Stickers Galore!

John loves stickers. I have to be careful to give him only a few at a time. Unfortunately, a few sticker sheets fell off the shelf in his bedroom. This was the result:

Our Poor Baby Girl

This morning when I went to pick the kids up from MOPS, I was informed that Emma was covered in a rash. Covered is putting it mildly - she was spotted from head to toe. I called the doctor's office, and our doctor was heading out for the rest of the day. She wanted me to head to Mercy Central Pediatrics, so I got Emma an appointment. After a fairly long wait, we got in. The doctor confirmed that the rash was an allergic reaction to augmentin. She's now on another antibiotic so that we can hopefully clear up her ear infection/cold stuff. What a day!

Easter Egg Hunt

Grandpa and Grandma Wiederstein gave John and Emma Easter baskets on Saturday, so after a good nap today, I hid John's eggs outside. He had fun searching for them and still looked handsome...even with the Lightning McQueen shoes on.





After bringing the eggs inside, John and Emma both got to open the eggs full of circus peanuts and vanilla wafers. They would always shake them first, so we had an impromptu lesson on the different sounds the items made. That way, we didn't have to open every egg. I think we'll fill the empty eggs with more items and have John guess what's in them.



Emma got ahold of one circus peanut during the impromptu lesson with John. Needless to say, that made a mess! I took the picture and then took it away.

Easter

Conversation with John this morning on the way to church:

Mommy: Happy Easter! He is alive! Who is alive?

John: John

Mommy: Yes, you are also alive. But it's Easter, so who do you think I meant?

John: JESUS!

We enjoyed breakfast at church before first service and then attended first service together (for the most part anyway). I did the children's message at both services and am always amazed at the number of children at NewLife. We have a great group of kids and volunteers!

Scott took a very tired Emma home for a nap, and John stayed with me for second service. He and his friend Tommy even stopped playing long enough for me to get a picture of them dressed up. After church and a long wait in line, we enjoyed a delicious buffet at the Triple Crown Eatery (Prairie Meadows). Emma enjoyed smearing a butter packet on the table.

Easter at the Wiedersteins

On Saturday, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Wiederstein's house. It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside, so John enjoyed a tractor ride with Daddy. We took pictures with Emma in the tractor too, even though she didn't go for a ride in it. Kristi and Bella also came to visit for awhile. Bella was wearing one of her fancy dresses. What a doll!

Tea Party with Grandma

John's been having a lot of fun playing with Emma's birthday presents the last week. New toys are always fun...even if they are "girl" toys. John, Emma, and I have been having tea parties, and Grandma Van Manen was invited to one. That meant I could actually take pics.

Easter Dress

For her birthday, Emma received a beautiful dress from Uncle Matt and Aunt Jackie. Today I decided she'd better try it on, since I want her to wear it for Easter Sunday. It does fit, even if it is floor length. What a beautiful child of God! Now, what am I going to wear? Hmm...

Bathtime Fun

John and Emma had fun playing in the bath together tonight. Probably because I let them play first and then cleaned them. Emma's not a huge fan of playing in the tub after she's all wet. John, on the other hand, will often play until I force him to get out because the water's freezing cold! Anyway, John started with dumping water behind Emma and she kept laughing and trying to "get" him. When he started getting water on her face, she wasn't quite so happy.

Check out their mohawks. Emma's flopped over because her hair is so long, but John's was perfect. He, however, wouldn't let me get a picture of him straight on. Most of his pics were from the side because he kept turning his head.

Birthday Guests

Emma was blessed to have many family and friends at her birthday party, including lots of kids. We started by reading Hurry Up, Noah and then the kids danced around to 3 Noah's Ark tunes, waving a paper plate with streamers. What fun!


We tried to get a picture of all the kids together, but that proved to be a little challenging.

Birthday Girl

First of all, excuse the quality of some of these photos. The actual photos are perfectly fine, but for some reason they uploaded fuzzy...and I'm not taking the time to change it.

Emma had a lot of fun at her first birthday party. It was funny because she liked the cards even better than the presents themselves.

Her favorite part of the cake was the frosting, of course. Amazingly enough, she really didn't even make too big of a mess. I used a fork to break open the cake for her. She still didn't have much interest in the cake...but she loved the fork and refused to let go.

Decorating Cakes

I now have a new digital camera, and I wanted to play with it a little before Emma's birthday party tomorrow. So I took some pictures of the cakes and cupcakes I decorated. This cake is Emma's own cake. It'll be interesting to see if she destroys hers the way John destroyed his on his first birthday.


I used the other half of the batter from that cake to make cupcakes for the other kids who will be at the party.
Then I made another cake for the adults. Notice the M&Ms are on the adults' cake...not the kids'!

Where Emma Came From

My mom stopped by to say Happy Birthday to Emma tonight, and I took advantage of that by leaving and taking care of a few things at church. When I got home, Mom informed me that during John's bath, he said Emma came from Jerusalem. Then he changed his story...babies come from the baby store. Ahh...the random things he comes up with...

Taking My Sins Away

As Easter approaches, I've been talking with John about why we celebrate Easter. We currently have a book (The Toddlers Bible: Easter Book by V. Gilbert Beers) from the church library. I do like how the book starts with Jesus entering Jerusalem and goes through Jesus going back to heaven and the angels saying that He will come back. Anyway, here's a conversation that John and I had last night as I read:

Book: Jesus wants to help us live with God in heaven. When we sin, we can't go there.

John: But I want to live at home, not in heaven!

Mommy: Well, someday we'll die and that's when God wants us to live with him.

John: oh

Book: But Jesus die to take away our sin. He wants to be our Saviour.

John: But I want my sins back!

Mommy: John, sins are bad. They are the things we do against God when we don't obey him.

John: But I want them back!

At that point, I just finished the story and figured we'd carry on the coversation again when he wasn't so tired.

So, on the way home from MOPS today, he and I were chatting about things he was seeing outside. As usual, I had his Bible songs CD playing in the van. In the middle of our conversation, John started another random one:

John: Jesus will wash away my sin.

Mommy (trying to figure out where that came from - and realizing that Jesus Loves Me was playing on the CD): Yes, he will, John.

John: My sins are good, Mommy.

Mommy: No, John. Sins are bad, and Jesus washes them away to make us clean again.

John: But I want my sins back.

We started the Resurrection Eggs today. We'll see if this helps clear things up...maybe?

Boxes

While eating supper tonight, John turns to me and says, "What did one box say to the other box?"

Not sure I understood him correctly, I say, "Did you just say 'what did one box say to the other box?' "

"Uh huh"

I laugh and fall for the bait of John's first joke. "Okay, what did one box say to the other box?"

"Mom, boxes don't talk!"

(I have absolutely NO idea where he picked up on jokes, but that was simply too cute not to share!)