Easter Wonderland

I know it is usually winter wonderland, but since there were still patches of snow on the ground, I think it is fair to say Easter Wonderland.  We got ready for our wonderland by visiting the Easter bunny at the mall and painting eggs.  I also spent the majority of the day baking and prepping for our Easter dinner. 

Years ago when we first started making holiday meals for people, we invited over the single Marines.  They were usually far away from home, missing family, and very excited for a home cooked meal.  Over the years as our duty stations changed, most of our holiday meals were married couples and families.  There just were not that many single Marines around. 

This year though, all of the families had plans.  We decided to invite the Navy students that Gideon would be graduating with.  While I enjoy cooking for the families, the appreciation and enjoyment of the Navy “kids” reminded me again of how much I love doing this.  The oohs and aahs over the food made all of the hard work worthwhile.

We were also lucky enough this year for one of Hadley’s good friends and her family to join us for dessert and the Easter egg hunt.  Jade is such a sweet girl and my girls get along with her so well. 

The Navy kids had way to much fun hiding the eggs

The "trap" they created

Malia outsmarting the trap

We had so much fun and I can’t wait until our next holiday to celebrate with family and new friends.

Only Big Girls Here

When we were trying to get Hadley to potty train, we told her once she went on the potty all of the time she would get a big girl bed.  We told Malia the same thing. 

Malia showed no interest in going on the potty, so we didn’t push at all.  Occasionally, we would ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty, but she always said no.  I thought she would be closer to three before we were out of diapers, but one week before she turned 2.5 she said she wanted to wear panties. 

We put on panties and within a month she was completely potty trained, even during naps and bedtime.  Since we were moving soon and trying to sell the house, we didn’t want to convert her bed to a full size.  Instead, we took off one of the rails and converted it into a toddler bed. 

Seeing her bed for the first time

Very excited

Pretend sleeping

Her first night in her bed

We have two big girls now and potty training wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone warned.  My girls are independent and knew when they were ready.