Personality

Corinne has gone back to the stairs for entertainment (and exercise?) lately. She loves to come down the stairs now and also loves to walk up and down on her two feet like we do (as opposed to crawling). The other day I took a few pictures as her personality was coming through. In the way of updates she has tons more words. Noteworthy are "turtle" and "elbow" and "pop-pop" (Grandpa) and she has begun to also say "no". Yikes! Most of the time it's a sweet "no" but let there be no doubt: her emotions can be strong these days and she'll catch us off guard at times. A true toddler! Little C also has 4 new teeth to add to her existing 4, and more on the way. Life with Corinne is a gift every day!

Ants

Corinne has discovered...ants! She loves to watch them, but not to touch them. She'll get pretty darn close, though. We've found that Corinne is fearless outside and loves to explore the great outdoors. The other night when we were walking up the sidewalk she was practically running but slowed down just for a second, totally unprompted, to wave and say, "Hi ants!". It made me laugh. She is so very sweet to even God's annoying ants!

Game Time

If you know the Schatz family, then you know that they *love* playing (competitive) games together! Holidays and family get togethers almost always include some games--and when Brett's brothers are in town it's all about a game called Acquire. Brett's brother Tim (and Sarah and Rachel) have been in town all week and so you can guess what Sunday afternoon was for. Rick and Tim actually made a special trip down to our house because they had exactly 2 hours free and thought it would be the perfect chance to play Acquire. And just for the record, we women steer clear of any and all Acquire games. However, Corinne got as close as Brett's shoulders to participating. Brave soul! She doesn't know any better yet:)

Shy

Last week Corinne and I met my friends Ann and Amy at the park. The three of us taught 4th grade together and have since decided to stay home with our kids. At one point in the morning we pulled the girls together (by way of tempting them with snacks...) and Ann took these pictures. From left to right: Corinne, Ella (2 1/2), Jordan (4). As you can see, Corinne's shyness wore off by the last snapshot:) Sweet girl.

Egg Hunt

We had a wonderful (yet busy) Easter weekend! Brett and I are blessed to have both sets of parents in town and we got to see all of them over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Here are a few pictures of an egg hunt that Grandma and Grandpa Schatz put together for Corinne on Sunday evening. Corinne had a great time finding eggs, and did a terrific job filling her basket. And, check out the cute Easter egg tree that Grandma Schatz decorated for Little C!

Daddy's Girl

This is one of the only pictures I got of Corinne in her Easter dress on Sunday! She wasn't really into posing for the camera, or showing off her cute dress and sweater.

Saturday at the Zoo

We went to the Zoo for what we thought was an Easter egg hunt for kids...only to find out that the egg hunts were for the animals!?! What?! There were "treat stations" set up around the zoo for the kids, but no egg hunts. But Little C didn't mind and she loved the gorillas, giraffes, bears, peacocks, and of course the cat house. We got a few pictures in front of the beautiful "zoo blooms" and enjoyed our time walking the zoo. It was a bit chilly--don't let the sunshine fool you. (Oh, and if you're making a note to go next year--be sure to get there early! All the parking lots were full and the wait to get in was monstrous. Fortunately, we arrived just in time!)

(Was that the Easter Bunny, Dad?)

Look at Me!

Corinne likes to "hop" lately. She can't quite get herself off the ground, but she certainly gets her whole body into it. The other day she was playing on the pillows (again) and wanted me to watch her walk all over them, up and down and back and forth, and then the grand finale was her own attempt at hopping. She says a very strong "HOP!" as she does this. Very cute.

Crayons

Corinne has discovered crayons, and loves to take them out of the bag and put them back in (mostly). Every once in a while she'll make a few stray marks with them on paper, but it's not the main attraction right now. We used to have them in the box they came in, but she destroyed that very quickly with the game I mentioned above (take them out, put them in). Apparently she was also very curious about how they tasted (who can blame her, right? with all the bright colors!) I was on the phone with my dad when I spotted some blue/green teeth and a blue/green crayon missing its tip. Yikes! I had to go in after the crayon and did manage to get it from her mouth (don't worry, readers). This ordeal did spark an idea for me, though, and I'm surprised no one has done it yet. Crayola crayons are washable--why not make them edible?!?

Senior Pictures

Corinne loves to stand in our window seat and sit on the window sills to look for birds and listen for "tweets". So I took a few pictures of her and had to laugh because they kind of remind me of the cheesy senior pictures we've all been a part of. See if you agree...but know that none of these were posed. The classic pose--arm resting on the sill. (For my senior pictures, I believe I had to rest my arm on a '96. Ugh!)

The serious pose...similar to the shot where I had to lean against a tree and pretend to pensively kick a leaf (or something like that).

The happy pose, caught doing something true to personality, ie. clapping hands
And everyone's favorite senior picture pose--looking over the shoulder.

Special Privileges

No, Corinne did not grow a beard :) Don't you know that when you're sick (currently with a double ear infection) you get special treats? Like oreo cookies! Wait a minute...Corinne doesn't look that sick...Hmm.

We Got a Dog!

Okay, not a real one. But I got your attention, didn't I?! I'm very confident that this is as close as we'll ever come to getting a dog. Corinne doesn't know any different, and she seems quite happy with the plastic version.