76 months

We can't be in Miami around Easter time without an egg hunt (it's a famous egg hunt according to the nieces and nephews) at Aunt Boo and Uncle Mikey's house, and all J talked about leading up to the trip and wondering if there would be one. This year Aunt Boo put in a special request for the EB to visit a week early since all of the cousins would be together. After the daddy's hid 150ish eggs the kids went to town running around the yard and piling them in their baskets, non of them had a strategy and ran from one side of the yard to the other. We had to take an intermission for them to off load their loot so that they could go out and get more eggs. J was all about finding the golden egg, she didn't look good enough, and after no one found it, we gave B a little insight to where it was. When all the eggs were collected they hurried to the patio and began feverishly opening them and trading what they didn't want. Inside the golden egg was a "hot potato" which seemed to disappoint some but made for some entertainment throughout the day. We spent most of the day/night there, the kids played till they couldn't play anymore and I think they all ended up having two baths. It was so nice to watch them all play together, with all living in different cities it is hard but we try at least once a year to get all of the troops together. 

The rest of the week in Miami we spent chilling (well as much as we could). We helped G&G do a little packing of their place for their move to our neck of the woods. We went to the park on a very windy day and tried to fly a kite, two kites later and they both bit the dust! We spent a day with B, Nana and cousin Amanda hanging out playing, we went to lunch and to the pet stores to check out the pets. We went to dinner with G&G where the girls went to town on some steak and a Thunder from Down Under at Outback, they wouldn't share it at all! We had a great trip in Miami but we were all glad to get home and unwind before school starting back up again.

Easter Saturday we went to our local strawberry farm for their Easter egg hunt, they got a nice little turn out and the crowd was just enough for us. The EB drove in on a tractor and had placed eggs all over the hydroponic strawberry pods. Now that she is six J is considered a big kid and is in that category most places we go now. So we have to split the kids up, Daddy took J to get her eggs and after C and I got hers we found them and someone wasn't happy and very pouty! She was upset at the lack of eggs she got and of course that C had a ton more than her, and of course that she didn't get anything good in her eggs or find a golden one! C had gotten enough ice cream, lollipop and drink tickets for them both but that didn't please J. Maybe I should continue to make her five at these kinds of things! Easter Sunday was a quiet and low key day at home. The EB left baskets and eggs hidden in the house for the girls. They were excited there was a golden egg too for each of them (we didn't have a pouty kid!). Once they found all of the eggs (or should I say once J went around and found her eggs and told C where hers were, she quickly caught onto the colored eggs with their initials on them) they opened them and to their surprise the EB left Lego pieces in the eggs, then they realized the rest of the set was in their basket. That EB is pretty smart, it kept them quiet and entertained all morning! Might just be a new tradition in our house! Later that afternoon we BBQed and the girls attempted to break in our pool, it was cold and after about 10 minutes of shivering and their lips turning blue they got out!  J is a little rusty but nothing a little practice won't fix real quick!

Daddy was out of pocket for three weekends this month taking a real estate class which meant mommy was on her own for most of the weekend. While many think going to Disney is exhausting (it is especially for just a day trip) at times it isn't as exhausting as being home! After being home with them that first Saturday (and the fighting and complaining) I quickly made FastPasses for the next day at Epcot. J had been talking about the butterfly garden since we had gone with Nana a few weeks back and figured they'd be better behaved there than at home, it's amazing what Disney does to behavior! So we packed up for the day and headed to Orlando for what was to be a relaxing day at Epcot, and that is what we made it, we got there just after 9am, left around 3pm and met daddy for dinner on the way home. It was honestly a perfect day (behavior and weather wise) and we took our time and just bounced around the park. We saw the dolphins (J keeps talking about how they are back) in the Seas and watched a little of their interaction session, rode the Land, Soarin and made our way only to Mexico (the only country we went to) to ride the Three Caballeros. The rest of the day was spent either walking and taking pictures of the topiaries we were missing or in the butterfly garden. We actually went to the butterfly garden twice for about 45 minutes each time. We had to comb every inch of the garden, find every caterpillar and cocoon we could and catch butterflies on our fingers. By the second trip in there I got pretty good at getting them to come on my finger. We found one that had a broken wing that was really friendly and the girls got to hold it (J finally did after having a little pouting session that she couldn't catch one on her own) and had a hard time leaving it, I think they would have taken it home if I would have let them! We even got to see some butterflies hatch from their cocoons, watch the video and see them wiggle out. It is such a cool exhibit and I am glad that J loves it (of course she couldn't wait to tell her teacher about all she saw), C is getting better and we have to bribe her to stay in there with us!

The next Saturday I basically pushed the repeat button since we had such a nice time at Epcot. This time we met up with some friends, had the same day but threw in a couple of things we hadn't done yet! While we waited for our friends to arrive we rode Spaceship Earth, the girls were excited that I let them ride together by themselves and that one didn't have to sit in my lap! They sat and behaved so well holding each others hand the entire ride (melt my heart, so much better than fighting at home!). We started our morning with the dolphins and got to watch the interaction session, this time they were working with them on matching objects, one of the dolphins wasn't very cooperative and didn't do so well, the other got about 90% of the objects right! It was pretty amazing to watch them at times have to think about their answer, similar to what we do when we are between two answers, and when they got it wrong and were shown the correct answer they would shake their head. Again this day we went to the butterfly garden twice, the first time we went the butterflies weren't as friendly as they were the weekend before and we had a hard time coaxing them onto our fingers. Of course the kids were getting frustrated and we decided that was our que to feed them (but then they were mad we left so we promised to go back after lunch and try something out)! I had seen someone in the exhibit with sugar water trying to attract the butterflies so after lunch I told the kids we were going to do an experiment with my Diet Coke to see if we could get them to come onto our fingers, the kids thought it was cool but it didn't work, it was so hot that the liquid on my finger would dry up before I could get to a butterfly, it sounded like a much better plan than it was! Right when we were about to leave J caught a butterfly and that changed everything! We must have stayed with it (it had a broken wing) and passed it around the kids for a good 30 minutes, then we caught a butterfly that had just hatched and wasn't yet fully flying, the kids were happy, J especially when she had two of them at once, mission accomplished! We went and met Mickey and Goofy and saw the 3-D short films over by Figment that we always pass up, they were actually cute, the kids cracked up and it was a good for 15 minutes of A/C! Before leaving I decided to live on the edge and conned both of the girls into riding Test Track with me, not sure how I got them to agree but I did! Not 15 seconds into the ride J was screaming "get me off of here"and was frightened the rest of the ride, although the car she designed won! She swears she is never going back on it and complained of a headache for the rest of the day, I guess the G's got to her, oops!  She couldn't wait to tell daddy when we got home how much she hated the ride!

School is great and I can't believe we are in the final 9 weeks of the year! When we got back from Spring Break they had their third quarter awards ceremony, again she got the award for most Gator Baits and also got to go to an ice cream party with the other kids who earned this award. She is now confident enough on her bike to bike home from school, we have a little bike/scooter crew that rides home together each day, except poor J gets left in the dust as the other kids are much faster than she is on her bike, they do wait for her at the corner though before we enter the community. Sight words are going great and she passed both list 9 and 10 this month, it took her about a week between them. She was the first in her class to pass all of the lists, get her name moved on the board and her teacher gave her a special certificate (220 words in Kindergarten is a big deal)! She is doing very well at home with reading and sounding out words she doesn't know. She is already asking for trips to the library this summer, we might just have a book worm in the making!

Tumbling...well it's just going. J is now in C's class and I think having a much better time being the older kid than being the youngest in the class and very intimidated by the older kids who can do back handsprings. She really focuses and gives it her, she is making small progress with her "tumbles" as C calls them and her cartwheel has improved a little, they like to practice cartwheels after bath in our room as they wait for their hair to be dried. I wonder how much her cartwheel is going to cost us and how long until it somewhat looks like a cartwheel (hee hee).

Remember last month when she went to the dentist and he told her she had a top tooth that was a tiny bit wiggly, well now it is both top teeth and she is so excited! You'd think she is going to loose these teeth tomorrow, she isn't wanting to bite into things, this is going to be an interesting summer trying to eat corn! Speaking of exciting, the most exciting thing that happened this month was Grandma and Grandpa closing on their new house here (they officially move over next month)! The girls are excited for their new room, new bed and to have sleepovers with them! I am a true believer in that things happen for a reason, the girls have been used to having Nana and Pop Pop here with us the last few years, seeing them every week or so and Grandma and Grandpa visiting. There is a reason a lot came available earlier (we didn't know why back in October but do now) and they are joining us on this coast sooner than we thought they would, welcome to LWR!

Here are pictures from Miami, our Epcot trips and the month.