Easter 2016

The final highlight of March was Easter.  We don't celebrate the religious aspect, but we sure do love a good Easter Egg hunt.  Hubs' family stuffs the big plastic Easter Eggs and hides them around the yard.  My family hid the foil covered chocolate eggs around the inside of the house.  My grandma used to set up elaborate scavenger hunts for all the grandchildren to follow to their Easter gift.  

A few years ago between school, and community Easter egg hunts, we way overdid it.  I'm really trying to return to the time of my childhood, when a holiday happened on a single day.  You looked forward to it, and then it was over and you moved on.  Since I wanted to honor all our traditions, I skipped all the other things happening around town and we just celebrated at home.  I dispatched Daddy and Little Miss on a long walk while I got things ready.  When she came back, the scavenger hunt was ready to go.

I had a series of egg shaped clues that she followed around the house.  It took a minute to get the hang of it, but she really liked it.  I'm wondering if I should try it again at Christmas, or just let it stay something special for Easter. 

Then we did the traditional Easter egg hunt in the yard.

Daddy and Huck supervised from the lawn chair.

Little Miss really enjoyed her day.  I'm glad that she was able to get some candy, but not tons.  It's nice being at the age where I can still control such things.  She brought all her loot inside and opened everything up.

Then we got to enjoy family time for the rest of the day.  What a nice way to spend a holiday- creating traditions and being together.

Visitors!

One of the other highlights of March was the arrival of some very special visitors.  Auntie Liz flew in from California and Uncle Michael and Auntie Judy joined her with their little dog, Finnegan.  Huck and Finn love to play together, and Little Miss loved playing with animals that were smaller than her.

It was a bit chilly, but we found ways to have fun.  

We got a hike in:

We even managed to walk around downtown and do some dancing at the honky tonks with our favorite butterfly.

She was quite the hit.  I'm so glad that we were able to spend some quality family time together.  It's so nice having visitors.

A March Spring

March had a few highlights.  One of them was the return of warmer temperatures.  While we are pretty good about going outdoors through the winter, it sure was nice to have it be warm again.  We got to put on sundresses again.

Climb trees and hang out at parks...

And get back out on a bike with Daddy.

Life is so grand in the Spring.

Yard Remodel

While we were able to move into our lovely tiny garage shortly before the new year, many things were still not complete.  As Spring approached I started to grumble more and more until we finally decided to bring in the landscapers and get the yard updated and ready to play.  First, they made it into every child's dream- a huge mudpit.  

Then they installed kid friendly things, such as tree stumps for climbing and jumping on...

Which were immediately both climbed on and jumped on.

All in all, it was a huge success.  Little Miss' favorite outdoor activity?  Picnics!

The yard is also Huck approved.  He could lay out there all afternoon.  He told me that he really doesn't miss the apartment at all.

Truth be told, I like it too, but for different reasons.  It's also a great place to lounge while still being near the action.

There's always more to do to finish up, but it's so nice to have a yard all to our own that we can hang out in as a family.

Candyland!

A local church was putting on a life-sized Candyland event, and I couldn't resist taking Little Miss to check it out.  The decorations in the gym were fantastic, the concept was good, but it simply wasn't age appropriate.  Womp womp.  Fortunately, there was a free candy bar at the end, so that made up for it.  Churches sure are crafty at finding new ways to bring people in.  We got to enjoy the event, and then they schmoozed us as we ate the free candy.  So stinkin smart.

My Stretching Buddy

This year has been a particularly bad year for my back.  No sooner do I get it to stop hurting, than it seems I do something to aggravate it all over again.  Physical therapy has helped, as has stretching.  Each time I get out my mat or stretch while Little Miss is around, she loves to join in.

She loves yoga:

She loves stretching:

And apparently, she loves sharing her new knowledge with others.  It's not uncommon to see pictures posted from school including her doing yoga.  Her teachers report that she does yoga often and shows the other students and teachers how to do moves as well.  I'm thrilled that she's interested and likes to join along, but perplexed about why when I put on Cosmic Kids Yoga she seems completely uninterested.  Either way, it appears I may have a young yogi in training.

The Mossy Hike

The weather started warming up a bit so we went on a family hike and got an adorable pic of Little Miss enjoying herself.

How you doing, Cupcake?

Because somedays you just need a special treat after school.

Love those choclatey, chubby cheeks!!

Downtown Living

We are so happy to be living back in walking distance to things.  One weekend we decided to bundle up and head downtown.  We were gifted a membership to a local museum for Christmas, so we decided to go check it out.

It was already a hit when we walked into the lobby and we could look at a fountain.  Little Miss wanted to go in, but we had to explain to her that it doesn't work that way.

There were lots of guitars to look at and walk through:

There was other fun stuff, but we decided to leave.  Little Miss developed a keen interest in school buses.  We told her that she may ride one someday, but not anytime soon.  We offered to take her on a ride on a city bus that takes loops around downtown.  She loved it!

The bus goes about 1/2 mile from our house, so we found that a good spot to jump off and head back home.  We've been on that city bus several times since, and each time Little Miss is a little more in love.  So glad that she loves walking and taking public transit as much as her parents!

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!

This year for Valentine's Day we got decorative.  The chalkboard wall was decorated, Little Miss helped color in the clouds...

                                    

And we put window clings on our double doors....

To add some more fun to the holiday, we went to a Valentine's Dance that a local mom's group put on.  Daddy came home early from work, Little Miss dressed up and we had so much fun dancing, playing with balloons and enjoying the baked sale goodies.

The biggest hit by far were all the balloons they had laying around the gym floor.  All the kids went nuts over them- but there were hardly any left by the end of the event from popping!

On actual Valentine's Day, Daddy took Little Miss out for a special Valentine's treat, and they came back with a brand new teddy bear, which she named Flower.  It was low key and fun.

Winter Water Play

After the big snow storm, it warmed up again.  We hadn't yet gotten the chance to really get things set up in the yard, so we just threw the water table out there when we moved in and didn't think much about it.  Little Miss played more with it this winter than she has in a long time, even when she had to scrape off a layer of ice to get to the water below.