Happy Easter!

Last night while we slept, guess who came to our house? The Easter Bunny, of course! He filled all of our plastic eggs with candy and hid them all over the house. Kent and I were awoken nice and early, 6:45 am, by our excited children. Kent said, "Why are they up so early today?" Duh! Christmas morning and Easter morning it is illegal for kids to sleep past 7am!  

Since the eggs were filled with candy, the baskets were full of new toys.  Madeline got a new jump rope, an umbrella, a bug box, and various art supplies.  Sophie got a stuffed animal bunny, magnetic letters, and some new bath toys.  And wasn't the Easter Bunny creative?  He left all the loot in two oversized sand buckets. Perfect for the beach, hint, hint.

After going through the new toys, the girls embarked on the egg hunt and proceeded to feast on little chocolate bunnies and jellybeans for breakfast. Tomorrow, we are back to fruits, vegetables, and our regular routines!

Me and Daddy didn't set our coffee maker for the morning since we are out of our regular routine.  Who will make us some coffee, we are tired today!

After the candy breakfast, we headed into the backyard to burn off some sugar induced energy.

Then, it was back inside to try out some art supplies.  Check out cookie monster, he is actually painted the right color and is somewhat inside the lines!  Well, just his head, after that Sophie went back to "process" rather than "product," typical two year old.

We'll round out our Easter with a lovely meal of ham and sweet potatoes.  Our good friends Carrie and Ryan agreed to join us this afternoon.  Then it's back to work I go.  After a very lovely week with my girls, I am ready for a day of work!  Happy Easter everyone!

Dying Eggs, Round Two

Yesterday our friends Ethan, Jonas, and Jennifer came over to dye more eggs with us. Their timing was perfect because Madeline was in desperate need of a playmate after being out of school all week. Mommy was ready for some adult conversation, as well.  

Jennifer brought over these gorgeous and delicious cupcakes that she made herself, including the edible flowers. Very impressive handiwork that I will use as a centerpiece for Easter dinner.

A Picnic and the Park

Easter Cookies

Sophie Reading

Here Sophie is reading her Brown Bear, Brown Bear book that she made at preschool. Just disregard her post-nap hair and focus on the overall cuteness.

Easter Eggs

In between rolling and edging our new living paint, we dyed Easter eggs today. We utilized the Malisch method and just used food coloring rather than purchasing a kit.

Strawberry Pickin'

Mid morning, I decided I would take the girls strawberry picking at a farm about 30 minutes west of us. It sounded like a good idea, but in actuality, it was too hot, too close to nap time, and too close to lunch time. Alas, we made it through the adventure. The weather forcasted a high of 75 which sounded perfect, but when we finally piled into the van with our fruit around 1:30, my car claimed it 91 degrees outside!  

When we first arrived, we checked out the animals and were very impressed with our favorite, the goats, of course!  Check out the balancing skills of this one!

This picture is not in the right place, but I am just going to leave it.  That's the kind of day I've had!

Both girls were enthralled with this pig that really was playing in the mud.

So we finally made it out to the strawberry fields.  I don't know where the tractor pull-wagon ride was, so we (I) hoofed it out there with our wagon.  I tried repeatedly to get Sophie out of her sweater, but she resisted saying, "I cold.  I cold."  I am sure it was near 90 with zero shade, but I didn't fight her since, as I said before, it was basically nap time and post lunchtime with no lunch to be had.  

Madeline was a trooper.   She never complained once.  She is like her Dad, and the heat really doesn't seem to phase her.  She pulled the wagon all the way back because a certain two year old insisted on being carried.  Next time, we will go earlier and only if the high is around 65!

My Stay-cation

I am having a lovely spring break just hanging out at home. Well, technically, I am not just "hanging out" since I have a ton of chores to do. One of which is painting, and although I did quite a bit, I just am not happy with the color. So tomorrow, I'll start the job over with color #2 and trip one million to Home Depot. 

Anyway, back to the topic of this post, chillin' with my girls. They played in the dress up box today. Madeline was, um, snow white with a witch's hat(?) . . . Sophie was a frog, but accessorized with bunny ears(?) . . .

Angels

Don't let them fool you!

Jumping Rope

Check out Maddie's mad jump roping skills. If you think all this jumping tires her out, think again.

Spring Has Sprung

There were no April showers in LA today! Madeline has been nagging me to take out her little pool, and today was the day we pulled it from the shed and readied it for summer.


Sophie shows off her bunny hop:

An Easter Party

On Saturday we were invited to an Easter party at Griffith Park. I thought it was going to be a small gathering, but it was huge! There were maybe 20 kids there, mostly under age 2, a ton of fun activities including an arts and crafts table, and The Easter Bunny! Sophie didn't want to get too close. We only got some pictures because his presence was unbeknownst to her. I asked Madeline if she wanted a picture with the Easter Bunny, and she said, "That's not the Real Easter Bunny, Mom. He knows my name and see that zipper on his back? That's just a hat, Mom."