Lots of new pictures

Charlotte is getting so big!

Flying Char-baby!!

Mommy and Charlotte:
Giving sister a hug:
Reading to Charlotte:

Charlotte's new ride

Charlotte was a little jealous of Addie's new wheels, so we gave her a pair of her own. Of course, Addie had to help out...

I think we might be crazy.

We got Addie roller skates! I learned about a local roller-rink that has mommy & me skate sessions on Fridays. You can bring strollers and skate around with your little ones. Sean and I used to go roller skating all the time before Addie was born and I really miss it. So I was really excited to learn about this rink.

We can't fit the double stroller in the car which means I can only put one of the girls in the stroller. I figured Charlotte is a little too young to learn how to skate, so that meant the responsibly defaulted to Addie.

Addie is usually REALLY cautious about everything. It takes her a long time to try anything new. So I thought the suggestion of getting her roller skates would be met with the usual, "no, no, no!!!" We showed her a few YouTube videos to prepare her and then headed off to the store. Surprisingly she was very excited and couldn't wait to put them on. Even after she fell down she pulled herself back up and was ready to go again. We had a hard time getting the skates off of her to pay for them! Hopefully in the next week or so I'll have some pictures from her first trip to the rink!

Going to the Moon

Adeline is so much fun! Within the month or so she has started pretending. She will take her shopping cart and goes to the "library" which is our dining room. The bed in our guestroom is an "airplane" -- several times a day we go on an airplane ride to go visit Grandma. One of the decorative pillows on our bed is "Frank" (Yaya's dog). Daddy often has "invisible cookies" in his pockets. This is probably my favorite pretend game at the moment. Now when she asks for a treat I can give her an invisible cookie instead of dealing with the tantrum that happens when I tell her she can't have one.

Tonight Sean and Addie went to the moon. They put on their space helmets (Addie had a pink plastic bowl and Sean had a metal colander) and flew on our bed to visit the moon and stars. Addie almost fell off the moon, but Sean caught her. I wish I had taken pictures, they were very cute in their space helmets, but I was on my way out the door to a Relief Society meeting. Hopefully they will go again soon.

Dying Eggs

Addie had a great time dying eggs. She thought it was so neat that you put an egg in white and it came out different colors! Notice the large bruise on her cheek? Earlier this week she tripped and face-planted into our bed frame.
Trying to figure out the egg-dipper thing.

Her favorite part was putting the eggs into the egg holders!

Easter Fun

Adeline had a great time hunting for eggs. We actually had to re-hide them so she could find them again... I'm sure I'll have to hide them again tomorrow also!



The Char-baby:

Having a chat:

Mommy and the girls:

How old is Daddy?

Today was Sean's birthday. Addie was very excited to get another cake! As we were lighting the 27 candles we asked Addie how old she was. "2!!" she replied. Then we asked her how old is Daddy. Her answer? "Biiiiiiiig!!"

Eating healthy for less

I'm posting this mainly so that I don't lose the link to this page. Recently I've been thinking about how we can be more healthy. Because of Charlotte's allergies I have had to read labels really carefully. You know what? I don't like what I am reading!

People always complain about how they would eat healthier but it costs so much, so they don't. Our food bill has gone up these last few months because I've been shopping at Whole Foods for dairy/soy free products. These products are pretty much all "convenience" foods - bread, spaghetti sauce, cereal, etc. So now I am on a quest to lower our food bill. Why can't I just make this stuff from scratch? I found a suitable bread recipe that really doesn't take much time at all, I should be able to do this with other items as well.

So here is my new inspiration: The (Organic) Thrifty Food Plan Challenge. I'm setting my budget at $75/week, we have one extra mouth to feed but I am not limiting myself to organic items. I think it will all even out. I'll let you know how it goes!

Making Bread

Pretty much every bread has some sort of soy or dairy in it. The only bread I have found that I can eat is $4.00 a loaf (a small loaf) at Whole Foods. I really like bread so this past week I have been trying my hand at making it myself. I really enjoy making bread - somehow it just tastes better when you have made it yourself. Plus, it makes your house smell really yummy! But I don't like all the time that it involves. Mix the dough, kneed the dough, let it rise, kneed it again, rise some more, then finally bake it. I thought about buying a bread machine, but hear from so many people that they never actually use theirs. Since this whole thing is about saving money I decided against it.

I made some white bread a couple days ago. It was tasty, but not worth the effort to be an everyday bread. Today I tried this and I think we have a winner! My only complaint is that the loaf is half gone already and I just pulled it out of the oven 30 minutes ago. Try it if you get a chance.

AvC II

Adeline versus the man-eating cake.

Today was Adeline's second birthday. So much has happened since that sleepy morning when I was awakened by a phone call from my wife, at her OB's office at the time, two years ago:
Sean - "mrmph. . . hello?"
April - "I think you're going to be a father today."
Sean - "Well, good morning to you, too!"

There needs to be a HTML end tag for /digression. . . Today we took Addie to play at a Chick-fil-A rumpus area. She climbed and mazed until the point of exhaustion. Then we took her home and gave her a cake. She was very excited about this until we put it aflame and accompanied this sick ritual with some kind of song. Come to think about it, the birthday tradition is a bit macabre.

My fun day

Yesterday after church Sean offered to watch both of the girls so I could have some "me" time. I had been wanting to make Adeline a quilt for awhile now, so I dusted off my sewing machine and took him up on his offer. Not only did Sean watch both of the girls, but he cleaned the house as well! What a wonderful husband I have! Here is what I completed yesterday:

Who fixes the sun?

Addie knows that her dad can fix anything. It all started a few months ago when our microwave broke and Sean put in a new one. Adeline watched him and was fascinated that he was fixing the microwave. Every day for the next 2 weeks she would go to the kitchen, point at the microwave and say, "Dada fix microwave!" Now whenever anything breaks she says, "Dada fix. Dada fix _______."

Last week we were playing outside when it started getting dark. Adeline noticed this and she and her dad had this conversation:

Addie: Sun broke?
Sean: Yes, the sun broke.
Addie: Dada fix sun?
Sean: Dada will fix the sun tomorrow.
Addie: Huh?
Sean: Daddy will go to work tomorrow and fix the sun.
Addie: Ah-mmmmmm (her response that either means she agrees, she understands, or yes)

Now every morning Addie and I have a conversation similar to this:

Addie: Dada at work?
Me: Yes, Dad is at work.
Addie: Dada fix sun? (She runs to the window and points to the sky) Sun fixed! Dada go work, fix sun!

Regarding Sean and Rick Astley

First of all, I would like to defend myself and say that Sean DID in fact know about this blog. We have had several conversations about how terrible I have been about sending pictures to people and how we should direct family members to the blog to see recent photos. He has selective memory, it's not my fault.

Second, a few interesting (or not) things about Mr. Astley. We didn't have TV growing up, the first time I saw that music video was about 2 months ago. I dated a guy in high school who looked just like Rick Astley.

Sean Ep. II

Okay. . . for the sake of my wife, I'll limit my posting here. I will post things directly pertaining to my involvement with my family here. But, for those of you that know me, you know it to be better if I were to go and dig myself a hole in the corner of the Internet's back yard and delusionally froth at the mouth there - and that is exactly what I've done. My own personal blog is up and running. It is there that I will spew my worthless diatribes off into the oblivion of the space age, talk about the weird things that happen in my classroom, and obsess in a very heterosexual kind of way about Rick Astley. If I posted half of the crap that I think on the blog I share with my wife, I'm afraid April would develop a case of arthritis just hitting the delete buttons several times a week.

Hi, this is Sean. . .

So, I see on our computer something called the "Conaway Family Blog." The last time I checked, I was indeed a part of said unit. I was not, however, really informed about this place (and probably with good reason) nor was I invited to contribute. Well, I've taken that into my own hands now. I understand that I was not really given access to this blog because, how shall I say this, I am a general embarrassment. I cannot deny this; I can only stoke the fires upon which this fact burns. So, without further adieu, Rick Astley. . .