Juliet's Big Girl Bike

 Juliet has been earning her "big girl bike" for a few weeks now. Last week, she finally earned it. She was so excited to ride it. Once she finally was on, she was a little overwhelmed (as pictured below). She has been going through a phase for a while now where she gets scared from feeling too high, too unstable, things that are too loud, or things that she just deems "too scary". She was crying that she was too high and going too fast on her bike (even though Daddy was right there holding the bike taking baby steps next to it). 

 She snapped out of it after a bit, though. She goes very, very, slowly, and often needs pushes to keep her momentum, but that's okay. She's frustrated she can't take her bike on long walks yet. She got her big girl bike an entire year before Leah got hers, so it will take some time. She loves her bike, though!

 She was happy to arrange her baby in the bike and to pose by it. 

 Leah was pretty unimpressed with the process. She sat in a chair and read. She needed to be reminded to show some enthusiasm and pride in her sister. Stinker. 

Butterfly Release

 The little caterpillars the Easter Bunny brought us developed into butterflies. We had a lot of fun watching them grow, transform, and emerge from their chrysalis. The time had come to free them. Leah was excited to finally hold one. Juliet feigned excitement for a few minutes, then wanted nothing to do with the release. She doesn't really like unpredictable things.  But, she was mighty cute waiting for the release. 

 Leah enjoyed every second of the release. She was really hoping a few would stick around and enjoy the fairy house that she had built with Uncle Terry the night before, but they all flew away. Even the injured one that Chris had to perform butterfly surgery on. 

 Leah has been reading the book that came with the kit, and she wants to raise ladybugs next. We'll see...

Ollie in the Bed

 Every morning Ollie jumps in Leah's bed. Leah loves it. This morning he awkwardly wedged himself between Leah and Juliet (who was there with me). Leah thought nothing of it, cuddled up, and kept sleeping. Ollie thought he was being sly. Juliet kept laughing and screaming that he was hugging her too hard. It was pretty funny. 

 Juliet doesn't let Ollie in her big girl bed. She also doesn't like it when Brain comes in. Even though every single night she laments about how "lonely" she is in her room. She is such a stinker!

Dance Pictures

 I took these pictures and got all misty eyed. They look SO BIG. Juliet has been waiting for this day for 2 years. At every other dance picture day she would get so upset and cry about the fact that Leah was dressed up and in make up and she was too little. This year she got to get dressed up, too. They were both mad I didn't get solo pictures of them, but that's what the recital is for. Juliet is dancing to an Aladdin song and Leah is dancing to a Mary Poppins and Le Mis song. Both are very excited.

Easter Lunch

 The Easter Bunny also brought each girl a dress. He does it ever year! They love their "gowns". We went to lunch with my sisters at the Courthouse Grill. The girls had fun with their cousins. They primarily ate cheese and deserts. Haha. 

 Love Juliet's smoldering look! She is working it! 

Easter Morning

Easter Morning! The Easter Bunny brought the girls caterpillars and a butterfly habitat, chocolate bunnies, a necklace and bracelet, sunglasses, Beanie Boos, Shopkins, books, a few small American Girl items, and some personalized things for each of their personalities/interests. They lucked out!

They were so excited about the Egg Hunt. Last year Leah cleared the rooms in 5 minutes flat, leaving Juliet (and her open egg that she was eating) annoyed that she didn't have as many eggs as Leah. This year we worked hard to come up with a plan that was fair. Leah had a really hard time coming up with one. At first, she just wanted the Easter Bunny to hide her eggs in hard to find places, but leave Juliet's more in the open. We asked if she would not pick up Juliet's eggs. She couldn't say that she wouldn't...A few night before Easter, she told me the plan. The Easter Bunny would hide Juliet's eggs in the playroom, and hers in the living room. The outside eggs they would take turns on. It was a great plan, and there was much less whining on Easter morning. Success!

They were really into posing like bunnies this year...

Juliet did the same thing she always does, finds her first egg, opens it up and starts eating, and doesn't look for another egg until she runs out of candy from the first egg. Ha! She would wander over to Leah's territory, see how many eggs Leah had, and say, "Where my eggs?!" We would tell her to go find more, and she would go back, find another, open it, start eating, and the cycle would repeat itself. The good thing was that she could go back to her own room and find more.

The tricky Easter Bunny hid their baskets good this year. They were in the laundry room disguised as a big laundry pile. Leah even found a dirty sock in her basket.

A great morning!

Brain was disappointed that the Easter Bunny didn't bring him an egg.

Eggs

 For some reason they got the idea to try to look like bunnies. 

 Leah was obsessed with the idea of dying eggs and spent at least a week saying, "I wish we could dye eggs today...." She had fun making them. Juliet made a few before she lost interest. 

 We need a new stool. 

Brain and J-Boo

 It wasn't long ago that Brain and Leah were sleep buddies. Brain waited for Leah everyday in her room. Leah loved it and we have some adorable pictures of them snuggling as they napped. Juliet has taken to taking naps in our bed. Brain LOVES it. He is back to waiting for his girl every day and cuddling next to her. There's just never been a better cat. 

Matilda the Musical

A few weeks ago I noticed that Matilda the Musical was coming to Detroit. I felt like we were called to go. Matilda was the first family movie that ever captivated Leah. That lead to it also being the first chapter book we ever read aloud to her, which really prompted her to begin reading chapter books of her own. It seemed fitting that it would be her first (traveling) Broadway musical. The theater doesn't allow kids under 5, so Juliet stayed home with Daddy. 

 This was also right in the middle of our SECOND round of sickness this year. We already dealt with the stomach flu at, literally, the worst possible time this winter. Then we got the flu bug that never seemed to end. Juliet was sick with 103-104 degree temps Monday night-Friday that week, rallied for Saturday and Sunday, but by Sunday night was screaming with an ear infection and a fever that came back Monday-Tuesday. We visited the pediatrician (twice) and discovered her lungs were also constricted, so she needed regular breathing treatments over several days. Leah got sick Saturday and kept her fever until Tuesday night. Between Chris and I, we needed to cover the 7 days they needed to miss school. It sucked. Matilda was right in the middle of this, but Leah was determined to go. Our show was the last day it was in town, so I let her go. Don't judge me. 

 Leah picked out a special dress and hair style, and Juliet wanted to be "matchy matchy" with her. Leah loved the show. She took the entire experience very seriously. It was so cute to watch her experience the show. 

 We bought the CD, and both kids love singing the songs and dancing to the music. They also love to watch You-Tube clips of the actual show. They try to recreate the dances, voice and facial infections. It's adorable. I'm much happier with them recreating Broadway as opposed to Taylor Swift. 

Juliet kept me entertained with dances, costumes, and sass while Leah took a 4 hour nap.  She needed to study the dances before recreating them. 

100th Day Project -- American Girl

 Leah's 100 Day Project. Her teacher suggested that we look on Pinterest, but so many of those projects looked like they were parent projects. C and I gave Leah a few suggestions, and she liked the idea of collecting American Girls the most. She did the entire project herself. It took 2 catalogs. She cut, tallied, organized, and glued them all down. Chris and I tried to check that she had 100, but kept getting mixed up. Chris ended up having to cover them all up with Post-It's and count them based on that. She is right next to me saying, "I worked super-hard on that; to get all those American Girls."

She was so proud of herself and her work. We were proud, too! 

You can't really tell, but I did use bubble letters to write "Leah's 100 American Girls". Leah colored in the letters and gave the entire project a background. 

 Miss I-don't-take-naps-anymore has been taking naps again on the weekends. I love this picture of her and all of her dolls. I love when she gets into them. Leah's never been a huge creative-imaginative-play girl, so I love when I see her act like that with her girls. Her dolls are quickly outgrowing their closet and her closet (where all their furniture is kept), and Leah has been pushing for a bigger place for her dolls. Chris and I have been watching the real estate market in our area daily. Unfortunately, there have been very few houses that interested us. And, it's a sellers market which works well for us on the selling end, but not so good on the buying end. I don't want to live in an apartment while we wait. Now we are entertaining the idea of finishing the basement. Who knows!?