Easter And Abigail's Birthday

It has been a busy few weeks in the O'Connell household and things are only going to speed up from here. A couple weeks back we spent time celebrating Easter. The day before Easter we headed out to my sister's house for an Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Minburn Library. The girls had a blast! I really like the small town atmosphere out there.

Waiting for the whistle

My parents stayed at our house that night and said it was their first time spending Easter morning with any of their grandkids. The girls found eggs hidden by the Easter bunny before exploring Easter baskets that he left behind before heading off to mass. They were lucky enough to get baskets from both sets of grandparents as well. 

All ready for church on Easter morning

Later in the day we headed back out to Minburn to hunt for more Easter eggs and have a wonderful lunch cooked by my sister. Every time I see my daughters play with their cousins, it brings back such fond memories of playing with my cousins at Grandma and Grandpa O'Connell's house every Easter. 

Cousins!

Last week Abigail's school hosted an art open house. Every student had a piece of artwork they had worked on displayed in the hallways of the school. We got to walk around looking at all of the art then stop in the cafeteria for some cookies. Abigail also got a chance to draw a picture for her teacher. Abigail's artwork was a picture of herself painting because she likes doing art so much. 

Abigail's picture is in the top row above her head

Yesterday was Abigail's 6th birthday. I don't' even know how that is possible but I checked like 10 times and she is indeed 6 years old. She started off her day with a pop tart and eggs for breakfast (her choice). The she spent time reading books and watching some shows on TV. In the afternoon Erin took her to see the play Fancy Nancy at the Des Moines Playhouse before returning home to have Casey's pizza for supper. After supper she got her present from us, it is a portable basketball hoop for the driveway.

A present for all of us really :)

Next Abigail and I made some peanut butter zucchini bread. About a month ago I started a weekly baking/cooking night with Abigail to start teaching her what I know about working in the kitchen. She is becoming an expert in reading recipes and using measuring spoons and cups.

Daddy daughter baking time!

Since we have a joint birthday party for the girls planned for next weekend, we didn't have any cake or dessert planned for this weekend. There were a couple of cupcakes left from the treats that Abigail took to school on Friday so Erin stuck a candle in one and sang happy birthday. 

A single candle in a lonely cupcake

We ended up making it a weekend long celebration. Grandma Weiler was in town for a baby shower and spent the night at our house so the girls got a chance to play with her and Great Grandma Engelmann this morning before heading to church. Abigail also got to open a birthday present from Great Aunt Lisa and Great Uncle Mark. 

She says it is her new fishing hat

To cap off the weekend we headed to Red Robin for dinner. There was a bit of a wait as the restaurant was understaffed, but the food did not disappoint. Abigail had her favorite, mac and cheese with mandarin oranges and topped it off with a birthday sundae as the staff sang a birthday song to her. 

Mommy stealing some of the birthday girls dessert

An Exciting Week!

It sure was an exciting week in our house. Abigail lost her first tooth at school last Wednesday. It has been loose for quite awhile and she finally managed to wiggle it enough to get it out. Oh yes, and the best part is that the tooth fairy came!

After Bridget crawled out of her crib last weekend, we finally decided on Friday to convert her crib into a toddler...I mean "big girl bed". She has done an outstanding job so far at both not falling out of bed as well as staying in bed during naps and at night. 

Proud of her big girl bed

She kept getting in my way while I was converting the crib so I
had to punish her in the worst way possible

On Saturday Erin decided to take the girls out to Bass Pro to see the Easter bunny. I can't really share much about this as I did not go along. Taking the girls to see the Easter bunny or Santa Claus are 1 of my top 2 LEAST favorite things to do. I have taken them by myself several times so it was nice to get a break this time. No worries though, they were great for Erin and didn't have to wait long at all. 

Abigail also went to a cheer leading/tumbling clinic on Saturday and had a lot of fun. Bridget and I spent the time making a brief visit to see my sister and her kids out in Minburn. All of us spent time outside enjoying the nice weather on Sunday. Abigail played outside for a couple hours while I worked on a project in the garage. Erin took Bridget out to a Creamery where she got to see a "baby cow" and try all sorts of dairy goodies. 

This week promises to be another exciting one with more chances to see family while celebrating Easter next weekend. 

A Rainy Week

It was a much more relaxed week in the O'Connell house this past week. As with every week, it seemed to fly by and we made sure to keep the girls busy. On Tuesday evening Erin took Abigail across the street to the Experience Grimes festival. Several of the businesses in town have booths with free food and activities for the kids. Abigail looks forward to it every year and I think it is so cool to her because it is literally across the street from our house.

I also got the girls signed up for swimming lessons on Tuesday. Last year we started to do swim lessons at the Urbandale swimming pool. It is the indoor swimming pool that I train at and is perfect for swim lessons. The best part is that weather doesn't have an impact on swim lessons the way that it does at the outdoor pools. I will be doing the parent-child lessons with Bridget again this year and am looking forward to it as we had such a blast doing it last year. Abigail will be moving up the the first level for school age kids.

On Wednesday, I got to join Abigail at the end of faith formation at church to go through the stations of the cross done by the 5th grade class. It was so cute to see all of the pictures that the 5th graders had drawn and listen to them walk us through each station.

Thursday evening they were having a special Lego themed story time at the library. Both girls love to play with Legos so I took them to the library. They were absolute angels the entire time and left the library willingly and on their own power when story time ended.

With a break in the rain on Saturday we were able to play outside for awhile in the evening. Since it rained most of today, we were stuck inside reading books and watching a little TV. The girls entertained themselves quite well throughout the day as well. The one surprise of the day was when I went to get Bridget up from nap, she was already out of her crib (yes, she has still been sleeping in a crib). We will give it a go in the crib again tonight, but something tells me that her bed will be converted to a toddler bed very soon.

Cabin Fever

Cabin fever set in hard core at the O'Connell house this week. After some nice weather over the past couple of weeks, we were treated to pretty much every kind of weather that Iowa has to offer with the exception of sunshine and mild temperatures. With very few opportunities to play outside, both girls went stir crazy. For some reason, both girls were extra tired all week as well, which as all parents know, makes life a little extra crazy.

Sadly, I don't have much exciting to write about this week so I'll give you a random list of happenings.

1. Bridget's new favorite thing to say is "Yup!" She pretty much answers every question that way. I find this a drastic improvement of being told no all of the time.
2. Abigail, along with all of the other girls in her dance class, were so tired on Wednesday that they were sitting down and refusing to dance. Her teacher made a point to tell all of the parents to get them extra sleep before next week.
3. Bridget is NOT a morning person. I have learned that it is better to make a bunch of racket prior to entering her room in hopes of her being awake when I open the door. If she is still sleeping when we go in, she acts like a teenager and pulls the covers over her head. Then she proceeds to throw a fit. 
4. Today, we met my uncle Mike and aunt Sara for lunch (along with my brother and his family) as they were passing through town. Both girls did great at lunch and as always it was great to see family.

Maybe next week I will have more things to write about.

Spring Break Craziness

From snow and wind to bright sunshine and warm, the weather for spring break was all over the board. Like the weather, we did a lot of interesting things as well. After having a sick kid at home the entire first weekend, we had a lot of fun the remainder of the week. On Wednesday I picked the girls up from daycare and we went to the car wash. This may sound silly, but the girls love going through the car wash so I usually try to take them with me. Bridget was funny to watch as she covered her eyes each time the sprayer went by her window.

Bridget hiding her eyes at the car wash

On Thursday afternoon we headed to my parents house for the weekend. We did a lot of things during the trip including getting our taxes done, visiting my grandparents in Waukon, and attending a memorial service to support a couple of friends from high school. When we arrived in Evansdale there was several inches of snow on the ground, so we headed outside Friday morning to do some sledding. One of my old sleds allowed Bridget, Abigail and I to go down all together. We all had a blast! By the time we got back from Waukon on Friday evening, nearly all of the snow was gone.

Bridget pulling her sled back up the hill

As usual, both girls had a great time visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa Zobeck. I think grandma and grandpa enjoyed it as well. 

Posing for a picture before we leave

A surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa Weiler, along with Great Grandma Engelmann this morning was a lot of fun for Bridget and I. Sadly, Erin and Abigail were at church and just missed them. We capped off the weekend playing outside and enjoying the nice weather. 

Fever And Sledding

Last Thursday I got a call from daycare that Bridget was refusing to eat and was running a fever. I picked her up and brought her home. That fever came and went all weekend and didn't fully disappear until Monday. In true Bridget fashion she was still acting her normal silly self for the most part.

On Sunday night we got a few inches of snow. When I picked up Abigail after work she asked if we could play in the snow. After we got home we got all bundled up and headed out to play in the yard. After playing for a bit I decided to load up the sled in search of a hill. Now Grimes is fairly flat so we settled for a small hill near Abigail's school. That hill is all we needed as we spent the next hour having a blast sledding down the hill. That was most likely the last time we will get to play in the snow this year and was a great way to end it.

This week we are preparing for a trip to Evansdale to see my parents as well as to Waukon to see my grandparents. The girls love visiting their grandparents and I know that my grandparents love seeing them.

Lent Begins

This past Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent has been my favorite church season for years, there is something about inward reflection and focusing on improvement that drives and excites me. On Wednesday evening, Abigail's faith formation class was cancelled in favor of Ash Wednesday mass so we headed to church after her dance class was over. She was very full of questions throughout the mass and I was very impressed at the observations that she was making. I hope that she continues to show curiosity at church and ask questions.

On Friday evening I returned to church with Abigail and Bridget to attend the Knight's fish dinner while Erin went out after work with the teachers from her school. Baked tilapia, oven potatoes, mac and cheese, and green beans made a very enjoyable meal for all. The girls were very well behaved and ate well also.

Now that I have you thinking my kids are perfect and adorable all of the time, I'll throw in some additional reality from the week. Last night, Abigail and I were planning to attend a daddy-daughter dance, but Abigail lost her chance to attend after getting in trouble at school on Thursday. I guess the incentive of spending an evening with an amazing daddy like myself just wasn't enough.

We have been keeping "Caught you being good!" sticker sheets for both girls. After receiving a certain number of stickers they earn a prize. The current prize was a date night with either mommy or daddy. For some unknown and suspicious reason, Bridget chose to go with me. Since my Saturday evening was freed up, I planed to take her to Pizza Ranch as she wanted to eat pizza. When it was time to get ready and leave, her little brain decided to start interpreting requests and commands backwards. In a span of about 15 minutes while just trying to get her shoes on, she did pretty much every naughty thing that she knows how to do. In the end, I gave up and decided it wasn't worth it and thought we would try again another time.