Easter Weekend

What a fun Easter weekend we had. My mom and older sister Amanda and her little boy were in town, which made the holiday weekend extra fun.

Mitch and cousin Carter- they are just 8 months apart in age. Now that they are both walking and talking, they had a great time together. Mitch taught his new favorite game to Carter called "High Tower." This is where he stacks all the pillows from both sets of couches on top of each other, then jumps are falls into the pillows. This provided lots of fun the entire weekend for both boys. Mitch would run up to Carter and excitedly ask, "High Tower??" to which Carter would respond, "High Tower!" and they both would run off to collect pillows. Mitch came up with this name all on his own.

We had a great time at the Factoria Kid's Quest musuem (free on Friday nights!)

Saturday morning we braved the cold and impending rain to head to our neighborhood's annual Easter egg hunt. Mitch couldn't even walk this time last year (at 17 months old), so he was very excited and ready this year!

He did a great job and got quite a few eggs, but his competitive mother thought he could have gotten a few more if he would have hustled just a bit more...

Carter found one egg, then spotted the basketball hoop and only wanted to put the egg in the hoop.

Then it was Chloe's turn. Here she is with Mitch, waiting with her age group to start.

This is the first year she was old enough to be in an age group where they actually had to do a little "hunting" for their eggs. The younger age groups (1-4 years) just have their eggs laid out on the ground, none hidden. For Chloe's age group, the eggs were hidden in and around bushes, toys, trees, etc. Chloe was disappointed that she only got like 5 eggs (she noticed other kids with an entire basket full), but was excited about the great candy inside. (Seriously- they stuff those eggs with the good stuff- all chocolate, all name brand. No wimpy jelly beans or gross marshmellow stuff).

The Easter bunny made an appearance and Chloe was brave enough to stand by him for a picture. This is usually something she would not want to do, but she is growing up and doing more things that she used to be uncomfortable doing. After she got her picture with him, she turned to me and said, "Mom, I DID IT!" She was very proud of herself, and so was I!

Our fun filled weekend didn't end there. After a birthday party that Chloe attended, we colored Easter eggs with Grandma. There were lots of spills this year and I think our table got more color on it than the eggs did, but the kids really enjoy it. If I ever get a new table, I may not be so willing for them to stain it.

And who could forget our little Easter bunnies? I thought these little polka dot jackets looked like Easter eggs and very spring-like. They were such good little girls all weekend with all the outings and shopping we did.

Grandma brought them a singing duck that sings 3 verses to "If You're Happy and You Know it." They were wide eyed every time it sang, but it was Mitchell who was obsessed with it. He must have played that darn song 100 times and even sang along with it and did the actions. He proudly told me, "My Grandma brought me that!" (Good thing Leah and Lexi are too young to care that it was really for them!)

Easter morning brought baskets filled with goodies for the kids. They consumed way more candy than they should have between the Easter egg hunt, Easter baskets and all the goodies Grandma brought, but since they have candy loving parents, it was okay for a weekend.

Leah and Lexi with their baskets on Easter morning.

Leah loved her purple egg and concentrated on it for as long as her little hands could grasp it.

Lexi tasted her egg.

My kids were in heaven with Grandma here- she spoils them rotten with treats, toys and mostly her attention and time. She is willing to do just about anything my kids ask her to do with them and does it happily and makes it fun for everyone. She is truly my example of how I should be as a mother- patient, kind, fun and willing to give or her time for them. I hope I'm as fun of a grandma as she is someday.

With mom and my sister in town, we did some shopping! We took all 5 kids out to multiple malls and stores. It wasn't always pretty, but we did it (and much easier and more fun with their help then doing it by myself, I must say). Our biggest feat was taking all 5 kids on a walk one cold, blustry morning. I just recently purchased 2 new double strollers- a jogging one and an umbrella one and we decided to test drive them on our walk. I pushed one stroller, my mom pushed the other and my sister front-packed Lexi and off we went. With the cold and wind and no toys or snacks, we thought we might hear complaining, but for the hour walk we went on, we did not hear one peep from anyone. It was miraculous! Both babies fell asleep and the 3 big kids were mesmorized by just being outside. Makes me wish I could somehow push all 4 of my kids in a stroller by myself and take them for walks more often. That was definitely one of the best hours of the weekend!

All 4 cousins together. Don't mind Mitch- he found one of the babies' hats and would not take it off.

Grandma with her kids. She was the favorite person of the weekend.

Mitch showed Carter how we use our plastic rocking horse as a two-man toy. Carter got bucked off multiple times, but once he got accustomed to the Andros' rough way of doing things, he had a good time.

We had such a fun weekend. Time with family always goes by way too fast. My kids always have a hard time when family leaves (so do I) and we are always looking forward to the next visit as soon as they walk out the door. Hurry summer, hurry!