Easter shout out to all our Peeps

2009-04-12

What a lovely weekend!  It took us until Saturday to fully recover from last weekend, but the chilly spring sun was enough to lure us out of the house and into the yard for a bit.  Movie night, lots of cooking and baking, a nice Sunday dinner with Anna, Joyce, and Rita, and way too much candy rounded out a happy couple of days.


We're making great strides with potty training and realized that we did not throw away a single diaper this weekend (and that's because we didn't need any, not because we're saving them).  While this may be TMI for some of you, it's a hot topic in our house right now, and the cost savings alone is worth a mention.


At any rate, Happy Easter to all!  Make sure your Cadbury creme eggs don't all disappear in one day.  And never, ever give jelly beans to a child that you want to be quiet in church.  It doesn't work.
Every week, there is a new stunning bouquet at the art museum, thanks to a fund set up in memory of someone's loved one. This week's arrangement was gorgeous hydrangeas, the kind that were <i>supposed</i> to be in Emily's wedding bouqet. But who's bitter? Who still holds a grudge? Not me...
This is how David helps with laundry. And by "helps", I really mean "gets in the way and makes things way more difficult". Although this <i>is</i> good testimony as to why Chris really ought to keep his shoes in the closet where they belong, as opposed to under (or around) the chair in the bedroom
Paul may be the only one who gets a kick out of this, but after all the good luck we've had with various Honda engines, the one complaint remains that they're poorly engineered to allow oil changes. Since Chris got out and mowed the lawn on Saturday and needed to do some spring maintenance on the mower, he came in cursing the poor design of the oil filter. But that was all
We have lovely color in our yard, mainly because by some stroke of luck the rabbits didn't eat nearly as many tulips this year as they comped on last spring
We unearthed the sandbox on Saturday, discovering many dead leaves, some dessicated worms, and countless new ways to get sand out of the box and into the yard (and shoes and pockets and house)
Every. single. time. he got a scoop of sand, I had to acknowledge this "Hey Mommy! Look at <i>this</i> really huge load!" And not once did he keep it in the sandbox.
It's a good thing it's the season for lots of playing outside, because Lord knows he has enough jeans that are only fit for playing outside
The neighbor's pear trees are in full bloom. So lovely to see them out our back door
If he didn't look so blissfully happy and content, it would have been really aggravating that he would not get out of the way of the lawn mower. Chris literally picked him up and moved him, and the dog went immediately right back to where he had been sleeping
Last year's crabapple tree seems to have made it and will soon reward us with pink flowers in our own yard
Let the sugar shock begin!
Nana sent David a cookie decorating kit, so we made cookies for Sunday's dinner with Rita, Anna, and Joyce. We made bunnies, butterflies, (Valentine's Day) hearts and an Easter turkey (since we had a cookie cutter for that, too)
So, we apparently let him stick knives in his mouth <i>and</i> give him pure sugar. We did let him run around outside for about an hour after we finished with the cookies
Some of us tried to actually make patterns with the icing
Guess what? Turkey butt! The Easter turkey was not structurally sound enough to withstand David's decorating prowess, so we did that one in tow pieces
Some of the icing did make it onto the cookies. Really
Despite what we have repeatedly said in the past, Gus is no dummy. He knows where the action is and just waits patiently for the right time. And his time <i>will</i> come as long as David is helping in the kitchen
Technique
Overly technical. There was lots of goo spillage under this cookie sheet
IMG_1794
Easter Bunny bribes
Again, because there wasn't time before church Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny had to come to our house while we were at church. Witness the carnage that often comes during a present-opening opportunity at our house
Hot Wheels and Spider-man. Nothing says "Jesus Christ is risen today!" like chocolate and superheroes
Chris wanted to start a new tradition, so here we have scratch-made hot cross buns. With icing
Our attempt at a post-breakfast walk
Shake it off and keep walking, dude
We thought maybe Gus could be convinced to go down the slide, but he surprised us by leaping almost four feet off the edge instead
At least one of them opted for the traditional mode of descent
Really it's not much of a relaxing nap in the springtime sun when <i>that</i> part of the dog is so close to your face
Also not so relaxing when someone keeps jumping on you. Can't a mommy just take a short little nap?!
Here comes trouble
He insisted on having the "hood all the way down". Whatever, dude
He had to open and examine every single egg one by one before he put them in the basket during his afternoon egg hunt
I found one! I see one! What's in it? it sounds like money! This one sounds like more money! It <i>is</i> money! It's more money!
We figured the pink flamingo in the front yard wasn't tacky enough. We needed to add the construction cone for decoration, too
You'll never guess what's in this one...yep! It's money! Hey Mommy, it's money! Hey Mommy, I dropped the money! The money fell!
We were feeling as though Beansprout has been photographically neglected over the past few weeks, so we dolled her up and took a few snaps. From the (typical) look on her face, she was not thrilled