pictures. It didn't really happen...after all it was nap time!

Egg Hunt

We went to a communiy egg hunt the day before easter that was sponsored by a local church. It was a beautiful day. We got there a little early so got comfortable and checked out the competition.
Is an egg hunt a competition? I guess not technically, but it sure got my heart pumping with a little competitive blood. My son does not have this blood. He stopped and opened EVERY SINGLE EGG before he would go and pick up another egg. I spent most of the time saying "put it in your basket, Baron, and go get another egg!" The rest of the time I spent laughing at myself, my inability to calm my competitive nature, and the fact that I was encouraging him to go get more CANDY. Candy - the stuff I go to great lengths to hide from my son. Candy - the stuff that makes my son bounce off the walls with excitement then crash into a super dramatic tantrum. Candy - the stuff that I also used to bribe my son to potty train.
After the egg hung (aka 10 seconds later), Baron had to sit and examine all of the candy one more time. As he drooled over tootsie rolls, Harper sat on her blanket and drooled (literally) on our video camera.

It was a fun day! We stayed at the park after the hunt and ate lunch, fed ducks (we missed the sign that said "DO NOT FEED THE DUCKS") and played on the swings and big toy. Then we came home and enjoyed a little more sun on the deck before nap time. Doesn't this sweet girl look like her daddy?

9 Months Old

Happy 9 Months Harper! I am asking myself the question all parents ask - where has the time gone? You have grown so much. You are 2' 3.75" (56%) and 19 pounds (53%). Your personality is growing every single day. You are starting to stick up for yourself when your brother takes toys away from you. You let out one loud high pitch screech as if you are saying "NO!" You love to shake your head no especially when your dad whistles at you or makes kissing noises. All you want to do is stand so it is no wonder you are not crawling yet. If you are sitting you can stretch and reach further than any baby I have ever seen. In fact you go up on your ankles in this weird yoga-like pose while you stretch. If you do get onto your belly you get MAD! I keep trying to come up with ways to get you to stay on your stomach longer and the only place you like that position is in your bed. So I let you lay in your crib after nap or in the morning and chat, chat, chat hoping that you are on your tummy. I am not sure what you do in there, but you are never in the same position I leave you.

*Well I wrote this about 3 months ago. Since then Harper has had her first birthday and I am BEHIND on the blog. Readers - stick with me. I am going to attempt to catch up because we have been busy having fun these past three months!

SUNSHINE!

Harper is 9 months old today and the sun is SHINING! Even better - it was actually warm too! We spent as much of the day as possible outside. The grass is still soggy so we are thankful for our deck. At the end of the night the kids wanted to go inside and as I was picking up, I realized that I moved half of our house out to the deck to keep them occupied!
My favorite moment was when Baron read to Harper. She tries to pay attention...

but she would rather have the book in her hands. Their hats crack me up. Harper's actually fits, but Baron's is on the small side. I can't believe how much his head has grown since the end of last summer. The best memory from this picture is what Baron was saying to Harper. "No-no baby girl." I often say that to Harper when she is doing something that we don't let Baron do like throw food. Someday she will understand too, but most of the time I am saying this for him to hear. At least I know he is listening.
Once Nathan was home we decided to dye easter eggs. Baron LOVED every minute of it. I was thankful we were able to do it outside (with a blue tarp below us). I really had to let go and watch Baron be creative. Most eggs were multi-color by the time we were finished. A few were cracked, but overall I was so impressed with his attention span and his gentle handling of the eggs. We finished the evening with dinner on the deck. Such a beautiful day with many memories.

Gus

Our dog, Gus, must be one of the kindest dogs in the world. He is patient. He is forgiving. He is gentle (as gentle as a 100lb retriever can be). However, he wears his heart on his sleeve and in this series of pictures it was his face that caught my eyes. Harper looks pretty proud of herself, but Gus tells the story with his eyes.

Finger Food

Harper is becoming slightly more interested in finger food. Tonight she had couscous and was unsure about the feeling in her hand, but really enjoyed the small amount that made it to her mouth. I am feeling more confident giving her new things since she is doing the chewing motion and cut her first tooth on April 8th and her second on the 10th. We happened to be at Grandma Holsteins when the first little razor of a tooth polked through. The joke was that she didn't want to miss any of the good food that Grandma was serving!

I love watching a baby discover food. They feel it and smash it and make disgusting messes, but the look on a babies face while doing all of this is priceless.

The Grand Idea

We've all done this as parents. We think we have this grand idea that will solve all of our problems. We implement the idea only to find it leads to yet another problem. My grand idea this winter came to me after Christmas. We had put our Christmas tree in a corner of our living room with our love seat on one side and the couch on the other. This helped protect the tree from curious little hands. After the tree was gone, I decided not to put the furniture back. Instead I decided to move Baron's play kitchen into the space. I figured I wouldn't have to look at the mess of all the pretend food and utensils, etc. And it worked!! Baron loved it because it was his own kitchen. However, after a week or two the newness of his own kitchen wore off. He still wanted to play in it, but just not alone. The words I heard ALL WINTER LONG were "Mommy, come play in my kitchen." Let me remind my readers that he is two which means he does not say anything one time. He says it 10 times. He also loves his kitchen and plays in it multiple times a day. So I heard "Mommy, play in my kitchen" approximately 50 times a day ALL WINTER LONG!

Tonight I said to Nathan "Quick, take a picture of this." At first he didn't understand so I had to explain that I wanted a picture of the small space where Baron, Harper and Mommy played ALL WINTER LONG! Have I mentioned that it has been an unusually long winter this year?

Dress Up

While Baron napped today (and Harper obviously didn't), we played dress up. I was really just trying to figure out what clothes I needed to clear out of her closet. She is growing like a weed. It is almost time to pull out her 12 month size clothes. This dress was a 6 month and it was not buttoned in the back, but she still looked cute enough to share.

This one fit a little better. I rarely put her in dresses, but decided today that I like those chubby little legs so we are going to start wearing them more often...if it ever warms up!

Vice Versa

Sometimes he holds his sister...and sometimes she holds him.
I really do wipe their faces after dinner, but I guess not as religiously as I thought?!!

Kids

I think I have three at times...I was just trying to take a picture of Harper gumming her apple while sitting with her dad. I took about 10 then as I was reviewing them I noticed her handsome dad in the background. Funny Nathan, but it looks like I get the last laugh!