Happy Easter!

 So different from last year! Sophie is starting to talk a lot, even if we don't understand everything. She and Austin had a great time this week, doing practice Easter egg hunts with glow in the dark eggs. We dyed eggs on Tuesday and made egg salad Saturday. Some very lucky chickens got the leftovers and shells. On the night before Easter, it is a tradition for Austin to set out the baskets. Sophie's basket was new this year and I didn't realize it when I bought it, but it's much larger than the basket that has been Austin's. I let him choose which basket he wanted and he gave the big one to his sister! As usual, the bunny moved Austin's basket to a more secret spot and left lots of goodies, surrounded by eggs. Sophie's basket was moved to her car seat, so she would know it was hers. Both kids had just a great week and a fabulous morning, I think :)

great idea from http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2012/03/illuminated-easter-egg-hunt/

 Sophie's first Easter egg!

Here's some video I shot of Sophie opening her basket and holding court over breakfast :)





 And here are Sophie and baby Austin with their first Easter eggs. They make the same face when they taste them :)

The Bunny Cometh

Or I guess I should say "the Bunny cameth," since Easter was two days ago. At any rate, it was great and I've got an egg salad sandwich to prove it!

These eggs are done with ziplock bags and a dye added with a dropper, no dipping. They also dry superfast, which is why Mom got this particular kit, thinking it would be perfect for a two year old. But Austin only wanted to watch Daddy and Mommy dye eggs under his direction. And then lick the dye off.

This was our Easter basket this year! We got jelly beans, a chocolate bunny, M&Ms, magnetic letters, a glitter globe with a truck full of carrots, and that tall tube thing is a kaleidoscope. The winner? That smiling carrot that launches a spinning disk in the air, of course. Sophie got a beautiful book, with an illustration of the Easter Bunny's chariot, which is evidently drawn by a team of chickens. I'll try to add the Easter Morning movie later on.

Here we are posing for a picture with our snazzy Easter clothes.

It is very hard to pose Sophie for pictures. She can't quite sit up yet, but she's not as boneless and tractable as a newborn either. So I tried to put her on the couch so I could get a shot of the two of them. Austin briefly looked away from the iPad.

While Sophie slowly wilts.

Fortunately, lots of people like to pose for pictures with Sophie.

And they like to set up Easter egg hunts for the boy too, who just happens to be a master egg finder.

And they're even nice enough to help us take some family photos.

Which came out pretty great, even though I forgot to put Sophie's ears back on. So here they are again...

Austin's Weekend in Review

It has been so rainy the past week! But at least things were nice and green for St. Patrick's day!

Which we celebrated by visiting the Easter Bunny. Unwillingly.

We also got to see some nice rocks. 

Mom thought we might see if gardening was our thing. Naturally, we loved the dirt. And you can see one of the casualties there by his foot.

Fortunately (for the plants),  we lost interest before we could commit much more herbicide.

We also visited a beautiful Japanese style garden.


We were really into the gravel paths.
















We also enjoyed climbing these steps...












 Mostly so we could fling our gravel really really far.

 

You may notice that most of these pictures are of Mr. Austin's caboose. This is because we are always running away from Mom, who won't let us dive into the koi pond.