Easter 2012

Easter weekend has now come and gone and we were blessed to have very good weather all weekend long which made for great family get-together's.  Saturday we had an early Easter celebration with the Militello family at Nana and Byedaddy's house where the girls played with their cousins and got to swing outside for a bit.  We would have been there on those swings all night had it not been for those pesky mosquitoes, but the girls had a great time as always.

Easter Sunday started out with morning Easter services at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church which went on a bit longer as was expected, so by the time we left mass and headed over to Ama and Apa's house the girls were tired and hungry.  Avery fell asleep right away but only napped the length of the trip which was approximately 40 minutes, not quite long enough for beauty sleep.  When we arrived she was not in the mood to be greeted or left on her own.  She would not take any photos and cried for a good twenty minutes.  Aunt Dalia came to the rescue and suggested we start out with our Easter egg hunt.  After a couple of minutes of hunting both girls got the hang of it and were very excited to fill their baskets with Easter eggs.  We got the girls some bubble guns in the shape of animals and Emily loved them.  Avery was a little frightened by the vibrating trigger.  Ama and Apa got the girls some great treats for their Easter basket and Andrea bought them some new outfits.  We all had a great time and can't wait for next Easter.  Thank you to Godfathers Sammy and Mitchell for the girls' wonderful Easter dresses.

Warning:  Please shield your eyes from the paleness of my legs, I obviously need some much needed tanning.

Painting and Gardening at Nonna's

Ee, I, Ee, I, Ooh

Singing during bath time has always been part of our routine since Emily was a baby.  If we aren't singing we are going over new vocabulary that has popped up with everyday words learned from teachers, friends, and family.  Lately, Emily's favorite song to sing has been "Old McDonald Had A Farm" with her picking the animals for which we make sounds for during the song.  Every night she requests this song and now has Avery singing along and dancing, although Avery only sings ee, i, ee, i ooh.  All the animals on the farm are familiar except for the one requested last night, MONSTER.  Yes, apparently on Emily's farm there is a monster that says, rawr!  She surprises me everyday.

More often I see that Emily is now repeating everything people say as soon as they say it.  She sounds like a parrot when you are trying to have a conversation, but later she recalls new words and will use them for her own expressions.  Being the older sister, Emily has a tendency to be bossy and new words and phrases come in handy when bossing a younger sister around.  Of course Avery doesn't seem to be a good follower which frustrates Emily to no end.  I really need to put up a video of Emily and her conversations with her sister during playtime.  They are hilarious and Emily's pronunciations make her sound like a foreigner.

At preschool Emily is doing great in her learning of numbers and can count to ten all by herself as well as say her ABC's.  She is also learning some Spanish and can now recognize her colors correctly.  Emily has learned the rules in her classroom and we try and apply those rules at home as well.  The other day as I was picking her up she was in time out.  Later on that night I asked her what the reasons for being placed in time out were and she responded, "For pushing, for hitting, for biting, for pull hair, and for not listening,"  Of course knowing these rules does not mean that she follows them all the time.  We are working on the not listening part because  that is the reason she is in time out most of the time, although I'm sure as all parents are I will be working on this rule for rest of my life.