Easter Egg Hunt Extraordinairre

The holiday this year was a little different. For one thing, we had planned on Ellie coming out for Spring break and bought her plane ticket home for first thing Sunday morning based on a significant difference in cost only to realize after the fact that it was in fact Easter Sunday that she was leaving. Bummer. We decided to do an Easter egg hunt for the kids on Saturday morning instead and then our ward had a fantastic outdoor egg hunt for the Primary kids that afternoon. Once again I found myself at the store way too late at night the day before our Easter events endlessly deliberating what to do, and consequently buying way too much in the name of being afraid we'd run out. C'est la vie. The girls woke up to find their "baskets" on the couch and a bunch of eggs hidden around. While we pretended to get to sleep in we listened as they would yell "EGG!" every time they found a new one. Needless to say, I was huddled under the covers instead of taking pictures.

I made up for it at the Primary party.

It was a blast.

The men-folk frolicked through the wilderness spreading eggs for the wee ones to find. There were literally hundreds of eggs littering the lawn, hiding in tree branches, and inside shrubs.

Ellie was all business. It took mere moments for her to fill her basket and look for another receptacle.

Aeryn was a bit more focused on being with friends than with finding a million eggs. That said, she did fill her basket fairly quick too.

The guys created a "cornucopia" of eggs right in the middle of the yard, though unlike the Hunger Games my baby-boyfriend wasn't violent in trying to get his fair share of the spoils. Not that I'd have expected anything else... I think he's pretty much perfect (in three year old terms).

It was quite a fun scene. Kids all over, interspersed with parents wielding cameras.

Toward the end they joined forces. You can see Ellie holding Whippy's Easter basket here. She went around and filled the whole thing then gave it all back to Whippy. I think Ellie makes a total of four members of our family who would place an order for the "Whippy model" if it was that easy to acquire one.

After filling Whippy's basket, Ellie was still on a roll and found someone to loan her ANOTHER basket to fill. I think she sees a competition in everything. She wants to win/be the best or fastest at every single thing, but once the competition aspect of egg hunting was over she was completely non-possessive with the eggs she found and kept giving away candy.

The girls had a blast. Aeryn filled one basket, Ellie filled three. Aeryn let me take a picture of her with her spoils, Ellie didn't.

On Sunday morning Ellie and Jim had to leave for the airport just before 4am. Aeryn and I had a leisurely morning and didn't think about eggs or candy at all. It was really nice to do on Saturday and leave Sunday as a day for spiritual focus. I felt like a slacker mom because for the first time in Aeryn's life I didn't get her a new dress for Easter. She didn't seem to mind, or even notice. I'm sure I'll make up for it sometime soon.

Rock Band

Aeryn recently finished a recorder unit at school, after which she was able to bring her recorder home. She is so excited about it since she has been begging to take music lessons. We didn't bring my piano and they don't offer music in the elementary schools so we haven't taken action on that front yet, so the recorder is a really exciting thing. 

She and Ellie have been playing random notes on that thing almost constantly. One day, I was told I couldn't go outside because they had a surprise. Clearly I had to find a way to sneak out and peek and this is what I found:

Aside from the really bad spelling, I love that they are charging $0.50 to watch and $1.00 to join them in performing. They explained that Jim and I could come for free. If all the neighbor kids are free and we are free, then I'm really hoping they don't count on this for a substantial income. 

As it turns out, we weren't home at the right time and the concert has been delayed indefinitely. 

Spring Break Snipets

It's been a good week. Granted, it's been about as "normal" of a week as any we've ever had. We didn't go on any trips or plan anything glamorous, which is probably a good thing since at the beginning of the week Ellie was sick and by the end Jim was too.

We rode bikes to a nearby park and the girls ran around for a bit, but this park is geared toward younger kids and they tired of it quickly. We rode around a while more and called it good.

So we made salt dough egg ornaments and had fun painting them. I amazed the kids by putting them in the oven to dry the paint quickly. They now think I'm super-human.

I really love Aeryn's hipster glasses - aka 3D glasses with the lenses popped out. She's worn them to school a couple times and is really bummed that she hasn't successfully convinced me she needs real ones.

Needing a break from playing cruise director, I suggested a lunch picnic. It started barely sprinkling and the kids decided they needed shelter from the storm and moved under the apartment stairwell.

More great everyday moments to remember... Every time we are together I feel they are building a closer bond. They play and bicker and act somewhat like real siblings. Now if only we could get past the need for everything to be identical between them. They have different interests and personalities, but if we give one a surprise or opportunity that is different than the other there is great outcry that we are being unfair. Lucky kids, it's best to learn early that life isn't exactly fair - and that is ok.

Teaching Whippy

The kids favorite plaything is not a thing at all. Cute little Whippy (I'm sure her mom would like me to disclose that is not her real name...) gets her share of attention from all the neighbor kids (and adults!). My only question now is how early is too early to teach a baby to ride a bike?

I love how excited her older brother was about this (below, left). Ellie sure loved it too! If there are babies around, Ellie is playing with them as though they are real life dolls. It's a habit that I can completely relate to!

It was like a cute little family: mom and dad teaching their baby to ride a bike.

In case it isn't obvious, it's currently spring break and life is fantastic. I can't describe how excited Ellie was to get her own library card. On our first trip we checked out 24 books, three DVD's and two puppets. I told the girls there was no limit and we ended up each picking 8 books. Coincidence? The girls have been so excited about it that we have had no trouble getting some quality reading in.

New Bike!

Someone in our house has a new set of wheels.

It's a good thing too. Family bike rides were almost comedic with her legs pedaling the tiny little bike she used to have. We noticed last summer how funny it was that she and Ellie had bikes the exact same size, though Ellie's seat was all the way down and Aeryn's was all the way up.

She loves it.

After trying SO HARD last year to get her to push back on her pedals to brake instead of just putting her feet down, now she's got to transition to handlebar brakes. So far she hasn't crashed. Let's hope it stays that way.

Family bike rides just got a little bit more fun.

Back to the Track

Saturday morning began as every Saturday should(not). While trying to squish my way into my favorite jeans a giant rip made it's way through the derriere. They were the most expensive jeans I've ever owned and I've worn them for many, many years. They had a great wash, make my legs look skinny, and go with everything.  It was not a happy moment. In a spirit of makethebestofitness I continued on with the morning as though my heart was not broken.

Squirt however had a lovely morning. We picked up a friend and headed to the track for the kids run, jump, throw events prior to the Spring Preview meet. It was a cold morning, and I didn't think to suggest sweat pants. All was well though, the excitement carried her through the chill. 

There was a mini javelin throw, using foam javelins and softballs. That was not Aeryn's specialty, but she got a real kick out of trying. Even if her first attempt at throwing a softball didn't even make it over the fence. I think I need to get this girl outside more.

Somewhere the girls are hiding in one edge of this picture. They had all the kids throw javelins at once.

Long Jump was another fun deal. Aeryn tends to run and take a tiny jump right to the edge of the sand then a second jump into the pit. It's not quite the way it's supposed to work, but it gets the job done well enough when it's all for fun.

The girls probably had more fun dancing in the line than doing the events.

These tiny hurdles were about the cutest things ever. They were maybe 10 inches tall and it seemed the kids would be able to clear them if they just ran normally. Aeryn was super excited for this event and it made her feel like a rockstar.

As fate would have it, the final event was a run. Not just any run, but the 400m. I was pretty nervous since neither girl is tremendously athletic. Aeryn put her all into this one and actually beat 4 kids! I can't say how many there were in all, but the best part was that she was happy and not dead at the end of it. Her friend survived it, but didn't enjoy it as much as she did.

Afterward I dropped the girls off and headed to the mall to recover from the great denim tragedy of 2013. There was some seriously good shopping energy going on and I was able to find two pairs of jeans that I like and FIT! Even better? The total for both pairs came to less than $30 and one of them is Seven for all Mankind. I've never been so happy about ripping a favorite item of clothing. Let the new week commence. 

Afternoon Delight

The sun keeps teasing us with minor, but well appreciated, appearances. It's funny what happens when the sun shines in the Northwest, life is put on hold and the focus is on drinking up the brightness and warmth while it exists. I love these kind of days. 

I'm happy with the frequency of these days lately. We've had more than two now and it's almost addicting.

The neighbor kids all run around like hooligans and have a serious blast. There was a time when I thought the worst thing in the world would be to raise a child in an apartment, but goodness gracious we have a good deal here. So many friends abound; Friends who occasionally seem more like part-time siblings.

One half of our typical group is moving this summer. Selfishly I've told them all that this is not acceptable and they must stay until we graduate too. Then I stop being a shmuck and start being happy for them that they are done with this grad-school roller coaster. After that I get on realtor.com and fill my wishing-to-own-a-house-again daydreaming binges through virtual shopping homes for friends' families. Seriously, like pinterest isn't bad enough for my insatiable dreaming...

In the meantime, I'm just so happy everyone is still here.

Silly Spring-like afternoons are just so much more fun with company.

I'm going to be really sad when my baby-boyfriend moves (in the red car). Perhaps his parents will let him stay here with me??? I know what you're thinking and I don't think so either, unfortunately.

At least I'll still have this hunk of handsomeness to keep me company.

I don't know if I've said it enough, but I really love these kind of days.