Wedding Shower - the Manly Alternative

The other major event in the last week was our shower for Alex and 'almost aunt' Emily. Kristin and Mom threw an awesome shower, but since I wasn't there if there are any updates on it they will have to come from someone else. While that was going on Dad took all the men skeet shooting. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday Dad and I watched the girls while Mom and Kristin went to another shower. All told the days took a distinct masculine vs. feminine flavor which I thought made an interesting contrast in pictures.

Saturday


vs.

Sunday

No one should ever say Grandpa doesn't have range.

And some general interest photos:

Preschool

Last week Abby finished up preschool. It seems like just the other day she was barely old enough to start and so completely overwhelmed by the experience that she had to lay quietly on the couch for at least an hour after ever class. Now she knows her letters and colors, can read a few words, and is friends with practically every kid in the class - I'm one proud father.

The last day of class was a picnic a nearby park to celebrate, we had a great time.

We also got to take home the ABC worksheet book Abby's been working on all year. Here's a page illustrating her love of stripes.

All told, I think the most impressive change to see was how Abby ran off in the park to play and say goodbye to all of her friends, she's grown into such a little socialite.

Mommy, wow! I'm a big girl now!

It's official - Nora's a big girl! We had her Big Girl Celebration (aka you no longer need candy every time you go potty) this evening. She got to choose our dinner and dessert (which was pretty tough - so many great options!), and we all just generally made a big deal about her. I think she felt pretty special by the time we were done!

Nora's final choice for celebration dinner - pizza and french fries with three kinds of dip.

Dessert - chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing and sprinkles (all specified by Nora). The girls helped me ice and decorate the cupcakes - can you tell who did which ones?

Abby's pretty excited for Nora . . . 

. . .  but not as excited as Nora is for herself.

Dad and Nora - love those faces!

Mother's Day 2013 - Why God Made Moms

For our little portion of the VanDuyne Family Mother's day 2013 was a good demonstration of why God gave us moms.

The day actually started a little before 4:00 am when I was awakened to the pathetic whines of, 'Mom, Mom, Mommmmmmm'. After I convinced Abby that I wouldn't go away and get Mom instead she told me that she wasn't feeling well. We did manage to make it to the bathroom before her first round of throwing up (better than we did last night). The highlight of the experience was the ridiculous scene of me physically forcing Abby to contain her puke to the bathtub while she screamed and violently tried to run to our bedroom to get mom. The whole time I'm just thinking, 'We are not going to wake mom up and 4am on Mother's day by blowing chunks in her face.'

Needless to say we did wake mom up at 4am to the sounds of our unpleasant scene. She of course immediately and lovingly gave Abby a big hug and helped her calm down. She didn't even complain when after cleaning up Abby and just laying down to try to get some more sleep we were again awakened to the sound of Nora throwing up all over her bed. This, I tell the girls, is why we're lucky God gave us mom - hugs instead of headlocks. At least Mom feels needed today right?

Anyway, after that start things could only go uphill. When everyone eventually woke up we gave Mom the, 'Happy Mother's Day' pictures we colored for her yesterday. Yesterday we continued our family tradition of giving me a few trays of annual's the girls picked (while Dad says, 'We already have 6 things of pink flowers, let's find another color') but since that trip is too exciting to keep secret we gave her those yesterday.

It's a little hard to see, but the girls are becoming quite the little color-ers.

Since I was up at 4:30, and somehow quite hungry, I decided to go all out for our Mother's day brunch - we had a huge spread.

After breakfast we spent most of the next 12 hours laying in various positions on the floor, moaning, and working our way through the better part of a box of saltine crackers. That said by dinner most of us were feeling better, Nora and Abby had even regained enough energy to run through the house shrieking. Since we were feeling a bit better we went out and took our traditional Mother's day pictures, it really is fun to see how the girls have changed each year.

To finish off our day we had a special Mother's day dinner. Eggplant parmesan casserole, and a giant 'Twix' bar for dessert, not to mention bread and butter for those of us with upset tummies.

In the end it really was a good Mother's day, and we really are lucky to have such a wonderful Mom.

Playdough Creations

One of Abby's birthday presents this year was a pack of 10 colors of playdough, so the girls have had fun making all kinds of things with that lately.

First, we each made a snowman:

Abby's, Nora's, and Mom's snowmen

Then the girls got into rainbows:

Abby's rainbow

Nora's rainbow

Next, Abby worked on her food series:

Watermelon

Broccoli and carrot

Tomato and egg

While Nora made balloons:

We finished up with a couple of worms in dirt: