A Few Steps in the Right Direction...

A morning walk in Andrew's room

Birthday girls

 Grown-ups-only dinner to celebrate my birthday...

good, relaxed conversation (mostly about the

babies) but still....nice!  Thanks, Greg!

 Saturday was Becky Swenson's birthday as well

and she celebrated by hosting a 1st birthday

party for Evelyn who turned one on April 25.

So nice to see everyone!

Evelyn takes her new babies for a spin in her

stroller...so cute!

Look who's talking

Here's a partial list of Everleigh's words/phrases:

mommy

daddy

whassat?

whosat?

I'm so sad. (furrowed brow)

I'm so happy. (big smile)

Baby go night-night.

animal sounds for lion, tiger, cow, horse, chicken, monkey, snake

  sheep, pig, bird, duck, kitten, dog, owl and probably more

baco, where are you?  (she calls me when we're playing hide and seek)

dodo and go go for Dora and Diego

boots and oh, man (for Swiper)

Elmo

Ozzy & mo-mo (her cats)

Baby Adoo (andrew)

Ben, Ra-Ra and papa for some family members

She is also recognizing the colors pink (of course!), blue, yellow

She knows shapes circle, triangle, star, rectangle, square and can name them.

She loves Clifford, the Dog books, anything with Dora and Diego or the Wonder Pets

I usually have Andrew with me when I arrive and she always runs to greet us, but

  Thursday I came alone and she asked "Where's Baby?"

She can say some foods:  cheese, juice, baba (for bottle), apple (any fruit) and cookie.

She is really stringing together other words to make phrases and sentences...as many as 5

  at a time which is really fun to listen to.

Andrew, on the other hand, is taking quite a few steps at one time.  He walks between

furniture but will also venture out across a room.  If he goes down, he just crawls the rest

of the way.  Sometimes he will walk quite far and today he was almost ready to stand

back up after going down.  Mobility is good but he is so curious I'm wondering if I'll be

able to keep up with him.  He is also fascinated by repetitive actions.  The other day

he was moving his blocks from a box to his night stand over and over.  And he loves to

stand at the door and look outside (usually with Olive right beside him).

Springtime in Minnesota

Last week....For my Florida grandsons....this is what April can

look like in Minnesota...pretty in December,

YUCKY in April!

My birthday with Everleigh and Andrew and yes,

I'm 61!

Easter Sunday with Jesse, Andrew and Ben

So Handsome!

Everleigh was in pink for Easter...of course!  and she carried

around my little pink bunny calling it "pink"!

It was 62 degrees on Easter Sunday!  Nice enough for outdoor pix!

Scott, Everleigh and Ami...Easter 2011

Everleigh changed outfits to get into her
"dancing queen" motif!
It was a busy month...We welcomed GG home
from AZ with a gathering at Sue's new lake place,
celebrated Scott's birthday with lunch at the Rueb,
went to a birthday party for 2 year old Claire,
noted my birthday on the 21st, hosted a bridal
shower for a friend's daughter, celebrated Easter
with my family including Steve and Peggy from
Council Bluffs and then dinner at our house
with the kids, attended a Celtic Women
concert at the State Theatre (wonderful) and
still have a birthday dinner for me with the
kids Friday night and a birthday party in Winona for
one-year-old Evelyn, Andrew's Swenson cousin.
We're also planning on getting our camper to the
river campground soon and then there's Andreew's
birthday and Mother's Day coming up.  The
weather has finally warmed enough for outdoor
walks and playtimes, but as usual with Minnesota
spring, it's two steps forward, one step back.

aunts and uncles...

 I met my cousin Paula for lunch a couple of Saturdays ago,

as we try to do a couple of times a year.  She lives in Rushford now

so it's just far enough that we don't do it often enough.   She had a

book with this photo in it, taken around 1965, when my Stock grandparents

(mom's parents) celebrated their golden wedding.  This is a picture of

all the cousins except Jim and Michael who were born later.

My brother, Steve, is in the front row, second from left.  Ann and

Sue are in second row, far right and 3rd from right in matching

dresses (how cute!).  That's me in the next row, standing

second from left and Paula is second from right.  Carol is

between us.  wow!  There were 28 grandchildren in all

and we knew each other well.  We spent a lot of holidays

and birthdays together over the years.  It was really special

at this event because Cousin Barb and Cousin Vicky were

there all the way from Detroit....how exotic!

This is my mom's family that same day. She's far left, standing.
She had 3 sisters and 5 brothers.  She and her brother Henry,
are the last ones left. 
Front row-Addison, Gma Stock, Gpa Stock and Arnold
Back row-Mom,Helen, Henry, Stan, Gene, Dorothy and Joyce 
Of course, my Auntie Joyce..(far right)
was responsible for many great adventures for me and
my siblings (She lived in Detroit with Vicky and Barb), but
it was mom's brothers wives who created most of the family
memories.  Big family gatherings in farm kitchens; great food;
lots of gossiping; and fun with cousins.  My Aunt Mia (Henry's wife)
raised 5 kids, worked full time as a nurse and helped run a family
farm.  How did she do that?  Of course, all my aunts worked hard
and I spent lots of time in Pat (Stan's wife)'s kitchen because
she is Paula's mom, but it always seemed to be Mia playing
hostess.  She's in failing health these days and doubt she reads
blogs or facebook or email but I need to say that she was/is a
great role model for me...She loved her family and her husband's
family and always made us feel welcome and wanted.  Always
a card at Christmas with a bit of news and gifts when my children
were born and later married.  She was always interested in
what our family was doing and has always been the point
of contact for our family with the rest of the clan.  Thanks
for everything, Mia....you are a great lady.  All you did
made a difference. 

playdate, nice hair lines, and a tea party

 Here we are on Monday at Claire and Max's for a

play date with Andrew.  Everleigh was under the

weather so couldn't join us but you can see it was

good times.  Brody shows off his purse....I mean

man bag.

 This was as close as I got to a shot of all four kids.

(Make that 5 with Annie)

 Little Max...

 I had a feeling when I took this picture that there

was a major plot unfolding but they were trying

to look like it was nothing...

 We always take a picture of Andrew's front so you

don't see what a nice hair line he is getting in the back.

 In the paper you will read that Everleigh poured at this tea.

(note Cookie Monster in the background.)

Andrew spent Friday at my house and wore his

Twins shirt in honor of the home opener.  Good choice!

GG is home from AZ so stopped by for story time.



We keep busy....

 Andrew likes to tip over Everleigh's new chairs...not sure why...
He has discovered Ami's cats and loves to crawl after
them as well.  He's also discovered their cat food.

 Everleigh has this whole scenario she
goes through with her "boy" and "girl"

at their castle dining table and chairs. 
It involves "num, num" and sometimes dancing... 

Everleigh has been doing a lot of work with
stickers and colors the past couple of weeks.

All babies/toddlers have their moments but some things
that crack me up:
When Andrew turns to make sure I'm going to stop him
before he gets in the dog's water dish.
When Everleigh greets me at the door with "hi".
When Andrew takes off across the wood floor with
his car walker.
When Everleigh listens to Andrew cry and says
"baby, sooo sad".
When Andrew laughs when he's tickled.
When Everleigh plays "hide" and "seek".
When Andrew raises his left arm and gives a
speech worthy of any politician.
When Everleigh goes through her R2D2 monologue.