easter

Happy Easter! 

Our morning started off deliciously with bunny bum pancakes! Jillian thought they were fantastic (thank you Pinterest!) and Olivia didn't get it. Not surprising. 

Getting a family picture where everyone is looking and smiling is kind of, well, basically impossible. But this one was preeeety close.

Thank you Target for having matching dresses in little girl AND toddler sizes. I just couldn't help it.

After church we stopped by James' Dad's house for treats, then ate dinner and had an egg hunt with more friends and family. Olivia didn't get the whole thing last year, but she had no problem catching on this year! She loves to pop the eggs open and instantly asks you to close them so she can repeat that about 50 times. It's super fun. ;-)

^Taking a break to see what's in some of those suckers. I'm not even sure how much candy they managed to eat yesterday, but I know it was a LOT.

After that we went to James' aunt's house for another egg hunt! It was kind of like that movie Four Christmases, but Easter--a very full, but fun day (but with way less dysfunctional family members than portrayed in that movie, just to clarify).

Sooooo much candy.

But in all seriousness, I'm grateful for the real reason we have Easter! I especially loved this video! 

tiny dancer

Geeeeeeez I can't keep up with blogging lately (or housework, work work, laundry...but don't worry I'm fully up to speed on my Hulu shows ;-) Priorities...killin' 'em.) 

 (By the way- I took this before she even went into the first class and she came up with the pose all by herself! I about died.)

Jillian started ballet last week! Of course it's something I always wanted her to do since I enjoyed dancing growing up, but I really believe in letting kids choose things they want to do- trying out several things, and finding what they are passionate about. Between soccer, tumbling, and ballet- well, you see which one won! (Though I may sign her up for soccer regardless because I can't imagine anything more hilarious than a bunch of 4 and 5 year-olds running around trying to play an actual game of soccer--wait, is that a bad reason to make your kid do something?).

 

The class she's in is fairy tale ballet- it's perfectly girly and frilly, two things we're pretty good at doing in this family. They start by reading a portion of a fairy tale, then dress up as a character from the story and practice technique by acting as that character. Yes, it's adorable. 

I love that at all of the studio rooms have two way mirrors, so you can watch them the whole time! Sometimes Olivia bangs on the glass to try to get Jillian's attention...so that may blow our cover at some point.

 I made this little video of her first class that I shared on my Instagram page:

She just glows the entire time. It's been so fun to watch her enjoy this so much! 

the time I realized they're growing up

Earlier this week James got home much later than usual, so I was flying solo on parent duty getting the girls dinner, cleaned up, bathed and in bed. Quite the process let me tell you- and one I rely on James heavily for.

 

As I was getting them bathed, something James normally does while I clean up dinner, I realized it had actually been several weeks since I was the one to do that. While they were splashing around and I was trying to explain why splashing lots of water on bathroom floor was actually not a good idea (despite their best counter arguments), my thoughts nearly stopped dead in their tracks as I realized they are getting so BIG. 

Today while shopping for Easter dresses I found that 5T dresses will no longer cut it for Jillian, so we moseyed over from the toddler section to the girls department. The same department where a group of tweens actually said the words "oh em gee" out loud while looking at swimsuits. 

Kill me now.

 I also registered Jillian for her first ballet class today at a dance studio near our house- Fairy tale ballet. I'm probably going to tear up during the first class when I watch her in her little black leotard and pink shoes enthralled in her little world of make-believe, magic, and girlyness. I'm already prepared for it.

There's a kindergarten registration packet sitting on my counter with checklists and forms and pamphlets on "preparing your child for school." I'm so emotionally unprepared to even deal with that.

Olivia is growing in her own right as well. She's no longer a baby. She talks in broken sentences, "Look-ah me, Mama!" and "Lion Keem! (Lion King)- I love it!" We're full on toddler stage. She wants to do everything her sister does and I'm amazed at how much she learns from just watching Jillian.

Sometimes when I rock her before bedtime with her bottle (clearly I'm still pretending she's a baby), I'm in awe that not even 2 years ago she was the tiniest little baby snuggled up in one crook of my arm. Now her limbs sprawl off on all sides of the chair and she's heavy in my lap.

When in the HECK did all of this HAPPEN? 

Despite my best efforts to freeze time, it's actually passing at a remarkable rate. 

The days are long, but the years are fast.

So fast.