Spring Break

I can't believe I forgot to post about Easter!  I uploaded pictures last Sunday, but then headed to bed without writing anything, and now here we are a week later...

Andrea invited us to an Easter Egg Hunt on Friday.  We had a beautiful sunny

afternoon to explore her yard.  It didn't take Ellie and Tommy long to figure out that

there were treats inside the plastic eggs, so they were very gung ho.

 

 

Ellie tripped on a tree branch and spilled her bucket of eggs. 

Ever the gentleman, Tommy stopped to help her pick up the eggs.  Apparently

chivalry has its limits though, because he put them all into his own bucket. 

Once the big kids disappeared to their own activities,

the little ones settled into some sidewalk art.

Saturday was even sunnier and warmer, so we headed across the street

to the school playground.  The kids enjoyed climbing up the stairs, 

but were not as fond of going down the slides.

After a few tries it got better, and Ellie was headed up the steps to the tall

twisty slide when she tripped and smacked her face.  Game over on that one. 

We'll have to try again another day.

 



Scout was enjoying the sunshine too...

 

 On Sunday morning Tommy and Ellie found the Easter treats that the Bunny had left.

Ellie is reading a book from Tommy's basket,

while he is busy digging through hers for candy.

 

 Both kiddos had a clear preference for chocolate over peeps.

 

Then we dressed up in our Easter finery and headed to church.

 

After church, Grandpa and Grandma Selvage came to visit.

 I'm not sure if Grandma is teaching Ellie to text on her

"Talk 'n Text" or if Ellie is teaching Grandma. 

But I am quite sure that it is Ellie reading the new ABC book.

 

There were a few dances with last year's bunny...  

 

And then they stopped in the TV cabinet for a breather.

 

It was another great day, says Ellie.  Yay!

A House Full of Letters

Tom brought home a set of alphabet letters that a friend at work gave him.  Tommy and Ellie were so excited by this new treasure and they have been playing with it for hours every day.  It has been a great supplement to Elmo's ABC dvd that seems to run in an endless loop here.

 

One morning last week I picked Ellie up out of bed, and she calmly recited her entire alphabet, no prompting required!

 

Tommy has also been learning his letters and is close on his sister's tail. I think he knows most of the letters; he can bring the right one from the board if you ask him for it, but his diction isn't quite as clear.  They are so cute when they get to Z in the alphabet song.  They always cheer wildly for themselves or whoever else is performing it.

 

They are also pretty darned cute when they give each other

a kiss before bedtime every night.

The most exciting new letters in our home are the ones that fell in place behind Tom's name this afternoon -- Ed.D.  He passed the oral defense of his dissertation today.  He will still need to do a final cleanup of the text and have it printed and bound, then of course he will do the walk in May to receive his diploma, but he has officially earned the title of Dr. Thomas Selvage.  Congratulations, my love. :)

Ellie's First Haircut

Ellie's hair has been poking her in the eyes a bit lately, so we took her to get her first haircut.  Here she was standing up and ready to go even though she was still strapped into the stroller.

 

Ready...

 

Set...

 

Go!

She sat perfectly still the whole time. 

Wiggled less than I do during my haircuts.

 

She even got a little "styling" done.

 

 

 

Not a peep out of Ellie during the whole show, but she was happy to get a lollipop after.

 

 

 

Love, Love, Love

We went to visit my family this week. 

We ate breakfast at the restaurant where Megan works.

 

 

Then we went back to Sandy's house for fun with Rachel and Grandma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday was not just Valentines Day, it was my 10th anniversary!!!

Unfortunately, Tom had to work until 8 p.m. because it was parent teacher conference day. 

So on the way home from Aunt Sandy's, we stopped and delivered a treat. 

 

Tommy and Ellie studied all the books on Papa's shelves, then carried around their favorites.

H-I-J Elmo

My babies are growing up so quickly, and this past month Ellie's language skills have just blossomed.  She has been obsessed for quite some time with her ABC's, although she is quite insistent that they are H-I-J's.  Last week she added another letter, and they became H-I-J-Elmos.  After much discussion, she now knows that K comes before Elmo.