Easter and since

Easter weekend was sunny here, indoors as well as outside, because we had Auntie Chloe and Auntie Lyddie here for the weekend, which made all of us very happy!  My sister's got in around 1:15am, so Hope and Joy had to keep themselves occupied while waiting for the Aunties to wake up later that morning. :o)

Joy is our climber - LOVES to climb, that child, and, as you can see, she has figured out a way of getting into the big rocking chair all by herself.

 Hope needed something to do, so while Joy was off climbing, I had Hope help me do our vitamins. She did an amazing job, until she got distracted when the Aunties came upstairs. :o)

 All day the day before the Aunties came, Hope had been asking to play Play Dough, so I told her she could do it with them the next day, and then that was all she talked about after that. ;o)

 Helping Auntie Chloe swiffer the crumbs off the living room floor.

 Meanwhile, Hope was on cloud nine, helping Auntie Lydia make cinnamon buns for Daddy.

 We Collin gals grew up cutting cinnamon bun dough with a piece of floss. That was the way our Grandma did it, because the buns kept their circular shape that way.

Hope learned how to do it herself, and Auntie Lydia was gracious enough to let her do it quite a few times.

 Chloe brought un-hemmed, newly made Easter dresses for the girls, and I was trying them on the Saturday morning to mark the hems.

 I snapped a couple pictures as well as carefully marking the dresses with pins.

Resurrection morning: Auntie Chloe with her nieces in their new dresses.

 Smiles?

 Please? :o)

 Later, Joy was goofing around with Josh. :o) She is a clown, that one.

 Monday, the little girls had a tea party with popcorn twists for a snack while Chloe, Lydia, and I tried to squeeze in a game of Scrabble.

 And that brings us up to today - Friday, April 13th. I heard the girlies in the hallway, and when I peeked out from the kitchen, this was how I found them - drinking their juice together while leaning against the linen closet. :o)

 Of course, Joy saw me, and came running. :o) No juice was spilled. :o) Phew!

 We woke up to lovely rain, which turned to Narnia-like snow right after breakfast. I'm not kidding - those snow flakes were the size of loonies! (Canadian $1 coin, a little over an inch in diameter.)

 Once again, I heard the girls on about something together, and this time when I peeked in, I saw them hiding together behind the curtain. I chuckled, snapped the shot, and then asked them to play somewhere else, so they didn't pull the curtain down on themselves. :o)

I asked them to smile for a picture, and this was what I got! :o) Love my girlies!

While Daddy was away...

We enjoyed a quiet Monday at home together, and then did one errand or another pretty much every day after that, to keep the girlies occupied while Daddy was away on business. This time, he called a prayed with the girls before bed a few of the nights, and they thought that was very special. :o) 

I had saved one last birthday gift of Hope's for "a rainy day" and decided now was a good time to pull it out. They've had lots of fun with the pretend fruits and vegetables we picked up at Ikea.

I was washing breakfast dishes and when I looked down I found the girls in this set up. Hopey said "We're at church Mommy." (As always, we had children's music playing to start the morning...)

"See, I stand and I raise one hand because I'm holding my baby." (Guess she sees me do that all the time while holding Joy-Belle.) :o)

"And now we sit down and clap our hands."

"Uh-oh, my baby's crying, I need to stand up and settle her."

I think this would be the dolly that would be crying... :o)

Oh - there, Joy's rescuing her now.

Then, as I was doing the supper dishes, Hope thought we should have a tea party. She wanted cinnamon sugar treats, but I told her another snack would have to do at that time of night. :o)

This set up actually worked pretty good, the blanket cushioning any dishes that fell.

"Tea, anyone?"

Deep thought there, Hope.

"Now Joy, yhisss is how you pour it. Mommy, do you want cream and sugar too?" And I do, when we're pretending. :o) When I drink tea for real I drink it clear. :o)

"Joy, do you want some too?"

Next day, I was putting things away in the kitchen from our Costco shop, and heard Joy at happy play in the other room.

 Peeking in, this is what I found her so delighted over - a shopping bag for each arm, and room to run with them too. :o) Doesn't look like she'll go very far on this run though, with her leg through a handle. I can't remember if she fell, but I'm sure that slowed her down. :o)

At supper one night, Hope said two very specific sentences: "Mommy, I want to talk to Granny on the phone." And, not a breath later, "And Mommy, I want to talk to Amy on the phone and I want to be the first one to talk this time." (she usually gets her turn after I've finished visiting with whoever is on the phone.) How could I refuse, even if her requests did sound slightly demanding. They weren't, it was just the wording she used. :o)

Supper time... they're always hungry while I'm making it, so this night I handed Hopey some shredded cheese, and when I came back into the kitchen this was how I found them. :o)

"Uh-oh - some spilled, Mommy." :o)

Home Life

Back to the blog... oh yeah... the blog. :o) 

I haven't forgotten... I just haven't remembered to take time for it. :o) 

Joy-Joy, determined to get into the sticker bag all by herself. :o)

Meanwhile, sister Hope takes a long look at the tiny stickers on the sheet she picked and tries to decide which one she will use next. :o)

Joy's into crawling into small spaces these days, or rather small containers. She fits inside this shoe-box-turned-dolly-bed just right, and Hope obliges by giving her rides. :o)

Pile on Hopey! This pic really depicts their size difference quite well. Notice the heads are about the same, and the torso's only a couple inches different, but Hope wins hands down in the legs department.

Oh yes, and shove a card over your sister's mouth while you're at it Joy... :o) Some peoples ideas of fun!

I cut these out back when I finished my other sewing projects in February, and just now had time to sew them for the girlies. Hope was confused at first because "you need to put a top on it Mommy." I had to explain that this was a real kind of apron too. :o) The aprons are for their play house downstairs, and Joy especially likes to prance around with hers on for long periods of time. I think the ties get in Hope's way for going to the bathroom, so she doesn't wear hers quite as much.

We don't let her do this every day, but sometimes it requires creative measures to get Joy to finish her food, and standing would be one of her favourite. I think she just has so much energy she doesn't like to sit. :o)

Hopey, twirling with a teddy bear.

I was tired after giving them their bath one night, so I threw a blanket on the floor in my room, pulled out some snacks and DVD, and we all relaxed while Hope's hair dried.

Always amazes me how many fingers babies can fit into their mouths!

Josh really wanted to show the girls "Mary Poppins" so we started watching it together the night before he left for a week long business trip.

We enjoyed part of it, and then stopped it so the girls could burn off some energy before bedtime. Like Hope, Joy's always concerned about being on the right page. :o)

Listening...

...and then back at it with gusto, and singing too!

My Mum sent Hope these foam stars in the mail, and Hope has fun playing our own original games with them. They're great for counting, or dividing by colour and by size, or making star trains, as we were doing here.