24 April 2011, Day 46

HAPPY EASTER!!

The Easter Bunny may have gone just a bit overboard with gifts for Kaylee this year. She got 2 books, a Dr. Doctor kit, Fern Gully, Anastasia, princess tattoos, and candy.

She was far more excited to see what the Easter Bunny bought than to go hunting for Easter eggs.

She did finally get into the whole Easter egg hunt thing, especially once she figured out there was candy in the eggs.

Ben doesn't get what's going on, but he does enjoy his new rattle.

We dressed the kids up in their Sunday best, took some pictures, then went to Kroger to go grocery shopping.

23 April 2011, Day 45

Goodbye New York and all our wonderful family! We will miss you all and hope to see you again soon, but that probably won't happen for a while since we'll now have a 4 hour plane ride instead of an hour and a half. That's not going to be fun!!

Here's the kids in the airport at LaGuardia waiting for our flight.

Let's just say that the plane ride went about as well as the ride to NY. Only this time when we had to walk down the stairs to the tarmac, out to the shuttle, back out onto the tarmac, and then up into the airplane, it was raining and both kids were screaming and Kaylee insisted on being carried the whole way. Hey, it wouldn't be a trip to NY if I didn't leave town pissed off at the airlines and swearing to never fly again!

Oh and a little tip for all you non-New Yorkers. If your son poops on his second to last outfit and all you have left to put on him is a red and white striped outfit where the writing, which says "all-star", is covered up by his bib and people just might think he's dressed in a Red Sox uniform, leave him in the poop covered outfit!! It will be less offensive to the people in line in front of you going through security who talk amongst themselves rather loudly about how they would NEVER let their child where a Red Sox uniform.

22 April 2011, Day 44

We got to spend the whole day with both Aunts, Grammy, Papa, and cousins Devin and Georgie. No plans, no schedules, just lots of fun! At some point during the day Kaylee went to the park with everyone and had a blast on the swings, but I had to stay behind with Ben since it was only about 50 degrees out. But, it was nice to have some quality Ben time, we never get that at home!

So, here's Kaylee chasing Devin around the house, there was a whole lot of chasing between these two this week!

Here's a new headband from Aunt Val and this is unfortunately what her happy face has morphed into. . . a gapping mouth look of pure shock:

And here's one of the few times that cousin Georgie actually spent some quality time with Kaylee, hey he's a boy, what else can we expect!

21 April 2011, Day 43

Kaylee seems to be thoroughly enjoying her air mattress at Grammy and Papa's house. I can't believe she slept like this!

The kids and I went to visit Josh's side of the family today. Grandma was very excited to meet Benjamin.

Uncle Chris was great with Kaylee, as always. He flew kites with her, blew bubbles, and picked flowers.

Uncle Mike was finally convinced to hold Benjamin.

Kaylee needed some down time so she made herself at home while she watched some Dino Dan.

And Grandpa spent some time holding his first grandson before we had a fantastic pizza dinner. Nothing beats Long Island pizza!

20 April 2011, Day 42

We seem to be an early rising kind of family. Unfortunately my parents are not. After Ben's morning feeding, we usually spent the mornings like this, waiting for Grammy, Papa, and the dogs to get out of bed:

Kaylee got her Easter present from Grammy and Papa, a learn how to cut set from Melissa and Doug. Quite an interesting toy that kept Kay and Grammy busy for a very long time.

In the early evening Aunt Glory came home from Vegas Baby! Our last minute trip overlapped with her previously planned vacation so we had to just soak in all the Aunt Glory we could in a short time. Ben was glad to have yet another person to hold him:

And Kaylee was happy to see Aunt Glory and show off her happy face some more:

19 April 2011, Day 41

Kaylee learned how to smile!! Aunt Val taught her happy face, sad face, and angry face. Here's a very good example of happy face:

We had my side of the family over for dinner. Nana and PopPop got to meet their third great grandson.

Kaylee got to open lots of Easter presents.

And Devin held Ben, or Big Ben as she calls him, a whole lot.

We also had lots of fun with cousins William and Sophie (but I'm not about to post pictures of other people's kids without their permission!)

18 April 2011, Day 40

I almost didn't take any pictures today!! But then I snapped this one of Kaylee, Papa, Grammy and a little bit of Chopper.

17 April 2011, Day 39

Let the adventure begin!!

The kiddos and I flew to New York for a 7 day visit with family before the big move to Texas. The plane ride went about as well as can be expected with a 3 month old and a 2 and a half year old, let's just leave it at that.

Everyone got to meet Ben, cousin Devin was especially glad to meet him and held him every chance she got!

When she wasn't holding Ben, she was entertaining Kaylee. What a great cousin these kids have!

Then there was Aunt Val, who couldn't wait to see the kids, but then yelled at Kaylee and put her in a cage (if CPS is reading, that's not really what happened and I swear she went in the cage by herself and we never locked it!!)

16 April 2011, Day 38

Today was our open house and our time out of the house did not go as planned. We all got soaking wet when we tried to take the dogs for a walk. Poor Ben got the worst of it. He took a well deserved nap when we were allowed back in the house.

15 April 2011, Day 37

Today was spent around the house cleaning for our open house. The big excitement was when the guys came to pump the septic. Kaylee thought it was so cool that a big truck drove into our backyard!

Then we were told by our realtor to go outside and pick flowers to put around the house. Normally Kaylee loves to pick flowers, but when we actually have to get out and do it, she throws a hissy fit and sulks!

14 April 2011, Day 36

Yet another morning spent at the library. We just had to show off how great mister man looks in international orange.

13 April 2011, Day 35

It was a beautiful sunny, windy day today. Kaylee played on the deck in her jammies. We blew bubbles and chased the puppies!

Benjamin just enjoyed being held by Mama and being outdoors. How cute is he?!

12 April 2011, Day 34

I got baby Ben a new shopping cart cover since Kaylee's was bright pink. Here's our maiden voyage! He loved it, although with Kay in the basket there was not much room for anything else!

11 April 2011, Day 33

Kaylee's crazy morning hair (and her ridiculous smile!).

10 April 2011, Day 32

I never swaddled Kaylee but Ben is a big fan of the swaddle. Now he's becoming a big fan of sucking his fist and manages to bust out of the swaddle to get to his hands. It seems to be time to stop swaddling. I fear going cold turkey will result in a non-napping baby. So, we are 'swaddle weaning'. I've been told to swaddle with one arm free and then both arms then remove it all together. Looks pretty ridiculous, but hopefully it will work.

9 April 2011, Day 31

Baby Ben started with some real nice giggles today. Unfortunately his big sister was quite loud so you can't hear too much.

8 April 2011, Day 30

Easter fun continues as Kaylee spent the morning painting bunnies.

Then after a quick trip to Walmart and an outfit change, there was some serious dance party fun with Raffi.

7 April 2011, Day 29

Today was a real flurry of activity. We started out with a trip to the library for storytime. We read about the billy goats gruff, did some coloring and glueing, the built a bridge out of marshmallows, pretzels, and graham crackers.

When we got home there was a package for Kaylee and Benjamin on the front porch. Grandma and Grandpa sent them their Easter presents. The biggest hit were the bubbles, the stuffed bunnies, and the bunny hats.

And I just had to post this last picture because Josh said he was looking at pictures and he thinks he always looks pissed off. This was him making a real effort at looking happy!

6 April 2011, Day 28

We got to spend some time outside today! Yay for SPRING!!

And check out those cheeks!

5 April 2011, Day 27

We left the house today! Woo Hoo! It was only to buy some groceries cause I'm getting sick of canned and boxed food as we try to clean out our pantry before the move. As always, I couldn't resist getting a toy for Kaylee (which is why we spent all last week bagged up items for goodwill!)

4 April 2011, Day 26

Ben is one of those freaky kids who sleeps with his eyes partially open.

I find it very weird and disturbing!

3 April 2011, Day 25

We have not left the house in days since I've been crazy cleaning the house, decluttering, and getting the house ready to put on the market. I figured Ben needed a little change in the routine and I let him take a nice long nap in the swing. There's a domed mirror right above his head and he stared at that thing and smiled for 30 minutes then finally drifted off to sleep.

2 April 2011, Day 24

Baby Ben rolled over today! From his belly to his back. He's only done it once and I haven't been able to capture it on film, but here he is on his belly crying and fussing but refusing to roll again for me.