Easter

Some photos of our family Easter egg hunt. Every time Truman found an egg he'd say, "Oh. . . Wow!"

Emma cannot find the egg we told her was in the rosebush.

It's late now, but if I don't post these pictures tonight, it will probably be a few weeks before I get back in the mode. I'm mostly an "egg hunt on Saturday" kind of person, but Emma and I were gone too long yesterday to fit it in. So, here are the kids, ready to go. Especially Truman who has the sweetest tooth I've ever known. Here I am, 9 weeks to go!

Parker and Truman, not true to life. They are looking too chummy.

And . . . our vegetable boxes! I put this on for my mom, who wanted to see them. I am quite proud of our handiwork, though. I had the lumber cut myself at Lowe's and Todd assembled them. The kids and I stained them. We planted seeds and a few tomato plants. Todd and Parker did the edging and gravel yesterday. They are the one spot in our backyard that looks intentional.

Emma's 8th Birthday

Friday was Emma's birthday, and she turned down two invitations to other birthday slumber parties because she wanted to celebrate at home with us, having ice cream sundaes and watching "High School Musical 2" after the boys went to bed. I had to assure her the boys would be asleep, because at the video store she worried about her movie choice being appropriate as a family film because, as she said, "At the beginning, Sharpay sings a song that is a little bit . . . um . . sassy." She actually just saw the first HSM a week ago, and we have yet to watch #3.
I am finally feeling like I need to let her be like the other kids her age and watch these shows, even though I wish she didn't want to. I mean, honestly why couldn't the other 5,6, and 7 year-olds stick to Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies? Parker just went to a "rock" birthday party for a little girl in his preschool who is a huge fan of American Idol. Ah, sweet, innocent childhood.
But Emma is a sweet, innocent girl and we love her and are so happy she's a part of our family.
The big event of Emma's birthday celebration was a trip to the American Girl store in LA to buy a doll. She has been wanting one for a very long while and counting down the days till our visit there. I will just add, as a side note, that upon returning home, I said to Todd that I would be happy if all of Los Angeles, except maybe Dodger Stadium, was flung out into the ocean and landed somewhere near Hawaii. I am just not a big fan. The place is a mess. And I'm not just saying that because it took us around 2 and a half hours to travel the 65 miles from Corona to Hollywood - on a Saturday. Anyway, we took a "short cut" home by going on the 10 to the 60 to the 71 to the 91 to the 15. (Sorry. I sound so cranky.)
So, look at these cute pictures of Emma enjoying herself. And thank you to her grandparents for contributing to the gift!

Although she had never been to the store before, Emma was quite the expert thanks to all of her research on Americangirl.com. She even printed out the driving directions herself.

On the drive home Emma said about her doll, "I'm just so happy that she belongs to me now, and not the store."

Emma and "Julie"
(Julie joined us at our Easter dinner with her own place setting and colored egg.)

Spring Break

The last two weeks of March was our Spring break. This is the last year we will get two weeks off instead of one. I'll admit I was a little daunted by the prospect of that much unstructured time with the kids. I made a plan to have a daily theme: gardening day, sports day, craft day, etc. Overall, I think it was a success. It helped me to wake up knowing there was something planned, instead of just ten hours of time to fill up.
We also ended up with free Legoland tickets, thanks to the generosity of a friend, and it was the perfect day there. I think our kids were just the right age for this park. They do have some tricky height restrictions, but everyone had a great time; beautiful weather, no lines, plenty of time for free play. Parker likes it more than Disneyland now. My own child!

Here we are at the beach. Thankfully, I didn't try to take the kids alone as I had planned. Dads are just so great, aren't they? Todd helped build sandcastles, and I got to sit the whole time and take pictures and hand out snacks.