Easter 2008

Our family all dressed up on Easter Sunday. The girls' dresses are Aunt Brenda originals, passed down from their older cousins! :)

Our Family Easter Egg Hunt

Instead of putting all their Easter treats in baskets, Joey and I sent the girls on an Easter Egg Hunt in our house.

Lily wearing her $1 Easter hat from Target. I picked these up for the girls because Cassidy had a cowboy hat that she loved, but I had to toss it because it was falling apart. Cassidy LOVES the new hats and wears both of them (often at the same time). Lily yanks hers off her head as quickly as you can put it on! :)

Cassidy all smiles at the beginning of the Easter Egg Hunt

Lily filling her basket with eggs...her eggs were filled with Cheerios!


Such a sweet face!

Isn't she a doll?!?!

Too cute with her tongue sticking out!

Cassidy's Easter gift was a ballet costume complete with ballet slippers. For a couple of months, she has been asking, "Where are my ballet slippers?" After hearing me say, "You don't have any ballet slippers," repeatedly, she took to putting on my tennis shoes and clomping around the house. As you can tell from the above picture, she likes her NEW slippers way better than mommy's old sneakers!

Striking a pose

Fun with My Sister

Nine Months Old

Here are the girls' comparative 9-month stats. Lily is definately our lightweight, although I think the fact that she has had ear infections for the last 3+ weeks has affected her weight. She is just not eating very much right now.

Please keep Lily in your prayers. At her appointment today, after 10 days of antibiotic, her ears still have not healed, so we are now on 10 more days of a different antibiotic. I suspected that her ears were still bothering her when she finished the antibiotic last Saturday and almost immediately started fussing at bedtime again. We know God is much greater than any little ear infection, so we continue to pray for her complete healing. :)

Lily Anne Walls

19 pounds, 50th percentile

27 inches, 25th percentile

Cassidy Grace Walls

20 pounds, 75th percentile

28 1/2 inches, 85th percentile

Garner Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, we took the girls to the annual Garner Easter Celebration at Lake Benson. The morning included kite flying, music, clowns, balloon animals, bouncing rides, and egg hunt, and for us, a picnic lunch. Highlights for Cassidy - meeting the Easter bunny and, of course, the Easter Egg Hunt. Highlights for Lily - dancing to the music!

Meeting the Easter Bunny - Cassidy LOVED it...Lily did NOT!

Cassidy would have spent the whole day hugging the Easter Bunny. Before seeing him, she kept telling me that she was going to give him a big hug and a kiss. After meeting him, she talked about how soft and fuzzy he was!

Lily dancing to the Silly Hamster Song

Coloring our family kite

Taking the kite out for a test fly

Run, Cassidy, run!!!

Lily and Daddy with the kite

Daddy Kisses

Blowing dandelions...our new favorite pastime

Lily hunting her first Easter Eggs

Cassidy and Weston showing off their loot

Lily and Cassidy checking out each other's eggs

World's Cutest Tushies

The girls will be mortified years from now when they realize I posted their tushies online, but I just couldn't resist. They are SOOOOOOO cute!!!

OK, there is some serious chunk on these haunches!!!

I love this picture because you can tell they are playing together.

This picture has no relevance...I just thought it was kinda cool.

Again, no relevance...just cute! :)

MOPS Easter Egg Hunt

Today we joined a local MOPS group at Lake Benson for an Easter Egg Hunt and a picnic. Here are some of my favorite pics from this morning:

Cassidy and Weston playing with bubbles.

Lily watching the action.


Cassidy did NOT want her picture taken...little does she know, I got her in the picture anyway! :)

Getting ready to look for Easter Eggs!

On the hunt

Happy after a successful hunt (She really IS happy...she has a thing about having her picture taken, so even though she's not smiling, I was just glad she was standing still!)

Cassidy with her loot

Static Electricity

This picture was taken about a month ago...just now getting around to posting them. :)

There was so much static between Lily's hair and the balloon that they were literally stuck together. Lily soon got irritated because everywhere she went, the balloon would follow! :)

The Day it Snowed at Our House

A couple of weeks ago - it was a Wednesday - Cassidy, Lily, and I attended Cassidy's weekly Ready to Learn class. After class, as has become our routine, we headed to Kroger to do some grocery shopping. Typically the girls are fairly well-behaved - Lily rides in the stroller and Cassidy rides in the cart (P.S. If you need a good weight/strength training routine, just borrow a toddler and a baby and cart them around a few times a week! :) ) - and I entertain them with toys or snacks.

On this particular excursion - perhaps because they were more tired or hungry than usual - at almost precisely the same moment my girls decided they were done shopping and had major meltdowns in the middle of the bread isle. Cassidy sobbed and dramatically repeated "I'm so hungry!" - I'm sure my fellow shoppers thought I was starving her - while Lily let out red-faced screams with crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks. Needless to say, this put the shopping trip into overdrive and as fast as I could push and pull the stroller and cart, we grabbed the last of the necessities and got the heck out of there! (I'm sure everyone in the store was glad to see us go!)

The girls calmed down in the car, but the tantrums soon began again at home when I had to unload and unpack the groceries before I could even begin to make lunch. I flew around the kitchen, slapping some PB&J together as quickly as I could (and somewhere in there I tried to nurse Lily), but by the time the food was on the table it was too late and the crying and complaining continued as we sat down to eat. I consider myself a fairly patient person, especially when it comes to my girls, but by this point my frustration was reaching the overflow level.

Can't they see that I am trying my best? I think. Can't they just be a LITTLE bit patient?? Does anyone care that I am tired and hungry too??? Well, no, no and NO. They are little and they just don't understand anything except what they want and need in this exact moment.

As I am having this conversation silently with myself and trying not to lose my temper, I look up and huge snowflakes are flying past our kitchen windows. In an instant all my frustration fades away and I am captivated by the beauty of this unexpected moment. "Look girls, it's snowing!" They turn and the crying ceases. I even see a hint of a smile on Cassidy's face.

In this moment, I am reminded of Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful." After about 30 seconds the girls start to fuss again, but I am unaffected. As I tend to the girls, I am calm and relaxed...I am at peace. I continue to watch the snow fall and quietly thank God for the beautiful display of nature I witnessed...one that gave me the opportunity to take a breath, renew my mind, and allow the peace of God to rule in my heart once more.

To teach is to touch a life forever...

Cassidy (and Lily and I) attend a weekly preschool class at one of our local elementary schools. The program is funded by a Ready to Learn grant and we have been incredibly blessed by the wonderful learning opportunities that have been provided to us.

Cassidy loves her teacher, Mrs. Mitchell, dearly, so it was no surprise that she was looking confused and concerned when we arrived at school today and Mrs. Mitchell was not there. Mrs. Carter (one of the other teachers) and I reminded her that Mrs. Mitchell had told us she would not be in class today, but that she would be back next week. The explanantion seemed to satisfy her and she went about her normal routine, checking herself in by putting her name on the attendance tree, taking off her jacket, and playing with some of her favorite toys.

Miss Jenny, who has been observing our class as a student teacher, taught class today. She is sweet and kind and worked very hard to engage all the eager, wiggling toddlers. Even still, I wasn't sure how Cassidy felt about the day - change can be unsettling for children, and Cassidy often does not respond well to a change to her normal routine.

Often at the end of the day I ask Cassidy, "What was your favorite thing that we did today?" Tonight at bathtime the conversation went something like this:

Me: So Cassidy, what was your favorite part of school today?
Cassidy: Playing with Miss Jenny.
Me: You liked playing with Miss Jenny?
Cassidy (huge smile): Yes. Miss Jenny is a BEAUTIFUL teacher!
Me: Yes Cassidy, Miss Jenny IS a beautiful teacher.

So, to all the Miss Jennys in the world who touch the lives of children everyday...we say thank you. Please know your efforts are not in vain. You DO make a difference!