April's Activities

April had a few spring-like days, at least!  It was a full month and went by fast.  

The first weekend, while Steve was out of town, the girls and I joined good friend, Desiree, and her boys for fun in Central Park and a sweet treat at NYC's first "cupcake atm."

with Han Christian Andersen :)

Getting a little too close to the water!

The next Saturday saw three birthday parties in a row!!!  Maelee was one lucky lady...

 

No cake pic for this one, but sweet Lilee chilling in the playground :)

 

Pretty in purple on Palm Sunday

More sweet sister love!

Apple of daddy's (and mommy's!) eye

   Having a blast at a "dinosaur playground" on the west side

We enjoyed more of Central Park, further north this time, on the third Saturday of the month, admiring the beautiful flowers and climbing the rocks...

 

Our little Lilee has had so many changes this month!  So many excited, sweet smiles with adorable chatter and her first giggles at the beginning of the month while watching her big sis acting silly- priceless!  She's also starting to grab things and has much more control of her hands.  And the chewing and drool!  We are wondering if the beginnings of teething are here...

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More April pics:

Of course one of the biggest activities of the month, aside from Easter, was Maelee's 4th birthday!!! What a year it's been with her... :) An "all about Maelee" post should follow soon. But for now, welcome May!

Celebrating Easter

He is Risen!

We had a fun couple of weeks leading up to Easter, enjoying typical traditions like egg decorating and egg hunts, while also celebrating the sacred meaning behind this super important holiday and what it means for us. It was so special this year to explain to Maelee how even the commercial Easter standards like eggs and bunnies can be examples that point us to Christ- bunnies are gentle, have big ears for listening, are white as snow, etc, etc... Like egg hunts, if you search for Jesus, He is always there, etc, etc... And to see her truly begin to grasp the meaning of the Cross has been great to witness.  

We love hearing her explain the meaning of Good Friday and Easter Sunday and even her little mealtime prayers have gotten more and more personal and relevant- especially when she prays daddy will have a safe trip to NJ and Lilee will sleep well!  Oh, how we pray we will see evidence of these little truths taking root in her heart!  She is still sooo possessive of her things, and her friend's things most the time, and can have a just-plain-mean streak that frustrates us to no end, but her joyful spirit and incredibly sweet and loving attitude toward her sister (and us and certain friends, at times!) does give us hope! :)  Another precious video of how she feels about her baby sister is below.  And here are some of our favorite shots from the last couple weeks...

 

Singing in front of the church on Palm Sunday!

She couldn't quite get to the mic but if you look closely, you can see how much she's belting her little heart out!

Our sweet little Easter darlings!

   

Enjoying our third annual egg hunt on the roof of our church!

Super sweet video of our girls "talking" to each other :)
Lilee has become so much more talkative lately- it is adorable!!!

We had a lovely Easter dinner at a friend's place with delicious food and another sweet egg hunt in their building's courtyard.  Such a fun way to end such a special day!

 

Back home, Maelee enjoyed opening some more Easter goodies and finding the traditional golden egg.

 

 

What a wonderful celebration! 

More pics of Easter fun here:

More special meet-ups & memories from March

Whew, March sure went by quick and boy, was it full!  Are we really well into April already???  It's been a long winter and we are so excited for spring.  March included more fun with friends and family with some birthday celebrations and a special VA trip in there as well.  We are settling into our new routine with our little Lilee and are enjoying all the sweet changes.  

Maelee continues to adore her baby sister and we'll catch her saying the sweetest things.  The best is: "Oh, Lilee, I love you, I won't let anything ever happen to you- I'll protect you!" How I pray that they will grow to have the sweetest relationship with each other!  Here's a little video of Maelee professing her protection in song:)  It's a riot, and worth the full 1 minute 20 seconds.  And I love it cause it so perfectly shows our little vocal artist in action- she sure loves to make up songs! And her "na, na, nas" and "mm, mm, mms" are hilarious.

 

March also saw more sweet sounds and coos from Lilee and she becomes more aware and interested in her surroundings each day. One of our biggest moments from March was our trip to VA.  It was a biggie!  I visited three preschools, we saw several apartment units in the apartment building we're interested in, and most importantly, we saw some special friends and got to introduce Lilee to some precious family.  It was a whirlwind visit, but both productive and sweet.

Here's a rundown of the past month in pictures:

Daddy's girls :)

Our Iron "Girl"

Love that she loves princesses AND superheroes!

Lilee and I took the train down to VA and Steve and Maelee took the bus.  Thankfully, our ride was smooth and Lilee did great on her first trip; unfortunately, I can't say the same for poor Steve's and Maelee's trip!  Their bus broke down outside of Baltimore... sigh.  Fortunately, they got on another bus about an hour later but it made for quite a long day for them!

Yes, I have both Lilee and Gracie, the pug, on my lap! 

Sweet Nana/mommy/daughters lunch/shopping date

Super sweet visit from close pal, Cindy, and her awesome kiddos, TJ & Alli


Playground fun!

Our cuties


So cozy with Pop-Pop!



Meeting Too-dad!


Too-daddy with his girls!




Meeting Too-mom!


Sweet girl :)

Happy ladies!

More pics from VA trip:

It was a fun trip and March stayed fairly busy till the end.  Here are some more shots from the rest of the month:

Enjoying pal, Eowyn's, fun fiesta birthday party!

Fun science experiment with daddy turning flowers different colors!

Sweet smiles!

Doting big sis :)

Going to sleep in her crib at the same time as big sister for the first time!

First bath in "tummy tub!"

Enjoy mommy's bday gifts...

and bday cake frosting :)

Pretty much anytime Lilee is on the mat, Maelee, of course has to be on there, too...

Cute & comfy in her little outfit from Japan!

More March pics:

It was a big month with many more firsts. The year is flying by already!