Easter Celebration

Emma and Ani were off from school for the last ten days as part of a spring break and Easter vacation combined.  During this time we visited the library, met friends at the Monkey House, spent time playing at grandmas, went for many trips to the park and even made it to the zoo.  Easter was spent over at the Walczynski house.  This year the girls baked Easter bunny cookies and were very excited about finding the eggs scattered around the yard.  Teresa and Kevin did a great job hiding the eggs so that some were even hard for the adults to spot.  Mommy was pleased that we got a few decent photos this year with all four of us looking at the camera.  It was also great to meet Tiffany's new baby Aliyah and her older son Tino at church.

 Emma and Ani working together in the kitchen

 Four bunny cookies successfully made

 Trying out the creations

 Tiffany, Aliyah, Uncle Mike, Tino, Aunt Mara

 Sister Hugs

 Grandma Kathy and the girls

 Meeting Aliyah

 The hunt begins

 Ani in full concentration mode as she searches for the final egg

 Emma's basket is so full so has to resort to storing a few eggs in her hood

The proud egg seekers at the end of the hunt

Bedtime Snuggles

Ever since daylight savings time, we have been up late into the evening.  Ani thinks her bedtime is 9:30 instead of 8:30 and we can't seem to convince her otherwise.  It probably didn't help that the girls had Easter bunny cookies so late last night.  All the sugar sent them on a chaotic laughing spree.  Even though our sleep has been in need of some repair, our fort building skills have skyrocketed.  Our ability to beg for just one more story or one more ride as a "sack of potatoes" on Daddy's back has also increased.  Not sure when the whole concept of we just need to go to bed earlier will kick in, but hopefully for Mommy and Daddy's sake it will be soon.  For now, Mommy gets to say "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

 Our Two Little Monkeys

The Fort Palace

The Girls' First Concert

Last weekend Dan performed with his guitar group at a bar in Minneapolis.  The girls got to stay up extra late (especially when you factor in daylight savings) to see Daddy play.  Both girls were wide-eyed when they entered the bar and loved sitting on the high stools.  When Daddy's group started to play, you could hear Emma and Ani cheering, "Go Daddy Go!  Go Daddy Go!"  By the end of the songs, Ani was falling asleep in Mommy's arms and Emma was ready to race up onto the stage and take the spotlight.  Way to go Daddy!  It takes a lot of courage to get up there and play for so many people.  We love you!

Singing and Swimming

Winter tends to be a tough time to get out and move around.  So we spent many countless hours singing and dancing, tumbling and swimming in January and February.  We are really enjoying the warm weather that has come in with March.  Emma is starting to practice her T-ball skills and Ani likes to ride her tricycle.

Celebrate!

February seems to be a hopping time for birthday parties with Emma and Analise.  Many of Emma's friends have birthdays at this time of year and Analise had a wonderful second birthday celebration.   At school, Analise had Mommy, Daddy and Emma visit her classroom to share pictures of her at different ages and read her favorite story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Grandma and Grandpa Walczynski celebrated with Ani by serving special crisounts and opening presents.

Analise told Emma and Mommy that she would like a peanut butter chocolate chip cake this year so that is exactly what we made.  After a fun time at tumbling class, we sang "Happy Birthday," tried to get Ani to blow out the candles, opened presents and spent time together as a family.  Analise also had special phone messages from Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bruce.  This year's most cherished gifts were the Strawberry Shortcake books and doll as well as the Cindrella doll.

Thank you to everyone that remembered Ani on her special day!

 Two princesses at one party!  Oh My!

Ani singing Happy Birthday to herself.  

 Cinderella spun prince charming off the table.

Emma with her best friends at a Monkey House Birthday