Matthew reads

Often if Matthew has been "too quiet" for a while, I find he has parked his car in Michaela's room, pulled most of the books off her shelves, and is engrossed in turning the pages. It is very cute that he loves books so much. Pity it also makes such a mess!

Michaela-isms

Michaela has never had a lot of "-isms". She wanted to speak properly from the word go. Maybe I corrected her too much. But I have savoured her own silly sayings, even though they are so few and far between. As a toddler, she would call a butterfly a "flutter-die" and strawberry "straw-be-berry". She would often say "That would be like soooooo fun." Sadly, I can't think of any others... Mattew became Maffew.

Now, if you ask her what her toothpaste smells like, she says "figaroni" with a very cheeky smile. When she introduces Matthew to kids at the park she says "This is my little brother, Maffew. He's always trotting into trouble." A piece of ribbon is her "sew-er" (used for sewing, of course).

Dress up usually consists of tieing her pink snuggly blankie around herself in different ways. Around her body like a bath towel it becomes a ballgown. On her head it is a "bride" (veil). Around her neck, a cape, so she can be a super hero.

Even though she has dolls now, I love how she still uses her Winnie the Pooh teddy to be a princess and her puppy to be a prince. The sheep teddies are their horses.

Matthew tries to say Lightening McQueen "Akeen" and his catch-phrase Ka-chow "Ah-choe". After we say grace, instead of saying Ahhh, he can now say Ahmin. And, as always, will wait until we are done praying to eat, now matter how hungry he is. Amazing the things they learn just from watching. Now Michaela will even remind me to lock the front door if I forget. I guess she watches me like a hawk.

I love how she makes up her own words to music without lyrics. Her favourite is the intermission music for the Sound of Music soundtrack. Her favorite line is "Don't forget about my sister" which she sings repeatedly throughout. She also has Cinderella on tape and will sing to the music after the story, mostly nonsense, but often "Cinderella, she is the one!" over and over. There is no better "feel good" music I could imagine listening to in the car. My other favorites are when Matthew chimes in to "Do, a Deer" (he sings the do, re, mi parts) and "So Long, Farewell" (he sings the "cuckoo" part).

In the insults department, her favorites used to be "you're a bega" or "you're a sega". A newer favorite is "Mom, you're a nose-bush". These are always used in a silly (not mean) context, so I always have a comeback to the nose-bush by calling her a nut-bush. And lots of laughing ensues. When I try to be stern with her she says "Oh Mom, don't be such a guppy." And if she really wants to impress you, she'll show you her dinglehopper (a fork) and comb her hair with it.

Our favorite last night was her desperate plea during dinner "But its too spicy when there's no spice!"

Easter

 The Easter celebrations began a week early at Michaela's first egg hunt. Her friend Brody was there and they had a great time together. 

 First "egg and spoon race" too!

Enough chocolate eggs to last her until next Easter... and by that I mean, she will be lucky if I don't eat them all before the month is out. They are Cadbury's. And I am weak.

I really wanted to go to mass on Good Friday since we would be camping on Easter. Michaela was excited to wear her "Easter" dress so we went at the normal mass time, which was the wrong time, but showed up in time for the full dress rehersal for a children's reinactment of the stages of the cross. She was totally captivated, wanted to get up and be a part of it even, I had to restrain her. So then we waited a half hour for the full ceremony. She kept saying all day that she wanted to be Jesus' mother, and then when I took her with me to mass today she wanted to know if we would see Jesus again. And of course, without kids performing for her, she kept complaining how bored she was, and I was mortified trying to keep her quiet as there were very few people in the church, she was the only child, and (by default) the loudest!

Modelling her dress:

Our first night camping, I made burritos. With enchilada sauce. We didn't have a separate pot for the beans, and I figured since they get mixed together in the burrito anyway, I'd cook it all in the one pan. I named them Sloppy Jose's and they weren't bad. This pic of Matt eating his is my new favorite. He just looks like such a little bloke, someone just needs to Photoshop a stubby holder on that juice bottle...

These kids love their juice bottles:

Another one of Matt in his chair. I just find them so cute and funny, he is a little boy now, not my little baby anymore...

We learned from our last camping trip to bring MANY toy cars for Matt to play with. They were indispensible. He drove them on every surface, over and over.

Smile without your dummy?

Rugged up on a cold morning! (Yes, Michaela is eating popcorn for breakfast...)

This log carved into a bench made me think of my dad. I wanted the kids to sit on it but it was too wet. So Michaela posed and Matt drove his car on it.

Michaela was pleased with a "throne" and footstool, even though her legs aren't quite long enough.

We picnicked at a playground with a bike park and the kids enjoyed walking through and climbing on the obstacles.

The walk up to Steavenson's Falls near Marysville. Michaela told me the trees were broken. She also said it was a jungle down where the ferns were growing strong.

Michaela enjoyed posing in front of the falls.

Our second campsite was a real score, wide open space next to the creek all to ourselves!

Matt was obsessed with the water. I had to constantly chase him down there as he really wanted to play in it and it was waaaaaay too cold for that! Luckily there was a pile of rocks nearby, he could go back and forth picking them up and throwing them in. Both kids find this activity very enjoyable!

Matt loved having a big space to push his mower around too.

This run-by shot captures his "just try and stop me" expression as he hauls butt back down to the water

Now I just need to recover from chocolate-egg sugar overload... too good... can't resist... help!!

For Auntie Sheri

We miss our Auntie Sheri, we talk about her every day, and we were so sad we couldn't Skype with her so she could watch the kids open their Easter presents. So here are a few pics!

Good timing with the hair ties, Auntie Sheri always seems to know when the supplies are runnin low...

She cried the entire way to the shops today because she forgot to wear her new sunnies: she likes em!!

Princesses... as if you could go wrong (I think the quote was "These are the best stickers EVER!")

Two cool dudes!

Michaela, unsure about the bug viewer.

Thanks Auntie Sheri (and Uncle Luke, too), we love you and miss you xoxoxoxoxoxoxo