Egg Pick-Up

This morning we attended the first ever Easter egg hunt at church, organized by Daddy. 

The kids might think he put it together just for them, but if that's the case, about a hundred other local kids reaped the benefits as well.

 

That looks like a lot of eggs (and that's not even the whole field), but in a matter of about two minutes, that field will be a desolate egg wasteland.

The kids were champing at the bit, ready to break down the starting line...

But they managed to hold back until the whistle blew. Daddy almost got caught in the stampede.

Mary Red Riding Hood was in the first wave and managed to fill her basket pretty well. She pointed out on the way home that it wasn't really an egg hunt so much as an egg pick-up.

And that is the last picture I have of the egg pick-up, because at that point I noticed Michael Jr had forgotten about the picking up part and was just running with the kids, so I reminded him about the eggs and by the time he had picked up three (which took about 15 seconds), the field was clear. Catherine was in the second wave of older kids and I never even saw her, but she did find some eggs (and we pooled them all afterwards anyway).

Bonus: no one was scared of the Easter bunny (I'm not sure what Michael is pouting about, but it wasn't the six foot tall highschooler in a bunny suit).

Then we went home and had lunch and Daddy tried to watch a basketball game before having to go to a party for our neighbor's first birthday and then back to church at 8pm for the Vigil Mass. The kids like to help him get the most out of TV watching / resting time.

Easter Preparations

I'm up late trying to write a post because I realized that the next couple days are going to be so busy that if I don't put these pictures up now they could be lost forever.

Yesterday we spent the morning at Grandma's get

Wait, sorry, I have to go back another day. Wednesday, Aunt Mel came over to cut Michael Jr's hair so he could run without having to hold it out of his eyes, and even though she had already had a dozen clients that day, she also cut my hair and Catherine's and Mary's - thanks Aunt Mel!

Mary has been telling me for months that she wants bangs and short hair like our neighbor, so we started with the short part and after that decided to skip the bangs for now. I really cannot describe how pleased Mary is with her hair cut. She's been bouncing around, looking in the mirror, trying new accessories, feeling the bottom of her hair and smiling... it's a little bit nuts.

But she has loved it from the second Mel was finished, and other than the fact that she looks three years older, I like it also. Then Catherine saw how much fun Mary was having with her bob, and declared she needed a bob as well. Fine by me - less tangles!

Yesterday we spent the morning at Grandma's getting a few things ready for the Easter/Michael Jr's birthday party on Sunday. First up was decorating cake pops. 

This is Mary's "I'm thinking about licking the chocolate off this stick" happy face. There was a lot of finger licking involved.

Then Gussie and I took a little photo shoot break.

He recently discovered that he can stick his tongue out. We see it a lot now.

Then it was back to decorating with icing in squirt bottles and sprinkles galore.

After lunch we dyed eggs, but apparently my camera missed that. But some of the cake pops that we made were decorated to resemble little freshly hatched chicks, and the kids loved them. Then today, our neighbor just happened to be outside with a box of six freshly hatched chicks, and the kids loved that version even more.

Catherine just wanted to sit down and have as many baby chicks sitting, nestling, peeping, and walking on her as possible.

 Michael wanted all the chicks in the box, then he wanted them all out of the box, then he thought they would all like to be tickled. He did a very good 2-year-old-boy job of being gentle, but I'm still mildly surprised that all the chicks survived our visit.

Mary was very timid at first but eventually agreed to hold a chick, which completely freaked her out, then she tried again and was pleased.

And now tomorrow morning we have an egg hunt, tomorrow evening we have a neighbor's first birthday party, and Sunday we have Easter and Michael's birthday, so just prepare yourself for photo overload.

Boo Mama

I need to express my incredible dismay at the fact that Michael Jr is almost three years old.

[photography note: I have to learn to sync my white balance when editing - his eyes really aren't that color]

I am really going to miss when he stops saying "Chya" for "yes" and "chars" for "cars".

I might even miss when he stops saying "Boo Mama!" when he's upset with me or telling me I'm mean in order to stick up for one of his sisters who is trying to get out of doing a chore.

Side note: a few days ago he was mad at me for making him take a break from playing cars in order to use the bathroom and he yelled at the top of  his lungs, "Boo you, Mama! I'm never going poop in the potty again!" and stomped off. It's a lot funnier now than it was at the time, mostly because he has not made good on his promise.

How old do you think he's going to be when he stops thinking this is funny?

And I'll be sad to see his little round baby face go.

When you ask Michael how old he is going to be on his birthday, he always answers "six," "seven," "eight," or "nine," so three doesn't actually sound that bad comparatively!

Spring Snow

In spite of the fact that it's officially Spring and at this time last year it was in the 80s, we kind of enjoyed our little snow storm and two days with a foot of snow. The robins might not have enjoyed it so much.

It's fun when the kids ask for a snack and you tell them to go outside and munch on snow.

Just kidding. It was their idea.

The heavy, wet snow was perfect for building snow men and snow slides. Catherine discovered that you actually really could make a small ball and roll it through the snow and it would collect snow and get bigger and bigger.

So big that she had to recruit carrying help.

This started out as a snow man in Sofi's yard, but the kids just kept jumping on the pile and sliding off, so eventually we gave in and built it into a snow slide.

And as much fun as that was, I will be more than happy to pack away the snow suits and boots and mittens and storm windows and spend our time shoveling dirt in the garden instead of snow off the sidewalk.

Our Wagon Buss

It was sunny and 55 degrees this afternoon, which would usually beckon us outside for a little bit at least, but given that the forecast for tomorrow is 5 - 8 inches of snow and we're going completely insane remembering that it was in the 80s at this time last year, we spent almost the entire afternoon outside today.

There are relatively few toys in the front yard; bikes, scooter, wagon, and sidewalk, but that's all they need for a whole afternoon outside. The kids have claimed not only our front yard, but the yards and porches of our three (friendly) nearest neighbors as well, which makes for much more interesting games of tag, hide-and-seek, and their favorite: house, which is actually more like a live pretend version of Sim City.

Today our neighbor Sofi joined us, the wagon became a bus, Catherine became the bus driver, and each of the houses became a different destination: City Hall, Texas New Orleans (yes, all one place), home, and the fourth one rotated a bit, although for a while it was definitely a large bathroom. They're headed off to Texas New Orleans here.

Catherine must have made fifty trips up and down the sidewalk; eventually she offered Daddy a turn as the driver so she could rest. When Daddy takes the helm, they insist that he runs, turning the wagon bus into a roller coaster.

Even Gussie got a turn in the wagon (sitting on the floor, not in a seat, lest he get antsy and dive over the side).

I have no idea to what they are reacting here, but Michael's face keeps making me laugh.

Catherine, on the other hand, has perfected her picture smile, and always knows where the camera is pointed.

Gussie does the opposite; any time I disappear behind the camera he immediately stops smiling.

Make-Shift Walker

It looks like Gussie is going to be one of those babies who decides never to crawl. He's no closer to crawling than he was weeks ago, but he can pull himself up to standing from sitting or from his tummy, and he can cruise the length of the couch (but not without a spotter - he still randomly falls over backwards like a felled tree).

Today I set Gussie down on the kitchen floor for a couple minutes and he used this stool to pull himself up to standing, then accidentally discovered it slides across the floor and he could use it as a walker. It surprised him at first, but he managed to make a couple trips back and forth across the kitchen, with a little help with the turn-around. He was pleased.

But honestly, there's not a lot of times that he isn't pleased. Unless I leave the room or anyone else makes a motion like they're going to try to hold him; then, not so pleased.

Birthdays

When Michael asked what I wanted to do for my birthday, I said I wanted to eat food that I didn't cook. I also wanted not to have to worry about what Michael Jr was eating and not to have to tell the girls certain things on the menu were off limits because it wouldn't be fair (we had a few diet exceptions in the last couple weeks and it was taking a toll on Michael Jr). Michael accomplished all that and more by ordering in delicious BBQ meat from The Shaved Duck and asking all our family to join us. So not only did I not have to cook, but I didn't have to get in the car, and the food was delicious, and the company was fabulous. And there were leftovers!

Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking care of all the food (and the special dessert for the kids!), and to everyone for driving down, and for the unexpected gifts.

I spend my days being constantly delighted, surprised, elevated, and inspired by my children and husband. When getting older is really just those beautiful days piling on top of each other, it's hard to complain about it.

Although perhaps I could do with a few less crazy eye wrinkles.

Two Brothers

Gussie (or, "my tiny brother", as Michael Jr refers to him) has recently made two fun discoveries, one being that his tongue can stick out of his mouth (I don't why I don't have a picture of this yet) and two, his feet. 

He loves diaper changing time because it always reminds him that he can reach his feet, which he seems to forget about when he's focused on scooting around on his tummy and trying to haul himself up to standing using only the strength of his arms (he doesn't have his arms and legs coordinated yet). Gussie also really loves the bath right now, and any time anyone plays the piano, and watching his siblings run circles around the house, and chewing, chewing, chewing. A lens cap probably isn't the wisest choice in baby teethers, but he accepted it as a consolation prize; he was going for the camera.

Please notice that Gussie is wide awake in these pictures. I'm pretty sure he is always wide awake, or at least he is always wide awake in pictures because the only time he sleeps is when at least 50% of his skin is touching me and that puts us in a difficult position to take pictures.

Michael Jr, on the other hand, has fallen back into a pattern of long afternoon naps on the couch. Don't you just want to curl up next to him and spend the day there as well?