Happy Easter!

This weekend was full of fun! Yesterday we dyed eggs in the morning and went to Zilker Park in the afternoon. We met our friends at Zilker Park and went canoeing along the Colorado River. After that the kids played in the river and got soaked. We hadn't planned for water play so we did the best we could with the clothing the kids were wearing. We rolled Ainsley's pants as high as they would go, Kaylee ended up in her skirt without a shirt, and Landon went in wearing just a diaper. They had a blast and we decided we'd come back for more river play better prepared next time. After the river they played on a giant playground for awhile and dried off most of the way - Kaylee still had a wet tushy. Around dinner time our friends took us to a fun restaurant called Hula Hut. Apparently it's a very popular hangout and we had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes to get a table. It was fun though! It was located right along the river and they even had a boat dock for boaters to tie up their boats so they could come and eat. We enjoyed the scenery and waited. The food was very tasty and my friend Erin introduced me to jalapeño ranch dip - man that stuff was yummy!

Today the kids woke up bright and early and went on an egg hunt compliments of the Easter Bunny. After that they ate candy for breakfast and then we tossed them all in the bathtub. We dressed them in their Sunday best and tried to do a photo shoot before church. It's almost impossible for me to get a civilized picture of these three goof balls together.

After church we went to our friend's house for dinner and the kids went on another egg hunt. They have so much candy! Happy Easter!

Linus the Daredevil

Landon loves his blue blankey and seems to be a Linus in training. He doesn't carry it around quite as much as Linus does but he loves the thing. Chris was putting him down for a nap the other day and his blankey wasn't in his crib. He stood up and started shouting, "Bankey! Bankey! Bankey!" until it was given to him.

He's quite the cutie when it comes to his blankey but let me tell you this boy is giving us a run for the money.  He's always been a climber but lately it's gotten worse. About a month ago he realized that if he pushed his play chair around the kitchen and stood on it he could reach forbidden objects. The little chair satisfied him for awhile but a few days ago he realized the big kitchen chairs could take him to even more forbidden places. Once he climbed onto the chair he was on the table before you could blink, ripping off marker caps.

This morning he saw a woman walking her dogs outside (he loves dogs) and decided he could get the best view if he stood on his play chair. Then he decided the view would be better if he stood on his table. And lastly perched on the window sill (I promise I didn't leave him there to get the camera. Kaylee ran and got it for me and I was within catching distance the entire time). This was just a taste of things to come. After the dogs were out of site he proceeded to push a kitchen chair to the counter where his favorite cereal was sitting so that he could help himself.

It didn't end there. Today Chris was home before his classes so I headed off to our local rec center to lift weights while Landon was napping. When I came home the first thing Chris said was, "Do you notice something different about Landon?" He had a big red spot on his head that was there from landing on his head when he fell out of his crib. I put him in his crib to try to figure out how he'd fallen out and as far as I can tell, he leaned over, grabbed the bars and hurled himself over the side.

And lastly, while we were out playing this evening he was riding a little motorized bike he got for Christmas and decided to do some stunts on it. I had been trying to get him to wear a bike helmet but he kept ripping it off so I gave up. Bad decision. While riding he figured out he could push the bike's button to go up the driveway and then let go right at the top to roll backwards down the hill. He ended up leaning back too far on one of his trips up and fell over backward hitting his head (again) with the bike landing on top of him. Fortunately the bike isn't very heavy but it gave him a good scare. After that I tightened the bike helmet and forced him to wear it the rest of the time we were outside. He wouldn't get back on the bike but I figured I'd try to get him used to the helmet for future bike rides -- he was pretty mad at me.

So,I realize this is part of being the mother of a boy but thank goodness I had two girls first. I'm much more relaxed than I was with my first (sweet Ainsley). I can't imagine how I would have reacted had this kind of stuff happened with Ainsley. I probably would have had a heart attack whereas now I take pictures and roll with the punches. 

Eggs

I have to admit that I waited a little longer to pull out the Easter baskets this year. We have non stop egg hunts once the baskets are out and hunting for plastic eggs over and over and over again gets a little tiring. Today the Easter baskets and plastic eggs came out of hiding and we hunted all afternoon. It was pretty fun. Landon is obsessed with eggs in general and thought he'd hit the motherload when his basket was full of them. Kaylee put on her bunny ears and hopped around the living room hiding eggs for Landon to find. She did a great job putting them low enough to the ground where Landon could get to them all. I thought these mock egg hunts would be good practice for Landon since he'll be going on his first real hunt this year but after the first round I realized Landon knew exactly what to do and didn't need the practice. After all, he was hunting for eggs - one of the most wonderful things in the world!  

Mommy's Little Helper

Landon is the biggest helper! He wants to help with whatever I'm doing. Whether it's emptying the dishwasher, helping with laundry, or taking out the garbage. He wants to do it all. He even throws away his diapers after he's been changed and if you try to do it yourself he gets mad. At times I think he's a little obsessive but I'll just chalk it up to the littlest one wanting to prove himself.

Spring Break

Tonight is the end of Spring Break. The kids are in bed, and most of them are asleep. Ainsley is excited to go back to school, Kaylee is mad that she's not going back to school, and Landon couldn't care less. We had a fun week. Here are the highlights:

Uncle John visited us from March 8th to the13th. The kids had a blast with him and he had a good time too. He brought a Wii game with him called Carnival Games for the kids to play. They also played Smash Brothers. Needless to say, many hours were spent playing Wii. The first few days John stayed with us, we hung out at home.

On Wednesday we headed into Austin for the day. We spent the afternoon at Zilker Park and then headed back to Round Rock for dinner. We were going to try to eat in Austin and then go to the Children's Museum but it was the first night of a huge music festival (SXSW) that's held in Austin every year and there was absolutely no parking anywhere.

Thursday was a fun day but a sad day. We played outside for awhile, played a little Wii, and then it was time to take John to the airport - the girls bawled. Later that day we found out John's flight had been delayed an hour and a half and then when he finally got on the airplane, the pilot backed into a fuel truck. His flight was delayed another half hour. We were bummed that he could have stayed a little longer and we didn't find out until it was too late. I talked to him about it later. He told me he was really mad but then the superstition that bad things always happen in threes entered his mind. His thought was, "what if the plane goes down? I don't want my last thoughts to be angry ones." So, he stopped being mad. Although, my mom did say he told her he'd never fly American again.

After John left I started a big project. I tend to start big projects right after we take someone back to the airport and have come to realize it's a coping mechanism. Usually it's rearranging furniture or something. This time I built a garden box in the front yard.

A couple of years ago my dad helped me build a garden box in the backyard so I put those skills (and tools) to work and built another one. The weather was nice so the kids enjoyed playing outside over the last few days of spring break while I coped - we did take a break to try out our newly built community pool. The weather was in the 90's but the pool water felt like it had ice cubes in it. Our crazy girls actually swam in the frigid water while Chris and I cowered on the pool's edge. Chris did have to go in more than he liked to rescue Landon and I did get in up to my waist to keep Landon from falling in completely. He was as crazy as his sisters and is showing no fear of the water much to my dismay. Later on, when he knows how to swim, the fearlessness will be good, but I think this summer is going to be a tough one.

In summary, we had a great time with Uncle John, spent a fun day in Austin, and have a better looking front yard thanks to my little (or big) quirk. We haven't quite finished planting in the garden box but I'm liking our spruced up front yard. Now if we could just get our ugly grass to start looking better!

And tomorrow it's back to the grind . . .

Sunflowers

Ainsley decided to try out softball this season. Her good friend Isabel talked her into playing and fortunately they were put on the same team (we did request it). The girls on Ainsley's team narrowed down their team name choices to the "Yellow Jackets" and the "Sunflowers". Let's just say "Yellow Jackets" never had a chance.

Yesterday was a big day for our little Sunflower. The morning started out with the league's opening ceremony where all the softball teams were introduced and got to run out onto the field to music and cheers from the stands. After that we waited for team pictures. There really wasn't enough time to go home in between the two but there was plenty of time for Ainsley and Isabel to dirty their white pants.

After pictures were over Ainsley stuffed half of a peanut butter sandwich into her mouth and ran off to warm up for her first game. At her practice before the game she came home excited to tell us she'd volunteered to play catcher. It turns out she really didn't know what she was getting herself into. Once the game started she waddled onto the field in all of her catcher gear with a great big scowl on her face and grumbling about the helmet being too big. The situation became dire pretty quickly. The day had started at 9am and it was now almost noon. All she'd eaten was half of a sandwich and a few vanilla wafers and when Ainsley gets hungry she's just like her mom when she's hungry -- a beast. Add the uncomfortable catcher's gear and we had trouble. We were sitting right by home plate and got an earful for the first half of the game but everything turned out alright. Halfway through the game she ran out of the dugout asking for food so I sent her back with half of an apple. Then her coach put her on third base and she was all smiles. She batted a few times and their team won by one run. They don't actually count the first few games but the girls were still happy. We all had a fun time hanging out at the ball field watching Ainsley (you should have seen Landon covered in lollipop drool) and I'm pretty sure she's excited to go back to practice -- as long as she doesn't have to play catcher! 

Bowling, Pizza, and Chocolate Mousse

Every year we give the kids a choice to either have a birthday party or to do something fun as a family. This year Kaylee chose to go bowling. We were supposed to go last Saturday but she was sick with strep throat. We ended up postponing the event and went yesterday.

Once Ainsley was home from school and Chris was home from work we headed off to our local bowling alley. After that we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner. The story behind Cici's is that Kaylee's preschool group had gone there the day before on a field trip. I didn't go with her because Landon had strep throat so I only got to hear about it. According to Kaylee they went into a huge refrigerator and got to see how pizza dough is made. She also got to make her own pizza and learned about pizza salt. Apparently there is a special salt that is put on pizzas. She loved her field trip so much that she wanted us to enjoy Cici's as a family.

Once we got home I finished making the chocolate mousse that Kaylee had requested as her birthday dessert. I can honestly say I don't even know where she first heard of chocolate mousse. After singing Happy Birthday to her one more time we dug in. The mousse was yummy but very rich. I was pleased that everyone liked it because that was my first shot at making such a decadent dessert. After the chocolate mousse we cleaned up messy faces and sent the little ones to bed. It was a fun day!