Egg Hunt #3

On Saturday, we went to our third Easter egg hunt of the season. This was by far the largest egg hunt we attended. There were some 6,000 eggs and more than 1,000 small toys scattered around our neighborhood park and information center. Somehow we have managed to miss this egg hunt every year but this year we actually made it! This picture only shows a fraction of the chaos.

I had heard that this Easter egg hunt was insane, and that sometimes the kids didn't get any eggs at all. That sure wasn't the case this year! Henry's hunt (ages 0-2) was first. He grabbed a few eggs but mostly just wanted to see what was inside them.

Will's age group (3-5 year olds) was next. They had to wait about 10 minutes. They were mostly patient.
Opening some eggs: Will went for the slinky, but Henry grabbed the very melty chocolate!

The most fun was after the hunt. The boys got to hang out for a few minutes with these cute sisters. You can't really tell from Henry's funny face here, but he really does adore Reese.

And Will loves Ainsley.

I don't know what Will's fascination is with the plastic barriers, but take a look at this series of photos. I know it looks like he has tied Ainsley to a tree, but seriously, she did it herself!

And just to prove the ongoing fascination with these "ropes," here's a pic from last year's Easter egg hunt (we made it in time to see the Easter bunny but completely missed the actual hunt!). This is one of Will's other best buddies, Steven.

And here's our excuse for not making it to the Easter egg hunt two years ago: Henry!

Will did go with my parents two years ago, and got to meet the Easter bunny, but this was the first year all four of us actually made it.
Did you go on an Easter egg hunt (or four) this year?

The Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

Our Easter celebrations began in earnest on Tuesday, with an Easter party at school (forgot to take the camera!) and then our first ever playgroup Easter Egg Hunt and party.

Our playgroup has been around for more than 3 years, so these kids have literally known each other forever. The group just keeps getting bigger as more babies are born! We thought it would be "fun" to try to get a group picture of these kiddos. As you can see, it's a big like corralling greased cats! This was my best shot of the group. Did you notice that my boys refused to go sit with the other kids?

We had two hunts. The first, in the backyard, was for kids under age 3. Henry had almost as much fun climbing on the play set as he did searching for eggs.

Then we moved to the front yard for the big kids' hunt. Will was waiting so patiently for it all to begin!

Of course, the little ones joined in to look for more eggs.

Henry helped Celia add to her stash.

He did get a few eggs of his own.

Will enjoyed the jelly beans inside his eggs. You should have seen what this white t-shirt looked like after the party!

The next Easter egg hunt is this morning, but it's for our entire neighborhood and I understand it's crazy. Even with 5000 eggs (which I helped stuff last week), some kids don't get any! We will get to meet the Easter bunny, though.

Nature's Bounty

Our good friends Katy and Jaime came up for dinner last weekend. We had been talking about this particular meal for months, ever since we realized that K&J plant their own kale and that Gene makes a killer caldo verde (Portuguese kale soup). It just seemed like a perfect fit, and a perfect excuse to get together with very good friends.

Katy walked through the door with this huge bowl of greens! Wow! This all came from their garden!

That huge bowl also contained some of the sweetest sugar snap peas ever. The little boys adored them, and so did I!

Katy and Jaime are very outdoorsy, so I guess it is no big surprise that they have a bountiful garden. Jaime is a naturalist. You may remember that he came to Will's spider birthday last summer to talk about spiders. He even brought real specimens, including this egg sac! Will especially adores Jaime and is always so excited to see him.

Last October, Katy and Jaime invited us and some other friends to their house for a "Wildflower Stomping Party." They decided to turn part of their front yard into a wildflower garden, so we helped plant seeds. As you can see, the boys really enjoyed planting, patting, and stomping the seeds into the ground.

Katy and Jaime have a beautiful backyard too.

As you can see, our backyard is not nearly as pretty as Katy and Jaime's, but Jaime did manage to find a nice patch of clover back there.

And Katy showed the boys how to make a necklace out of those clovers.

Here you can see the completed necklace on me.

Katy and Jaime are some of our favorite people in the whole world, and we would still love them even if they didn't bring us yummy kale!

Henry at age 2

Henry is such a fun, happy little boy, so I thought I would dedicate a post to Henry and everything he is doing at age 2.

Last week, we had Henry's two-year checkup with his pediatrician. He weighs 27.6 pounds and is 34 inches tall, which puts him right at the 50th percentile. Considering he was born huge (97th percentile) and dropped to 15th percentile at age 1 (due to his nonstop activity), I'm very happy with him being right in the middle! Everything went fine at his checkup and he is doing everything he should be.

Henry knows all his colors and shapes (his favorite shape is a semicircle!). He loves to count and just mastered counting from 1 to 10 and also back down, from 10 to 1! He adores singing songs, especially his ABCs (which he sings pretty well), "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Wheels on the Bus." He can speak in sentences (things like "Mommy driving new car" or "Baby crying") and is using pronouns (mine new car). He says thanks completely unbidden and also please, bless you, and yes, ma'am (even to Gene).

Henry is still working on jumping, but he has mastered climbing up and down stairs by himself and is very good at kicking a ball. He also loves to throw balls. He can brush his own teeth (though we still help him) and can drink water from a big boy cup all by himself. One of Henry's favorite sentences is "I do it." He likes to be big like his brother! He also loves to say "no" and is extremely opinionated!

Henry's favorite things:
-books
-cars/trucks/trains (usually we can find a collection in his bed)
-playing outside
-rocket jammies
-"Blue's Clues" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" TV shows
-puzzles
-balls
-going to Gymboree
-music (especially marches, like his brother)
-food (he definitely has a sweet tooth)
-stickers
-coloring/painting/art class

Henry made a turtle and a snake at Gymboree art class last weekend.

Things Henry dislikes:
-going to bed
-being told "no"

We definitely haven't hit the terrible twos just yet. Henry is so much fun and I am just loving this age and this little boy!

Eat at Louie's

Will loves Richard Scarry books. In one of his stories, some of the characters go to eat at Louie's Restaurant. Here is a picture of Able Baker Charlie delivering bread to Louie's Restaurant.

In our backyard, Will has named the picnic table under the play set Louie's. Now that the weather is nice, the boys love to eat there. As you can see from this photo, the "restaurant" is also a favorite of Weezie's. She knows that the boys will share (willingly or not) their dinners with her.

Here the boys are enjoying a meal at Louie's. Can you see chef Louie (aka Daddy) in the background?

A spoon on the ramp?

The food is great at Louie's, but perhaps the best part is that the swings are right there.

I can't wait to see what Chef Louie is cooking up tonight!

Got Milk?

As I've posted before, Gene loves his new espresso machine. He makes us coffee all the time now, and it is so yummy. The boys have taken to requesting special coffee as well. No, no, no, we are not completely insane. The boys just get foamed milk with a touch of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon, but they do call it coffee. Doesn't Will have the cutest milk mustache?

You may know that Henry is not a huge fan of milk, but he does like his "coffee." Hmmm, maybe that's how I need to get him to drink more milk!

Got milk?