Family Pictures

We finally got family pictures taken... we've only been home nearly 3 months!
We were so blessed when my girlfriend Jen offered to take them for us.
The kids spent most of the time fussing, crying, and being frustrated.
It's a wonder that she was able to get ANY pictures at all.

Breakfast Feasting...

The other day, we enjoyed breakfast for dinner.

And the kids and I termed it 'breakfast feasting' that night...

I enjoy making breakfast food for dinner every once and a while because it allows the kids to help in a safe way... as opposed to say, grilling.

So, we had a feast of huge proportions and snuggled down for the night with very full bellies.

The Girls' Birthdays

The girls had their birthday party this weekend.
Evelyn didn't get much of a smash cake experience last year, but she wasn't having it this year either.
Olive wasn't sure exactly what was going on, and this was her first birthday celebration, so she was equally confused and thrilled.
She swiped anyone with in reach with her cake-covered hands.
Evelyn had had enough as soon as she was swiped.
Olive got extremely messy, and ended up having a bath in the sink right then and there.
They were both spoiled with gifts, and Ethan even got a big wheel too!
Olive met her Great Grandparents for the first time too.
It was a nice weekend.

Time out.

Olive got her first time out recently...

She was put on this time out for repeatedly biting a cord after many attempts to distract and redirect her.

Doesn't she make time out cute?

Olive's first IEP.

Olive's IEP was way longer than I anticipated - but it was good.

She is starting home services this friday.

She'll get 1 hour of one-on-one every week until this fall... when she will go to an adaptive classroom for preschool! She'll be there every day for about 2.5 hours a day.

I can't hardly believe it!

Olive's climbing!

Olive climbed up the stairs today!
She got brave, and climbed up two steps with out my noticing at first.
But, after I redirected her, she went straight back to the steps, and did it again!
Only this time she went up 3/4th's of the way!
And she went back for more, and went all the way up!

Hair cuts...

The girls' hair was getting out of control.

So, they both got hair cuts today.

Olive has little bangs now, and Evelyn's baby hair is pretty much all chopped off now.

To my surprise Evelyn's curls came back when I cut her hair.

Doesn't time fly?

My kids are growing too fast!
Ethan is 3 and going to preschool this fall!
Evelyn is TWO today, and Olive just turned 4!
It's the hubbs birthday today too.
He's taking a well earned birthday nap, and has birthday lasagna (thanks to my mom ) in the refrigerator for dinner.

Date with Mommy

Evelyn and I went on a date for lunch, and ran some errands.
She was such a doll and a pleasure to be with today.

Olive's pulling up..

Olive's started to pull up on the edge of the coffee table... she's not cruising yet, but she's standing!

Ethan has it too..

It's official... Ethan has pink eye too.
But, good news is that Olive's only lasted a few days and Evelyn's is almost better after 2 days, so hopefully Ethan's won't last long either.

In other news...
Olive is starting to stand for about a minute at a time when she's able to lean her back against my legs. She's mostly balancing on her own - and is totally carrying all her weight!

Evelyn woke up with Pink Eye

4th Birthday at the ENT

It's Olive's birthday today. FOUR YEARS OLD! We're celebrating in a couple weeks though...
So we spent the morning at the ENT office. She has completely flat reading - suggesting the hearing loss is legit.
They're putting her on an antibiotic that they likely didn't have in Serbia to see if it helps. If not - we'll be doing tubes.

First Birthday Celebration

The Girls and Karl had a little birthday celebration at my grandparent's house this weekend.
And Olive had more firsts.
Her first time having someone sing Happy Birthday to her and her first Easter experience.
She was very confused, but she seemed to enjoy it.
She met her Pappy, Mammer, Aunt Jaime, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Brandon for the first time.
Her Pappy enjoyed styling her hair.

This was the first Easter that Evelyn and Ethan could really understand and enjoy.
They had a blast!
It was like a mini-Christmas.
I didn't expect for them to get so spoiled!