Alexis' big reward

A while ago Alexis started asking if she could get her ears pierced. At first Mommy was super excited about this and almost got it done the first day that she asked, but then Mommy realized what a big deal it is to get your ears pierced and instead made a deal with Lex. Alexis has been helping Mommy everyday, mostly helping with Sammi (she's really good at that), feeding her fish, and helping clean up messes (not as good at that). Every time she did something helpful she'd say, "Mommy I'm helpin' you. Now I get my ears pierced." Anyway, we decided yesterday would be the big day. We went in the evening because we knew that there would be 2 ladies on duty at that time.
First, the lady cleaned Alexis' ears and marked purple dots where the piercings would go.
Then, when it was time to do the piercing Alexis decided to sit on Mommy's lap (so no pictures of that part). The lady got everything set up and we thought she would get the other worker when it was time so they could pierce both ears at once. Before we knew it, one ear was pierced. Mommy got worried Lex wouldn't want to do the other ear but she just said "owe" and turned her head to let the lady do the other ear.
What a big girl! Alexis picked out pretty blue gems- the September birthstone (whatever that is)
Mommy is so proud of how brave she was!

Why Mommy doesn't like to paint...

Mommy isn't a big fan of painting, but Alexis & Sammi (Alexis especially) love to paint. Alexis asks almost everyday if she can paint. On Friday, Mommy bought some butterfly shaped wooden coat hooks for the girls to paint.

And this is why we don't paint much at the Jolley house.

Alexis saw that Sammi was getting attention for the giant mess she made and decided to paint her tummy too-

What a mess!!! But they sure had fun!

Playing in snow

Not this last weekend, but the weekend before, Daddy was working in Leavenworth (about 3 hours away) and forgot some parts and tools at home. The girls loaded up and headed over to help Daddy. Not too long into our trip, Sammi started throwing up. It was awful!! We had to stop every 15-20 minutes to clean her up. On the was home she seemed to be feeling a little better, so we pulled off on the side of Blewett pass so Alexis could get out and play in the snow. She would have stayed there all day!
Sammi didn't want to get out. She just "drove" while Alexis & Mommy made some snow men and played in the snow.

Happy Easter!

On Easter morning, we woke up really early for church and then headed straight to Grandma Kris & Papa Bob's for breakfast. Since the girls woke up just in time for church, they didn't open their Easter baskets until we got to breakfast.
Alexis found candy!
Sammi loves milk, so she was pretty excited about her new milk cup-

Egg hunt-

We headed to Grandma Gayle & Papa Scott's in the afternoon. We got there just in time for a yummy dinner. Then we headed out for another egg hunt.

Checking out the goodies in our eggs-

The cousins (except baby Mark)-

Egg Hunt at the Zoo

The day before Easter, we went to the zoo for an egg hunt. It was freezing!!! We bundled up and had a lot of fun.
We had to wait in line for about 1/2 hour before it was our turn to hunt eggs. Here are the girls- just about their turn to go.
And the hunt is on (well, not much of a hunt...the eggs were just spread out on the ground)-

After loading up her basket, Alexis got her face painted with a red heart-

The egg hunt area was right next to the carousel and Alexis really, really wanted to ride. We kept trying to tell her we did not have any cash (you have to buy tokens for the ride- cash only) a lady walking by heard telling Alexis that we didn't have any money & she handed us a bunch of tokens so we could ride- kind of embarrassing but it was really nice of her.

She ended up giving us too many tokens so we were able to give some to another family who were having a similar problem.

After the egg hunt and carousel, we walked around to look at the animals. Not many were out- it was pretty cold. We did see this cool peacock though.

Easter Bunny

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny-
Last Monday, we went to the Supermall with Siah & Kaitlynn to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny. All of the kids got free breakfast (from IHOP)- really cool. The Bunny didn't show up until we were about done eating. It's not a good picture, but here he is leading the bunny hop around the area where we ate.

Pictures with the Easter Bunny-

On Friday we went to have our picture taken with the Easter Bunny. We had to wait for an hour even though the line wasn't that long. Both girls did great. Sammi didn't smile, but at least she didn't cry!

Mud soup

Something is wrong with our sandbox. Over the winter, it filled up with water. There must be holes in the lid and no drainage in the bottom. The girls like to play in what Alexis calls "mud soup." Sammi, who hates to be dirty, really likes worms. The other day when we were playing outside, we found a ton of worms and she could not get enough of them (it's hard to see but she has one in her hands). She let them crawl all over her hands. Alexis, on the other hand, sees a worm and runs away, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Later that night, there was a rainbow right out our front window. Talk about exciting!!!

We Love Easter Eggs!!!

Coloring Easter eggs- Round 1
Last weekend, we went over to our friends Siah & Kaitlynn's house to dye eggs. They had a bunch of kids over. It was a lot of fun. Everyone just sat on the kitchen floor and worked on their eggs. Coloring eggs- Round 2
Less than a week later, our eggs were gone. Alexis LOVES hard boiled eggs. She only eats the white part, though, so not too bad for her to eat as much as she does. Since our eggs were gone and it wasn't even Easter yet, we decided to dye some more.

Waiting for her eggs to be done...

The day that we dyed our eggs, guys from PSE were out working on our power pole so we had no power from 9:30am till about 4pm. We sat right by the window to do our eggs (it was stormy out- so not a lot of help from the sun to light our house). It was fun doing things in the "dark."

Little Miss Independent

Sammi is becoming more and more independent. She loves to do things herself (or at least try). Here is one of her funnier attempts at dressing herself.
Upsidedown shirts don't stay on too good while playing...

All fixed...

Another day, she put on a dress over her jammies, put on Lex's boots, drug her stool to the fridge and got herself some water.

She is also getting really good at getting undressed. She loves to take her clothes and diaper off and sit on the potty. She hasn't actually peed in it yet. Pretty sure she just does it so she can wash her hands after.

Happy Birthday Mckenna!

Yum, cake! Dessert is definitely Alexis & Sammi's part of any party.

Waiting patiently...
Two cakes worth of candles to blow out. The cakes were so cool- shaped like guitars. Great job Diana & Ken!!

Finally!

I know what you are thinking...FINALLY some new pictures to look at!

First, here's a shot of Alexis' haircut. Pretty short! Shorter than planned (Mommy didn't notice that Alexis was sitting with her head tilted to one side during the haircut) but perfect. It tucks nicely behind her ears and is rarely a huge mess in her face anymore. It looks thicker now too.