Happy Easter!

The kids all woke up excited to see what "presents" the Easter Bunny had brought them.  Xavier quickly took possession of all of the roll-on bath soaps that he and Anna received.  He did let her play with them in the bath tonight!  St. Nick also brought some roll-on soaps and they were a big hit.  He must have given the Easter Bunny a heads up!  Isabelle got a towel wrap for her hair and a candle and bubble bath, Xavier got 2 dinosaur books and a view-finder type thing with over 150 dinosaur cards to read, and Anna got some accessories for her "Loving Family" doll house.  After church, most of the Selhorst's came over for brunch.  Rachel's college roommate, Diana, and her new fiance Nirish, also joined us.  They were in town from Erie, PA, and got engaged yesterday - congrats! 

Family Picture!

 Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids...

Xavier decided he wanted to play outside, so he went in the garage and put on his new favorite boots:  bright green plastic rainboots with frogs and bugs on them.  I tucked his pants in and said "Have fun!".  He was quite a sight.  For some reason, he likes to climb in the baby swing and strap himself in while no one is around.  I've told him 100 times that I'm not going to get him out if he does this, but he does it all the time anyway!  Isabelle decided to get a little video of him playing around locked in the swing wearing his "weddin" outfit and rain boots!

Piano Recital

Isabelle had another piano recital on Sunday.  She played 2 songs and also played a duet with her best friend, Caidyn, who also takes lessons from the same instructor.  I only got half of the duet on video, oops!

Here is their duet of "When the Saints Go Marching In":

Here is Isabelle playing "Spoonful of Sugar" and "Chant Arabe."  Anna decided she wanted to sing along a little...

Isabelle's Birthday Party

Isabelle had a birthday party yesterday with her friends at Our Cupcakery in downtown Dublin.  It's a little bakery in a house built around 1840.  The party room is an old bedroom upstairs.  They had pizza, learned how to decorate 6 cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday, had cake and ice cream, and then opened gifts.  I think the girls all had a great time - I know Isabelle did!

First they decorated their boxes.

 Then they all got to taste the icing.  It was a buttercream with a hint of almond...very delicious!

 They each got a "glob" of icing and she taught them how to spread it out.  She said "glob" is a very technical cake decorating term.

 Then she showed each of them how to make stars and rosettes using the star tip.

 They each put a letter in the middle of the cupcake and then decorated around it.  Isabelle chose an A for Anna instead of an I. 

 Another technique she taught them was to lightly imprint a paper towel on the semi-dried white icing and it makes a pretty design on the icing.

 Isabelle's imprinted cupcake.

 The first cupcakes they decorated they dipped in sprinkles.  After she had shown them 3 techniques, they each got to decorate their other 3 cupcakes as they chose.

 Isabelle's birthday cake.  It's actually cupcakes, but they make it in a cake pan.

 All the girls...Noura, Katie, Caidyn, Isabelle, Liza, Alexis, and Sarah.

 Isabelle wearing her apron that the girls all signed.  She was thrilled to take this picture!

Anna's Daycare Birthday Party

We had a party for Anna on her birthday (March 24).  It was during spring break, so Ethan and Kylie, our neighbors, were also over!  We had mini-cupcakes and made aquariums.  Anna decided that she didn't want to participate and asked to have an extra nap while we ate cupcakes.  So, she was in bed while we ate cupcakes.  Then she was not interested at all in making her own aquarium.  Until after everyone was done, of course!

Thanks to Abe for being a trooper that week.  He ate 6 big jars of baby food instead of the yummy homemade baby food his mom makes him, just so we could have jars!

Everyone at Anna's party...Anna absent, of course.

 Xavier concentrated really hard on putting glitter in his.  He said his aquarium was the best because he put the most stickers on it.

 The boys couldn't hang around for a group picture, so here are the girls with all of the aquariums.

 Anna finally deciding that maybe they were pretty neat...