Easter Festivities...and there are a lot of them

We jumped straight into the Easter season following Jack's 4th and Grandma's visit. No time to breathe this month. I really can't remember an Easter season this busy. It was great fun--the kids loved it--we celebrated the true meaning--and now...I am ready to s...l...o...w down.

So here it goes, all in one post, get ready for lots of pictures and a little narration. Oh, who am I kidding? Probably a lot of narration--I blame it on my terrible memory. I seriously have to write everything down.

And yes, even though my kids seem to be sporting the same outfits in all these pictures, these were actually different days and different events. If you look closely, there are some slight variations...shoe color, shorts color, undershirt sleeve length, etc. {not that it is a concern of yours}. Guess how many times I washed Easter outfits this week?

(*again, I promise my pictures did look really cute and clear UNTIL I posted them on this blog--still can't figure out what is going on--all of those grainy figures are my kids--promise*)

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

This is our family picture at the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Really? The sweet lady taking it couldn't have told me that not one, but both of my kids, are sucking their thumbs with blankies in hand. That's real life for you.

Love, love, love the way my neighborhood organizes the hunt. Maggie had her own 1-2 year old roped off section to leisurely egg hunt in. It was perfect.

She totally got the concept too {minus the fact that she kept calling all of the eggs 'bahs'}. This girl had a basket full and was enjoying every minute of it.

That was hard work for Mags. Time to rest in Daddy's arms. Does she look proud or what?

Jack's turn in the 3-4 year old section.

We have a slight issue with opening up the eggs to see if we really want them or not. Not a good strategy.

Our other slight problem...we are very color specific. Blue and yellow preferably. He can handle green and orange, but absolutely no pink or purple. Again, not the greatest strategy. But, that is my Jack for you.

Time to reap the rewards. This was the first moment Maggie realized there was actually something inside those 'bahs'. {eggs}

After that, her only goal was to get into every single one of them.

Jack found a Golden Egg! {close enough to yellow} When he saw pastel silly bands in it, he passed it straight to Maggie. She then adorned her arm with them for the next week.

We were joined by the Micca clan. How cute are those 3? It makes me want a third, and then again, it doesn't.

The Easter bunny visited our little neighborhood Egg Hunt. Obviously, Maggie wasn't too keen on him getting an invite.

Jack, on the other hand, didn't mind at all. He just wanted one of those blue eggs in the bunny's basket. Not too mention he nonchalantly told me, 'that's just a costume'. {insert the Jack accent here}

Pre-School Egg Hunt

Okay, now these were taken with my iphone, so I can't blame the blur on the blog. Although, they look to have about the same quality. Anyway, Maggie and I joined Jack for his school egg hunt. Thinking Maggie is such a good, sweet girl, I thought it would work. Well, not really. I only got 2 pictures and Maggie just wanted the big kids 'bahs' {eggs}.

Jack was just happy we were there to cheer him on. Go Jack Go!

Bradley's 1st Birthday Easter Egg Hunt

Sweet Bradley turned the big 1 this week. Karen celebrated with an Easter theme party and egg hunt, how fitting for the season. I love this picture of the kids waiting for the chair to be removed as a "GO" signal.

Maggie didn't do so well with this hunt. She found one egg, plopped on the ground, and wanted to eat the contents. It was all good until she figured out something was inside those eggs at that neighborhood hunt. However, Maggie was able to keep herself busy with the egg toss...in and out, in and out, --still Maggie's favorite game.

Jack had other plans for the egg toss game. Hmm...it does kind of look like one of those boards at the zoo where you stick your head in. I can see where he was going with this.

Me and my Easter bunnies. Yes, Daddy was playing tennis, it was a Saturday after all. He won so that makes it worth his absence.

Smash cake time! Happy 1st birthday Bradley!

How is it that the 1st birthday baby is cleaner than my 4 year old son? This required a hosing down...literally.

Easter Egg Decorating

Jack orginally only wanted to do the blue and yellow dye. I had to persuade him to try some other colors. Orange, not bad.

I'm really not into commercialized products and normally Jack isn't either. But, this boy is in LOVE with Toy Story right now. I know, we are about a year behind, due to the fact that my cautious boy wasn't so sure about watching the movie {a whole year ago}. But, once he did, he was hooked. So when I found a Toy Story egg decorating kit--I caved. And so glad I did, he had a great time with it!

The final product...oh, and we are NOT allowed to eat them. 'They are only to look at', according to Jack.

Easter Sunday

Look what the Easter bunny left for some"bunny" special! Actually he hid the baskets in our house. Jack had a very exciting time looking for them. {'them', because naturally he hleped Maggie find hers too}

After Easter Mass and Easter brunch we went to our front yard to find all of the eggs left by the Easter Bunny.

Again, Maggie found one egg and then it was all over. Her only goal was to get inside of it. She then watched from the comfort of Daddy's side.

That didn't seem to bother Jack. All these eggs to himself! All I've got to say is--enjoy it big brother because next year might be a different story.

With a full basket, it was time to call the Easter festivities to an end. Good thinking Jack. I am worn out. Here is to a quiet May...hopefully!

Happy Easter to all! I hope your's was as wonderful!

A Day At The Zoo

Oh my! Do I have a lot to blog about...where has the time gone? Two weeks of nonstop action around here--Jack's 4th, Grandma's visit, Easter...and of course, a day at the zoo. Maggie's first official Zoo visit, that is. I'm slowly getting caught up, but for the sake of ordering events, I must first document Maggie's Zoo day.

No visit from Grandma is complete without a visit to the zoo. I can't figure out who anticipates it more, Grandma or Jack. With Grandma in town for Jack's 4th, we somehow squeezed in our trip to see the animals. The best part was this day at the zoo was all for Maggie. With camera in hand and a 4 year old running rampant we tried our hardest to focus on Mags. Grandma's help actually made it somewhat possible.

I was thinking the timing couldn't be anymore perfect...Spring weather, Maggie dropped her morning nap, and Grandma was here. Well, Maggie was great, the help was great, but...there were about 15 field trips at the zoo on our chosen day {that's a lot of kids} and Maggie hasn't actually dropped her nap {I didn't figure that out until about a week later}. Regardless, we made it work, Maggie got to see a few animals and a LOT of big kids. We'll try again soon. However, no matter how many times we go back, officially, this was...Maggie's 1st Day at the Zoo. And thankfully, even with all of the chaos, she adored it!

Even though this Zoo day was all for Maggie, it doesn't change the fact that she has a big brother that always has to be in the middle of the action...especially if his sister is involved. I sure do adore my little wild animals.

Without a doubt, Maggie's favorite part of the day...the elephants. I seriously think Grandma was drenched from Maggie's elephant impersonations. {They are too cute--gotta catch them on video.} This moment with Maggie made it all worth it though. Definitely a fave memory for me.

Note the pink goat brush in my baby girl's hand. Mmmm...I love that girly girl!

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly Maggie warmed up to the goats. She made her rounds and as long as they didn't move she continued on with her grooming. However, when she was done, she was done! A girl can only handle so many smelly farm animals.

We top every zoo visit off with a train ride. Naturally, after 4 out takes I couldn't get a picture with both kids looking. So I opted for the picture where Maggie had her eyes on me...this was her 1st official zoo trip after all...had I mentioned that yet?

Dino-Four

We celebrated Jack's big number "4" dinosaur style this weekend. And it was dino-mite!

I could go on and on about how this Mommy stressed as soon as the 10 day forecast came out. Rain was in the forecast, then it wasn't, then it was, and so on. I debated postponing it, moving the day, the time. Finally Thursday arrived before our Saturday party and I got the hour by hour weather report. It looked as though we would be safe by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, but not before we were pummeled by a severe storm Friday evening. Luckily, Saturday was just what I ordered...sunny, clear skies, and breezy {okay, I did not order the breeze/wind, but it was better than that rain}.

Friday night was the night I did not order. I hope Jack knows how much I love him and I am writing it down in case he forgets one day. I spent Friday evening driving around in severe weather/tornado warnings picking up food and cupcakes, which ironically were not even ready. I spent the duration of the tornado warning in Publix while the deli scrambled to get my order toghether {all I could think was 'this is the safest place I could be', right?} I then delivered that, along with all of the decorations, to the clubhouse {our dinosaur venue}...still in the midst of a massive storm. I came home soaked from head to toe and battered and bruised {from the golf ball sized hail falling on my head}. I've yet to check the shape my poor car is in.

And all of that was in the name of love for my favorite 4 year old. In turn I realized how much God loves me because he answered both of my prayers (1) to return home safely to my family Friday evening and (2) to give us a beautiful day to celebrate my amazing Jack. {okay, it looks like I did go on and on about the weather...but, please excuse me, I'm still a little scarred from it}.

Now on to the party. Back in January, Jack requested a "dinosaur party" complete with "digging for dinosaur bones" and a bounce house. And yes, you better believe it, I started working on this thing the day after he asked. Here we are 3 months later and I did it and I even have lots of pictures to prove it.

We will start with the decorations {always my favorite part}...

Jack's party invites {excuse the yellow glare}...I searched high and low for invites with this color scheme--blue, brown, and lime green. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, right? It was.

The guest entered the party to a welcoming table. There they recieved a green bucket to carry their crafts/goodies in and were given a label for their bucket that read-- "Paleontologist___". They filled in the blank with their name, obvioulsy.

Jack's dinosaur birthday banner. I cannot take credit for the paper mache dino eggs {so cute}--sweet Erin let me use them from Matthew's 1st birthday party, but I did make the banner.

Dino table decor. He looks pretty scary, huh?

These were the table centerpieces. They are in a bit of disarray because these picutres were taken post use. I realized I had forgotten my external flash for my camera {that's what a rain storm will do to you}, so the picutres under the pavillion at the party have a serious shadow. So I got a shot when we got home. And that is moss and tiny plastic dinos in the pot--if you can tell through the ruffled use--like I said, "post party".

These pots were on the food table. Hence the 'herbivore diet, carnivore diet, and sweetivore diet'. The herbivore food was a fruit tray and veggie tray, the carnivore food was dinosaur chicken nuggets and subs, and the sweetivore food were the cupcakes and dino cookies. Yum!

A little sampling from the Sweetivore table.

The entire Sweetivore table...I'll spare you the pictures of the veggies and meat.

Now on to the activities. We had 4 "dino"tivites for the kiddos to do...

Number 1 and certainly Jack's favorite...the dinosaur bounce house.

Number 2....Dinosaur excavation kits for all of the kids.

This is what was inside--individual fossil kits. The kids chiseled away to get to the dino skeleton.

Number 3...dinosaur suncatchers. The suncatchers are in the basket in the back. The kids used paint pens to color them and then hung a suction cup to place them in their windows at home. Jack has a Pterdactyl in his bedroom window.

And number 4...a dinosaur egg hunt. And yes, I spray painted all of those eggs. They were filled with dinosaur goodies like, stretchy dinos, dino tattoos, dino stamps, and candy.

I have saved the best for last...all of the fun! I have lots of pictures to share of the festivities. Jack was having so much fun that he was constantly on the move. {not neccesarily a bad thing since this day was all about him}. So there might be a few blurs in some of these shots that are the Birthday Boy--I promise it's him! A lot more decoration pictures and some fun cupcake pictures. Enjoy the show!

Also, a sincere thank you to all of you who helped make my sweet boy's day so special. Jack was flooded with friends, fun, and lots of gifts. We feel so blessed to have shared in your company. And a huge thank you to my Mom {grandma}, we never could have done it without you. You are a fabulous babysitter, cook, weather woman, and party assistant!

Maggie's 1st Haircut and...Lollipop

At 17 months old, my Maggie got her first haircut. {At 17 months, Jack got his first sprout of hair }. It was well needed, the mullet just wasn't doing Maggie any justice.

I can not lie, I have been putting this milestone off for a good month now. One reason, but certainly not the most important one, is how busy we have been preparing for Jack's Dino-4 party. Another reason, I truly am having a hard time letting my baby become a toddler, especially a toddler who needs haircuts. But beyond those reasons, it has really been due to Maggie's, hmmm...how should I say this?...lack of enjoying strangers in her personal space?

I've mentally prepared myself over the past month for a whining, clinging, unhappy tot sitting up in one of those haircut cars. I wasn't expecting screaming or tantrums {that's just not her style}, but I assumed my Mags would be pretty upset with the circumstances. I am happy to report my "assumption' was near wrong. {note the word 'near'}

My Maggie pulled through and might have actually enjoyed some of it. Especially her very 1st lollipop, EVER! And in the end, she looked beautiful. I didn't think my sweet Mags could get anymore beautiful if she tried....she proved me wrong...again.

The before picture...I should have taken one of the back of her head so you really could have seen the need for a beauty shop visit.

Maggie chose the yellow taxi cab. It was a great debate for about 3 seconds between the taxi and the red fire truck...the yellow cab won out in the end.

Miss Tina is the only one that I will let cut my kids hair. We have been known to wait for over an hour just for her. Maggie even seemed to like {correction, tolerate} her.

The red lollipop and elephants on t.v. saved the day. My Maggie adores elephants. Not even a wince or whine out of her with those two forms of entertainment.

Until....the lollipop fell. I would like to say "ta da" right here..."doesn't she look beautiful?". But, instead I have to give Maggie props for making it to the very end until she shedded her first tear. Once the lollipop fell, it was all over. Not even a new one could pacify this girl...she was done! But, she sure looked beautiful (even with tear stained eyes)! Won't she be a cutie at big brother's 4th on Saturday?

**And on a completely other note...can someone {ahem, Erin} PLEASE tell me why my pictures in the lasts few posts have been so grainy? I swear they don't look like that on my camera or in iphoto. I don't know if it's the editing process or just posting them on the blog...help!**