April 23-24, 2011 Easter Weekend

April 23, 2011

The Ku Ku Bird Pinata.

Gabriel had a book from the library
called, Hippo Goes Bananas.
Hippos are probably his favorite
animal because of this book that,
we read EVERY night waaay past
the due date (seriously I owe big for the fines!).
In the book there is a Ku Ku Bird and
because of this we bought this Pinata
at the party store thinking it would
fit in with our theme of
"all G & L's favorite things."
It was the old fashioned
kind that requires you to bash
it in to get the candy-you know
what I'm talking about, right?
We got it home and hung it up and
first thing Gabriel said, with much
enthusiasm, was "Ku Ku Bird!"
He then started telling the story.
We knew right then that we couldn't
allow the children to beat him open.
We saved it and I turned it into a pull-string.
The boys were pretty happy to start their
day out with a bird full of candy;)

We had some birthday money & returns
that we turned into a sand "box."
Gabriel can sit and dig and sift sand
for, what seems like, forever.
I hid little plastic dinosaurs in there
so that they could pretend they
were Paleontologists on a dig.

You can't see it in the picture but G.
picked out a magnifying glass from the
toy section and had been using it
EVERYWHERE, including in the
sandbox. He would pretend to see
letters & colors & animals & more.
He's an imaginative little guy.

Easter

Liam has learned the art of hiding
things from his big brother...ha ha ha!!!

Jordan Lake

I said he eat everything...didn't I?;)

This was the first time Liam
had been to the beach besides when he was
a tiny new baby. He had a blast!

Liam was babbling/talking &
making a bunch of cute noises.
I told Chet that he was having a
conversation with himself and
chet replied...
"He's actually having a convo. with his shoe."

They are in the same place at
the same time...quick...
take a picture!

Still talking to his shoe.

Gabriel writing, "I heart mommy."
Aaaah, thanks little Man Cub;)

Just a few days before Easter we took
both boys to the Pediatrician because
they had ongoing colds/coughs/runny noses.
As it turns out Liam had dbl ear infection.
A day or two later we found 4 teeth coming
coming "in." Poor little guy:(
He was on antibiotics but was still sicky
so we didn't want to expose other kids
and therefore turned down invites
to egg hunts and Easter events.
We thought taking them out to the lake
would be calm and there would be few people
We were so wrong!
It was crowded and we had to move
to another beach because of it.
So, despite the crowds and not
feeling well my boys had a great day:)

April 17, 2011 Zoo

After our morning egg hunt we
went to the Zoo!

There was a volunteer group
making drums out of recycled
buckets. Gabriel "made" this
drum and wore it for quite a
while banging away.

The woman who ran the kids
music group said that he had
great "rhythm" and encouraged
us to get him into music lessons.

Gabriel has always loved music
and dancing. He actually does
have pretty good rhythm for a kid
his age. He must get it from his daddy;)
Well, now that I think about it...
I bet he gets his awesome dance
ability/moves from me...LOL!

Liam made a shaker from a pill
bottle and some beans.

Simple pleasures.

He has the cutest giggle my
ears have ever heard!

Liam will eat anything & everything!
He's always hungry and eats whatever you offer.
It's nice to have one boy that eats;)

This is Liam enjoying the Carousel.

This is Liam expressing just how
much he's enjoying it.

This is mommy holding Liam while he
watches his brother enjoy the Carousel;)

This is Gabriel riding on his Zebra.

He's happy riding the Carousel.
He didn't used to be but now he is a big fan.

This is Liam's subtle way of telling us 2+
hours at the Zoo is enough and he's done!

Subtle was not doing the trick
so he turned it up.

Mommy and Daddy were so
thrilled that the day was so gorgeous
they wanted to stay and play...ha ha ha!!!
Gabriel was sleeping in the stroller by the end
and Liam, well, all he wanted to see was
the interior of the car & his carseat;)

One other fun thing Gabriel and I did
was the Dora 4 movie.
Gabriel was a fan of Dora & Swiper
from that day forward.

April 17, 2011 Egg Hunt

Gabriel got a Leaptop (aka Laptop)
from one of his party guests, Hannah.

Gabriel is doing his "work" while
daddy does his work in the background.

Listening to his emails from daddy.


Easter Egg Hunt at our
neighborhood park, American Village.

I got up early to help my neighbors hide eggs.

Liam is ready to go.

Where is his basket?

Gabriel really got into the hunt this year!

Mommy hid that one!
I might have helped him find them...
shhh, don't tell;)

The Easter Bunny made an appearance
AND brought toys for the kids.

Gabriel going through his basket.

Liam

Over breakfast I was re-telling Chester
a story of how I did something really
dumb and how I felt foolish.
I sighed and put my hands on my head.
Just then Liam put his hands to his head.
It made us both smile & laugh.
That little guy can turn any bad day
into a good day with his smile and
silly little antics.

Just an ordinary day...

We watch the trailer (sp?) for the new
documentary about Orangutans...

About 12 times and WITH
our Orangutan puppet, George.

George recognizes his family members
in the documentary trailer & he can't
wait to go see the full movie with us;)

Then we get ready for breakfast.

We happily eat our waffles:)

We say we are done and...

move on to playing with toys.

We can't find pants but we do
have this perfectly good box
to hide in so we go ahead and do that;)

Gabriel asks where he is, in hopes
that we will "find" him but Liam
is no fool and immediately
takes the box off his head.
His fun is now over.

Brothers will be brothers;)