Easter 2011

We had a very exciting Easter weekend! Saturday was spent at the egg hunt Auntie Kristin hosts in Duxbury and then visiting Mimi & Buppy in Hingham. Here the kids are decked out in their rain gear and ready to hunt (it's an outdoor hunt and it was a rainy day):




Being silly in the car on the way there:

Our handsome boy hunting:

Dress or no dress, Maddie decided to plop right down on the wet grass to check out her hunting booty:

Maddie and cousin Meg:

The annual post hunt "wall" photo (M&A with their cousins Niklas & Colin):

Easter day brought us our own hunt in the house:

The weather turned out to be gorgeous despite the predicted rain. Here the kids are all dressed up to go to Grandma & Peepa's for Easter dinner:

Unfortunately none of the photos I took of M&A with their Maas cousins turned out very well. The one great family photo is on Grandma & Peepa's camera. But it was a lovely afternoon. Aunt Janet was up for a visit and Aidan was absolutely in love with her little french poodle Pierre. Poor Pierre couldn't get a moment's rest without Aidan asking "Where did the doggie go?". I think we all ate a bit too much, but that always seems to happen at family holidays :)

Roller Derby in our future?

This morning's activities included...

Practice makes perfect...

Thanks for the roller skates Mimi & Buppy. This is the first outdoor sport that has held Aidan's attention for more than 5 minutes. They kept at it for a good half hour!

Splendor in the Grass, Matey!

Well, all our hard work has paid off and we've got a fabulous new backyard. We fenced it in to keep our little adventurers from having unsupervised escapades in the brook that runs through our property. And we purchased a fancy new wooden swingset to provide years of outdoor entertainment! We've got quite a bit more landscaping to do, but we are already fully enjoying the fruits of our (and the workers') labor. Here's the gang prepping the swingset site a few weeks ago. We installed it on the sandpit where our above ground pool used to be. The sand has turned out to be quite messy, so we'll be having playground mulch delivered next weekend... TADA - the kids christened her 'BUCKY' after the pirate ship on "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"... Any good pirate ship needs a flag (a 5 ft. flag no less)... Aidan immediately impressed us with his desire to slide (his sensory/balance issues typically cause him to avoid slides)... Yo Ho Ho (Maddie's favorite new quote) - I found hats & treasure maps at iparty that are perfect for our theme...

They call themselves Jake & Izzy (tv show reference)...

No backyard would be complete w/out a snack station...

And we also managed to enjoy lunch on our new deck table...

Can you tell we've really been looking forward to spring/summer!!

As a side note, 3 1/2 seems to be the age where the kids have decided to cooperate with my photography efforts. They've always made it next to impossible for me to get good shots; and now all of a sudden they are saying "CHEESE" and smiling/holding hands on command. Happy times :-)