Thursday, April 2, 2015

Easter Egg Hunts

Our neighborhood's annual Easter Egg Hunt was this past weekend and it was the most gorgeous weather I've ever seen in Florida. Perfect day for an egg hunt! All the cousins, and Grandpa and Grandma Orosz were there and everyone had a blast - as soon as the Easter Bunny finally arrived (fashionably late) and the rioting to begin the hunt subsided. Lots of eggs were picked up and lots of goodies were inside. 

Lots of fun at the Easter Egg Hunt!

This was William's 4th neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! I can't believe it. It feels like yesterday we brought him over in his bassinet stroller and held him next to the Easter Bunny. Below are pictures from year 1-4.

Year 1-4

Then William had his class Easter Egg Hunt yesterday. The class party was first where they enjoyed Easter themed snacks then they headed outside to find their eggs. This year they ran around and collected as many eggs as possible. Last year the kids went egg by egg, eating the treat inside before going to the next - so this year was a success! 

Snack time at the Easter party

Hunting eggs

Hunting eggs

William's class after the hunt

Mommy and William
Ready for the Easter Bunny to arrive this Sunday!

First Swim of 2015

Little fish!

Swim lessons started yesterday for William (his third round) and Grace (her first time). We are doing safety swim with Miss Jennifer - William's very first swim teacher. She's great and we missed her last summer, so I'm happy to be back with her. Another nice thing is the location of the swim lessons - right down the street at the pool here in our neighborhood. An easy commute.

William volunteered Grace to go first. She jumped into Miss Jennifer's arms without a second thought. She saw she has a sticker box and was willing to do anything. Grace didn't shed a single tear. I thought she might be a little frustrated with it, but didn't bother her too much! Toward the end of her lesson she was asking for me, but she still wasn't crying. Great job, Grace!


Grace happy to swim to get a sticker
Then it was William's turn and he was happy at first, but cried once she made him go under water. William had told me the day before that he didn't want any water in his eyes and that he was going to bring his googles, so I had a feeling this wasn't going to be the happiest moment for him. Sorry! No googles allowed at your lessons! Ha! He swam to the ledge a few times and did just fine though. 

William ready to go

A great first day! We're done by 9 a.m. and off to enjoy the rest of our day. Here's to little fish being pros at swimming by the time summer starts!

Hugs for a great first lesson

CHEESE!


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

18 Months for Grace


Grace is 1 1/2 years old! It's been a blink of an eye. She's doing great and is still the sweetest and happiest little girl. I did a 17 month old post and so not much is different, but still every day and every week she is doing something new.

Like riding dinosaurs!

Enjoying popsicles

Or jumping on the ottoman.

She's talking so much more. The week leading up to 18 months and the week following it was a big burst of two word phrases. She motioned and told me to "Come on" in her little voice earlier this week when she wanted to visit the playroom. She says: thank you, let's go, come on, good girl, all done, what's that, this and that, stop, wa-wa (water), go go go, down, out, cup, yesh (which is yes, and it cracks me up how she pronounces it), no, hot, uh-oh, and our babysitter's name, Katie. She calls William "Yi-yum" - sounds like the name of a soup from a Chinese restaurant ha!

I'm amazed at how she understands everything from asking her to close a drawer to put the crayons away. Having an older brother is great for reaching milestones quickly. She imitates a lot of what he does. William is a big hugger and kisser, and so when William runs to someone and wants a hug - Grace immediately does the same thing. She's even sitting on his little potty and pretending to use the bathroom.

so much love

Monkey see, monkey do.
She loves William and then she's very quick to push back at the same time. William had a "time out" a couple days ago and Grace always runs to his side when he's sitting in the chair upset. The other day she went over and laid her head in his lap then looked up, wiped a tear from his face. My mom saw it happen too and we couldn't believe it! How loving!

She's leaning out a lot and getting tall. Her hair is getting thicker and it seems like her hair color is nearly the same as William's now. She's gotten so much lighter since she was born. Still brown eyes though!

Humidity curls

All cozy in our pj's

The week of turning 18 months she really got into the spoon. She's been very independent with feeding herself since the very beginning (2nd child problems) and I think she's so used to using her fingers that she hasn't been too motivated. Nevermind she LOVES food and the fingers are much faster. This week she took the spoon, put it in her oatmeal, blew on the oatmeal (like William does in case it's too hot) and took a bite. We had ravioli for dinner the other night and she used her fork a majority of the meal, AND got the ravioli in her mouth. I was very impressed.

Ready for brunch

Food in general Grace loves it. Her one dislike all the time is scrambled eggs! Everything else is pretty much good to go. She hasn't gone through a phase - as of yet - where she refuses food. She has favorites that change, but overall, she wants to sit down and EAT, NOW!

Grace at the park eating snacks that she pulled out

Grace loves to play. She gets so excited running over to the playground across the street from our house. She's very adventurous and climbs everything. She's doing the tall twirly slide now. I catch her trying to scale very difficult ladders and keeping an eye on her is a must. She is cautious at the same time though. I don't worry too much that she will walk off the bridge or some other tall exit. She seems to recognize that isn't a good idea. She always leaves the park a complete mess.

Covered in mulch after playground fun

Song and dance time

She still loves her Pinky, which we lost at Disney a few weeks ago. We really lucked out though and Disney found her and mailed her back to us! Grace seemed a little off when Pinky went missing. She was thrilled with her return, but has also in the meantime adopted her baby doll from Christmas. Baby doll, Pinky and the white blanket are the trio. We need a name for baby doll... as of now Grace just calls for her "ba-ba" for baby when she wants her. She actually seems to use the word ba-ba for her trio of favorites, but also will point at pictures of real babies or strollers or cribs and says the word "ba-ba." 

Ba-ba "baby" is joining us on all our adventures

She starts infant safety swim classes this month. I don't know how she will react! She picks up things very quickly, but I can see her expressing her frustrations quickly too.

Loves water

Grace is so fun and so sweet. I can't imagine how much more she will be picking up over the next 6 months. Already her and William chat with each other. Usually him asking yes or no questions or demanding her do something. She says, "O-K" to him. Haha! I remember this age with William and it was an amazing time of more and more communication. I can't even imagine what him and Grace will be saying to one another in the future... haha should be interesting!

Sweetest thing

We love our 1.5 year old! She's a constant party and known by many as the most smiley little girl. Looking forward to the next 6 months!