We have had so much fun lately but I have not been good at getting photos of it. So I am going to write about some of it so maybe I will remember it better.
The second Friday in April Rylan and Dylan spent the evening with us. We played outside, had a picnic, and then played inside. Chase was hilarious cause he apparently didn't know what to think of their parents not being there. He wanted held or me right with him constantly.
Callie has discovered the food network and the show Cupcake Wars. So we have been baking even more than normal at our house. She can basically make things on her own now. These are the cupcakes she made to have at our picnic with the boys.
Chase loves to have Callie drive him in the purple car. He drives up to where she is playing and says "Callie drive me" "Callie drive me"??? So cute. She doesn't take him up on it often lately but when she does he is one happy boy.
Notice the boots and hat - he was used to wearing the winter hat so I thought I would keep him in the habit with a hat like daddy's to help keep his head from getting sunburned thru that blond hair this summer. For whatever reason he loves his winter boots and will take off his tennis shoes to put them on to go outside.
We got Callie's Easter dress that weekend - she was so excited. We went to the mall and she picked a few out, tried them on and modeled them, got a couple more, repeated, and then happily went home with the one she had picked out in the first place. Had to enjoy the overall experience though :-)
I was out of town for a work conference a couple days mid April. Hard to leave the kids but had a great time and they got along great. Grandma Linda helped out with the morning drop offs and afternoon picks ups and Callie even talked her into spending the night that I was away :-)
Then that Saturday Tom, Alisha, and the boys stopped by to play for a couple hours - Chase was fine since Tom and Alisha stayed too. We had Shelby's 5th birthday party that evening and Shannon had prom. Sunday Mom and Dad came down. The carnival was set up in Pittsburg so we took the kids to ride some rides. Chase thought he would ride the Gator rollercoaster with Callie but no so much once it was his turn. He did love the boats and finally at the end the merry go round. Callie rode everything and loved it all. Oh course I didn't bring my camera.
I took off the day before Good Friday to take Chase to the dentist. He had a spot on one of his front teeth. Thankfully the dentist is nice and quick and it was just a defect in the enamel. No decay, health teeth, and we were good to go!
The week before Easter we "practiced" egg hunting. The first time I hid them Chase wanted no part in helping Callie find them but once he saw she was doing it and loving it he got excited. He would run to an egg, put it in his basket and then get so excited running to the next one that he would bounce it out of his basket.
We dyed Easter Eggs. We had the packet that had glue and shiny paper in it to add sparkle to the eggs. Callie was just the right age to enjoy that part of it. Plus she eats them like crazy so we don't have to worry about wasting them.
Mary had given me a start of the Amish Friendship bread and Friday it was finally time to cook it. I looked up some additional info online and we made two batches and only created two starts from it. I hadn't made it in so long that I forgot how many ingredients it took. It was 15-20 per batch and we made both of the batches at the same time but in different bowls. I thought Callie would get tired of it but she did it all. I was just her helper -- getting out the ingredients, helping her to make sure what amount she needed to measure out, and of course clean up. Chase wasn't too interested in helping after awhile and happily planned while she cooked - notice the chain saw on the counter.
Saturday we went up to Mom and Dad's for Easter. Their church has an Easter party that morning. The kids love it. They play games, do a craft, listen to a story, sing songs, hunt eggs (filled with surprises of course), and have cookies. I don't have too many photos since I was running after Chase most of the time.
Look at this group intently listening to the story - I had to be a "kid" to control Chase ;-)
While we were at the party Dad went to get a new mower. Chase "mowed" most of the day. Again I wish I had more pics of the day. We had the best day. We got back to the house played, ate, the kids got bug catchers that hung around their necks and water guns. Immediately they headed out to hunt bugs. Chase was napping and the adults sat on the deck and watched the kids as they all hunted bugs. It was so cute. Shannon finally went out and lifted a rock for them and they all got rolly pollies. Then they moved on to the water guns. I think they had a good time together and we got a lot of adult time. My fair family even got red faces, necks, and arms we were outside so much.
Do you think they noticed that the kids had moved on to other things?
Neither kid fell asleep on the ride home that night. Callie wanted to make sure she was awake to put her letter out. Santa doesn't have anything on the Easter Bunny. Callie left a note for him. When I opened it this is what was inside.
I wasn't quick enough to get a good pick before the opening of the Easter baskets started. The good old bunny had also left a pic of something outside for them - a tire swing. But it wasn't a nice enough day to play with it. Monday Callie played on it for a long time and loves it - Chase not yet. He tried once and got scared and doesn't care to try again yet.
We were rushing out for church and I didn't take their pic in their Easter clothes - I have got to do better.
That evening we went to Shannon's Parents' house. The kids got to find more eggs, get more candy and another basket of goodies - so spoiled.
