Easter 2011

Just a nice and laid-back Easter this year. Some egg coloring, basket and egg hunting and Easter brunch'ing.

Before...

Carolyn reading the directions, trying to get a handle on things

Eleanor spinning the egg

Hank giving it a go

The girls are proud

And after. I think these are by far the coolest eggs I've ever made.

Easter morning after finding the baskets and eggs

The Young Family at Easter Brunch

Momma loves her toothy boy

Eleanor with her buddy, cousin Brody, ready for the Easter Egg Hunt

Hank is 7 Months

That's right, big Hank is 7 months already. What a jump in just a few months. He's now:

Clapping - when he's excited, he puts on a big grin and claps.
Grabbing - for everything and anything: diapers, your dinner plate, my hair.
Eating - real food: mashed broccoli, pasta, eggs, artichoke hearts. If it's soft, he'll eat it.
Sitting - he rarely falls and sometimes will even sit on the counter while I make dinner.
Waving - I don't know, his hand moves in a waving motion when we leave daycare sometimes.
Laughing - have I ever mentioned how happy this guy is?
Rolling - naw, not so much. He's really just happy staying where you put him. Plus, it's his parents fault for not enforcing more tummy time.


As a last minute decision, we took Hank for studio photos. I have great collages of photos of the girls with simple white background when they were about age. So I had to get some of Hank to hang in the hallway. I grabbed some overalls, a white onesie and his football. He did great!

Interview with the 3-Year-Old

I had the pleasure of giving Carolyn her first interview shortly after her third birthday.


What's your name?
Ummm, nuffing.

How old are you?
Four. (she's three)

Did you have a birthday?
Yep.

Did you have a party?
Yep.

What did you get for your birthday?
Movie and a umm and umm and a umm. Just a movie. Just kidding.

What was your favorite present?
Ummm, something. Nuffing. Just nuffing mom.

Who's your best friend?
Maddux, Nash and Gracie

Why do you love Hank?
I do love Hanky.

Why?
Cause.

Why do you love Mommy?
Cause.

Why do you love Eleanor?
Cause.

Why do you love Daddy?
Cause.

Favorites:
Color - red, blue and yellow and green and red and blue
Shape - circle
Book - Fishes (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish)
Movie - Tangled
Song - Tomorrow
To-Do - nuffing
Eat - pizza
Snack - meatballs (news to me)
Drink - water and juice
Animal - pig
Toy - Hanky's toy
Horse - Strawberry & Cameo

What's your favorite thing to do at Sandys?
Play.

What do you like to play?
Nuffing.

Hmm, maybe we'll get better responses next year.

Happy Birthday Carolyn Mae!

Our little terrible-two'er is now THREE! She's not really terrible - we do love her so much. One of the best things about Carolyn is how excited she can get over funny little things. Her eye's
will widen and she'll get so enthused over things like the puppy and popcorn at the hardware store or the horses in the pastures on the way to daycare or the moon on early morning drives.

We had a wonderful birthday party with family. Brats on the grill with beans, mac n cheese, broccoli salad, chips, and beer.

And the wiener dog just had puppies so the kids had a blast petting and holding them. (Hopefully our rough and tumble Carolyn didn't do any permanent damage to them)

Carolyn digging into the cheese
My BOYS!!!

The kids all got to ride the ponies

The kids feeding carrots to the ponies

Carolyn checking out her "friend Strawberry horse"

Carolyn's cake complete with "dirt", worms and flowers

Carolyn trying on her Build-A-Bear's headband
(The Build-A-Bear was her gift from Eleanor. Eleanor asked if she could use her BAB gift card which she got for her birthday to build a bear for Carolyn. How sweet!)
Carolyn sharing her sucker with Hank
Sharing = good, Hank eating a sucker = not so good

Tea Party!

This year I let Eleanor have a friend party. She invited kids for preschool and daycare and they had a tea party.

The invitation

I found the cutest little decorate-your-own-mugs at Hobby Lobby. So all the kids picked out their background paper and stuck on letters to spell their names.

The kids got dressed up with some hats, ties, jackets, necklaces, and mustaches.
Then they all enjoyed fruit skewers, pizza bagel bites, cheese sticks, chocolate covered cherries and their choice of "lemon tea" or "orange tea".

And they we played "Pin the Lid on the Teapot", "Tea Bag Toss", and "Guess how many Chocolates in the Tea Cup"...



They sang Happy Birthday and ate cup cakes...

Opened presents...
And still had 30 minutes before parents came back... Ahhh! No, it was a really fun time. Eleanor loved it and all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.