More painting

Mondays have been gymnastics day for a while now, but Stephanie just got moved up to the next level, so her class is on Thursdays now. So, today we just had a nice, easy day at home. Both girls spent some time painting. It was Erica's first time with the finger paints. She didn't seem to appreciate the fun of the "finger" in fingerpainting. She preferred using a brush and had to stop everytime she got a speck on her fingers/arms. Stephanie, on the other hand, made sure to cover her hands and arms in the paint!

Beautiful Day and New Basketball Hoop

Well, the last thing that either Christian or I thought our girls would be interested in was basketball, but they have both shown interest for a while. I finally broke down and got them a hoop. It was supposed to be a surprise for Easter, but Stephanie spotted it in the back of the car and that was that. Stephanie is quite the natural. Erica seems to have skills, too, but also seems to just be happy cheering for anyone shooting the ball.

Erica has been learning lots of words and animal sounds. Here she is demonstrating an elephant's trumpet sound. Daddy's exclamation in the background is related to basketball. Not Erica's performance.

Cinderella Dress

Aunt Allison made a beautiful Cinderella dress for Stephanie for Christmas, but Stephanie has been so in awe of it, she refuses to wear it. It's almost like she thinks it is really Cinderella's dress and she shouldn't wear it. Ha ha! Well, I thought if we took it to a friend's house, she might be inspired by a dress up session. Our friend, Josie, was more than happy to wear it and had a great time in it. Stephanie still didn't even try it on! Oh well. It looks like there is plenty of room in it, so we have some time to keep trying.

Super Stephanie!

As time goes by ...

I can't believe it's been over a month since I made my last post. So, I dumped a bunch of stuff on here tonight. Yes, Mom ... the "first haircut" pictures are here finally. Here are some miscellaneous pictures.

Stephanie has been such a great big sister. Here she's trying to help Erica get dressed.

The girls got new bags/backpacks for the trip to Albuquerque (see more below). They didn't use them much on the trip, but have enjoyed playing with them. This was also a rare moment when Stephanie let me do something with her hair.

We went to play at a friend's house and they had a beautiful rocking horse. Stephanie is a natural!

The girls were packing up their bags to go on an "adventure" the other day, but I wasn't sure where they were going to go. So, I put together "Mommy's Cave of Wonder" for them. Stephanie had a great time, but Erica wasn't so sure about it.

Trip to Albuquerque

We finally hit the road to visit our friends in Albuquerque. It was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up. For a moment in time, 6 of our dearest friends and their families are living there simultaneously. We had an unforgettable time with them. The Hoogendyks very graciously opened their home to us and treated us like royalty.

Years ago, I thought I was being fancy and folded the guest towels like a fan when the Hoogendyks visited us in California. I knew that Jessica enjoyed folding napkins, but look what she can do with a couple of towels!!! She made my fan look really shabby. Ha ha! There was a cat to match on the other side of the bed.

Breakfast with Holly and Hannah!

We visited the Albuquerque aquarium and were joined by the Wilsons!

This crazy fish was in the large shark tank .... any ideas what it might be?

Erica didn't sleep much on the trip ... so we captured one of the few times that she did! She discovered Pooh on the trip and LOVES him.

Dinner with the Hoogendyks and Wilsons.

Brunch! We had to wait a long time to be seated, but it was well worth the wait - delicious.

Silly men ...

THE LINDSAYS!!!! Poor Elise got a nasty stomach flu the night we got there and spent the night in the ER. She finally felt (barely) strong enough to join us on Sunday. We were so happy to see them again.

Dinner at the Wilsons. Jenn and Jeff put together a delicious Cuban meal for us - an inspiration from one of their favorite restaurants from Los Angeles.

Here are the girls jammin' with Mr. Lindsay on Arlo's drum set.

Some kids want to be like Hansel and Gretel ...

Mine is inspired by another character from that story....

Haircuts

I took the girls to get their hair cut. It was Erica's first time and only with a lollipop did it work.