Only a two year old...

While trying to brush my teeth the other morning I had to ask Ella several time to leave poor Matthew alone.  For some reason she had picked up a washcloth and kept wrapping it around his neck.  For the life of me I could not figure out why she was trying to strangle the little brother that she adores.  Yesterday I made sure every washcloth and towel was out of her reach when I got into the shower.  As soon as I got out she started asking me where the washcloth was and I explained to her that I had put it away.  What was her response to that?  Not what you might think... unless you're thinking, "Oh no!  Now B can't be a super hero!"  It hit me like a ton of bricks, she was trying to tie the cloth around his neck to make a cape.  I swear, that girl is too smart for me sometimes.

Farewell, Deacon

Sadly on Wednesday morning my parents had to part with our family dog.  Sweet, sweet Deacon was the center of the Philpott household for over 15 years and loved every second of it.  Always happy to see any one of us and willing to stop for a belly rub at the drop of a hat he will truly be missed.  Even as my children slowly began to invade his territory in the house, he'd just look at them and roll his eyes as if to say, "oh geez, not you again!"  Never once did he get angry with Ella as she followed him from room to room, annoyed?  Sure.  But he never barked or snapped at her wihtout good reason- like her pulling on his tail.  I'm sorry to lose him, I'm sorry that Mom won't have a valid excuse to stop at McDonalds for a cheeseburger now, but most of all I'm sorry that Ella and Matthew won't grow to know him and love him as the rest of us had the pleasure of doing. 

Love you much, Deacon.  I'm certain that even if not all dogs go to Heaven you're watching up from up there now.

Happy Easter!

Wow, what an Easter weekend the Holcomb family had. Ella and Matthew started the egg hunting at Mimi and Teddy's house Thursday afternoon. Poor kids, the pollen is in full effect here so both of them were sniffling and sneezing but Ella put up with it for the candy. She just kept yelling, "uh-oh... My need tissue!" she'd wipe her nose and get right back to the hunting.

After a long day of hunting eggs and eating candy what does everyone need?  Why, a beverage on the back deck of course!  Ella loves to "cheers!" things now... her juice boxes, her pizza, anything.  Daddy was happy to oblige!  He was so proud... after stating that she needed a "yellow juice box" she went to the fridge in the garage to get it herself and proceeded to yell into the house, "Daddy, you want a beer?"  So glad we're teaching her the important things in life.

Friday Ella woke up begging to go to Nana and Pops' house.  They were here for Easter and Nana's spring break.  So, since Ella really runs things around her, we all piled into the car and headed to Sophia.  What was in store?  More egg hunting of course.  And a little golf for Matthew.

Ella has totally caught onto the fact that there should be candy in the eggs.  If at any time she picked one up that was empty she'd promptly say, "This one B's" and take it to him.  After a while they all were empty and we had to explain to her that she could nat have anymore candy till after she ate her dinner.  This was the reaction we got...

Love the drama this girl brings into our lives!

Saturday brough more time at Nana and Pops, to celebrate Uncle Aaron's birthday.  It was a day for work around the Holcomb place so the boys were more than happy to bring out the tractor.  Ella, however, was not exactly thrilled by the idea.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny finally made it to our house...

(Basket liners sewn by Nana, embroidered by Mommy)

We had yet another egg hunt for Ella in the backyard. 

And the Easter Bunny hid her basket too... didn't take her long to find it!

Though the only thing she wanted out of it was her plastic Princess Tiana tiara and wand.

But we did have to watch her new "Tinkerbell" and "Princess and the Frog" movies that night.

Matthew was pretty excited about the edible easter grass in his basket!

We had a nice brunch at the Cardinal, along with yet another egg hunt.  By this point Ella was a seasoned pro but this one threw her for a loop... for some reason they didn't use eggs??  What is that about?  They pretty much just threw candy on the ground.  All the little kids were running past it, looking for the colored eggs.  Well, duh!  Several of us parents had to explain to just pick up the candy off the ground. 

And what Easter weekend would be complete without and Easter Bunny siting?  As you can tell from this pic the Holcomb kids are not fans of the larger than life animals...