Easter "Egg"stravaganza!

Note: I know this is a corny title but I have to find time where I can, so it's usually not a large amount and therefore my creativity is limited.

We made it through Easter! Here is part 1. Although with snow and the amount of things the girls got I felt as though maybe it was Christmas. Saturday we went up to El Paso to my Dad & Sallie's and did a community egg hunt. It was pretty cold but fortunately it didn't last long...maybe 10 min. Then went back to their house and the kids painted eggs, opened their baskets and did another egg hunt. My Grams, Aunt Myra and Aunt Mary Kate came over for the festivities. It's always good to see them and I enjoy watching Grams interact with the girls. She spent some time talking and playing with Ainsley. The kids had fun and Kaylee was excited to get to eat candy! I know I'm a mean mom but this is usually a special treat for her.

Kaylee and Skyeler. Kaylee loves her cousin!

The kids coloring eggs & getting some help from Grandma

Grams and Aunt Myra playing with Ainsley

Ainsley with her chocolate bunny....but no she did not get to eat it.

Pre-Easter Coloring

We started prepping for Easter about 3 weeks ahead of time. I am always into starting holiday celebrations early because I like to enjoy them and many times there are so many traditional things to do that I don't want to just rush through them all. Of course I don't want to leave any out so that the girls get to experience it all and lets face it I'm still a big kid at heart. So here are some photos of Kaylee coloring the first round of eggs at Mee-Maws.

I think what Kaylee liked best was to crack the egg, crumble it and mix it into the colors. What a little scientist! I like to believe there's a method to her madness other than just making a mess...it's a mother's prerogative.

Cutie-Cute-Cutes

This is my post for A, a.k.a Ainsley. Yes we call them A and K a lot. Anyways I had some random pictures of Ainsley that I thought I would post as well. I have a lot of photos awaiting posting.

Side note: I realized over the weekend when my camera card was full that it has been some time since I had emptied any. I am really bad about deleting photos even after I have printed them, stored them on CD, the computer, and many times in Snapfish or Shutterfly. What can I say I just don't want to lose any photos.

Back to Ainsley. She is always so happy and is just a true sweetheart. She is so calming and has the sweetest smile! Below are some photos that just capture her spirit. She just seems to love life and food! The last photo makes me laugh because she can stand on her knees like that all the time and has been doing that since before she pulled herself up. I laugh because she will do that, or stand on her own, pivot on her foot and even squat down and come back up with something but will not take more than one step. It just goes to show that they have the physical ability long before their mind decides to do it! So here's my little peanut!

A Daddy, a Daughter and a manicure

When I titled this I thought if I were reading this title I would expect to hear a story of nail painting gone wrong...but alas my friends it is a sweet story of about a Daddy and a testament to my husband.....

Last night I gave the girls a bath and as routine A got out first, got her dressed and sent her with Daddy for a bottle. Then K got out and we went through her ritual....potty, get dressed, tooth brushing etc. Brad was done putting Ainsley to bed by this time and was in our room watching something on DIY. So Kaylee runs in and says to Brad "lets watch videos so we can boogie", they will watch videos a lot on TV, usually CMT or VH1 because there's less chance of seeing something shaddy during a commercial break. Kaylee then explains to me as I am in the hallway closet, which is right outside our bedroom that she is going to boogie down and shuts the door. So I figure I will clean the girls bathroom quickly as we have about 15 min. until Kaylee has to go to bed. I finish that and they are still in our room and I can hear them talking and have fun so I go to the guest room and move a couple things around. (Now I have no idea of the time but am assuming that Brad will see the time and bring her out when we need to transition to her room.) Soon they emerge and Kaylee comes running into the guest room with her hands out yelling at me to look at her nails. Daddy had painted her nails and she was so excited. I wish I had photos to show but it was so sweet. She had found some polish and asked him to do it for her and he lovingly obliged. He did a pretty good job...........

Getting Creative

Kaylee is really into projects lately...play-do, coloring, painting, etc. She has always enjoyed these things but more recently this has become a daily occurrence. If she is able to do all of the above in one day she is very excited. I can so tell she is on her way to 3! I thought I would post some photos of her creative activities.

Here are some of her and her Play-do.

She has a kitchen set that goes with this is; she is always "cooking" up something.

Here Kaylee is creating some of her wonderful masterpieces!

Yes, that is paint you see on her face! To some all the world is a stage and apparently to Kaylee all the world is a canvas. Of course to me it only makes the world more beautiful!

An addition to my list for Grams

I can't believe I forgot this one on my list! Secretly I think it was because I had didn't have my list with me when I typed my post. However I use this all the time because it's so true and something Grams has said to me many times...so here is #11

You shouldn't say if I had to do it all over again I would do it differently, because if you did it a different way the first time you don't know how your original way would have turned out.

This isn't put as well as my Grams would say it, but I do what I can. Anyways just couldn't leave this one out!

Snow Days

I thought I would do one more post. As I was looking through photos I saw these of a snow day in January when Brad's Dad, Bentley, was over and he and Kaylee played in the snow. What makes me laugh about this is everytime it has snowed since then Kaylee says that Grandpa Bentley is coming over to play in the snow.

The "What's Happenings" with The Busings

So now that I've gotten into the whole blogging thing I thought I should give a quick (well we all know I don't tell any story's or updates quickly) summary of what has been going on with us. I look at my girls and can't believe in 2 mos. I will have a 1 yr. old and a 3 yr. old. Where does the time go? I was looking in my planner from last year (my pocket calendar holds 2 years) and thinking of this time last year and how pregnant I was. A whole year can't have gone by can it? And so much happens in that short amount of time. Numerous friends have had baby #2, and for our friends The Michaels they went from 0 to 4 kids (we love it!). We tend to run into a lot of elderly people when we are at the grocery store who usually will sweetly compliment our kids and they all say enjoy them now because they grow so fast. Now I have to admit during the sleep-deprived newborn phase I thought bring-it-on, but now I'm trying to figure out how to slow them down!

Ainsley is standing on her own and soooo badly wants to just run! She is babbling like crazy and maintains her low-maintance, easy-going attitude. Don't get me wrong she will let us know when she doesn't like something but it takes a lot to get her there. One big item with her is that she would rather eat regular food than baby food. If we are at the table and everyone else is eating regular food she expects to have the same. Anymore it's mostly what we give her, which makes meal time a little less complicated. She eats a lot too! So hopefully when we go for her 1 yr. apt. she'll be above the 20% in weight. She is also really into dancing (bobbing up and down), and waving. We went to the mall last night and she went for her first ride on the merry-go-round (I can take them both now because Kaylee can hold on all by herself) and she waved to everyone the entire time! No one makes her smile like Kaylee. She watches her big sister with much awe!

Kaylee is so good with her. We occasionally have some "sharing" issues that come up now that Ainsley can just crawl on over to her. We also have the moments as this one: Brad put the girls in the tub and was watching in the doorway and Ainsley was continually pulling Kaylee's hair and here's what transpired:

Ainsley pulling Kaylee's hair and Kaylee to Ainsley: Ainsley stop pulling my hair, please stop pulling my hair Ainsley, then big sigh Ainsley you're such a pain in the butt!

Kaylee comes up with some of the craziest things. Brad was teasing her the other day and she said "Daddy you're so full of bologna" What can I say she calls them like she sees them. She is so clever and perceptive. She hears everything and saves it in her memory. Some things she brings up I can't believe she still remembers....I barely remember them. A couple weeks ago when it was nice she was outside with her Dad. She has a little Dora bike that our nephew Koen actually won in a drawing. Well he got a new one last year for his birthday and we got Dora. She is always wanting to "practice" her bike. Now Kaylee is tall but even so can hardly make the peddals go all the way around. It has training wheels and she sits on it and tries to ride it. Well on this particular day she told Brad "Daddy I don't need my stabelizers anymore". He paused for a moment trying to wrap his brain around the fact that she was using the word stabelizers and using it correctly. Who knows where that came from....

She's doing a great job with her potty-training, although we still have some road blocks to get through, and can't wait to start going to school in the fall. I can't believe the time as come for her to go. While she can be quite fisty at times she is very sweet and really helps me out. She's also really into knock-knock jokes right now and does a really good job of telling them. Her favorite is the one with the banana and then you say Orange you glad I didn't say banana. Occasionally she will make her own up.

Brad and I continue to stay busy and just enjoy spending time with the girls. My goal is to hopefully keep this blog up so that those we don't get to see often can keep in touch with us better. With upcoming events such as Easter, birthdays, etc. I'm sure I will have plenty to blog! So hopefully I will maintain my goal!

Happy Belated Birthday!

There's been a lot of discussion around me lately (at work, on t.v., etc) of people discussing influential people in their lives. One of mine is my Grandma Duffy (a.k.a. Grams). So in tribute to her it only seem fitting to have my first blog post be a "Happy Belated Birthday" to her. She turned 86 in Feb. and in true Grams style we had a Princess Party. Kaylee is still talking about making crowns. So here is my tribute to my Grams.....

All the things I needed to learn in life I've learned from my Grams:

1. A party isn't a party without a theme and a pinata.
2. You don't get your seat back unless Mom (aka Grams) sent you to do something.
3. If you have 8 kids and you want to use a candy bar to make sure they are accounted for, do that before you leave the store.
4. Days of Our Lives is a family tradition.
5. Everything always works out in the end.
6. We all have alter-egos....Mrs. Meanie.
7. Teaching others to share can be profitable.
8. You gain more wisdom through life experiences then you ever could a textbook.
9. No means No especially when it comes to mints.
10. Frogs and stories in the bathroom go together hand-in-hand.