Easter 2016

Our Easter fun started during the week with an Easter learning theme which we completed but I still haven't published the post about our weekly learning theme from the week before due to all of Elise's birthday posts, so it will be late. We went to an Easter egg hunt on Thursday evening which was simply hilarious. I was a bit worried parents would be scooping eggs up for their kids and Carter wouldn't be able to get any because I had heard some stories of terrible experiences. That was not the case at all. Carter didn't get very many eggs but it was because he took off running into the egg area, just running circles around while laughing. Ty had to remind him to stop and pick up eggs. I was cracking up watching him. Once he got started rather than staying in one area to get all the eggs there, he'd pick one up and then run off to get a different one not in that area. He's only ever done Easter egg hunts where the eggs are "hidden" rather than where they are just laying out to be scooped up, so maybe that was confusing to him. Elise crawled around a little and picked up a couple eggs but for the most part was adamant I hold her hands so she could walk around. We all had quite a bit of fun and were so pleased Ty got to go with us.

 

 

 

Friday afternoon Ty had off for Good Friday so we headed out to his parents' house so we could celebrate Easter with his family. Friday evening it was just the 6 of us and then Ty's friends Chris and Candice came over with their kids. Their daughter is a year older than Carter and their son is a year older than Elise. The kids had a blast playing together and then Leina got out her Easter eggs and played Easter egg hunt with the kids. They had the best time with that. When it was time to go to bed Carter didn't want to sleep by himself and had gone to bed way too late so he screamed and cried in his room, waking Elise up. He finally went to sleep but it took Elise over an hour to fall back to sleep and then she was very fitful, waking multiple times during the night. Then she'd fall back to sleep only to have Carter wake up and cry, waking her up again. It was a vicious cycle and one that resulted in not enough sleep for any of us.

Saturday morning we were hoping to make it to an Easter egg hunt and parade at the park, but woke up to rain. We ended up having a fun, lazy morning home and then heading out to the Discovery Center which is their Children's Museum. Carter had a blast there and Elise enjoyed the infant area, taking her first steps while playing with her Gpa and daddy! Of course, when Ty sent Leina over to get me so I could see, Elise immediately stopped. Once I was there she started fussing and hanging onto me because she wanted me to pick her up. They had a few special Easter activities set up in different areas and then as we left they gave each kid an egg filled with stickers and an eraser. We headed out to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. Much to our surprise, Elise wasn't very interested in meat (she's our big meat eater) and Carter went to town on some pulled pork (he normally hardly touches meat). It was an interesting reversal of their regular eating habits. They went down for naps when we got home and then Gigi, Papa, and Aunt Tina came over for dinner and our Easter celebration with them. They came bearing gifts. Gigi and Papa got Elise a rabbit stuffed animal and Carter a gun that shoots flying discs. Aunt Tina got Carter bowling pins and Elise a chair plus a giant stuffed bunny for the kids to share. Carter enjoyed rolling around on the floor with the bunny and Elise showed off her walking skills for everyone. The farthest she walked was about 4-5 steps to her Gigi. She definitely loves her Gigi and did the best when walking to her. It was so sweet to see!

 

 

Saturday night went similarly to Friday night except we got the kids down closer to bedtime and were able to keep Carter from waking Elise. I ended up just sleeping with him so he wouldn't wake her up. But he had very fitful sleep, waking up quite a bit and so did Elise. After all the lack of sleep we had decided we wouldn't wake them in the morning. If they got up in time to go to 8:00 mass we would go with Leina, if not, we would just let them sleep. Elise ended up sleeping until 7:30 and Leina was already gone when we headed upstairs and Carter slept until 8:00!!! We were all shocked to find it snowing when we woke up! Rocky, Elise, and I were playing upstairs when Carter woke up and came running into the living room in search of eggs, wondering if the Easter bunny had made it. We told him we would hunt eggs later and he checked out his Easter basket and enjoyed playing with it for quite a while. Leina got home from church around 9:00 and then Grandma and Grandpa Shupe, Aunt Gena and Karl, and Jessica all came over for our Easter brunch and celebration. After brunch we did our Easter egg hunt in the living room and Carter had so much fun. There were smaller eggs for Elise and she sat shaking them around while Carter searched. When he had found all the eggs, Carter dumped the contents out into a bowl, creating a trail mix to eat.

Checking out the snow on Easter morning.

Wearing her adorable bunny pin my grandma made for her.

Wearing the adorable bunny pin my grandma made for him.

Elise was so proud of the eggs she found!

Kisses for great grandma!

After cake and ice cream for lunch we packed up and headed out at naptime. We made it back in time to have Easter dinner with Jeremy and my parents. We enjoyed ham with cherries, deviled eggs, scalloped potatoes, and salad. Then it was time for books and bed. Carter loves it when he has multiple different people around to read him his nighttime books before bed. It was a wonderful weekend and a fabulous Easter.  

St. Patrick's Day 2016

We started our morning with some green eggs. I made egg yolks with a little bit of whites for Elise and put the rest of the whites over into Carter's eggs so he got some extra. While the kids ate their breakfast I read them Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss which Carter requested to be read again. In total we read it 3 times during breakfast. He loved it all so much that he ended up asking for green eggs to go with his lunch too! I dressed the kids in their green St. Patrick's Day shirts, saving their white ones for after lunchtime to keep them from getting dirty. I wanted to get a picture of them together with their shirts on but neither of them were interested and I ended up with a picture where they both look like they're saying, "Meh."

 

 

My little pot of gold trying to clip his nails.

 

 

Then we were off to a toddler art class we went to once in February with less than stellar results but Carter said he wanted to go again so I figured we'd give it a try. The project was a handprint rainbow painting, you all know how I feel about handprint and footprint crafts, with a pot of gold at the bottom. Carter loved that he got to have an easel to put his canvas on and was also very excited to wear a painting apron. He started painting the blue sky background right away and did such a wonderful job! I helped him paint is hands and place them on the canvas and then he wanted to do it himself so I let him take over. The gold inside the pot was made with his fingerprints which was so adorable. In between painting instead of leaving his canvas in front of a fan to dry, this teacher had hair driers for the kids to dry their paintings which was genius. Not only did it go faster, but Carter loved getting to use the drier. The experience this time was a huge success and Carter even posed with the rest of the kids to take a picture with his painting! Something else this teacher did that helped was she had us pay at the beginning of the class, so when Carter was done we just headed out. The time before she had us pay at the end and we were waiting around for other kids to finish up so we could pay and leave which caused Carter to lose his patience and his behavior deteriorated! The difference between the two class sessions was night and day!

He was so excited about his easel and painting apron!

Painting the sky background.

Doing the handprint by himself.

Adding gold into his pot.

Drying his painting was one of his favorite parts.

 

 

 

We left art class and rushed home to get Elise down for a nap. She fell asleep in the car and wouldn't go back down for a nap when we got home so we just ate an early lunch and then I put her down for a long afternoon nap. For lunch we had leftover chicken with sides of peas and kiwi to get our green in! Then Carter also had some green eggs. While I was putting Elise down for her nap Carter "got hungry and decided he wanted more green eggs". I came out of her room to find the egg carton pulled out of the fridge and onto the floor with 6 eggs smashed on the floor and the rug. It was pretty annoying and I sent Carter to his room while I cleaned the mess. I was pretty much fuming over the whole ordeal and then I heard him crying at his door saying, "Mommy, I want to say I'm sorry. I just want to say I'm sorry." It really was the sweetest thing and I was so appreciative that he felt bad for what he had done. He may be a tad ornery, but he has a huge heart!

I changed Elise back into her jammies so she wouldn't get her clothes dirty at lunch.

Carter excited about his eggs while he waited on me to cook them.

After lunch Carter and I made green cupcakes from a mix my mom got on sale after Christmas and gave to us. Then when Elise woke up we headed out for a run. I ran out a little farther than I needed to so we could walk back and Carter had so much fun chasing butterflies, searching for bugs and flowers, and playing in the grass. As we walked we listened to a St. Patrick's Day station on Pandora which played Irish music.When we got back to the playground we played for a while. That evening Jeremy and my parents came over for tacos (59 cent tacos at Taco Bueno on Thursdays!) and for a movie night. A family friend gave the kids an Easter basket and Carter had been dying to watch the Peanuts movie she had put in it. So he cozied up on the couch with Oma, Opa, and Uncie J to watch the movie while Ty and I worked on some stuff for Elise's birthday party. It was a fun day! Now we are past all of Elise's first holidays. It's hard to believe she is a year old and has experienced every holiday now!

Mixing the cupcakes.

 

Elise in her shirt Oma made her, Carter refused to change his shirt.

 

 

 

Valentine's Day 2016

Jeremy Update:

Jeremy is scheduled to make the move from his current facility to rehab tomorrow morning, departing at 8:30am. His attention span has finally increased enough that my parents took him all the letters we've been saving back for him and he read them today. He kept saying what great family he has and how much he loves everyone. He later told Thomas, "I love you all. I love mom, dad, Liz, you, nephew, niece, and Ty! You all really helped. You guys kick ass." It was nice to hear that he'd said that, especially toward my dad. It's become a bit of a running joke with us that Jeremy had been calling dad Gary. Dad ended up being the one who had to restrain Jeremy and make him do things he didn't want to do. When Jeremy was upset he'd call him Gary. Jeremy took his first shower this morning and when I arrived and asked him about his day he told me he had taken a shower. I was so excited to hear him remember something that had happened earlier in the day because his short term memory recall had been pretty much nonexistent up until this point. I took Carter and Elise up to see Jeremy and he was so excited to see Elise. He kept talking about how pretty her eyes were and how she was so full of wonder. Then when she'd make noise, he'd say what cute noises she made and how adorable she was. We went on a walk and walked by a painting we'd seen the day before. Jeremy told Carter he remembered Carter had liked the painting and mentioned all the things Carter had pointed out in the picture the day before. As we were leaving I told Jeremy we were so excited he was going to Texas and he said, "Yes, to work on my brain!" I am really excited for him to get the help he needs. I'm also really sad he will be 8 hours away and I won't get to see him every day. I know the next time I see him, he'll be a different person. Jeremy has so loved all the letters from you all and they have meant a lot to him. If you would like to send him a letter in his new facility, this is his new address:

Room 608A
TIRR Memorial Hermann
1333 Moursund St.
Houston, TX 77030 

Now on to a post about our holiday celebration...

Valentine's Day this year fell on a Sunday. I spent the night with Jeremy at the hospital Saturday night so I got to be the first person to wish him a Happy Valentine's Day, although Carter had already asked him to be his valentine the day before. Jeremy and I slept in until 8:00 and my parents came up around 9:00 so I could head home to nurse Elise and get ready for the day. When I got home Ty had already made breakfast for Carter, serving him eggs in the shape of a heart and my mom had been excited to tell me Ty made her toast with a heart cut out of the middle and an egg cooked in the heart. I nursed Elise and put her down for her nap right as my mom texted that Jeremy was alert so it would be a good time for Carter to head up. I just brushed my teeth, didn't change or eat breakfast, and headed back to the hospital with Carter and the bag of valentines we had made for him. We had a nice visit with Jeremy. Carter showed him his bag and the valentines. Then he let Jeremy play with his heart putty. Jeremy just poked it a few times and wasn't too interested. Jeremy's nurse came in to give Jeremy his medicine and after Carter saw her put gloves on he wanted to be "Nurse Carter". So we got him some gloves and he decided it was his job to feed Jeremy. Jeremy can feed himself but allowed Carter to feed him, saying, "Look, Carter is feeding me pudding. Isn't he cute?"

Carter going for a wheelchair ride.

Group shot at the hospital.

Carter feeding Jeremy some pudding.

When we got home Elise was still asleep so Carter and I did some valentine activities just the two of us and then started getting lunch ready. I made Carter a grilled cheese and cut it into a heart. Then I cut hearts out of sweet potato and cut the tops off strawberries to look like hearts. We set up a blanket in the living room to have a picnic on the floor while we watched a valentine-themed show. Elise woke up while Carter was finishing up his short show so I cut some sweet potato into hearts for her lunch. Then I laid down with Carter to help him go down for a nap while Ty took Elise to the store to pick up materials for his tiling project in our laundry room. Once Carter was asleep I got up and Ty arrived home with Elise shortly after. She and I did a little valentine photo shoot and then I nursed her and put her down for her nap. Since she went down late Carter woke up quite a while before her. He helped me decorate our heart shaped cake with sprinkles and ended up polishing off both the red and pink containers of sprinkles. We did a strawberry cake with chocolate fudge frosting and I had been looking forward to eating it since we picked it out at the store!

 

 

 

When Elise woke up we headed out to finish up our grocery shopping at Sam's since my parents have been letting us borrow their Sam's card while they're in town. I love getting produce there because it is so much cheaper! We get apples, strawberries, blueberries, avocado, and spinach there every week! The kids were being super adorable and I couldn't get over how precious their matching shirts my mom made for them were! Elise has gotten to be quite the beast in the cart. She will turn all the way around and start grabbing things to try to eat them. On this trip she picked up the container of blueberries and tried to open them to eat some. I would have let her, but they needed cleaned. She wasn't very happy with me over that! We successfully made it home and unloaded the car while Ty continued to work on the laundry room floor. Then Carter and I made the dough for our heart shaped pizza crust and added the toppings while Elise had a snack because she was hangry. Carter was so excited about our pizza. While the pizza baked we made some chocolate covered strawberries, set the table, and facetimed with Gma, Gpa, Gigi, and Papa. Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed getting to spend some time with Ty who had been busy working in the laundry room all day.

 

 

 

After dinner Ty gave the kids a bath and I had him throw some of the toys from our sensory bin in with them for a special bathtime. I could hear them giggling in the bathroom as I set out dessert and their special presents and valentine bags. My parents got Elise an outfit and Carter a firetruck. We got Carter a small heart box of candies, a Hot Wheels car, and Madly Madagascar (a short movie about Valentine's Day with the characters from Madagascar, it was only like 24 minutes). Elise got a treat too, she got strawberry yogurt melts and a new sippy cup. The kids tried their treats after opening their presents and then I put Elise down for bed. When I came back in we opened our valentines and read them. I cracked up because I totally forgot about myself when helping the kids make their valentines so I opened up my bag and I had one lonely valentine my mom had snuck in there for me while Ty pulled out a big stack of valentines. It was too funny and I just kept giggling over it! Ty did get me a card, he just put it with my present. My favorite part of Valentine's Day isn't getting valentines, it's writing them and feeling all the warm fuzzies as I do so, so it didn't matter that I only got one! Carter ended the evening by watching his new movie which I actually sat down and watched with him. Normally I'm in with Elise when he watches a show after doing his chores. Then we read 2 books and he was off for bed. Once he was in bed my mom came home from the hospital and we all chatted for a while before heading to bed. It was another wonderful Valentine's Day in the books!