Dying Easter Eggs

After finding Easter baskets and eating Easter brunch, it was time to dye eggs!

 Will was content to keep dying the same egg over and over!

Easter 2012

What a great Easter!

We decided to make it to the early Easter service at 8:30, so that we could then look for Easter baskets, enjoy Easter brunch, and dye eggs before Easter dinner. It was wonderful! 

The girls had been commenting about how easy it was to find their baskets last year, so the challenge was on for good hiding places! I think we succeeded! 

Will was on the look. . .. . 

With a little help from Daddy, he discovered his basket in the office (clean) trash can.

 And he dug right in. . . .

Lucy paused to think about it . . . .

Anna Kate scurried about, without much luck.

In an effort to help one another, sisters consulted . . . .

They were all found!

And as promised, we went outside to *try* to get a few photos

The dresses sent with love from El Paso are perfect . . . .

Will had completely destroyed his shirt with the chocolate from his Easter basket 

before pictures even started!

Anna Kate wanted to show off her earrings from Gramma Maggy . . . .

An afternoon with Abby

We had so much fun with Abby one afternoon! She came over after her nap and stayed through dinner. She and Will are only a month apart.

While they were having their snack, he would growl or make his fake belly laugh, 

and Abby would crack up! 

Aunt Hillery visited

Of course, we went to the museum during Aunt Hillery's visit. We rode the carousel twice! So fun!

We picked up Anna Kate from school and headed downtown.

 This might be one of my favorites! 

The weather was amazing while Hill was here. So after the museum, we went out to the plaza and really enjoyed ourselves! 

As you can see from these next 4 pictures, the kids were having a ton of fun climbing on the marble slope outside the Egg. Be still my heart! With that ledge at their feet, I was sure we would not leave that spot without tears and blood.

 But we did!

And so we walked on. Here's Hill outside the Capitol Building. Frankly, I was more interested in their faces than the building, which I can see all the time. 

While Hillery was in Albany, Dave was in Florida. So, we were busy! We might not have lots of pictures but we hit all the hot spots - eating Fountain Pizza, buying New York apples (at the store this time of year), walking around the neighborhood, Hill had dates with all the girls! And I even squeezed some teaching tips from her while she was here! What a blessing to have her all to ourselves. We hope it's a trend that we see more and more!

Keeping Busy and Puzzles!

Sometimes, I just need to be able to get something done!

It's moment like these that just might bring out my best parenting because I'm willing to have a mess. It's like a "fair trade."

This was one of those moments. I had started cookies and was determined to finish them.

So, I gave Will some flour to play in. He was happy (even if covered)

And, on another day. He didn't want to go outside to play, but he needed to get engaged in something to capture his attention. Some dried beans in a pan with his animals

 (thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Sheehan) were just the thing!

Samantha showing off her puzzle.

Anna Kate finished this 500-piece photograph puzzle during her winter break. 

One week is the quickest we've done one of these. And now, we're on to puzzle #3 for this winter.

Lucy finished a super mind puzzle, which uses different shapes to create a picture.