Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs!

Easter brought lots and lots of fun this year! First, I found a handful of cute books to read with Malynn and Jack so they would get to know Easter traditions. One told the story of a bunny who had a passion for soccer and ended up making specialty eggs painted like soccer balls...guess who got some of those special soccer eggs from the Easter Bunny?...yup, us!

Egg hunt number one was with the library story group. I forgot to send the cute Easter buckets Melody had gotten for the kids with them that day, but they did not go to waste with two more egg hunts on the horizon.

Egg hunt number two was an amazing event provided for free in town. Cousin's, Teigen and Rourke, came for the weekend and we met up with our dearest friends Sophie, baby Evan, Dylan, and baby Ethan for an absolutely gorgeous morning.

The kids got to explore on a fire truck (always a hit). Here Malynn is hollering, "Papa! Look at me!"

 

Jack and Rourke found the jaws of life. So incredible!

After exploring and getting a balloon for everyone, we headed over to our field. The kids were grouped by age (so smart), so Teigen was with his own group, but Sophie, Dylan, and Rourke were all with us. Hundreds of kids lined up and encircled their fields glistening with eggs and candy. Then they said, "GO!" and we went! Everyone got a good haul. It was such a perfect day, we decided to sit in the grass to enjoy a couple pieces of candy before heading out.

Evan was the recipient of some of Malynn's current "I love babies" phase. :)

Everyone was tuckered out from the morning, took great naps, and enjoyed our first cookout dinner of the season on our new grill! I'm glad I got this picture, because I'm pretty sure it commemorates our first family "kid's table."

Thank goodness we maxed out our time in the great outdoors on Saturday, because Easter Sunday was rainy. We were prepared through. Aunt Missy brought these super cute bunny crafts to do and Samma was the maestro of the activity for us.

The Easter Bunny had gotten into our basement to hide eggs since it was so wet outside, which worked out great! There was plenty of space for everyone to run around and get a chance to find a bucketful of eggs.

In true younger sibling fashion, Rourke held his own with the big kids.

Teigen was the first to find his allotment and accurately take inventory.

 Malynn squealed with joy over every egg she found. Emotions always come out with power for Malynn, and this is one of the especially delightful ways she enchants us.

Jack was true to form, patient and thoughtful; he would look around, go for tricky spots, and often he was right! Clever kiddo!

The post-hunt cousins picture.

The rest of our rainy morning was filled with exactly what you'd expect:

                  Lap and iPad time with Samma.

Reading stories on the couch.

LEGOS!!! A bonding activity for all the cousins and their parents alike!           

                      Enjoying a quiet spot.

Snacks.

A yummy spiral ham Easter meal.                       

                     Coloring.

"Feet up" time.

                    

Samma & Papa Visit!

Jack and Malynn got a chance to share some special Samma & Papa time when they came to visit this past weekend. The kids were eager all week for their arrival. Jack had made plans for reading stories together, and Malynn was planning on making tea for everyone.

Samma & Papa must have been just as eager, because they were making plans, too! Samma brought some special new stories and an art project, and Papa brought ingredients to make his famous sugar cookies.  :)

I think it must have been within 5 minutes of their arrival, that Malynn and Jack had Samma and Papa reading to them on the couch.

There was so much to learn in the new fireman book!

Lunch, naps, more story time, and dinner filled up the rest of the day.

The next day was jam packed! We started with a trip into town for breakfast bagels, and when we got home it was project time.

First we did the hand printing project. Samma got big frames with wide matting to hold special art from Malynn and Jack back at her house. She had the idea of doing colorful hand prints on the matting. It turned out really fantastic looking!

 

Jack moved on to playing cars, but Malynn was feeling inspired. She painted this wonderful picture with a sun, flowers, and a red M&M (bottom left).

 

I think she kept busy at the easel until the paint ran out! She's doing a great job remembering all the little pointers we give her from one painting session to the next.

After painting it was cookie time!

The kids picked vehicle cookie cutters, so we had train engines, 18-wheelers (which we call Peterbuilts for now), regular cars, and fire engines too.

We finished out the morning with cars, Legos, and puzzles.

Jack was getting a little sad, and we suspect it was because he knew Samma & Papa had to leave soon. So, we all put in some special car-play time with the big guy. When the kids were just learning how to make car noises, Malynn would say "werrrrrm," and it stuck. Now "werm" has expanded from just being an onomatopoeia to being a new vocabulary word in our house. When it's time to play cars, the invite is usually expressed as, "You come werm cars with me?" And, when we're driving in the real car, I'll hear things like, "Those cars are werming fast." or "Where are those cars werming to?" One of Jack's favorite things is making a long line of all his little vehicles. I'm glad I finally got a picture of it.

Then we spent a good bit of time around the Lego table. Here Malynn is showing her boo-boo. This is a terrible, freak story. Mike pulled a glass baking dish out of the oven and set it on the stove. As soon as it touched the stove the sides splintered and shattered! (Must have been a hot/cold issue.) Malynn was standing farthest away. I swooped in to pick up Jack who was closer and didn't have shoes on. Once he was away from the broken glass pieces on the floor, Malynn started crying, saying, "Ice in dere! Ice in dere!" She was holding her arm and we knew right away a shard must have shot all the way over to where she was and gotten in her shirt sleeve. She probably didn't even realize it until she moved her arm and it touched her skin. Poor thing had two little spots with 2nd degree burns. She was SO tough. Burns hurt! But she only cried that little bit when she first got hurt, and she let us take perfect care of it with aloe, band-aids, washing, and kisses. I'm so proud of you my brave, strong, little lady!

We finished up the morning with our new favorite floor puzzle: the ABCDs train. The kids do an amazing job singing the ABC song over and over to check and see what letter they need next as they string it together, and I'm so impressed with how well they are recognizing all the letters now

It was a fun, special weekend for everyone!

 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

These days birthdays are mostly special thanks to the ways we celebrate with Malynn and Jack. When we started talking about how Daddy's birthday was coming up, the kids started practicing singing, "Happy birthday to Daddy. Happy birthday to Daddy. Happy birthday to Daddy. Happy birthday to you." This would be prompted by mention of Daddy's birthday, but also heard as impromptu singing over the monitor when the kids were falling asleep or waking up. (Singing is a particularly favorite activity that Jack and Malynn share when they wake up and are waiting for Mommy or Daddy to come get them. Jack usually initiates. Sometimes they get their singing synched up, which is maybe one of the sweetest things my little ol' ears have ever heard. Other times, someone really wants a solo and we'll hear, "No! You no singing. I singing.") For the actual birthday day, Grand was here. She treated us to a surf and turf dinner (all paleo), of which Jack ate most of the shrimp! Then the morning of she treated us again to a feast of eggs and bacon (more paleo), of which Jack ate most of the eggs -as usual! The kids kept saying that Daddy needed a present and cupcakes, so I made sure they got to follow through on at least one of those things. Now, thinking of a gift for Mike is not my strong suit. Not that I can't think of ideas, but along with those ideas I can always think of the reason he would feel like it wasn't something he really needed/wanted. Plus, we don't have a tradition of giving each other gifts. (No gifts IS our gift to each other.) So I was so pleased when I thought of something that I knew he'd love and wouldn't object to because it ultimately is for the kids...Legos! We got two new sets: a fire engine and a flatbed tow truck to freshen up our collection. Jack and Malynn LOVED giving them to Daddy, but maybe not as much as Daddy LOVED putting them together with Malynn and Jack.

Happy Birthday my husband. You make me proud to be your wife every day, and more kids out there should get a father like you. We love you so much!

Puppets!

This is just a foretaste of what's to come! At a recent playdate, Dylan's mom shared a copy of a bee paper bag puppet that his grandma brought and made with him. So Malynn and Jack got to make their own bee puppets. (Thanks Dylan!)

 

 I say this is a foretaste, because puppets have been slowly creeping into their lives and I anticipate a greater significance on the horizon. First they had some puppy puppets that they've LOVED. But those puppets only cuddle, bark, sniff, pant, and nuzzle at them. Then it took a couple tries before they got into the frog and duck puppets they have for the bathtub, because those guys talked to them! Now every few baths they insist on frog and duck coming to "play" with them. Recently we started acting out Humpty Dumpty, first with Legos and then with stuffed animals using an old baby gate as the wall, and that has been a HIT! They just want to do it over and over and keep switching who controls Humpty Dumpty and who controls the king's horses/men. Today when we went in the basement, Malynn rushed over to the stuffed animals and gate and sang out, "Puppet Show!" I'm hoping they will be independent enough with it soon for me to get video to share. Stay tuned!

Legos -August 2012

 August was a creative month!

I love these smiles for the camera. I feel like they are hints of what future school pictures will look like.

 

There are always some vehicles that are a team effort with Daddy.

And here are some Jack and Malynn originals!

Jack continues to go for length and inclusion of special features like "dumpers."

When he mounted a guy on a set of wheels and Daddy said he made a segway, it prompted the making of many segways!

  

Malynn continues to enjoy making "castles" with and without Mommy and Daddy's help.

The special feature on here is the ramp pieces that Jack thought to add for the cars as this garage was being constructed.

Jack is all about the special features -like combining a boat and a house and adding hoses to connect cars.

Malynn wanted to do a special reveal for her window castle!

This was Jack's special "worker" vehicle that could lift a car on the fork lift and had a special "helper" car, too. AND he showed us how the helper car could fit ON the worker vehicle!!

I wasn't sure what Malynn was up to when she got her hands on Jack's vehicles, so I asked, and she explained that they were "parking in the shade." Awesome.

Just a couple extra cutie pie pix!

Our happy Lego kids!