Happy Easter!! This past weekend we took many pictures, so I'm going to share quite a few of them. Everyone is healthy in our family (for now) and we enjoyed our health-filled weekend with the kids.
On Saturday we were in Grand Rapids to celebrate Kate's birthday with my side of the family. At my parents' house Drew and Kate both gravitate to the fireplace and set up all their toys there. Now that Kate is mobile, they cross paths and play around each other all the time. That mostly goes well!
In this picture you can see Kate's barrette, which was held in place by her wisps of hair. Jana found the smallest barrette available and I thought about adding a little super glue to get it to stay in place (just kidding).
Kate took a seat on Great-grandma's lap for present opening. I think she was looking past the card at this point trying to figure out why she wasn't opening the present yet.
Kate was thrilled with her new shopping cart. She immediately took off across the room pushing it around as we all watched with amusement.
Kate's shopping cart had some condiments in it, and Kate immediately tried them out . . . by putting them in her mouth.
Kate's play continues to get more and more appropriate. She knows that the mustard has to be turned in the right direction and that you squeeze to get it out. She's watching everything and soaking it up!
Kate enjoys standing next to this rocking chair. Our theory is that she enjoys the height of it and the instability. It presents more of a challenge than a solid object. Kate continues to be a nicely solid little girl and we enjoyed her slimming black leggings. This past week Kate had her one year doctor's visit and she continues to develop well. She's dropped off a little in weight and now weighs 21 pounds 1 oz and she is 29 inches tall. Kate is very average: about the 50th percentile for height and for weight.
Grandma Sue had hard boiled some eggs, which Drew helped her color and decorate. Drew's eyes lit up and the mention of a project!
This is Kate in her Easter dress from church this morning. She got a purse for her birthday, and she's holding the cell phone from it in her hand (that will be in more pictures). Kate wore a pink and white dress with flowers, a pink cardigan sweater, a barrette in her hair, and her new silver sandals (they have flowers on them too). I had the privilege of dressing Kate this morning, and it was surprisingly fun to put our little girl in a dress!
We got such a kick out of Kate wandering around her in dress. We don't wear dresses around our house all that often, so this was a special occassion!
Hello? Hello? Kate likes to talk on her cell phone. Someday we're going to have to be wary of that!
Jana tried to pose Kate for this picture and she immediately tossed off her sandal. As I mentioned, we don't do dressed up very often!
We had fun this afternoon romping around in the living room with Kate and Drew. Jana took most of these pictures of Kate, and Kate cooperated very well. Drew, on the other hand, didn't want to be photographed, so we didn't get many pictures of him. He was also very cute, but not willing to pose for pictures!
Kate chilled in the living room making some calls to her friends. She was getting tired and ready for her nap, but she couldn't put down the phone.
This afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt for Drew and Kate. Kate got into the eggs first and ate the Cheerios and Goldfish crackers she had in hers.
Kate needed another dress after a little leakage problem, so we pulled out another pink dress for her. She hunted Easter eggs in this dress.
Kate was pretty excited about finding Easter eggs. Look, she's getting hair (and it likes to stick up sometimes). Even mom spit can't keep it down :)
Look at this, a picture of Drew! As he raced around collecting eggs Jana was able to capture the elusive Drew Aupperlee on film. It's a rare "normal" picture of him from today. Drew, by the way, also had a doctor's appointment and he's a pretty big guy. He's currently 41 inches tall (95th percentile) and he weighs 35 1/2 pounds (75th percentile). Drew is still gaining back the weight he lost during his illness this past week, so he should be back near the 95th percentile for height and weight soon. Drew's current size for clothes is now 5T!! He's working on out-growing a pair of kids size 10 shoes. He's going to be a big guy someday.
By the end of his hunt, Drew had quite a haul in his basket. We've never done an Easter egg hunt with Drew, and it was a lot of fun. He did a nice job of finding the eggs, and I think next year we can make it even trickier. Just like with puzzles, Drew is very focused and he doesn't stop until he's found all the eggs!
I was so amused by this picture of Jana and Drew eating chocolate at the same time. At the doctor's office Drew was asked his favorite food. He replied, "Ice cream." He's definitely Jana's son!! In case you were wondering, his favorite fruit was pineapple and his favorite vegetable was cucumber. He's DEFINITELY Jana's son!
Kate has started pushing cars around and making car noises. It's so cute!! Vroom, vroom!
Like I mentioned earlier, Kate is getting the hang of what to do with things. Lately, she's been into putting on shoes. After taking off her sandals, she knew that they go back on her feet and she tried to put one on each foot. As you can tell, we're still working on sitting modestly in a dress!
With Drew being sick, we didn't get a chance to celebrate Kate's birthday as a family. We did that now too, and Drew helped Kate with blowing out her candles. Happy birthday again Kate!
Yum! Kate enjoys spaghetti sauce. She did a great job of attacking (and wearing) her meal. Kate primarily eats table food now and has also made the transition to cow milk. She's getting so big!
Kate enjoyed her spaghetti sauce so much that she wanted to let us know about it. Mom and dad, this tastes great!
Kate has been obsessed with shoes. She loves to sit in the kitchen by our back door and play with the shoes that are sitting there. She'll try on just about any shoe, and both Jana and I get a kick out of it when she tries to put my shoes on. They are SO BIG on her!
Kate will go for any shoe, not just men's shoes, and in the picture below she grabbed one of Jana's shoes and made off with it. She's leaning against Drew's stepstool, which Kate enjoys climbing up and down. If this is next to something like the couch or Drew's bed, before we know it Kate has climbed up and is sitting on it!
Uncle Todd is a firefighter for the city of Battle Creek, Drew likes to get in on the firefighter action, and now Kate wants to join the crew as well. She loves to grab a fire helmet and put it on.
Jana was in the kitchen when she noticed Kate rather intently eying up the dishwasher. Both kids love to be by the dishwasher. For Drew, it's a perfect racetrack for his cars. For Kate, it's just the right height for her.
As Jana watched, Kate pulled herself up onto the dishwasher. That wily minx was figuring out a way to get up on it! After snapping this picture, Jana pulled her down and that won't be happening again. 
As you can see, it doesn't matter what shoe is available, as long as it is a shoe. Here Kate has one of her shoes. She still wears size 2/3, the smallest shoe size available beyond infant shoes. Kate has tiny feet!
A rare moment of Kate and Drew together and interacting and still enough for a picture. This usually only happens in the bath. Drew was reading and Kate came over to join him. Kate loves to see what people are reading.
At the end of a long day Drew likes to sit down on the couch and do some Sudoku. It's a nice way to relax and challenges him on his early numeracy. (Just kidding, he's just "reading" it and making numbers on the paper)
Drew will get older some day and when he leaves the house we'll realize that we have no pictures of him when he was three. That's because they are either silly pictures, pictures where he isn't looking at the camera (like the one above) or he refuses to smile (like the picture below). I believe that if he were to get in trouble, the picture below would make a great mug shot. Is he happy? Is he sad? I don't know because he loves to do this blank look for the camera.
Kate, on the other hand, loves to ham it up for the camera, so we'll have many pictures of her from this stage of life!
I read Drew a story and immediately Kate came over to see what we were reading. It's so much fun to read stories with Drew and Kate!
Great-grandma and great-grandpa Vryhof hadn't seen Drew and Kate for a little bit, and they enjoyed the entertaining chaos of Drew and Kate running around. It's also nice to hold Kate while she's taking a drink!
