Easter & Lots of Outdoor Fun!

2 Sundays ago was Easter and I was very much looking forward to doing an Easter egg hunt in our backyard for Caleb. For awhile I was afraid our snow wouldn't be melted but luckily we had a ton of melting the 2 weeks before Easter, so it was all gone. My parents came over to watch Caleb do his Easter egg hunt and he did not disappoint with his reaction to it. He absolutely loved it! He was so excited to find the eggs and he had to open every single one before putting it in his basket. I mostly put snack things in there like Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, Cheez Doodles, etc. There were a few with chocolate candy, but we didn't let him eat too many of those. He would say "Oooooo!" every time he opened one and it was so funny. I was very happy with his reaction since it was something that I had been looking forward to doing. It is always nice when he responds well to something I have planned for him! He was also very disappointed when he had found all the eggs and it was over. Next year Levi will be able to do the Easter egg hunt with us and that will be a lot of fun!

This was on Sabbath before Easter. He was testing out his basket. 

All ready to go! Yes, the snow was melted but it was still cool outside. 

I think this is the "Oooooo!" face. 

Eating some of his treats for lunch!

Monday after Easter we went to our play group in the morning. Caleb had a lot of fun playing in the water table especially. 

Monday afternoon was nice enough that we could play outside in our backyard and Caleb enjoyed playing in the sandbox. I can't wait until it is warm enough to go out without a coat!!

Tuesday we went to music class and Caleb had a lot of fun again. Tuesday evening was swimming lessons and I went for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Tuesday night after swimming I made smoothies as part of our supper and gave Caleb some in a cup with a straw. He really liked it and asked to have smoothies again the next day. 

Wednesday I worked and I have no idea what Caleb and Grammy did because that was awhile ago. I think this picture is from that day though so I guess they went to the library. 

I don't really remember what we did on Thursday. We didn't have any play groups or classes and we didn't have a play date, so we probably did some shopping and played at home. 

On Friday Caleb was with Grammy in the morning and the girls in the afternoon. Again, I have no idea what they did, but I'm sure it was fun. 

Last Friday night and Sabbath, we had a 24-hour prayer vigil at our church. There were people in charge of each hour of the prayer vigil and I was in charge from 3:00-4:00 pm on Sabbath. Initially when I said yes, I didn't know that that meant I was going to have to be in front leading out for an hour. I thought I was just going to be sitting in the church praying quietly, but that's not what it turned out to be. So, I had to get some materials together on Friday night with quotes about prayer, some songs, etc. I was very nervous to be up front, but it ended up going pretty well, so I was happy that I did ok getting out of my comfort zone. 

On Sunday, I worked most of the day and then we went to an Italian dinner at the church that was put on by the school kids. It was delicious and we had a nice time. 

On Monday, we had our play group. We were disappointed because our friends couldn't come because they were sick, but it ended up that several families weren't there and so it was actually a nice quiet group with only 7 kids there. Caleb had fun making a bagel bird feeder with Miss Gaby, one of the teachers. He also enjoyed playing outside and was not happy when we had to go inside to get ready to go. 

On Monday afternoon after Caleb's nap, we headed to the playground to meet up with our friends Heidi and Grace. It was a beautiful afternoon and Caleb and Grace had a lot of fun playing. Just across the street from the playground is a feed store and we heard they had baby goats, so we walked over there and had fun seeing the animals. 

On Tuesday, I actually had to go to work because I had a big meeting that was scheduled for that day. So, I switched days and stayed home on Wednesday instead. That meant my mom got to take Caleb to music class, which I guess went fine. 

It was also my mom's birthday that day, so they went out to lunch with the office staff after music class. Caleb went down for a late nap because of that and then not even half an hour into his nap the Comcast guy was there and had to be working right near where Caleb was napping, so he woke up and never went back to sleep. Bummer. Steve picked Caleb up from Grammy's and took him to swimming lessons (the last one) and I met my parents, Jeff and Dania, and Debbie Dawson and her mother at Alberto's for supper for my mother's birthday. It also happened to be free cone day at Ben & Jerry's, which is right next door, so we went and got a free ice cream for dessert. 

Since I didn't have to work on Wednesday, we went over to Heidi and Grace's house for a play date on Wednesday morning. They have a nice backyard and it was a nice day, so we stayed out there pretty much the entire time. Then Heidi actually fed us an early lunch and then we went home for Caleb's nap. We had a fun time and it was so nice to be outside. Wednesday afternoon we took a quick trip to Toys R Us and then spent some time playing outside. When Steve got home, he got out the picnic table and water table and Caleb wanted to eat supper at the picnic table, so we did. 

On Thursday we had to do some errands earlier in the morning and then we came home and Caleb played outside with his water table and sandbox for quite awhile. It was a nice day but Caleb of course got soaked playing with the water and I knew it was time to go inside when he told me he wanted his gloves because his hands were cold. 

He had his eyes closed for quite awhile and I asked him why his eyes were closed and he said it was because the sun was in his eyes. It was so funny. I think I would have gotten dizzy on the swing if my eyes were closed like that. 

Thursday afternoon we went to the Centerville playground with some of our friends. It was another nice day and Caleb and the other kids had fun playing. 

Yesterday I worked and my mom had Caleb in the morning. She had to go to an estate sale for a little while, so Caleb went to Auntie Jen's house for a little bit. Jen told me that Caleb was a big help with Levi. 

Levi was also at Grammy's house for a little while and here is a picture of Caleb watching Levi in the jumper. I wonder if Caleb remembers how much he loved that thing when he was a baby? 

The girls had Caleb in the afternoon and I was a little annoyed because he didn't take a nap, which hasn't really been happening with me lately. I think they took him out too early, but oh well. I guess that's the risk I take by having babysitters. Unfortunately, when he doesn't nap that sets off a chain of events that is hard to get out of. So, he slept almost 12 hours last night and is now (as I write this) taking forever to go down for his nap because he slept so long last night. 

Anyway, yesterday I went to another kids' consignment sale after work and Steve came home and took care of Caleb, which was nice. My freedom will be severely limited again once the new baby comes, so I need to enjoy it while I can! I got a lot of good things at the sale, but everything was full price so I didn't buy as much. Today is the 1/2 price sale, but obviously I can't go on Sabbath, so that's why I went last night. There is one more sale coming up in another couple of weeks and it is on Saturday/Sunday, so this time I will get to go to the 50% off sale on Sunday. 

Well, I guess that's about it for this time. Here are some parting shots. 

Steve wanted to get rid of this cereal because it had been in our pantry for awhile and he didn't like it, so he just dumped the box out on Caleb's tray and then threw away what Caleb didn't eat. Caleb thought it was pretty funny, though.