The Easter Egg Hunt

Last year, on Easter, my mom set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Lots of plastic eggs filled with way too much candy, money, stickers, etc. And since then, every time we visit my mom the kids ask for an Easter egg hunt. And every single time they ask, she says yes. Every. Single. Time. So, in the past year there have been quite a few Easter egg hunts. The big difference this time is that the hunt actually occurred on Easter.

Curly Top

When I was younger, I remember begging my mom to let me sleep in rollers. They were pink, sponge rollers that would poke me all night long and, if I managed to keep all of them in, would leave me with a head full of what we called back then "banana curls". Inevitably, however, one would fall out during the night leaving me with one long, sad, straight piece of hair a full 5 inches shorter than the rest of the curly 'do.

Somehow Rowan caught wind of the idea of rollers. A girl in her preschool had worn them to bed and came to school with curly hair. Well, Rowan just had to have them. She talked about them. She wrote them down on her birthday list. We would look in the aisle at Target for them, just to make sure they were still there.

Finally, at her birthday party, Lily and Layna included some rollers in her present. Pink sponge rollers that she could sleep in. So we tried them out. She loves it. She wants to wear them all the time. And we have, so far, avoided the one long, lanky clump of hair.

Party Girl

With Rowan's birthday party a full 6 weeks ago, I guess it's time to post a few pictures of her fun day. She had a great gymnastics party with lots of friends, pink and purple cupcakes and tons of fun. We headed to Red Robin afterward (her choice, of course) for her birthday dinner. Rowan was thrilled that she got to spend the day with so many of her favorite friends and I was thrilled that all I had to do was bring along the cupcakes!

Why Waking Up Isn't So Hard to Do

Let's get one thing clear. I am not a morning person. At all. Clearly my days of "sleeping in" have been gone for some time, but I still haven't really adapted to waking up early. But when I am greeted by the happiest, sweetest 3-year-old boy ever, it makes waking up so much easier.

This was my morning...

6:30am--Tate wakes up, earlier than usual at a time when I usually say something like "It's not 7:00 yet. You can stay in your room and play and I'll get you when it's time." and then I try to go back to sleep, to no avail. But today, having been up since 5:30 when those pesky narcotics wore off, I walked in and climbed into his bed. The conversation went something like this:

Tate: Mommy, come cuddle with me. I just love you so, so, so much.
Me: Okay, bud, let me climb up (we assume cuddling position)
Tate: Mommy, you are the cutest mommy I ever seed.
Me: Thanks, Buddy. You are the sweetest 3-year-old I know.
Tate: But you are the best mommy ever. (Gives many many kisses)
(Kisses, hugs and cuddles continue. As do compliments upon compliments from Tate. "Mommy, I like your purple jammies. They are soft. Mommy, you are so pretty. Mommy, I had a dream about you last night. Mommy, you are so special. Mommy, I love you.") Then we have a "kissing party" where we give each other tons of kisses and sometimes I get lucky and he lets me kiss the cutest little belly ever.

This went on for a full 30 minutes. Seriously, this boy is going to be the best husband ever someday.

My Mom is the Best!

Here I am, lying in bed, not even a full day after having my tonsils out. There is absolutely no way I would be running around with my kiddos after a night of no sleep, drugged up on narcotics. Since the doctor rescheduled at the last minute, there was no way Lance could miss work since it's alumni weekend and he's planning a reunion. So my mom arranged for care for Michelle and came to stay. I know lots of moms would do the same thing, but when my mom has to hire a caregiver for her own child just so she can take care of my kids, I think it's extra-amazing.

I also think it's pretty amazing that after my dad died, she just took over. She gets up early in the morning to snowblow or mow the lawn. She called the other day after chainsawing a tree that had come down in the storm! She'll be 70 this year! If I'm even half as hardy as she is at 70, I'll be pretty proud of myself.

So, with Mother's Day coming up, I was making her a photo card and realized I really don't have any good pictures of her with the kids. Or of our whole family. So I think I finally came up with the perfect Mother's Day gift---a photo session for our whole family. Mom, Michelle, Eric and Thy and their kids and our family. I'm guessing it will be better than a teapot or hanging basket or whatever it is she might ask for.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

The Perfect Day for a Birthday

There it went. That year of Rowan being 4. The year she became so independent--dressing herself in her idea of a great outfit (today was a pink Birthday Girl shirt, an orange skirt and striped pants with red sparkly shoes), speaking fully in Spanish at school (while it will be lost by next year, I still think it's pretty amazing), using the term "BFF" (though I'm not entirely sure she knows what it means), choosing to grow her hair out as long as Rapunzel's (thankfully it's not there yet and I've convinced her that frequent trims will help her hair grow really long). It was also the year she dropped her dream of becoming "President of the United States" and replaced it with becoming "a singer on a CD". How time goes by this quickly I'll never understand. How a day can drag on for a year, but a year only seems like a day.

But here she is, a 5-year-old. As is always the case, her birthday will stretch for days. First it was a trip to Chuck E Cheese with Grandma (and me and Tate and Aunt Miohelle). Lots of rides, games, food. Last night, she got to have a sleepover in Tate's room which is what she really wanted to do for her birthday. They had a blast and are already begging for another sleepover. Today it was just playing at home in the 84-degree weather. Testing out her new presents--the sprinkler, the Giga Ball. Grilling out with neighbors and eating cupcakes. Playing in the kiddie pool. We did not get into the car even once today for any reason. We knew going to Red Robin for dinner would be much more fun on a rainy day and we needed to soak in the sunshine while we could. Next weekend will be her "friend party".

Her presents included the ZhuZhu Pet she was asking for but did not include the skateboard (?!?) she said she wanted. There are many thing Rowan does well. Coordination is not one of them. Thankfully with all the other presents she got, she somehow missed the fact that the skateboard wasn't among them.

Rowan, you made me a mom 5 years ago. You amaze me with your creativity, inquisitiveness and imagination. I love watching you grow up, watching you change. listening to your jokes (as cheesy as they may be). You are full of life, bursting with energy and always ready for a new adventure. I absoltely adore you and can't wait to celebrate many, many more years with you.

April Fools

Every time there is a moment of silence in our house or car, my kids ask me to tell them a story. They probably ask at least twenty times a day. I probably oblige about 4 times a day. Anyway, one such story, many months ago, was about April Fool's Day and the jokes people play on each other. This must have started something with Rowan because she was very excited about April Fool's Day this year.

I should have been a better mom and planned something big, but I didn't. We had 6 adults and 8 kids over for dinner tonight so I decided against the whole "I'm going to feed my family something that looks like eggs and bacon but is really marshmallow fluff and dried apricots". Instead, I just told them silly things. Like when Rowan walked into our room this morning I told her there was a peacock in our backyard. I told them it was bedtime 30 minutes after they woke up, etc.

They got into it, too, but weren't so convincing with the things they chose to do. As we were in the car today, Tate said "There's a bear in the backseat"! Rowan told me I had turned blue. It went on and on today. Every time the kids would laugh and yell "April Fool's". Tate would add "Tricked ya!" or "Joking"! They thought they were just hysterical. And, while I can't say they ever really tricked me with anything they did, it was still pretty amusing to see their minds at work.

Later in the day, we met some friends at the Children's Museum and then had them all over for dinner. These are college friends (or, really, the wives of Lance's college friends) and their kids who we hadn't seen since New Year's Eve. And somehow I missed taking any pictures of the adorable 8 kids (and one on the way). But we had a great time, the kids had a great time and it was a great way to start off April.