Astrid & Toothless?

Madeline and James were very excited about the Easter cards they received in the mail from Nana & Poppi and Oma & Opa...they wanted to use their gift cash to buy some Viking and Dragon gear! Ever since we saw the movie, How to train your Dragon, the kids have been all about it. So Madeline got some Viking gear (she wanted to make her Daddy proud) and James got some really cool Dragon pajamas (he's not wearing the pant bottoms in these pics) that come with dragon wing cape and hoodie.

Do you think this Viking-ette can train this smiley dragon? :)

Dragon James is thinking, "I don't knnnnnooooooowwwww!".

"Yes I can!" says the Viking-ette. "Gggrrrrrr!" says Dragon James. Thank you Nana, Poppi, Oma and Opa for thinking of Madeline and James this Easter and blessing them so they could buy some fun stuff. They were very avid that they give the Walmart Checkout Teller their money. :)

The other day we drove the kids and Penny to the park and Stephen took the below picture of Penny on Madeline's lap. He said she's huge now compared to when Madeline carried her on her lap the day we brought her home (photo above). Our puppy girl has grown so much!

Madeline weighs 56lbs. now and I think Penny Lane is somewhere around 45-50lbs. now.

Penny loves to stick her head out the window when we drive.

And lastly this is a video of Jimmy-James riding his tricycle. I must admit...I've probably held James back from doing things by babying him or doing it for him. The 2nd child is much different than the 1st child. With the 1st you have so much time to devote one on one with them, and probably encourage and try to teach them things before the average age of doing it. With the 2nd child, life seems busier. Definitely less one on one time. And I often found myself doing things for James just to get things done quicker or make things easier on myself. Madeline spoke well earlier, rode her tricycle earlier, potty trained earlier...but I think it's probably unfair of Stephen and I to ponder why James "isn't doing this yet like Madeline did". James also gets frustrated promptly (a result probably from my babying) so learning new things sometimes becomes a tough task. So I usually don't push it with him, and have just come to conclusion that James will learn it eventually. Well the past 2 weeks he's taken interest in learning to peddle on his tricycle. We cleared off our back patio so he could practice. He's so proud that he's figured it out! Now he loves riding that bike all the time! Enjoy the video!