446 Easter Weekend

My mom came to visit last Wednesday (since I finally uncovered the bed in my craft room/ guest room), and we were all so excited to spend some time with Grammy! Meals eaten at the table, cups of coffee consumed. Mostly time spent relaxing and just enjoying having my Mommy in the same room with me.
Katie wore her t-shirt to school last Thursday since there was no school on actual Earth Day. She was super excited to come home and have me force her to stand still for a picture. Such joy on her face... and please ignore where the hamster peed on her. *sigh*
Sidenote: Chip took her to have her hair cut last Monday ... AND HE LET THEM CUT LAYERS IN HER HAIR! Boys just don't know that layers are a hair stylists way of making you come back soon. Sure, it looked good when she blew it out and straightened it, but I can barely get the girl to comb her hair. In other words, a week later it looks like it was butchered.

Friday we headed down to Batesville to visit our cousins. Katie and Connor had a blast! Grammy insisted we take some pictures in this wicker chair that had belonged to my great grandmother. Grammy introduced Katie to headbands. She has worn them before, but they have never been a big part of her accessorizing. I hope they stick around! Anything to keep her hair out of her face.

The kids had a BLAST on the four wheeler. I think it was hard to keep Connor from grabbing the throttle.

Saturday we managed to make it to an egg hunt BEFORE the hordes were released upon the Easter Bunny droppings. A petting zoo area and a bounce house and the kids were happy.



The kids were split up into age groups, and I am so glad Chip was able to go with us because he took Katie to her section while I had Connor. He was so cute waiting for the hunt to begin. He enjoyed the wind blowing through his hair, and he was a pro at egg hunting!

Well ... Katie can pout about ANYTHING!

An after Easter Egg Hunt lunch at a Chinese buffet seems to have cheered her up though.

I also managed to ruin three dozen eggs. I tried hard boiling them all at one time with a towel folded between the layers. One, I didn't use a white towel ... it was yellow, and so were all of my eggs when I was done. Two, they were shy of being hard boiled. Impossible to peel, and soft. The yolks were a gorgeous yellow though ...

Not that the kids cared if the eggs were slightly yellow. We had so much fun dyeing them! Even Connor got in on it ... and on dyeing his arm blue.

We couldn't let the fun end. We broke out a white crayon. Katie went crazy drawing and writing on the eggs. We tried transferring temporary tattoos, but that didn't work as well as I had hoped. We also broke out the Sharpie markers to draw on the dyed eggs. 

An Easter Morning Egg Hunt to round out the Easter festivities...

The Easter Bunny hit it out of the park with the Play Doh filled eggs. That Easter Bunny is awesome! 

Another great thing about my Mom visiting this past weekend was that she watched the kids so we could go out for our NINTH wedding anniversary ... I use the term wedding loosely since it was a super quick JP ceremony, 13 minutes from the car and back. Makes it seem silly that we overslept the first appointment to get married on the 23rd, but really, I could sleep through anything back then. Especially in those precious days before children when sleep was one of my greatest talents.

We went out for dinner to celebrate. We decided to try a different sushi place... I know you are shocked.... We tried sake for the first time. We opted for the Sampler to get an idea of what we might like. I like the green apple and the watermelon. Well, truthfully I can live without the sake, but if I had to choose.

 CHEERS! Happy Anniversary to us!

We were a little concerned about whether or not it would live up to our experiences at Nagoya, but when the rolls were delivered we were quite pleased (though we prefer the ambiance at Nagoya). We ordered the Super and the Fuji rolls. If I remember correctly then the roll covered with a MOUND of crawfish is the Fuji, and the Super has soft shell crab. They were DELICIOUS! 

Oh, and I did start my Fiber Arts Friday project ON Friday, but I was too busy enjoying my time with Mom to get on the computer. I will post it this Friday and we can pretend it is still Earth Day ... and shouldn't we love the Earth everyday anyway?!

Thank you Mom for coming out to see us. We loved having you here .... you know there are a ton of houses for sale nearby .... I wish I could sip coffee with you everyday. I love you so much!