Hoppy Easter!

Easter lasted a whole week around here. It started with an Easter egg hunt at a local school the Saturday before with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Bruno. In advance of the event, we did a few practice runs in our basement to make sure Lill was properly prepared. She very much took to the idea and asked to do it again and again and again. The following Saturday was another Easter egg hunt at a local church, this time with Grandma and Grandpa Ferrier. More Easter candy?! Lill was THRILLED. Crafts and meeting/petting a real live bunny were also on the agenda. The main event included the hunt for the filled baskets and multiple rounds of egg hunts both inside and outside the house as well as church and dinner with family. A great holiday if I do say so myself. Come Monday morning, Lill was not happy to learn that the eggs were gone until next Easter.

You'll notice no pictures with the kids and the creepy Easter bunny. In fact, Lill insisted that we leave the carrots and baskets out on the porch for the Easter bunny and to lock the doors. She wasn't too fond of the idea of a creepy bunny entering our home when we're all sleeping and waking her up with the crunching of his carrot. Can't say I blame the gal. She's too smart for her own good.

The Bruno brothers and their kiddos

Twins/BFFs

Excited for the hunt!

Could they get any cuter?

Beautiful morning at church

On your mark, get set...

I know February is a short month but we seem to have raced through it without so much of a blog post. Apparently I didn't even take out my 'big camera' once. Thanks to smart phone technology for ensuring moments can be captured with a swift reach into the pocket and sliding of the screen button. Luckily my phone was on hand to capture some of the fun we had in February including Ray's first steps (in an effort to make a basket!), a romantical family-of-4 Valentine's Day fondue dinner, bathtime silliness and storytime and snow days! Our family and friends to the north might laugh at the snow (or, lack there of) that caused schools and roads to close. The snow doesn't last long here in the Lou so we have to take advantage of the little bit we do get!

Sweet Baby Ray's 1st Birthday Edition

Our baby is no longer a baby. He's officially a one year old! We celebrated this milestone just the 4 of us, with dinner at our neighborhood pizza place and cake and presents at home. We followed it up with a visit from Namma and Baba and a small celebration at home with close family and friends. He's 26 pounds of pure joy and smiles. Unfortunately we've been battling some nasty teething and an ear infection that won't quit so he hasn't been sleeping or acting 100% like himself, but our silly boy shines through from time to time and gives us hope that he'll be back to himself in no time. He's crawling like a maniac, waving bye, and babbling all sorts of jibberish (just no actual words or recognizable sounds quite yet). He loves dance parties and thinks his sister is hilarious. He makes a mad-crawling-dash to her room to wake her up in the morning and is all sorts of giggles when (assisted) jumping on the bed with her. He's obsessed with dogs (stuffed and real) like his sister as well as his wubanub paci's.

Still dreaming of a white Christmas

I was so looking forward to our white (day after) Christmas in Michigan. I made sure to stock up on the winter clothing essentials for our trip to Michigan over the holidays. As per usual, "man plans and God laughs" and all we got was a measly dusting. You better believe we were out there playing anyways, sled  and snow angels and all :-)

Luckily the lack of snow was our only disappointment during our week back in Michigan. We got to spend some quality time with Namma and Baba and see so many great friends and family. As always, the trip went by too quickly and I'm already looking forward to our next trip. Overall the kids did great on our drive. A pit-stop to visit my life-long friend, Victoria, and her family in Indy made the trip back extra special.

Christmas Curveball

It wouldn't be the holidays with kids without a few curve balls thrown in. Christmas Eve is always at my in-laws. But a few hours of on and off crying by our rarely-ever-cries Lilly bug and a trip to urgent care meant a low key night at home for us. We threw together a last minute dinner (as the 90 meatballs I had planned to bring to the Christmas Eve party wasn't quite going to cut it) and had a nice quiet evening at home. The urgent care trip didn't uncover any sickness and she was back to herself in no time. Perhaps all the excitement/nerves of Christmas just caught up to her?! I guess we'll never know!

Luckily Christmas day was spent enjoying our own little traditions; presents and breakfast at home, then over to Carter and Taylor's in our PJs for presents and breakfast #2 with the Bruno clan before a quick visit (and mimosas!...one of my favorite traditions!) with some of the Taylor side of the family. Christmas evening is a low key night at home with Grandma and Grandpa...this year before a night of sleep and a road trip adventure to Michigan!

You wouldn't know we spent the
afternoon at urgent care

The dollhouse she'd been dreaming about from Santa

Just love these sweet girls!

Happy guy with his train clock

My sassy Goddaughter

Mini-mom...cousin Gracie

T-1 month

With all the excitement of the holidays and our trip to Michigan, Ray's 11 month birthday came and went without so much as a "you're 11 months!!". Second kid syndrome is real, folks.

Our big, happy, meat-loving mama's boy is getting into everything. He's a pretty darn consistent napper and nighttime sleeper which makes his mom and dad very happy.

Likes: Climbing/racing up the stairs, splashing my hands in Ty's water bowl, pulling clothes out of every single drawer and throwing them on the ground, eating paper products (cardboard boxes and board books being some of my faves), pulling the air vents out of the ground and, finally, taking baths!  Unfortunately, I also seem to like pooping in the bath. Yes, you read that right. There's something about a warm post-dinner bath that gets our little guys bowels moving. So, it's speedy baths for me now until we can figure out that issue...

Dislikes: Not a whole lot. Having toys, paper, books, etc that I'm chewing on taken out of my hands, losing all of my paci's (even though I intentionally throw them out of my crib myself), having food in sight and not being able to eat it.