Easter Sunday at Mavis's...

After opening the boy's Easter baskets and eating a light breakfast, we headed to Wisconsin to celebrate Easter with Jay's family. Grandma Mavis cooked an incredible feast for us! We enjoyed talking with family and playing out on her porch.

Grandma Mavis had ET go on a penny hunt for his second Easter in a row. I absolutely ADORE this idea. How special for him! :)



Even Nate got involved. He had no idea what ET was looking for, but he was picking up things all over the room trying to help out. :)

Here they are counting what they found (29 pennies total). ET probably felt pretty rich! He loved doing this, and couldn't wait to put his money in his dinosaur bank the moment we arrived home.

Here we are enjoying a wonderful meal.


We also celebrated Grandma Mavis's 86th birthday. I love this picture - what a beautiful smile! :)


There is nothing more precious than to watch my two angels sleeping...

ET is really getting tall! He looks like a giant here!

Easter Baskets...

The boys were so incredibly tired from Saturday that Jay and I both woke and showered before either of them were awake. It was a nice treat to get up and make some coffee and prepare before having to take pictures and open gifts.

One of the gifts the boys received were new pillow pets. These are so incredibly popular among the kids in the daycare, and ET was thrilled to see that he finally has one. He has kept it close by him since Sunday morning, and immediately showed it off to his friends on Monday. :)

ET also received his first remote control vehicle (a blue Ford truck, just like daddy's)! He LOVES it! Matter of fact it will only probably make it a couple more days before the batteries wear out.


After going over to a friend's house and playing with her Nerf gun, the Easter bunny must have known how badly ET wanted one.

Nate received an old-fashioned Jack-in-the-Box. It startled him at first, but he seemed to enjoy it.


Nate's favorite was the egg full of candy! I think he just thought it was a football or some type of ball. :)

Carrots for the Easter Bunny...

The night before Easter, I cut up some carrots for ET and Nate to set out for the Easter bunny. I asked ET where he wanted to set them, and he chose the end table next to the chair that is near the fireplace (the same place we set out cookies for Santa - I wonder if he thinks the Easter bunny comes down the chimney too). ET stole a couple of the carrots, and so I had to wait a few moments because I couldn't get a smile with a mouthful of carrots. :)


Sneaky hands...not too many carrots that were actually left for him. :)


The Easter bunny must of taken this picture with my camera when he stopped by to fill the boy's baskets. :)

Easter at our home...

Jay and I decided to host Easter for my side of the family on Saturday (April 23). Luckily, because we decided to celebrate it a day earlier most of the family could make it (there were 23 of us total). I was a little nervous about where everyone would fit, but it turned out to be very comfortable for everyone. It was nice catching up with everyone and sharing great food!

Decorating for Easter...

Here are a few recent pics of us decorating for Easter...

About a month ago, ET and Jay planted grass seed in an Easter basket. I thought it would be a fun father/son project and a short science lesson. :)

Jay just placed a couple old scraps of wood beneath the plastic tray to lift it a bit.

They planted the seeds...

watered them...

and then watched them grow!

Here are the boys decorating Easter eggs for the first time.

Jay was gone that evening (Thursday), but I still thought I could manage the task with the boys all on my own. Well turns out, it was a little more difficult than I had expected. Nate insisted on being right where the action was (if I put down on the floor he would just scream and throw a temper tantrum). He kept wanting to crawl up on the table and reach for things. For the most part, I had everything under control, but the moment I wanted to step back and take pictures he would crawl right back again. :)

I was so proud of ET! He was so careful with the eggs and did all of the work. He slowly placed each egg in the dye and scooped it out with the spoons. He never cracked a single egg.




Nate enjoyed himself, but I really couldn't let him get too involved. Having a one-year old play with cups of dye doesn't sound like a fun idea to me. :)


Beautiful colored eggs...SUCCESS! ET decorated them with stickers later on.




Have a Happy Easter everyone!

Copycat...

Sometimes when I scold ET, I feel like I am just sounding like a broken record. I am sure all parents out there can completely relate. Well apparently my words are not going unheard...

We were out running errands today, and ET got sleepy in the car. We stopped somewhere, and Jay started taking ET's seat belt off and decided to "mess" with him a bit (tickle him and make monster noises - typical father/son play). ET looked sternly at Jay and shouted, "You better stop that! Do you understand me? Where did you learn that from anyways!?!"

Jay and I couldn't stop ourselves from laughing. :)

ET can zip up his jacket!!!

Check out that serious face...

Concentrate...

Woo-hoo!

We are all so proud!

A few Nate updates...

Other than not sucking his thumbs anymore (woo-hoo), there are just a few small updates to report on.

Nate does great with a spoon and fork, and so we switched him to the table this week. He eats very well, and for the most part doesn't mess with his plate or bowl.

His favorite foods right now are: yogurt, cantaloupe, fresh pineapple, crackers, bread, and cookies.




Other updates:
Nate got two new molars last week!
Nate says all done, all clean, nigh-nigh, hi, Ma-Ma, and Da-Da regularly.
He follows most commands and seems to show a real understanding of what is being said.
He loves to play outside and will go down both big slides fearlessly on his own!
He loves to find "yuckies" on the floor and throw them away.
He LOVES to drink water from a big boy cup with no lid.
His favorite toys right now seem to be Legos, small cars & trucks (matchbox size), and books.
He also still loves coloring and dancing.

No more thumb sucking!

On March 8th, we started Nate with thumb covers to get him to stop sucking his thumbs. I was very nervous at first. My first thoughts were that I wasn't going to be able to console him and/or that he would just start sucking his fingers instead. The first two nights were rough, but not bad. He woke up a half a dozen times, let out a scream and then went back to sleep on his own. I thought that was great considering. Other than that though, he really never minded them. The thumb covers were super comfortable and never got in the way of his everyday tasks. They were a little annoying to have to put on and take off many times a day (eating, bathing, and coloring). However they were well worth it! I am just thrilled that he has beat the habit - I just pray that he doesn't rediscover it! He still wears them at night, and some naps. Jay and I are not sure when we will officially put them to rest. They cost a large sum of money (well worth it though), and so we are just trying to get our money's worth out of them.

To get him to sit still for pictures, I gave him a baby wipe...the crazy kid likes to "wash" things. :)

The company supplied us with two "hand-aids" (this is what they are called), so that we can switch them out and wash the one he was not wearing. Unluckily for us, Nate sucked both of his thumbs and never had a preference so we needed to buy two sets and he wore one on each thumb at the same time.

They wrapped around his wrist and we attached them with a nut and bolt that we needed to twist on and off. It is a great concept for older kids as well, because the child can't remove it on his/her own. The part where he would have sucked his thumb is actually a velcro material. The velcro is obviously very unappealing to want to suck on; however the velcro is like a magnet to all sorts of fuzzies (good and bad I guess). The rest of it is a soft almost suede type material.

Wash, wash, wash...

Anyone want to hire a housekeeper? :)

What an angel!