Farewell...but not goodbye!!

After 6.5 years of doing a blog for Skylar and 17 months on one for Sloane, I've decided to create one blog for both of them.  Perhaps now I'll update it regularily!!

You can check out their adventures at www.skequared.blogspot.ca.  

Thanks so much for following along these past 6.5 years. It's been a labour of love and I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed posting!

XOXOXO

Nycki 

Easter Dresses and Fat Lips

 The Wednesday before Good Friday, I dropped off Sloanie at the daycare and she was doing her usual run around the room all excited to be there.   Except this time she tripped over her own two feet and landed, face first, into a toy truck.  She split open her lip and it swelled something awful!

 It was her first major facial boo boo and these pictures don't do it justice - it was massive!

 She still looked cute as a button for her last day of school before the Easter holiday - complete with strawberry scented bunny ears :)

 Of course, she had to read her Elmo book before she headed out to school.  She is obsessed with all things Sesame Street these days and Elmo and Cookie Monster in particular.

This dress is the same one that Skylar wore on her second Easter - although it was a bit longer on her.  And these cute sandals were ones that I had purchased for Skylar and then forgot about so they are brand new.  I look back at all the clothes and shoes I got for Skylar and it's ridiculous really!!

Ginger Piggies!!

I am SOOO in love with Sloanies little ginger piggies.

She hates them and fights me while I put them in but they are so cute that it's worth the battle :)

She's a maniac, maniac, on the floor!

 I've taught Sloanie how to do the dance from Flashdance.  I showed her the YouTube video and now all you have to do is sing "she's a maniac, maniac..." and she makes like Jennifer Beales!!

I put my elastic yoga headband on her and she got down to business.

 

 She also reminded a bit of Olivia Newton-John in her Let's Get Physical video...minus the chubby belly, of course!

Jennifer Beales...eat your heart out!!!

First Trip to Sherwood

 It has been an amazingly warm winter so it's no surprise that the trend has continued right into the Spring as well.

 We took the girls to Sherwood Park to soak up some sun and take Sloane a few "firsts".  

Surprisingly, she hated the swings!!!

 But she did enjoy climbing up on all of the play structures...

...and going down the slide (even though it looks otherwise in this shot!).

 And of course Sloanie always loves her playtime with Daddy...and being thrown in the air.  Which is why I was shocked that she didn't like the swings.

 Her favourite thing at the park was the teeter totter.  She absolutely loved it.

Here's to many more adventures in Sherwood Park.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Shopping at Ikea

 We decided to head out to IKEA one afternoon and, of course, Sloanie fell asleep in the car on the way there.  She so sleepy, in fact, that she didn't wake up when Paul took her out of her carseat and stayed sleeping even as we nagivated the craziness looking for a shopping cart.

We debated leaving but having spent 15 mins circling the parking lot for a spot, we decided to tough it out!

We fought for a cart, loaded it with comfy pillow and voila...instant crib on wheels!!

 

We didn't stay long however as Paul hates IKEA on the weekends.  On this particular excursion, I found Paul wedged in a corner of the kids furniture with a glazed look on his face muttering "there are just so many people" over and over.

Needless to say, we got a new carpet and then got the hell on outta there LOL.

Bathing Beauties

Bath time always means a ton of giggles and a whole lotta fun!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you had a Happy Heart's Day!

Does this smile make your heart melt??

Glamour Shots

Little Tots wanted to test out a new potential photographer for our daycare class photos.  They chose a few of the kids from the daycare for a free photo session to test her out.  Luckily, Sloanie was one of them!

She was chosen because she is always super happy and smiley.  But Paul taught her to wink the week before the session so most of her photos consisted of her squinting LOL.

There were just a few of the ones we've seen so far.

This last one is my favourite.

When Daddy's away....

...the mice will watch movies and eat popcorn in his bed!

A Christmas Miracle!!!

After our family dinner on Boxing Day, we took the kids downstairs so they could play with their new toys and SLOANIE WALKED!!!!!!!

Yep...that little monkey just stood up and took off!

As you can see, she was just as proud of herself as we were.

It must have been the jeggings that Aunt Aly bought her.  

Have jeggings, will travel!!!!!!

Merry Christmas

 Ok...let's try this Christmas post again.  I was sure that I did it and then when I checked the blog today (Apr 2), I noticed there were no pictures.  

We had Etherington Xmas early this year (Dec 18) because Auntie Gail was visiting from Victoria.

 This is Sloanie's "what you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" face.  Makes me laugh every time!

 Sloanie had a great time playing on the giant pillow pet that Paul picked out for Beej.

 Seriously...it was huge!  You can actually fold it in half to make it a pillow.  The best part was the looks he got when he was carrying it through the store.

 Of course, we all had to get in on the action.

 She is such a litle cutie.

 My sweet little ginger :)

 Photographic evidence that Uncle Mark holds babies...sometimes lol.

 We had our family Christmas on the 25th and the girls had a blast opening gifts that "Santa" brought them.  Skylar still believes in Santa but this may be the last Xmas for that.  Let's hope I'm wrong.

 Paul has taught Sloanie how to wink so this is the face that she gives me everytime she seems the camera LOL.

 This was the first year that Sloane actually opened gifts and got excited about what was inside!  I love this age...Christmas is so magical for kids.

 On Boxing Day, we headed over to Aly and Tom's where we met up with Nana and Jody.  Sloane fell asleep in the car on the way over and didn't even stir when we laid her down on the kitchen floor.

 In fact, she stayed sleeping on the floor for about 45 mins!

 But once she woke up, she was her usual smiley self.  And enjoyed some Christmas giggles with Aunt Aly...

 ...Daddy...

 ....Nana...

....and Kyan!!

The birthday celebrations just keep on comin'

With Sloane's birthday just two days before Skylar's, we decided to combine the celebrations and have one big birthday bash.

 

Sloane's not walking yet but she does love to dance and she enjoyed the dance freeze tag game.

Each birthday princess got their own personalized cake.  Being the oldest, I let Skylar choose the flavour of her cake and, of course, she picked chocolate.

Again, she wasn't sure about the candles but I'm okay with a baby who doesn't like the fire!

And with this party, so ends the marathon birthday celebrations...well, until next weekend when Nana and Jody come down and we do it all again!