My beautiful gown

Easter in Illinois

Easter weekend we spent relaxing. Easter Saturday was breakfast at Jim Gould's complete with the Easter Bunny. Alex is still enthralled by her visit to the fire house so brought her Firefighter hat with her. It's hard to fool a three-year old: when the Easter Bunny came over to let Alex choose an egg from the basket, she pointed straight at his head and said "there's a man in there" - sure enough you could glimpse him through the netting of the eyeholes. What to say, what to say...I simply laughed and agreed with her.

While we dined from the breakfast buffet, Sebastien was happy to just munch on a plate - no, no sign of any teeth yet.







Finally we got a photo of both kids with the Easter Bunny - but two kids just means that it takes more than two photos to get them both looking at the camera!








Then we headed off for an egg hunt! It was bitterly cold and SNOWING! We patiently waited in the 3 year old section (Sebastien kindly gave up his opportunity to hunt in the 0-2 section) for the countdown.








The hunt was on and it was hilarious to watch Alex run over ten eggs to get to the one she had her eye on. But she did ok anyway.

Fu Dogs

The weekend in Spring break,we headed to Allerton Park for some "hiking" - thinking that with the blue skies, it would be warm! Wrong! Not snowing, but that breeze is pretty bitter.









We checked out the Fu Dogs Garden - where Alex told us her bedroom was upstairs in a two story pagola...hmm.










Alex also can't help herself - if there are stones/rocks/pebbles she'll try to bring some home.








Alex was running ahead of us when we were "hiking" a small woods trail - and loved that we came out of "the scary woods" at a "beautiful house". Now if she could just find a way to get up and over that retaining wall...

Therapy

Nevermind that I still have a voucher for a pedicure/facial that Brett gave me almost 18 months ago - today I hit Baytowne Nails with some friends and had a great time - thanks for the therapy ladies!

Stacks On Daddy!

"They" do say that it's the guy who rough houses with the kids...

A princess party

We tried to keep the invitation list down to one friend per year of age...but it was too difficult so HRH ended up inviting 4 friends (and their entourages). On a cold and snowy weekend, we had a dress-up princess party in the Community Center where we live and even had a special princess cake! Thanks to Donita for taking these photos - I think I must have been too busy to even think about taking photos myself!

And now for the guests:
HRHs Alex, Sarah, Anna, Kylie and Emaline


















First royal hats were made:







Then the royal dress-ups commenced:









Finally the food was ready:







Including cake!







What was that? Let them eat cake?







Even the entourages got some down time for some sustenance.







Here are Sebastien (5 1/2 months) and Olivia (7 months) checking the mat out for comfort.









And after food, came drawing (E, S and K)







HRH Alex had so much fun she's still talking about it almost a month later.

Everybody,I'm free!

Alex had what what might be called an extended birthday - her actual day one weekend and a party the following one - plus miscellaneous parcels arriving from Australia in between. Because HRH is struggling with "th" sounds, she's "free" - after being "two and three quarters" for quite some time! We started the morning with - waffles for breakfast with maple syrup - yum yum!


Here are some shots of her actual birthday: opening presents.





Daddy and Sebastien looking on.








Her dressing combination - skirt from Aunty Chelle, princess shirt and headband from Daddy and Mummy - such unique style.










And finally here she is for her three year Council of Friends photo - yes she's finally off the quilt and can't fit on with her accumulated friends!

Second Child Syndrome

I'm not sure exactly,but by this age (5 months), Alex had been photographed many thousands of times...whereas Sebastien is lucky if his photos number in the hundreds. So to assuage some of that mummy guilt, here's a "just Sebastien" shot - looking pretty happy for having been just dumped on the ground...

Weightlifting

A bit uneven but a total of about 50 pounds(22+ kg)...

Bedtime reading

Hoping she can give me the brief synopsis...am yet to read it.

Sebastien at SIX months - wow!

Council of Friends










First solids (mmm, rice cereal)












Sitting at the "playstation"














Look into my eyes...













In case you didn't realise, Sebastien is on the left and Alex on the right (in all photos)...

Visit the Children's Museum

Well, it was a trip that had been anticipated for ages! It seemed that every time our group organized a date, someone either was unlicenced - me that first time :( - or sick. Finally we got to head to the Decatur Children's Museum - though in the middle of a snow storm. The kids had a ball and it was a pity that we left early (the museum management had sent someone to tell us that the radio was reporting difficult/dangerous driving conditions for the return to C-U) and Alex informed me that we had to go back again. So I guess we'll make another trip there in the late spring. It was hard to take photos but here are some:

In the "Doctor's Office" complete with white coats, stethoscopes, humidicrib, xray light with xrays, babies and a sink to "wash" hands.








Next we moved onto the "Ambulance". Alex and Em drove whilst Dr Jen looked after patient Anna with Olivia.








Here's the back of the ambulance.








There was also a plane, a shadow room, a general store and bank, electricity plant etc - it was an incredible museum.