blackmail fodder

I've always wondered what embarrassing picture I would use for Alex's senior slide show.  I think we've got a winner. 

MOPS Easter Egg Hunt 2012

The week before Easter, we attended the annual egg hunt on the front lawn of our church.  The boys arrived with their giant baskets, ready to gather giant amounts of candy-filled eggs.

 

I don't know if such a thing could actually qualify as a "hunt" seeing as though the eggs are just sitting on the ground, out in the open, not attempting to camouflage themselves or run away into the bushes when the kids came after them.  I think I would liken the experience more to shooting fish in a barrel, but that's just me...

 

Not that the kids cared.  They just wanted to pile as many eggs as possible into their baskets.  Here's Alex, defiant hand on hip, declaring to his classmate that he had clearly collected more eggs than she had.  Very chivalrous, son.

After a little encouragement, Isaac, too, was eagerly gathering eggs and putting them into his bucket.  Halfway through the hunt, when I was encouraging him to collect the candy that was strewn across the grass, I realized I may have to retrain him to not pick things up off the ground and put them in his mouth...

 Say, "Chocolate!!"

Where's my candy!!??

It was really fun to have Mom and Dad and Rachel at an event like this. More Easter fun to come!

Here are just a few pictures from our first week in the house.  Truth be told, I was a little nervous about how the boys would react to the fact that our houseguests were never going to leave.  I thought maybe the novelty would wear off and they'd be ready to get back to life as usual. It appears that they thought "life as usual" was pretty boring because they seem happier to have more people around.  I, for one, am happier to have these people around.

Free Range Isaac

One of the biggest changes we've encountered at our new house is that Alex and Isaac now share a room.  They have the only bedroom on the second floor (unless you count the small storage room across the hall that is stacked to the rafters with mom and I's craft supplies...) with lots of space, two closets, and their very own bathroom that is completely pink from top to bottom, including pink laminate on the cabinet doors, pink ceramic tile on the floors and shower enclosure, a dusty rose tub and toilet, not to mention the floral embroidered toilet seat, 1950's Hollywood style vanity lighting, and not one, but TWO original mustard yellow hardwired hairdryers.  When Alex first toured the house, he said, "Mom, we really can't buy this house because I do NOT want that pink bathroom."  Overruled.  

They have adjusted surprisingly well to sharing a space, in that they don't fight any more up there than they do in the rest of the house.

And in other news...look who's in a big boy bed.  And lovin' it.  He's particularly loving the fact that the light switches are toddler-height, so he can get up at any time of night and play.  We've discovered that an effective method for getting him to stay in bed is to have Aunt Rachel stand outside of his door and scare the beejeebers out of him whenever he sneaks out of bed.  Works like a charm.

Of course, Isaac isn't entirely to blame.  One night, after I had come upstairs twice to put Isaac back to bed, I stood outside of his room and waited for him to come to the door again, eager to try the Aunt Rachel Method of Child Scaring.  The door was ajar, and I heard Alex whisper, "Do it again, Isaac".  Isaac mumbled something around his paci, to which Alex replied, "Yeah, do it again, go open the door like you just did," at which point Isaac climbed out of bed and headed towards the door. I flung the door open and screamed, "You're SO BUSTED!!!" to a shocked and wide-eyed Alex, who then began to apologize profusely with little to no sincerity.

And if you're wondering why our not-yet-two year old is in a big bed, it's mostly because his hand-me-down Walmart crib featuring the now illegal drop-side was being held together by Gorilla tape.  Ironically, we moved Alex to a bed at eighteen months because he sleeps like a tornado and was starting to destroy the aforementioned crib that we wanted to keep in decent condition for the next kid.  So glad we sidestepped that landmine...

Catch Up

There is really just too much to talk about and too little time to do it, but before I post a bunch of pictures that will totally lack context without a backstory, I am just going to briefly summarize the complicated series of events that have occurred over the last few months with the following set of bullet points:

• Our lease expired at the end of March.
• We bought a house near the lake.
• Mom and Dad and Rachel moved in.
• They brought a lot of stuff.

Yep, that pretty much covers it. 

Things have gone surprisingly well, considering it has been fifteen years since all of us have lived under the same roof.  We are still unpacking boxes and getting settled and trying to create a routine, but things are really starting to come together, and we are really enjoying getting to spend this time together.

Expect lots of pictures and videos to come.  We've had countless fun times already, and many of them have been documented for your viewing pleasure.  Stay tuned!