...grandma's easter party...

my mom had a little easter party for the kids a few days before easter. it was so nice of her to put it together...the kids loved it & i'm thinking that it may be the start of a fun little tradition...no pressure mom...but i don't think anyone would be opposed!

she came up with such a cute idea for serving lunch to the kids. first of all, she bought them all some cheap little shirts to wear to cover their clothes...which i thought was brilliant since my kids have ruined so many clothes because they wouldn't wear bibs. so they had no problem wearing a t-shirt & it saved all their nice clothes. i was very happy about that!

anyway, back to the food, she put all sorts of different food inside of plastic eggs and then put the eggs inside a carton and then put the cartons on the kids' plates. it was very cute & the kids loved finding all the food inside...

as you can see by emerson's face...she thought it was pretty cool herself. her facial expressions make me laugh...

and here's miss kalle putting on all her fun jewelry from grandma...so cute.

here's not-so-little-anymore grady. isn't he cute?! brynn's been so good to keep him inside during the cold & flu season...so we haven't seen him much until now. zac loves having a baby cousin around...and you really can't blame him!

then we had an easter egg hunt...

followed by decorating easter shaped rice krispies with white chocolate. these are so yummy & it's a fun little spin on the usual cookie decorating. zac loves things like this...he's always so focused & he's always been that way...it's funny to see how kids just come with certain personality traits, because....

emerson on the other hand is much more carefree when doing these sorts of activities...she loves it, but she doesn't have near as much perfectionism in her as zac does.

we dyed easter eggs & fingers...and had so much fun the entire time! thanks grandma syd! :)

...some easter magic...

at christmastime, we started this tradition. zac & emerson loved it so much that we've now adapted the same idea to work for easter. we were at tai pan about a month ago and zac found this little bunny somewhere & insisted that i ask the workers if it was a magic bunny. i had to give the worker a little wink of the eye so she wouldn't think i was some crazy woman who was out of my mind, but she must have been a grandma because she quickly caught on and let zac know that yes, this was one of the easter bunny's magic little helpers. sooo, for $7 we got ourselves some easter magic!!

meet jumpers. starting april 1st, each morning he starts bringing the kids a little surprise and is hiding in a different spot around the house. the kids love this! and i love it, because it's something that even emerson gets excited about. and, another perk about these magic little helpers is that they're always watching to make sure the kids behave...funny how that always seems to help!

...happiest place on earth...

we're back & are still in recovery mode from literally going non-stop for the four days we were at disneyland! we really had so much fun. the kids did great...emerson had her fussy spells on the 3rd & 4th days...but that is to be expected when you're out of your normal routine right?? she wouldn't sit in the stroller...so chad & i definitely got our fair share of exercise in...which really isn't a bad thing, so i couldn't complain too much! all in all, i definitely think that the reality of disneyland exceeded zac's expectations...and he loved it! lots of good memories, that's for sure...

"Autopia" was a big hit with the kids...the second time we rode it, chad let emerson be in control of the steering wheel...she loved it, but i think chad had a headache by the time it was over...she would just go back and forth as fast as she could, hitting the median thing probably a thousand times...so funny. :)

what would we do without our very own tour guide??! for some reason, zac LOVES maps...i think that he feels super smart or extra grown-up when he's looking at them or something...it's so funny to me! even before we left for california, he started asking me if disneyland had a map to look at...as soon as he found the maps at the park, he snatched one up & literally did not put it down. he was actually pretty good at reading it too, when we were planning to go on the teacups, zac pulled out his map and said, "mom, the teacups are through the castle and to the right. see??" and sure enough, he was right!

the best $5 we could have ever spent! emerson saw this minnie phone in the store the first night we were there...and from that point on, carried it everywhere. it was a lifesaver!

we had breakfast with the characters...which was fun...daisy, minnie, lilo, & stitch were there...emerson liked the characters as long as they stayed a good five feet away...once they got closer, she didn't want anything to do with them...that's to be expected with any two year old i think!

nothing like falling asleep on daddy's shoulder. it was so nice to have our hotel so close...chad was able to just take her back for a nap when she got too tired...and that made a huge difference...everyone was happier!

this pineapple icecream outside of the tiki room was delicious!! the perfect treat while we waited.

so one day zac wanted a treat, and i did too. he decided on the icecream sandwich & then i debated about whether or not i should get myself one. but then i remembered that it was zac i was with...the child who has the smallest appetite of anyone i have ever met & who rarely finishes a meal. so i decided to buy only one & then i patiently waited for him to be through...i think he took three bites & was done. so my lucky self got to enjoy the rest!

so for the last two months, zac has been entertained by youtube videos of the disneyland parade...i was starting to get a little worried that he would have no surprises and it wouldn't be quite as fun since he'd already seen everything...but i was wrong. both kids loved the parade. how could they not?! one of the disney workers recommended that we make reservations at the wine trateria...and i'm so glad we did...because we had perfect seats for watching the parade while we ate. definitely something to remember!

i LOVE emmy's expression here...i think it basically sums up her experience of the whole vacation...so much to experience for the first time! :)

and i love zac's happy face here on the roller coaster...he was having a great time! :)

here we are at the character dinner at goofy's kitchen...which was sooo fun! if you have to ever choose between the breakfast and the dinner...definitely do the dinner! you get a lot more one-on-one time with the characters, and the food was super good. :)

so yes, we had lots of fun! and it was the happiest place on earth while we were there...but until next time, we'll try to make 'real life' just as happy! :)

...california bound...

we've decided to take these crazies to disneyland...and we're going tomorrow! zac cannot wait...he's been talking about going since october...and has saved every penny, nickel, dime, & quarter that he finds or earns. he now has somewhere around $45 saved up...so we're heading over to the bank today to get some bills in place of the coins. zac doesn't really understand why...if he could have it his way, he'd be carrying his piggy bank around the entire park...mmmm, i don't think so. i think he has now seen every youtube video about disneyland that there is to see...looked at every picture of every ride and seen every character that we could possibly meet when we get there. he's so funny! i can't wait...

...it's a jeep thing...

the kids were finally able to take the jeep outside for a ride this week. emerson loved tagging along & zac was a very focused driver! he has decided that next christmas, he's going to ask santa for a fire truck...with a siren & horn...cool. not so sure about that one... :)