Easter

We went to Oma and Papa's for Easter and had an Easter egg hunt at their church. This was the area for the up to 3 year olds. They were a trip. The older kids all take off running practically knocking each other over while the young ones sort of wander around trying to figure out what is going on.
Isaac did a decent job of collecting eggs, but then he put them all back (in that bottom hole of this play ground). He wasn't quite getting the concept.

This was him discovering "Hey...there is stuff IN these eggs!!"

It didn't take too long before Isaac and Sylvie decided they would rather just play on the playground.

The whole gang.

This is Isaac and Sylvie's favorite game...playing chase. (It seems like Sylvie is normally the one doing the chasing :-).

Isaac's basket from "Oma-rabbit."

The cousins got Guitar Hero: World Tour for Easter. I'm not sure how much they played it before the uncles and I took over :-).

Batman playing the guitar...only Paul.

I'm not even sure how Isaac knew what you are supposed to do with a microphone, but he figured it out.

And then he decided Mom needed to sing (I'm just happy to still have all my teeth).

My Lion

Ok Arden, I hope you still check this because this one is for you...
This is Isaac's lion towel (thank you Arden and Natalie!), and he has refused to use any other towel. He also has a duck towel, so Paul will give him the choice after he gets out of the bath. It goes something like this..."Isaac, which towel do you want, the lion or the duck?" Isaac: "Yion!!" So after about a month of just wanting "yion" Paul stopped asking :-). Anyway, part of the game is that he comes out of the bathroom and "Roar!!"s me and which point I must fake scream. He thinks it's a hoot and laughs hysterically. There were a few times shortly after this game was invented that he came out laughing so hard he couldn't even get the roar out!

Snow day

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we've all been sick :-(.
A month ago, we had the most snow that we've had since we have lived here. It was Isaac's first "real" snow, and he thought it was fabulous! It was quite cold, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He ran around and played with Daddy laughing ecstatically, like he had died and gone to heaven. We had to practically drag him inside.

Cousin Sylvie

Isaac is a pretty independent kid. He's perfectly happy doing his own thing and usually just observes other kids if he pays them any attention at all. Sylvie, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. She loves other kids and is always wanting to play with them. As you can imagine, this causes some friction between the two. Isaac is all about his personal space, while Sylvie likes to give many hugs and kisses. So imagine my surprise when, after a few hours together, she won him over! Initially he would hide from her to preserve his precious personal space (and avoid the kisses), but after a while, her games looked like fun and he joined in. The next thing I knew they were chasing each other all over the house, running and screaming, having the best time. I might have some of it on video, I'll have to check. They were cute as everything and just as I had gotten used to a kid that liked to play with other kids, he shocked me to no end by leaning over and kissing her! Who knew?


Playing the piano together.

And taking a bath together (they are really not going to like these pictures when they're older).

And having a drink (No, there was nothing in the bottle; they were just too cute).

"Hey, wait a second..."

"There's nothing in there!"

What happens when you've had a few too many.

Birthday party with the family

OK, I cannot keep the blog up to date...I'm doing the best I can, but we are somewhat behind. Anyway, back in January we went to see the extended family to celebrate birthdays. We didn't get many pictures of the birthday celebration, but these few where pretty good.


This was Isaac's birthday present from Aunt Janet, Uncle Dan, and cousin Sylvie.



Let's just say "mess" is an understatement!

Notice the pink tint to the brown shirt. Luckily this stuff came out of everything easily (thank goodness, because Oma was not too happy with the mess).

Stairs story

I called Paul and told him an Isaac story, and he said I had to put it on the blog, so here it is...
There is some debate within the Aardema clan as to the best way for a toddler to descend the stairs. We are a fan of the feet first, on the tummy; while they are more for the buns method. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, so the debate goes on. Well, Isaac has been going faster and faster down the stairs and it's making me nervous, so I decided to try the buns method. I showed him how to do it, and he gave it a try. He was plopping on his buns every step and it looked sort of painful as it rattled his head. (He was also grunting as he landed on every step.) When he got about a third the way down the stairs (after a particularly loud grunt), I asked if it hurt. He responded with a vigorous nod, and said "Dess (yes), Mama". He leaned to the side and pointed to his buns and said "Dess hurt". He paused for a minute, then said "I know!" and flipped over and slid the rest of the way down on his stomach. My little problem solver :-).

Random picture. Thank you Arden and Natalie for my birthday present! I love it!

The cousins

Here is the whole crew (at least until May...then we'll have to make a space for the next cousin :-). Aren't they cute? (Sorry to the oldest 2--I won't name names--for calling you cute ;-).