Easter Weekend Doings

Harry with the Easter bunny  - Robert refused to go near her

Waiting for the hunt to begin

on the hunt

Happy boys with baskets of candy

Just a swingin'

look what I have

mixing the dye for the eggs

watch those tablets sizzle

there's a lot of waiting in this process

Five more eggs in the dye and then we are done :-)

sorting the candy from the town hunt

He just wanted it all in a bag to carry around

Perhaps the most touching part of the weekend for me - big brother reading to little brother

On our way to church

Happy boys

the fabulous Alleluia banner that was made with squares the children decorated and  which the children processed in with at the 10 o'clock service this morning

Family Easter egg hunt - this time there was chocolate in the eggs :-)

Robert's hunt was in the front yard and Harry's was in the back - Harry is helping Robert

Harry searches for the eggs - they were more difficult to find than Robert's

While Harry searches - Robert sorts (we borrowed our neighbor's yard for the hunt this year (found a couple of golf balls too since they are on the golf course side of the street)

The Easter Bunny Monster - we love drawing on our driveway

Finally Harry is sorting his chocolate eggs

Odds and Ends

Here are a bunch of random photos.  Much has gone on in the past few weeks since I have written.  The photos provide something of a catch up, but I'll write a bit too.  Harry had the annual Pinewood Derby for cub scouts.  His car came in 4th place in his den.  He wasn't impressed, although the car was running very well at home, early on one of the wheels got knocked out of line and it didn't do as well in the actual racing.  Harry brought along a few books and read for much of the derby, so he wasn't too upset about not being in first place.  Robert and I went over for some of the racing, but only stayed long enough to have a snack and watch a few races.

Robert got a Star Wars sticker book for his birthday and it has been a favorite ever since then.  I have read it quite a few times.  He loves sticker books and we spend the first few days getting all the stickers in the right places and then and only then is he ready to read the book.  He is very interested in Star Wars at the moment.  He only has knowledge from books and his Star Wars action figures, but most days he asks if we can play Star Wars and then assigns us roles.  That is most of what is involved and then we speak to each other as if we were those characters.  Nana, Kevin's Mom, was here for a visit and to be here to celebrate Robert's birthday and so a picture of her reading with the boys.

Last year I had a relatively successful garden.  This year I am even trying to start some of my own plants.  Over the weekend we planted the first of the seeds.  I will also go and buy some plants.  I got tomato plants from a local farm last year and they were terrific, so I am hoping I'll be able to do that again.  There is something very hopeful about starting to plant for summer.  Even though it has been a warm winter, I am still longing for warmer spring weather and the return of the leaves on the trees.  This means it is very close now. We are even planting seeds that in a few short months will be growing in the ground in the backyard.

Finally a couple of pictures from our now annual Seder dinner.  This year a volunteer took over much of the work from me and arranged a rabbi to lead the service.  He brought along yamulkes and haggadahs and led the service for us.  We had a nice number attending and I think a good time was had by all and all learned something new.  I picked up a couple of tricks too.  Robert was not at all interested and spent much of the service wandering around.  He even knocked over a table (thankfully not on himself).  I was a bit distracted, but could pay a little attention to what was going on.  

Robert with a buddy watching the Pinewood Derby

Harry at the Pinewood Derby - he brought along something to occupy his downtime

Reading the sticker book he got on his birthday

Planting seeds 

boy those seeds were tiny

Nana reading the same Star Wars book

computer games

Kevin at the church seder

Who me?

In the past couple of weeks we have had 2 birthdays.  Kevin turned a little more than 40 and Robert turned 4!  Both were lovely events.  On Kevin's birthday we had a picnic in the unusually warm March weather we've had.  On Robert's we had pizza and cupcakes at home.  They were lovely days.  Both boys are happily and healthily a year older.  I am still wondering how my baby is now 4 years old.  He is a force to be reckoned with these days.  He is also growing or the like because he has been as clumsy as clumsy can be.  Poor guy keeps running into things, falling off things or just plain falling.  It is definitely keeping my life exciting.

Picnic dinner

Birthday cupcake

post dinner drink and reading

One of the presents was a bag of outdoor games - we tried most of them out

Ring tossing is much easier when you get up close

A very patient little boy waited all day for his brother to come home to open his presents

Not very fancy, but they tasted pretty good

lighting the candles 

A little consternation because he wanted his "R" cupcake to have a candle on it

All fixed so we can now blow out the candles

Spring is in the air.

March came in somewhat lionish with rain and a little snow and now almost mid month it is feeling rather spring like.  Robert just spent about 45 minutes happily playing outside and Harry too was outside wandering about lost in his imagination.  Our house is very quiet right now, especially for the post dinner pre bedtime hour.  Harry is playing a game on Kevin's iphone and I suspect that Robert is reading in his room.

We've had a very warm winter and now there are crocuses out and even a few daffodils.  The days have started warming up and we can finally spend some longer chunks of time outside.  We spent a fair amount of time outside all winter, but now I am not always freezing.  I have been doing some "spring cleaning" which really has meant organizing.  I am now contemplating the toy closet and I think I may tackle that soon.  I think I am going to make quite a few toys just "disappear".  Sometimes I think everything becomes too familiar and nothing gets played with or the same things over and over again.  We also add random things along the way that are fondly held and adored for a day or 2 and then discarded.  Our children don't have as many toys as some of their peers, but they still have more than they play with, so we'll see how it works.

Here are some pictures.  When I changed sheets on Friday last week, I climbed up to the top bunk and remade it, even though Harry has been sleeping on the bottom bunk recently (got to change things up once in a while, I guess).  Anyway, I lined up his stuffed animals and then he added a few more to the line up and took a picture.  I guess it pleased him :-)

the boy with a friend on a field trip

line - up

A favored spot

He keeps me busy, that's for sure

Usually I try to have pictures of both boys.  However, last week there were a bunch of Robert and it was a week after vacation so my constant companion and I were back to our regular routine.  I remember around the time Harry was 3 and I thought of him as my constant companion.  At three (especially this close to 4), they become little personalities and forces to reckon with.  Robert, like Harry is busy and has a terrific imagination.  At the moment he likes to play Star Wars, which is mostly pretending to be various characters and just calling ourselves by those names.  If Daddy is around it involves battling, but this is not expected of Mommy.  

We do most things together.  It means that he has to put up with my doing errands with him and household chores, but that is all interspersed with various types of play.  Most days we have something fun going on - preschool, library time, MOPS meetings, playground time and play time with a friend.  But at three he is still with me most of the time and now on my second child I am more consciously enjoying that time because I know it is fleeting.  Soon he will be older and more independent and school will take up much of his time.  Even when I am pulling my hair out at the end of the day, I really am thankful for this time of constant companionship because it is so fleeting.

So here he is in all his preschooler glory - busy, messy and wonderful :-)

We finger painted and then Robert face painted (that's what happens when you turn around for 15 seconds)

the hands were messy too

Don't know why, but I was requested to take a picture

dinner always tastes better when reclining

Atwater & Donnelly the entertainment for the evening

chillin' and listening to the music

swing your partner...

wouldn't you love to have that attention focused on you? :-)

Everybody was lying down - even the entertainment for the evening

A few more pictures from February break

On the train

kissing camels

person snack time at the zoo

on the train

who was that hooded person?

Well these are from Kevin's iphone.  I have a terrific camera which is rather big and bulky and sometimes on trips we just rely on the iphone for pictures which are really not bad (not as good as my camera, but it is a lovely invention).  These pictures are from our trip to the zoo and taking the train along the shore in Newport. We kept relatively busy on vacation and are now back in the swing of things again.  March is the only month in the school calendar without any days off.  So far it has come in like a lion with lots of wet and cool weather, that seems to have a promise of spring on the air.  Let us hope.  There are already daffodils up and blossoming in places.  It has been a warm winter, but we are in New England and can't really expect it to be over yet!

It is vacation week and we are trying to make it jam packed.  We've been to a hockey game.  We have gone to the zoo and we have now gone to the aquarium also.  The weather is more like spring than midwinter, so we have also had lots of time outside and on the playground.  The boys are not quite wearing me out, but I am definitely tired at the end of the day.

Robert and Harry are both talkers and so there have been many interesting talks this week.  Harry and I went on a "date" to see The Big Miracle about how an Alaskan village and a Russian ice breaker worked together during the cold war to save some whales who were stranded under the ice.  It was fun to do alone with Harry and interesting to discuss the movie on the way home.  I was worried that the (spoiler alert) death of the baby whale would be very upsetting to him, but although we discussed it he didn't seem overly disturbed, kind of took it as the way life goes sometimes.  Harry has grown up a great deal in the past year.  At the zoo we began to get into the discussion of why these animals are kept in cages and is this fair to them.  It was only a beginning, but one that may be interesting as time goes along.  I have to admit, I have some issues along those lines too, but our zoo does have things about conservation and the animals seem to be in decent spaces for the most part.  I am sure we will talk about this more.

Robert also is a hoot and a half these days.  He can be incredibly stubborn and frustrating, but he is still my lovable little guy.  He will still cuddle up on the couch sometimes although most days he is much too busy for much cuddle time.  Today he was asking when he could have a pocket knife like Harry and I said not until he is 8 like Harry (and has passed his whittling chip or something similar in cub scouts).  He accepted that and then talked about the things he'll do as he grows.  When he is five he'll go to kindergarten and when he "leaves seven" he will have a knife like Harry.  Robert is currently in the imagining stage and likes to play Star Wars and take on a character and we also are supposed to be characters too - usually he is Darth Vader (a child after his mother's heart) or Luke.  I am usually Padme Amidala or Darth Mommy and Kevin is either Captain Fanaka (the head of Padme's soldiers - no joke - he knows whose in charge at home) or Darth Daddy.

So now, here are some pictures from the week so far.

Beluga whale at the Aquarium

The boys with the whales

At lunch - ice cream for everybody - note the hair - it is baseball cap weather
and this was just after the cap came off in the restaurant

Still a favored spot for Robert - not on the ottoman but in the ottoman

Ah, nutella toast :-)

It has been so warm this winter, some of my (outdoor) parsley is still green 

Captain Fanaka and Luke

in motion

slide stunts - ended with a somersault and leap