Easter 2016- Chicks, Bunnies, a Princess and the Hulk

Twas a day before Easter, and spring had sure sprung.

The two of you painted your eggs with great skill.

FOUR were consumed by Aidan, who didn't even get ill.

One fell to the ground and got put aside.

One more  got eaten by Preston and Toby when we all went inside.

Notes were written and carrots left out.

For that magical little bunny, without nary a doubt.

In the morning you saw that he signed your notes and filled your baskets,

With candy, and goodies, and books, and make-up and transformers!

(ps. rhyming proved to be hard, so I'm forsaking it for now).

Easter morning was a blast of reading books, eating candy, working together to assemble some amazingly tiny little metal airplanes, playing with legos, and choosing Easter outfits to wear to Aunt Nessa's and Uncle Phil's house/farm for Easter.

Outfit choice #1 was incredible:

Outfit choice #2 was more forceful: 

Then we hit the road...where you both were awfully quiet. And then we realized that the 'magic wands' we got you were in fact pens. And that you two figured it out. and had made some sort of puppet show which you were acting out (with voices) 

When we got to the farm, we explored around and had a great lunch. 

After lunch, you two, and a couple older boys from Germany, had an amazing Easter Egg Hunt.

On your marks...get set...GO!

Spirits were high, and both of you EXCELLED at finding eggs from all over the place!

Even when the final eggs were stealthily hidden, you two kept searching high and low:

 

When all was said and done, you all had amassed quite the loot!

 The rest of the gorgeous afternoon was occupied with eating candy, talking to family, and fun outdoor activities.

We fixed kites, crashed kites, trashed kites, cursed kites and...finally FLEW kites...and Aidan, you were so proud when you got yours to fly! #Victory!

We blew bubbles!

We got to play with, cradle, and not kill BABY CHICKS!

And porchin' it...

There was also a bit of 'butt biting for baba' and 'tummy stepping to squeeze out toots' but we won't talk about that...

It was a picture perfect Easter with Yaya, Baba, Aunt Sham, Uncle Joe, Aunt Chrissy, Aunt Nessa, Gigi, Pa, Uncle Phil and Uncle Werner, and everyone else.

The sweet memories, and sweet treats, are are pretty good Easter basket haul!

Spring; Sprung

Julia, Aidan,

A new season is quickly approaching, and that means it's time for new growth, new skills blossoming, new friends and new reasons to go explore.

It just so happens that as we're talking about spring springing, Julia, you got a taste of springing as well! We figured you're old enough, and Aidan was out of the house at school to not try to push you (which he did later), so we got out the old swing, your Mommy made some mismatched legwarmers really quick, and we plopped you in and let you explore a whole new world of using your legs, and spinning, and just kind of hanging out. You weren't intimidated at all, and took to springing quite calmly: no major jumps, but no major upsets. It was almost like dancing!

But Julia, you're not the only little seedling growing this spring...after Aidan and I got some really good dirt in a bucket, your Mommy and Aidan planted some seeds for our garden.

Okay, well, Aidan did a little, but first he was more interested in eating the seeds...then he was more interested in his new friend, a brave earthworm.

After the incident with the Ladybug a few month's back, and another Ladybug incident that morning (albeit more accidental) it was refreshing to hear you tell me "No Smush, Daddy!" You were determined to hold this earthworm AND keep it alive. As you played outside with the earthworm outside you kept asking it "You Alive?" And, bless your heart, you kept him alive for a good long time. But somewhere along the way, poor earthworm left this mortal coil, and you were so upset. It's hard to hold on to something so small and fragile without it getting smushed a bit. We'll work on that, I promise. It's a hard concept to learn. But, life goes on, and our seeds will grow, and tons of earthworms will make our soil their home. We'll just have to keep them out of little hands for a while longer.

The next day, after you had a lot of fun playing in the sink, I figured "Hey, it's nice enough outside, let's learn about water balloons!" Now here's something that little hands can squish and hold and toss without worry...besides getting a little wet. And you LOVED it.

Orange one! Pink one! Blue one! White one! Tons and tons of fun. 2 days and three 45-minute water ballooning sessions later, and I think we have discovered an awesome way to have fun and get wet...but, then again, 3-year-olds don't necessarily need much help with that.

But between bouncing babes springing in their step, water balloons and planting seeds, I think it's to say that something has sprung.