Easter

This Easter was my absolute favorite holiday that I have had yet with Chris, Oliver and Adelaide.  I have really enjoyed every other holiday over the past four years, especially because of the people we have spent them with, but this Easter Oliver and Adelaide were at such a good age to really enjoy everything without having to worry about naps, grumpiness and over-excitement.   

We went to the family church service and they did great.  Over the past two years, I have wondered (and stressed) about when/if they would ever be able to sit through an entire service.  Normally they go to church school, but once a month there is no church school and they join us in church.  Sometimes they are pretty good during the service and other times they are restless.  The past few times, they have been really wonderful.  Oliver even tried to sing along with some of the hymns on Easter!  Also, there was this sweet little boy behind us that made all of us chuckle during the service.  The priest was talking during his sermon about how Jesus died and was risen and the little boy said, "Wait, what?  Jesus died?  When did that happen?"  Very cute.

 After church, we went to my parents house for Easter dinner.  This year there were 20 of us, including 7 children.  Oliver and Adelaide were very excited to see Lorelai.  The second they walked in the door, Oliver and Adelaide started acting so silly!

 Lorelai looks adorable with her new bangs.

 Before dinner, the kids headed outside.  It wasn't a warm day but the weather didn't stop the kids from going outside to play.

 Last year, we did an Easter egg hunt for the kids but this year I decided to do a scavenger hunt.  There were eight clues for the kids to find.

 It was SO much fun to watch them run to find the next bunny after every clue.  All of the adults had a good laugh at how competitive Oliver and Preston were (even though really they were all going to get a prize).  At one point, they were both holding onto the handle of my parents closet in the kitchen because they were so determined to be the first one to open it up.

 The final clue led them to a cooler on the back porch where the bags of treats were for each one.

 The girls immediately pulled out their bunny glasses and put them on for us.

 For Easter dinner this year, the kids sat at the end of the table and seemed to really enjoy being with all of the adults.

 We had the opportunity to skype with Mike, Carolyn and Gabriella.  The kids were really excited!

 Oliver and Preston ended the day playing soccer with my dad and Chris.

The day was filled with fun, laughter, great food and lovely conversation.  Oliver and Adelaide really enjoyed Easter.  On Monday, Oliver said, "Easter was really fun, wasn't it mommy?"  I gave him a big hug and said, "Yes, Oliver, I have to agree that it was a pretty special day."  It really was a holiday that will go down in the memory books because it was a day filled with many beautiful moments.

Chick Magic Continued...

After their magic chick eggs grew some little little lollipops, Oliver and Adelaide were surprised just before Easter when their chick eggs grew enormous lollipops!  They could not believe it and were very excited to taste their lollipops. 

 This last picture cracks me up because I have no idea why he was posing for the camera. The shirt he is wearing from Uncle Mike and Aunt Carolyn really is very appropriate for him!

Eggs Everywhere!

What a collection of Easter eggs we have accumulated over the past week.  Oliver and Adelaide have been really into making lots of eggs.  Every morning after breakfast, they asked for construction paper, markers and tape.  Then, they "surprised" me by hanging their eggs on display.

Act of Kindness

On Sunday, we went to an Easter egg hunt hosted by a local college.  We went last year and had a lot of fun.  This year, the college had the hunt in a different location.  They placed eggs all over a field.  Before the hunt started, all of the children had to wait by a gate.    

We had some fun waiting.  Adelaide was keeping us entertained.

She even started climbing the fence and actually made it to the top before she asked for some help.

The three year olds and under did their egg hunt first which meant that Adelaide had a chance to get a bunch of eggs.  

After the three year olds and under did their egg hunt, everyone else had to wait by the gate and once the kids (ages 3 and up) were through the gate they just ran around collecting eggs.

In true Hunger Games style, we told Oliver to ignore the eggs at the beginning of the gate and run to the end of the field where he would have plenty of eggs to choose from.  Once he got inside the field, he did just that and managed to grab some eggs.

It became obvious very quickly that the kids near the back of the line to go through the gate were not going to get any eggs so Oliver, Adelaide, Chris and I stepped aside to watch everyone else because we felt that Oliver and Adelaide had enough eggs in their basket.

As we watched, we started to see some kids looking really sad and some were crying.  We told Oliver and Adelaide that some of the kids hadn't gotten any eggs because by the time they got onto the field, all of the eggs were gone.  We waited a few seconds, mentioned to Adelaide and Oliver how many eggs they had found, and waited again.  Oliver then told us that he decided he could give an egg to someone who hadn't received one.  Chris and I watched as Adelaide and Oliver walked around the field giving away most of their eggs.  I must admit that I was touched.  Their generosity was not forced, it was from the heart.  They knew that they needed to share their eggs.  When my children are having particularly stubborn, self-absorbed days, I sometimes worry that we've spoiled them or made them feel this sense of entitlement that they shouldn't be feeling at such a young age.  Watching them gracefully walk around the field and give away their eggs to other children reminded me that parenting is going to have its moments.  There will be the tough moments where I wonder how I will get through the day and then there will be the touching moments that really grip me and make me want to throw my arms around them with complete love (which I did after the egg hunt) and tell them how proud I am of them.

Because I am.

Chick Magic

We have been having so much fun with chick magic!  I saw an idea on a website called Excited 2 Learn that mentioned a blog showing how to make little chicks and have them lay magic eggs.  I showed Oliver and Adelaide how to make the eyes and beaks and then they got to work.  Adelaide had a LOT of fun with the eyes.  So, some of our chicks have about ten eyes. 

 Oliver went a little eye crazy too.

 Once our chicks were done, we put them in an egg carton.  I then explained to Oliver and Adelaide that these chicks might lay magic eggs so they needed to check the chicks every so often.  I caught Oliver checking the chicks many times throughout the day.

 Finally, they found two chicks that had laid their "eggs."

 As the day progressed, they discovered some more eggs.  I told them it was important that they did not eat the eggs and that they plant the eggs.  So, we got out our popcorn bowls, some grass and they both planted three of their eggs.

 When they woke up in the morning, they came downstairs to find that their three eggs had magically turned into three flower lollipops.

I think these chicks will continue to lay some eggs throughout the week.  It turned into a really fun time with Oliver and Adelaide.  They did have a brief discussion with each other about where these eggs could be coming from but then they decided it was just "magic." :)

If Adelaide Could Live in a Submarine, I Think She Would.

On Sunday, Chris headed to Foxboro to meet up with some of his high school teammates to honor his former coach who had been inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame.  The weather was not great so after church, Oliver, Adelaide and I headed up to the Children's Museum of New Hampshire.  They have a reciprocal membership with the Museum of Science so we did not have to pay anything.  It was about an hour away and a very easy drive.

When we got there, the kids had fun exploring the different exhibits.  

 This is the typical Oliver jumping up and down in excitement position that cracks me up.  It is SO easy to tell when he is happy!

 Without a doubt, their favorite part was the submarine.  They each had COMPLETELY different reasons for loving it of course.  Adelaide saw the little bunks and jumped right in and made herself at home.  She didn't do much else for about ten minutes.  Then, when we left the submarine, she kept on asking to go back to it again because it was her favorite thing there.

 Meanwhile, Oliver got busy pressing buttons and taking command of the submarine.

 Eventually Adelaide joined in and did some listening of her own.

 I am realizing more and more that all of these pictures are of Oliver doing something and Adelaide chilling out.  Here she is chilling out in a chair while Oliver created patterns on the window behind her.

 Oliver was so proud of the design he made.

 Adelaide just being Adelaide!  I am pretty happy with her new jean jacket.  I snagged it the Children's Drop and Shop a few weeks ago for five dollars.  I've been wanting to get her one so when I saw it there and in such good condition, I couldn't pass it up.

 Before we left, we checked out the dig site.  Not quite as cool as the one down in Disney, but they still had fun.

 Poor Adelaide thought this was a real phone and she called Papa and kept on saying, "Hello, Papa, are you there?" Then she looked at me and asked me why he wasn't answering.  This is the same girl who saw a boy wave on my computer screen the other day (it was a video and not skype) and proceeded to frantically wave back to him.  She really makes us smile!  I would love to get into her mind for a day.

 Again, Adelaide sitting.  She really did have fun though!

I think we will definitely go back to that museum again.  It wasn't too crowded, parking was easy and the kids had fun for the entire afternoon.