April 30th, Grandma Karen's Visit

My mom, AKA Grandma Karen, came for a visit last week. It had been three months since we had seen her last so she was in for a surprise with the girls' new tricks. Emilyn was basically just laying there, and rolling around a bit, the last time she saw her. Now she's crawling all over, standing, walking along furniture, talking, eating everything, has formed opinions, and has quite the little personality. It was fun to watch them bond and get a chance to connect, even though anytime Grandma got near Emilyn, Matisyn jumped into her lap. There is a little bit of jealousy there. Matisyn and Grandma are buds, and Matisyn has no intention of sharing her. Grandma had to sneak in her time with Emilyn.
We had a nice visit. Mom and I got a couple nights and even most of a day out by ourselves, going to dinner, seeing a movie, and shopping. It was much needed time to feel like myself again. We spent one of the days going to the Tulip Festival and having a nice lunch in the restaurant overlooking the gardens. Much of the time was spent during the day around the house with Grandma and Matisyn getting quality play time together, coloring, playing school, dolls, toys, reading books, and more. One day I was able to take Emilyn to get one year pictures. She performed above and beyond expectations, and I was grateful to have my mom with me to be able to choose the best pictures when they were all wonderful.
Thanks so much Grandma for coming. We love you! And thanks to Matt for taking such good care of the little girls so that the big girls could get some time away.
One of the days was spent with some research nurses for some testing for a study I took part in while pregnant with Emilyn. They took blood every month of my pregnancy and watched my thyroid, and I was given either a placebo or an actual medication to boost my thyroid. They are testing whether a lower thyroid while mom is pregnant is connected to problems learning and developing. I'm not too worried about Ems though because she is already a smart little thing. Every year until she is five we'll go up and have tests done. They don't tell me much while the test is going on, but I already know she is brilliant! She was able to do most of the little simple puzzles unless it was something pretty beyond her age range. One test she didn't do was when she was asked to comb the doll's hair she looked at the nurse like she was crazy (the doll didn't have any actual hair) and turned around and started combing my hair instead! I think that should get bonus points! She was able to put things in and out, point out items in pictures, and find hidden objects. She wasn't quite ready for block stacking or putting pegs into holes, but all in all I think she passed. Apparently they can't tell me how she did until the study is over in 5 years. I'll keep you posted!




Grandma and Matisyn enjoying some time in the sun. As is the pattern, Grandma brought the cold weather, and this was one of the few sunny days while she was here.


Family Game Night, Sequence for Kids

Grandma went outside to try to have a conversation on the phone . . . alone. Matisyn followed her and climbed right up to finish her coloring while she was talking.

Tulip Festival
Doesn't she look like she was caught in the act! She is already learning that credit cards are important. I don't even know how she reached into my purse with her straps on, but she managed to get to the most important things. She enjoyed throwing things over the edge as we walked!



The flowers were so beautiful. Matisyn stuck her head right in to smell the tulip.






She was so excited to feed the fish. She dumped all the food in at once before the fish were even there.

Doesn't it look like Emilyn's saying, please don't leave me alone in this enclosed space with her?!!!
Matisyn pulled Emilyn in through the window of her house. Emilyn kept trying to crawl back out that window.

Matisyn Quotes:

"Watch and learn." Said while showing Porter how to do something. Not sure where she picked up on that!

"I want to be a super flower dancer when I grow up."

"What a day. I'm exhausted." Love her vocabulary!

Daddy: I think our fridge is out of water.
Matisyn: Jesus could get us more water.
Daddy: Jesus gives us water?
Matisyn: Yeah, he made it. He also gives us trees, and apple juice, and bears, and squirrels.

"Mommy, do birds pee? Because they have feather bums instead of nakie skin bums."


As a finale I'd like to post some clothing stats. Matt and I went through our closet and drawers together on Saturday and these are the things we are giving away:
8 ties
66 tops
22 pants/bottoms
7 dresses
16 sweaters
10 hats
1 pair of shoes
Yes, this is embarrassing that we have held on to so many things we have not worn for years. I hope others will be able to get some use out of them. We're just happy to walk into our clean, organized closet! I'm feeling spring cleaning fever, so watch out coat closet, you're next!