Easter Fun

The Saturday after Easter John's family came over for a belated Easter celebration. We were planning on getting together the weekend before Easter, but all the kids were sick so we pushed back a week.
We all pitched in and brought enough food to feed a few armies and enough eggs for a dozen kids to hunt. We just talked and caught up on everything first then Grammie and Aunt Lisa hid eggs in the hallway, dining room and the kids' room (we were going to do it outside until we had a bunch of rain the day before!). Then we turned the kids loose to gather the eggs. Lets just say we have a true competitor amongst us. Abby was all about getting the most eggs! Forget about everyone else, she had her sights on those eggs and even the size of her basket wasn't going to slow her down. Her basket finally go so full that every time she'd bend down to get another egg, everything would topple out of her basket. The girl was on a mission! Jake was curious to see what was in the eggs, so he only got a few then grabbed Grammie to open the goodies inside. Paige and Ethan were having fun too gathering eggs, but they'd leave their baskets behind occasionally then realize they had nothing to put the eggs in. The kids were really cute and everyone had fun.

Lily's Smile

Lily has been smiling for about two weeks now, but I haven't been able to catch it on camera. It blows me away that she's already smiling! This is something that usually happens around 6 or 8 weeks. Jake was right around 7 weeks and Abby around 10 (although our pedi gave them an extra month if they needed it since they were preemies).
While she really doesn't look a lot like either Jake or Abby (she has features from both of them), I think her smile is a lot like Abby's.
Too cute!!


Everyone enjoys a little floor time together.
Abby makes sure Lily has her bear at all times too. I guess she doesn't want Lily to grow up and be confused about which bear is hers. Best to start teaching her young!

Family Pictures

Last Saturday we had our family pictures taken. The photographer got some GREAT shots but we're struggling with which shots to order so we need your help! Take a look at the pictures following the instructions below and let us know which family shot you like best.

go to www.jillybeanphotography.com
click on "Client Viewing"
the password is - Thornell

The image numbers are in the lower left hand corner of each image. Leave a comment or shoot me an email with your favorite pics.

Jake is NOT superman

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Jake jumping off the kitchen table!
This past week, Jake climbed up on the kitchen table and started jumping on it. I quickly shouted no and went to go get him off the table. As I approached him, he turned and JUMPED off the table! Luckily his head hit the wall instead of our tile floors or the window sill. He had a pretty good goose-egg on his head, but it could have been a lot worse.
The fall hasn't curbed his jumping or climbing though. Now he just gets up on stuff, points to the ground and says "fall".
I keep trying to look to the future and figure out how his inquisitive, fearless, persistent personality will serve him in the future. Maybe he'll be a stunt guy, or maybe he'll figure out how to defy gravity (do we have a little Isaac Newton on our hands?). Who knows.

1 Step Forwad, 2 Steps Back

Ahhh - regression has hit us hard. Jake the hardest. Jake has started getting into things and doing things he hasn't done in a while since I've had Lily. We climb the couches, the TV, throw our plates and food, and we don't nap anymore. I've always heard regression in regards to potty training which is why I didn't even venture to potty train before Lily came, but I didn't even think about it in regards to other behaviors. Arg!
My mom heads back to her life on Tuesday next week :-( I'm thinking that maybe once she leaves and it's just the four of us at home during the week, things will slowly get back to normal. Maybe. He'll still have to adjust to Lily being around and getting attention from me, but hopefully he'll start listening a bit more and being less defiant.
I also have to figure out the best way to get out of the house with the three of them by myself so we aren't locked in doors all week (although with the weather warming up, we'll be in the backyard more for sure!). The twins still need their regular activities and outlets so hopefully we can get back into that soon. We used to do stuff every morning just about during the week!