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.

                    

What a Winter!

Seriously! Late March and we get another significant snow! Crazy!

The kids are getting good at putting on boots, snow gloves, and hats. When they wake up and see snow outside, we have to immediately bundle up and get out there!

We've had enough warm afternoons to get hooked on getting out the bikes and trikes every time we head out to play, and Jack decided to see how it would go in the snow.

I thought Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow this year...so much for that!

Happy St. Pat's Day

Happy St. Pat's Day!

We read a story teaching us to say, "Happy St. Pat's Day!"

We wore our green...

We made our shamrocks...

I wanted to do a project allowing the kids to try out the scissors skills they've been practicing. After we took the time to look closely at shamrock plants we saw at the grocery store, I thought this would be perfect. Jack and Malynn both cut out two of their own leaves, and got exponentially better on the second leaf.

We didn't see any leprechauns. :)

Hope you had a good one!

Silly Smiles

At lunch, Jack said, "Take my picture." So I did...

As I was looking at it on the camera, Malynn said, "Take my picture, too." I turned and captured...

What a silly smile on my silly girl.

Our Directional Scribbles

Jack in particular has already been doing some great writing. He likes to add to the note for Mel each day and both kids like to help me with the grocery list. Jack has had directional scribbles going on for several weeks and this project gave me the perfect opportunity to capture it.

It's a cute project the kids did at library story hour. I hung them on our art door after Malynn and Jack had gone to bed. In the morning they noticed the art was up. I asked who's was who's because they didn't have names on them. The kids remembered easily which one was theirs and Jack marched over to get a pencil to write...

 

 

Dark Chocolate/Coconut Custard

It seems we sneak in an "In the Kitchen" moment every time we see Grand these days! Which, I might add, makes me especially happy for a couple reasons: 1) the kids love helping in the kitchen so I'm excited to foster their interest in cooking and baking, and 2) getting the chance to learn from a highly accomplished chief like Grand is particularly lucky for Malynn and Jack!

This visit Grand taught us how to make a dark chocolate/coconut custard. She made it for the kids a couple weeks before Valentine's Day and filled little heart containers with it so they had special after dinner treats leading up to V-Day! I'm not sure which is better, the fact that it is crazy simple to make or how delicious it is!

First the kids learned about coconut milk. They agreed it didn't smell like milk, but Jack pointed out it is probably called milk, "because it's white like milk."

Here's the run down...

Pour a can of coconut milk into a pan.

Pour a bag of dark chocolate chips into the pan and stir over low heat until melted and mixed through.

As chief Ramsey would say, "Taste, taste, taste!"

The kids helped decide when there was enough cinnamon. Malynn said, "It's good."

Finally pour into containers and chill.

Grand gets big props for helping both kids pour at the same time!

Thanks for the DELICIOUS treat!

Snow in March with Rourke...again!

Last year when Uncle Nate and Aunt Missy and Teigen went on their ski trip, Samma and Rourke came to visit and we got a big snow storm. We thought it was so crazy and perfect for Rourke to be playing in the snow while the rest of his family was off skiing! Well it was even crazier when it happened again this year!

 It was a doozy. The count was 15 inches in town, and I'm sure we had at least a foot ourselves!

Jack overheard Rourke and Samma talking about the shovel he likes to play with in the snow at home. Once we were all bundled up, Jack forged the first path out across the deck to get a shovel...

...for Rourke. This guys never ceases to impress with his thoughtfulness!

 We played out in the driveway where Daddy was shoveling which provided:

1) piles of snow for climbing and sliding.

2) snow mountains for off-roading.

 3) easy access to big clumps for "snow snacks."

("Don't eat yellow snow," was a favorite line of the day!)

4) fresh snow to plunge into.

 5) open space for a little riding around.

but most importantly, 6) a safe spot from all the trees crashing down from the weight of the snow.

(Darn Virginia Pines!)

 Jack wasn't the only one making sure Rourke had the tools he needed.

 A quintessential father/son picture!

 " I'm helping too!"

 Then we headed inside for hot chocolate and rainbow french toast! Samma read the weather story featuring a rainbow to the kids while I got the bread and "paints" set up.

I didn't have to give much direction, because...

 

...Malynn and Jack were eager to show Rourke how to make one of our new favorite story/snacks themselves.

 They passed the time while the french toast was cooking with plenty of silliness!

 

 And, finally enjoyed a perfect warm treat after a good romp in the snow.

There was a little play time before naps, and Malynn and Rourke had a spin on the rocking horses. I try very hard to just pick the best one picture of any given event, but this time I was amazed when through this series Malynn and Rourke's expressions match in every picture!

 

 While the kids were napping, Daddy worked on the HUGE tree which had fallen right across our drive way!

Fortunately, by the afternoon we had our power back, the road plowed, and a clear path out of the house.

In the afternoon we had to get back outside to make...

...a snowman!

 

We did have a couple, "I'm stuck!" moments.

 Malynn was the most invested in helping with the snowman.

The boys helped too, but...

Jack was busy pushing trucks around and Rourke was getting cold.

 I brought three carrots outside so there was...

...one for Malynn...and one for Jack...

 

...and one for the snowman!

The next morning was busy, busy, busy! It started with building a mini-snowman out on the deck with Samma.
The kids loved the starfish hat!

 Next we headed out for library story hour. Somehow Mommy got us all out the door way early. We had over a half an hour before the library was even going to open! There was a grocery store near by so we bought mini-cupcakes and juice and had a special little cupcake party in the back of the car! (Sometimes you do what you've got to do!) We had a fantastic time getting books at the library and enjoying our own private story hour because no one else showed up that day!

We wrapped up the first half of the day with lunch and reading some of the new books we got.

It was a fun, action packed visit and all three kids have been talking about it ever since. Being so close in age, I see the potential for Jack and Malynn to have a special cousin friendship with Rourke as they grow up. :)