Easter Party

My parents took the kids to the ward Easter party (the day before Easter) and gave me the morning off. So nice. I hardly knew what to do with myself. Here are some pictures from the party.

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. Anna was a big hit at the party. Everyone wanted to hold her.

Matthew had fun too. He came home and told me about the muffins he got to eat!

Matthew and Grandpa look for Easter eggs at the party. It was a rainy morning, but they still ventured outside for a quick egg hunt.

The primary kids wrote Easter cards to the missionaries. The only missionary out from my parents ward right now is my brother Dave, who is on a mission in San Diego. So Matthew made him a card. Happy Easter Dave! I hope you like scribbling.

He may have had some help. :)

And here's Anna hanging out with her little friend, Sam. Sam is cool 'cause he can crawl really fast and pull up on things. Anna is quite fascinated by him. I think he is giving her ideas.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the Easter Egg Hunt at the local library. It was a relatively warm day in RI (mid 50s) so they got to have the hunt outdoors! Although Matthew had to compete with the older preschoolers for eggs, he held his own and was able to find lots of eggs to put in his basket. He even got a picture with Humpty Dumpty!

Here's Matthew showing off his cool bumblebee basket (from Michael's). He was very excited once he saw what was inside the eggs (candy!!) and had a great time.
And in case you were worried that Anna got left out of the fun, she got to play inside the library with Grandma and have ALL the toys to herself while the older kids hunted for eggs. And later she tried, unsuccessfully, to bully a couple of five year olds out of some jelly beans. We all had a good time.

One Last Visit

Scott was able to come see us one last time before he heads overseas. He's been in training in the states for a while. We didn't think he could come, but it worked out that he could come see us for a day and a half, and it happened to be on my birthday!! It was great.

I picked Scott up at the airport by myself and then drove back to my parents house to see the kids. Matthew was taken a little by surprise when Scott came in, but as soon as he saw his daddy, he scrambled down from the chair and ran over, squealing, "Daddy! Daddy!!" It was priceless.

Anna, who has just started with a little bit of separation anxiety, was really funny around Scott. She would smile and coo at him until he looked over at her, then she would hide her face in my shirt. She was really happy to have him hold her though, and kept giving him "kisses" by pushing her forehead up into his face. It was so cute to see that she remembered him (even though it's only been a month) and that she loves him.

It was a very short trip (about a day and a half) and a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster (is he coming? is he not?), but still so worth it. We love you Daddy (and Scott)!!

Almost Crawling

Anna is almost crawling. I'm excited for her to become mobile, even though I know we will have no peace thereafter. She is so busy already! Here's a longish video of her adventures in "almost crawling."

Rainy Day Walk

While Anna napped, Matthew and I had some fun in the rain

It was pretty misty

Matthew was so excited to be out in the rain

Not sure I had the right footwear

We found some spring flowers pushing through the ground...could it be that warmer days are just around the corner?

Matthew finds a puddle and, in a non-rainy moment, sees his reflection!
Then he splashed in it!

We had fun shaking the raindrops off of tree branches and getting raindrops to drip onto our fingers

And we watched a particular worm for quite a while - really fascinating stuff.

It's amazing how much fun a rainy day can be!

Easter Faire

Matthew poses as a bunny at the Easter Faire

Matthew and I went to an Easter party on base this weekend. Anna stayed home with Grandma. It was a great little event. Matthew got to meet the Easter Bunny, play on the big bouncy slides and bounce houses and hunt for Easter eggs.

We got to meet the Easter Bunny right off the bat.

We spent a lot of time playing in the big bounce slides and houses they had.

We decorated a little foam airplane.

And decorated bunny shaped cookies.

Here is Matthew on his Easter egg hunt. He was really excited to find some eggs. And he got to wear these cute paper bunny ears too!

Ikea

My mom and the kids and I went to Ikea on Friday. We had the best time. I love that place! We let Matthew walk through the store and he had fun sitting on the different chairs, opening the drawers and cabinets and climbing on the beds. When we got to the kids area he went a little nuts (sensory overload?) so he had to ride in the stroller after that. We still had fun.

Anna held the watering can for us.

Matthew really liked this funny chair, designed for playing video games. Matthew called the controller a "little computer." At least he doesn't know what that is, yet. :) He looks like a natural. Uh oh! To see another pic of Matthew at Ikea go HERE.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

St. Patricks's Day is a big deal here. I think it must be a bigger deal in the northeast...possibly 'cause of a a historically higher concentration of Irish Americans. Anyhow, Saturday we went to the Newport St. Patrick's Day Parade and it was quite the shindig. We didn't make it through the entire thing, 'cause Matthew was getting a little worn out. We did get to see and hear a lot of great celtic bands and music, lots of BIG trucks (Matthew's favorite), police men and firemen galore, plenty of dogs dressed up for the occasion, lots of crazy and heavily inebriated St. Patrick's Day party goers and the famous Portsmouth High School marching band (the best marching band we heard all day - no offense other schools)!! Go Patriots!!

At the Zoo

We went on a sort of playdate to the zoo near Providence today. It was cold, so we were bundled up and not all of the animals were around, but we still saw a lot of them!

Matthew recognized this guy!

Matthew shows us how big the elephants are.

The elephants were indoors because it's cold out! Matthew recognized the elephants and giraffes (some zoo animals are more foreign to him) so they were a big hit.

The farmyard also had familiar animals and was fun for him.

Matthew was super excited to pet this sheep who sat down right by the fence after Matthew started petting him.

He was also excited to see this donkey come up to the fence. He felt a little more shy though when the donkey started his very loud braying.

Anna makes an appearance in the termite mound. The poor girl spent a lot of time in the stroller, but was a very good little traveler.

The boys discuss the proper pronunciation of the word "beetle."

Matthew was determined to hop the fence to the flamingo area after he saw a zoo worker do it.

Matthew goes face to face with a turtle.

Riding the komodo dragon (is that what that is?)

And the very big dog statue.

He also wanted to climb in with the dromedaries. He must not know how surly they are. These guys were totally posing for us.

A snow leopard. It was so awesome to see one. This guy sat up on his perch looking quite regal.

A bald eagle. It was awesome to see this guy too. So beautiful!
The zoo was fun, cold, but not at all crowded. We had a great time.

Goodbye again

Our five days together are over...now it's going to be a long haul until we are all back together. Don't let the smiles fool you. It was a sad morning. We took Scott to the airport and said goodbye. He's off to serve. I'm really proud of him, but I'm going to miss him all the same.

Last Day

Scott and I got to go to the Newport Creamery today, just the two of us. We don't get out much by ourselves, so it was exciting! Here's we are enjoying a *Brookie sundae (not pictured).
*brownie and cookie combined - can life get better?

Who goes out for ice cream in this weather? We do.

We promised Matthew (who was staying with grandma) a special treat. And he held us to it. Here he is enjoying a junior awful awful. Once he got a hold of that thing, he wouldn't stop drinking it for anything.

Then Matthew helped Scott pack by squashing down his luggage. So helpful! It was our last day together for a while. Tomorrow is more goodbyes.