Happy Easter!

I would like to wish a happy Easter to everyone!  The Easter Bunny was generous again this year.  The kids' baskets ended up in long term storage, so these are their baskets until we are back in the states.  Since it was quite chilly throughout the night, EB allowed the kids to hunt the eggs inside this year.

 Charlie and I ordered the kids each a study Bible with their names engraved as their gift from us.  Obviously it will be some time before Zach is using his, Clara and I sat down to explore the features.  

Happy Easter!  

Easter Egg Hunt

We were fortunate to be able to have an Easter egg hunt today. They had cupcake decorating, egg dyeing, another craft I didn't get close enough to see, plus lots of yummy snacks.  The Easter Bunny came and visited with the kids, and then there was an egg hunt.

Shortly after we arrived, Clara scampered off to see her friends and Zach was drawn like a magnet to the cupcake decorating table.  While he enjoyed decorating, his favorite part by far was eating it.

 Clara was a sweetheart and brought Zach a chocolate treat, which he promptly shoved it in his mouth.  He looks like a chipmunk!

 There's the Easter Bunny!  Zach was unimpressed and never did approach him.  Clara did it, but I missed it as I was bringing Zach around the corner from the craft stations.  I tried to get her to do it, but she was adamant that she already did.  A friend sent a picture of her with him, and she looked like she did it reluctantly...explaining why she didn't want to do it again.

 However, Zach was willing to show off his mad dancing skills.  

 I was finally able to catch a picture of Clara.  She was quite the social butterfly.  

 I boiled two dozen eggs this morning as we were told to bring eggs for the kids to dye.  When it was time to leave, I asked each of them how many eggs they wanted to take Clara said nine while Zach wanted three.  Easy enough.  Clara didn't dye hers, but Zach had to dye his even at the risk of missing the egg hunt.

 And they are off!  Zach hunted with the big kids this year since he is now four.

 As you can see, he fared well.  They designed it so each kid would get twelve eggs, but regardless, I didn't help him at all and he found them on his own.  I appreciated the way they did it.  They keep the plastic eggs, the parents pitched in a certain amount to cover candy and after the hunt the kids emptied their eggs into their baskets and returned the eggs for use next year.  

We

Beautiful Day

It is 37F outside right now, says it feels like 31.  I'll tell you what it feels like.  SPRING!  I'm sitting outside right now on my completely free of snow patio watching the kids play.  While I am wearing my coat, I am sporting no hat, no gloves, and am enjoying the warmth of the sun.  As you can see, the snow is beginning to melt.  The kids found a few blades of grass and are stoked.  Zach wanted to get his bike out of the garage, but we aren't quite there yet.  Although it dips into the 20s or teens each night in the upcoming forecast, daytime temps are all projected to be at least or above freezing!!!

Four years ago...

Zach was born!  It is so hard to believe he is already four years old.  We did not have a traditional party, but we did celebrate and he had a lovely day.  We started our day with chocolate chip pancakes.

 We had a short day of school and then Charlie came home early.  We celebrated with cake and opened presents.  Check out my mad cake-making skills.  I ordered an edible image and made buttercream icing for the first time.  Hopefully I'm a bit better by the time Clara's birthday rolls around.  Zach was happy with it though, and that is what counts.

 He chose where we placed the candles, which turned out to be pretty good spots.  I forgot to buy candles, so we used Hello Kitty ones from Clara's last birthday.  He didn't mind.

 I don't know if you can tell, but he was really cute about today being his birthday.  He would smile bashful smiles and was just sweet.  Mimi sent this cute birthday boy ribbon that he has worn with pride all day.

 Now it is time to open presents!

 After playing with toys for a bit, we convinced Zach to get in the car to go play at an indoor playground and eat out.  On the way, I snapped a pic of the sea before it all melts.

 This is the indoor playground at one of the malls we sometimes go to.  The kids had a good time and were ready to eat when we left.

 We chose a restaurant in the mall, which is pretty good. 

 Since we had kids and it wasn't busy, we were able to sit in the section for families with kids.  I really enjoyed being able to sit and chat with the Chuckster while the kids played.

 I thought you might like to see some of the American decor.  

Zach had a fantastic birthday and received well wishers from home too.