Easter 2011

Happy Easter! Austen and Peyton have been preparing for the Easter bunny for the last few weeks. Tom made them this giant Easter bunny (that almost made it to Easter before it broke) that they loved. We'd ask Peyton where the Easter bunny was and she would look at it and point.

Austen has been using his old plastic Easter eggs to make a hunt for us or himself as a special treat before he went to bed. He'd ask us "let's play Easter!"

This past week we also made Easter bunny cookies and dyed some Easter eggs. Even Peyton helped drop the eggs into the water (and one onto the floor - good thing they were hard boiled!).



Austen and Peyton loved their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny; waving at the Easter bunny on our street (trying to drum up some business for the ham store); and participating in the scavenger hunt that Tom put on for them not to mention the candy hunt they got to participate in on Soldier Field (where the Chicago Bears play).

Peyton's BFFs

These days Peyton's best friends (BFFs)are her big brother and her dog. She loves to tease both of them and tell them when they are annoying her but she also insists on hanging out with them too.

She just started to say Adler. (You'll hear her say it if you listen closely in the second video with Austen.) She continues to feed Adler all the food that she doesn't like from her plate. And, while she's a decent eater, she still turns up her nose at a lot of things like fruits and vegetables. Although these days she does love carrots and applesauce and yogurt. Other favorites are mac and cheese, hot dogs and chicken nuggets!



Peyton has started to sit in a booster chair next to her big brother to eat. Austen's a great eater of vegetables and fruit so we hope that some of that wears off on her. When she's done eating, she hands us her bowl or her plate. Sometimes she still has food on it and she won't eat anymore for us. So Austen steps in and feeds her. She loves this and so does he (makes him feel like a big helper). I wonder if I loved my big brother this much when I was little?!

Hey Mom

So at what age does your child stop calling you mommy and start calling you mom? I didn't think it ended at age four. But now for the past several weeks, Austen has been alternately calling me mom instead of mommy.

I might think that he's singled me out for this big kid moniker but he has been doing the same with Tom, calling him dad sometimes but still referring to him as daddy other times.

I thought we had a few more years til we made this transition. Well, at least he's still not shy about giving me kisses and hugs. I know that's coming down the pike too so I am getting more than my share in now before he denies me.

A Family

Austen has really been into the family thing lately. When we are all together, he comments that our family is here. When Adler is missing from the moment, he tells us so. He also has really been into eating together as a family. As he's gotten older, I think it's important that we start incorporating some family dinners into our schedules. We usually eat together on weekends but at least one of those nights it's at a restaurant.

So during the week, here and there, we've started incorporating sit down meals at our house where we actually eat at our kitchen table, not at the peninsula counter. He really enjoys this...us all eating together. I think we all do too. Makes me want to get home an hour earlier and cook...well an hour earlier anyway!