Gearing Up for the Bunny

Today was a day spent getting ready for the Easter Bunny to visit.  Because of Spring Break, Hannah didn't have a soccer game, so our day was free.  The weather was perfect for our community egg hunt (last year the kids had to wear their winter coats), and this year, we invited Dylan to come along and join in on the fun.

I love the way our neighborhood creates "obstacles" with twigs and logs :)

Getting ready to search for eggs

Ryan told Dylan to get ready and he got right into position!

After the hunt - which took all of 45 seconds

Visiting with the Easter Bunny

We came home to relax mid-day, but in the evening, we'd made plans to go to Grammy and Grampy's to dye eggs and have dinner together.  Since we all dye eggs anyway, it seemed like a good idea to do it all together...until we had cups full of dye and three little people in the near vicinity - then we began to question my great idea.  It all worked out well - I brought our messy mat that I've had since the kids were babies, and we covered Grammy's chairs with towels.

A few tiny cracks, and lots of glitter, but they are so pretty!

The evening was a success, and Grampy's chicken quesadillas were a hit.  The kids are officially ready for Easter tomorrow :)

Pool Party

Yesterday, we had Hannah's pool party to celebrate her birthday.  This year was the first year she's had a party with some of her friends, and she was so excited.  We had to make a paper-chain to count down the days to her actual birthday and also to her pool party - she was having a hard time wrapping her head around the birthday celebration schedule :)

Anyway, Sunday was the day.  My sister and I got to the pool early to reserve our birthday spot and to set up prior to the birthday girl's arrival.  Brad got there with the kids a few minutes before Hannah's friends were scheduled to arrive, and she was so pleased to see so many balloons all set up for her.

It was a beautiful day (thank goodness, because I'm not sure what I would have done if we'd had to host at our house), and everyone seemed like they had a great time celebrating Hannah and enjoying some fun in the sun.

Hannah and her friends from school

I love that when I asked these two to get close for a picture, this is as comfortable as they could get!

This little man loved the water so much that he skipped most of pizza time and didn't even stick around for a cupcake.  And he eats more than anyone I know!

Dylan and Uncle John

Aunt Jess and our little lovelies

  Pizza time

Before Dylan left the table :)

Birthday wishes

Cupcake faces with her besties

I'm blaming this blur on the heat!

Girls in orange goggles

Birthday Girl and Brother

It was a fun time all-around, and we're hoping that we can organize a pool party every year for at least one of our little lovelies!

Hannah's first take with the animal game

Tonight, Brad and I were playing The Animal Game with Jack at bedtime when I looked over and was face to face with Hannah.  She'd apparently hopped out of her bed, walked into Jack's room, and waited patiently to be noticed.

It was too adorable not to include her.  She listened to us finish my round (my animal was the flamingo again), and then I thought, "Why not?"

"Hannah Bear, think of an animal and keep it in..."

"Giraffe."

"No, no - keep your animal a secret.  Don't say it out loud.  Think of a new animal, and we'll ask you questions."

"Okay."

Jack asked, "What color is it?"

"Pink and purple.  I have three powers."

So I asked if it was a unicorn.  Or a butterfly.

"No, it's a giraffe!" she shouted.

We'll keep working on it :)

Seagulls vs. Blancos

We don't really do football around here.  It's not really our thing.

But we do do the Super Bowl.

I'm sure that football fanatics think this is annoying, but it's true.  We like the Super Bowl.  We used to watch the Super Bowl solely for the commercials, but within the last few years, we've actually started to watch the game in its entirety.  And we've enjoyed it.

It's one more reason to have a little celebration.  To be creative and do something special with the kids.  Create memories that hopefully will last a lifetime.  And there are just so many fun ideas on Pinterest!

So this year, when Jack came home on Friday talking about how his class voted on the team they thought would win, either the "Seagulls or the Blancos,"he was excited to hear that we were going to have a little Super Bowl party.

Hannah always thinks this means that it's her birthday and that lots of people are coming over.  I explained that it was just going to be us, and she seemed okay with this idea.

In fact, she got a little bit of what she wished for because Aunt Jessica came over to visit earlier in the day, and she decided to stay and watch the Super Bowl with us.  We had a really good time, even if our cheese platter didn't turn out the way we intended :)

Here's how the cheese platter should've looked:

Here's how ours looked:

Jack and Hannah decorated helmets:

My oh-so-fancy chalkboard:

Jack was peeking during my take on pin-the-football-in-the-field goal:

We had lots of fun, and I know that next year, the kids will look forward to our version of a kiddie Super Bowl party!

Nighttime Shovel Session

I don't know why this is the usual for our family, but we tend to shovel at night.  There's something about a quiet, snowy evening that I enjoy.  It seems somewhat magical to bundle up, head outside, and watch the snow coming down against the neighborhood lights.

It could also be that after Brad gets home, it's usually dark.  And sometimes that's when the snow stops - and we're big believers in waiting to shovel until the snow stops.  Well, Brad is anyway.  I would be out there after a couple of inches if I wanted to do it all myself, but who does?

So anyway - we go out at night and shovel.  I'm sure our neighbors love it :)

Last week, Brad had a great idea that he wanted to test, so he jimmy-rigged an industrial fan we bought when we had a leak in our basement to a trolley cart, plugged it in, and tried to blow the snow off of our driveway.  It took awhile to perfect the model inside, and then we took it out, only to figure out that it did not work the way that Brad had envisioned it in his mind.  In fact, all it really did was blow really cold snow into your face as you tried to shovel the driveway.

I ended up turning it off, and we worked to clear the driveway the old-fashioned way.  Jack was a big helper.

Hannah - not-so-much.

After I got her bundled up and outside (no small task, I assure you), she waddled onto the driveway and seemed okay until snow hit her face, and then she immediately wanted to go back inside to finish watching "The Grunch".  I think I might have mentioned in a previous post that Hannah is slightly obsessed with The Grinch That Stole Christmas, but she calls him the Grunch instead.  So inside she went.

Nonetheless, we had some good family fun.  It's amazing how easy it is to relax and have a good time and not worry about the ticking clock when you know you don't have school the next day.