the cake that Rachael made.....

This is the coolest and most delish cake ever! I think everyone needs to make it and eat it all up. Rach found the idea online and decided to make it; I think all of my family would agree - it was a big hit!

This is one half of it. So cool, huh? It's just a white cake, divided into 6 bowls and colored w/ vibrant gel food coloring. Pile one color on top of the next, it spreads out like this on its own...

This is the second half. Reverse order...

Then bake it and frost it w/ 16oz of Cool Whip and a package of vanilla pudding and ta-da! THEN EAT and enjoy! Delish!

I'm pretty sure I need some of this cake right now. Yes, I am certain of it. Where is Rachael when you need her??????

The (Live) Bunny?

Now, I know that I read the signs posted at Sycamore Mall correctly. They said, "Live Easter Bunnies from Petland....from 10-12, bring your cameras..." That is what we did. I guess. We stopped at the mall on our way out of town on Saturday morning before Easter. And as we walked up to the place where the live bunnies were supposed to be, out came this...

Not what we expected, but still cool all the same. K wasn't really scared of the bunny, she did clutch on a little tighter to me, but she agreed to sit with the bunny. Looking a little wary at first, she actually laughed and pointed at him, she really thought he was funny...

Easter Bunny? How about Carousel Bunny...

We got an early start to Easter weekend - Jon and I were off at 3 on Friday! So, we took K to Coralridge Mall to get a picture w/ the Easter Bunny. Except there wasn't one. Stupid huh? No biggie, we decided to go on our very first carousel ride! And we found bunny that was perfect! K was a little antsy getting ready for the ride to start, but once it got going, she was in love! Thanks to Kathryn for the free ride tickets. Now we will have to do it everytime we go, I bet.

In motion - I think she LOVES it!

candy free for all.

Easter started a week early for us in North Liberty. There was an Easter hunt on the Saturday prior to Easter and all kids under 10 were invited. Well, if you know North Liberty, you know that what appears to be the vast majority of the population is under 10 years old. Needless to say, it was a fairly chilly morning and even so, there were gobs of kids. Luckily, the "under 5" kids got to pick candy from the Babe Ruth outfield. Kennedy only picked up the shiny pieces of candy, and only after I directed her to look in that direction. Mostly, she just wanted to run, so I let her.

So I Caved...

K needed a trike. She needed it bad. I bought this awesome Dora trike, with bells and horns and music and all other delightful sound effects. Have we used it yet? No. It snowed 2 days after I bought the thing. So, lucky us, we get to play around the house with it. Actually, she is able to scoot around on it (can't reach the peddles, but I didn't expect that yet) but mostly she watches TV on it. With her helmet.

A few updates:

1- we have started potty training. K goes everyday on the big potty at Lorie's after lunch (#1 and #2!), so I dedicated this past weekend to "potty training". Bought some training pants and set the timer starting at 30 min intervals. She did great - went every time she sat on the potty. But, I came to the conclusion that she just isn't ready quite yet. She doesn't know NOT to go in the pants. So, Saturday, w/ the timer, it was great, but, Sunday, w/o the timer - we had 3 accidents before noon. So, we will keep trying. She will get it soon!

2- Kennedy is starting to repeat sentences - you may not hear it at first take, but if I tell you what she is saying, you will be like, "Oh, yeah, that is EXACTLY what she said!". For example, when she falls, she will look up at you and say, "I'm okay!". Or if she is hiding under her blanket, she will say, "Where'd she go? Hmmmm?" and then she pulls the blanket down and says, "There it is!" She is also really big on "Hi, Daddy!" She says this all the time. Most of the time, it doesn't matter who walks in the garage door and you hear a "Hi, Daddy!" and she will come running from the kitchen to the top of the stairs to greet you. Super cute! Oh, and she LOVES Barney. Loves him! If you say, "Kennedy, do you love me?" She will reply, "Yeah, I love Barney!" And if you try to correct her, she will scream, "Nooooooo, I love BARNEY!" Precious:)

3- She is no longer afraid of actually having a live person on the other end of the phone. Kennedy has always had a HUGE fascination with phones. She turns everything into a phone; her hand, a card, a Maggie toy - ANYTHING. And she will ramble on and on to whoever is on the "other" end - until there is a sound on the other end and she clams up. Until today. She heard her daddy on the other end of the phone on his way home from work. She said, "Hi Daddy." He must have asked how she was, because the next thing I know was, I heard a "good" and then a series of "yes", "uh-huh", "mm..hmmm" and "Yah!" 's. So, then we called Papa Brian and Grandma Julie and talked to them.

She is just growing up so quickly, I am so thankful to have such a precious little pumpkin biscut! LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Buggy.

After much deliberation, I purchased a little buggy for Miss K. I needed something else to push her around the block. I went back and forth on this buggy thing, because, as you can see, it's operation fully relies on someone pushing it. Kennedy doesn't get to do any of the work. But I finally chose this because it will serve the purpose of allowing us to go on "fun" walks to see the other kids in the neighborhood. I will probably get her a little trike type thing at her 2nd birthday, or once summer begins, but I went to Toys R Us this morning and they have all of their scooters set up. One guy pulled his kid out of the cart and set him on a few of the options. I asked how old the child was, and low and behold, he is 2o months. Perfect. Since I didn't have K w/ me, I was having a terrible time estimating whether K was tall enough to scoot or pedal...Basically, she wouldn't be able to do either, so I chose my original choice of the buggy. Thanks to Erin for measuring Hailey on her Barbie trike - that was going to be my next choice, but I just don't think K would appreciate it yet. Maybe in a couple of months.

And, I must say, K agreed w/ my choice. She saw the picture on the box - it was right after nap, so she was a little groggy. But, man, her eyes perked up when she saw that box! I opened it up and pulled it out, and she hopped RIGHT ON!!!! She loved it instantly. Of course, this meant I had to push her all around the house since it was too cold out today. It will def be an OUTSIDE toy.

Growing Big. She is.

I am just amazed every day at how big my little princess is getting! She is talking more and more and she is actually beginning to make some sense. Don't get me wrong, you still can't understand most of what she is saying, but SHE sure knows what she is talking about. She just rattles on non stop. And she repeats whatever she is saying, so I just know that one day she will surprise us with full blown sentences. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish what it is she is trying to say because she uses the same word for multiple words - like, she says Barney and Bunny and they both come out "Baaaawney" so you have to be careful how you reply. If she is saying Bunny and you think it is Barney and you say "Barney?" - then she HAS to watch Barney.

Yesterday, we went to our friend Asher's 4th birthday! It was so much fun to let the kids play. They are getting old enough now that they don't need our constant attention and it makes it a whole lot easier. Once the weather warms up, we will have people over for play dates in our new play room! Yeah!

After the birthday party, we had our friend Ian over (his mommy needed to use the computer!) and he and Kennedy played sooo well together - he drove the car and Kennedy rode in the back. Yes, he DOES have a barrette in his hair. And no, they are not TOO close to the TV. Well, maybe, but they did it all on their own. It was too cute:)