Our Sesame Street Family

Tyler equated each of our family members to Sesame Street:

• Daddy = Cookie Monster
• Mommy = Elmo (I am pretty ticklish!)
• Tyler = Oscar the Grouch
• Daphne = Snuffleupagus

I think he did a pretty good job with the assignments!

Cell Phone

Although Daphne would prefer to play with our actual cell phones, she also likes her toy cell phone. And like her Mommy, she too has an outdated not-so-smart phone. I love that she likes to carry her purse while she is talking on the phone!

Can you hear me now?

Jackets

Daphne has grown quite attached to her lightweight spring jackets. In particular she really likes her purple fleece jacket because it is essentially a wearable blanket. Daphne snuggles with her jackets and when we drop her off at daycare she opts to leave her jacket on for a while. It's really sweet.

Yeah Baby!

Earlier today, Tyler and I raced hot wheels cars down his race ramp. Tyler used the following exclamations when he won the race:

• Oh yeah!
• Yeah baby!
• Oh yeah baby!
• Booyah!
• Oh yeah booyah baby!

Not sure where Tyler picked up "booyah" but he definitely made me laugh.

Homework

Tyler had his first homework assignment this weekend. His preschool class at daycare is learning sight words for reading right now. Tyler begrudgingly went through the handful of flash cards (e.g. in, the, and) with us at bedtime and was not thrilled when Michael made him go through the flash cards before he was allowed to watch TV. Welcome to the real world buddy!

Wagon

The kids have been riding together to the park in the wagon.
They look so cute together although I do hear the occasional
"Stop that Daphne!" or a squeal from Daphne.

Simultaneous snacking

Race Cars

It's a good thing Daphne has a big brother because otherwise I don't think she would have access to so many "traditional" boy toys likes race cars, trains, and monster trucks! Now only if she would stop putting them in her mouth.

My Little Shopper

Daphne commandeered my shopping bags after I unloaded the groceries. She got a little tangled up but liked carrying them.

Inflatable Fun

Viola, Tyler, and Daphne in the bouncy house

Daphne is too young to actually jump yet, but she did
manage to get to her feet a few times while the
big kids were jumping.

At the bottom of the obstacle course slide

Tyler loves air hockey! He takes forever to finish a game,
but he still really likes to play.

Soccer

Now that it has gotten warmer Tyler is playing outdoor soccer again. He likes playing outdoor much better than indoor.

Not Available

Tyler has been using the term "available" quite a bit lately. This morning when he woke me up to let me know that he was awake, I tried to convince him to get in to bed with me for snuggles. Tyler said, "I'm not available for snuggles right now."

Spring Snow

We headed up to Mt. Hood on Sunday to enjoy some spring snow. It had snowed overnight and it actually snowed intermittently while we were there. Daphne wasn't quite sure what to think of all the snow, but Tyler had a blast. On the way home he asked if we could go again tomorrow.

All bundled up in bib overalls
that are way too big

Riding the conveyor belt to the top of the tube
hill. Thank goodness for that conveyor belt!

Ready for another tube run. Kids have to be 3 or older to tube
at Ski Bowl so Michael and I took turns tubing with Tyler
while the other one hung out with Daphne. There's nothing
like snow tubing to make you feel like a kid at heart! Tyler
particularly liked spinning in circles on the way down the hill.

Snow ball time



Snow much fun!

Tyler wouldn't make snow angels with me.

Not Cool!

Tyler spied my skis Saturday morning while he was helping Michael do some stuff in the garage. He thought they looked cool and were surprised that they were "girl" skis. Later in the day Tyler was mad at me because I wouldn't let him do something. As he argued back he ended by saying, "And your skis are NOT cool!"

Tyler's Bed

Daphne loves Tyler's bed, probably because it is the only piece of the furniture in the house that she can climb onto. Plus she sees Tyler jumping on his bed and jumping off onto the floor all the time. The video below shows Daphne working on her dismount, which she has been practicing quite a bit and she has actually started landing on her feet.



Reading books in Tyler's bed

Budding Artist?

Apparently paper is not enough for Daphne when finger painting at daycare. She feels the need to expand the canvas to her head! This is quite the opposite of Tyler, who at this age wouldn't even touch finger paints at daycare because he didn't want to get his hands dirty.

Super Tough

Tyler is really into superheroes right now so we recently watched The Incredibles together. In the spirit of the Incredibles being a family of superheroes, he told us today that we are the Super Tough family.

Touche

Michael and Tyler were building a wood Grave Digger monster truck from a Lowe's kit. Michael put two short nails in a location where he was supposed to put two long nails. Then it took him a while to fix his mistake. As Michael was finishing up the monster truck, Tyler worked on setting up the collapsible cardboard cars.

• Tyler: This is tricky!
• Michael: Life is tricky.
• Tyler: Like when you put in the wrong nails.

All Ready to Go!

Daphne loves the little purse
that the Easter bunny brought.

How to Use a Spoon

Step 1: Imitate everyone else and try to use the rounded end.

Step 2: Try the non-rounded end of the spoon.
Not bad- I still managed to get some yogurt into my mouth.

Step 3: Smile cutely as Daddy looks on in horror at the mess.

Step 4: If all else fails, abandon the spoon and use your fingers.

At the Park

Tyler and Calvin both still love their balance bikes.
Neither one seems to want to ride their pedal bikes yet!

Trying on Tyler's helmet. We actually
bought him a new helmet recently so
Daphne can use his old one. Tyler says he
needed the new helmet (with flames on it)
because his old one wasn't cool.

Daphne and Lilith hanging out at the bottom of the toddler slide

Daphne trying to do what the big boys do

It's a Good Thing

Sunday evening Tyler told me it's a good thing I put his Easter basket and candy on top of the fridge so that Daphne couldn't get into it. Funny- I thought it was a good thing so that Tyler couldn't eat all his candy unsupervised in one sitting!

Happy Easter!

Checking out what the Easter bunny brought

I can't believe we actually got smiles after coercing Tyler
into getting dressed up. He drew the line at the matching tie.

Daphne would not stand still to pose, which is why we have
Tyler holding her hand to try to minimize the quick escape.

Gearing up for an Easter egg hunt: Jack, Bebe, Clara,
Viola, Daphne, and Tyler

I have no idea what is going on!

We left a couple eggs in plain sight for
Daphne while the big kids ran around.

Tyler ate the contents of a bunch of eggs
while he was still searching for more.

A successful first Easter egg hunt

Welcome Spring!

We have been having some great weather for about the past week and a half and so we have been enjoying a lot more time outdoors.

Daphne absolutely loves to swing.

Tyler likes having me spin him around in the big kid swings
and then release him so he unwinds really fast.

The big kid play structure

Look who is driving!

Checking out the ducks in the river