Easter 2009

On Good Friday we had planned to go visit Focus on the Family's visitor center with a group of friends from MOPS. Unfortunately we didn't realize they would be closed on Good Friday. That was the second time we had rescheduled for the week and a real bummer. So instead we went to the mall playground and at lunch at Chick-Fil-A with my care group leader and her son who is a great friend for Rylan. I definitely want to try again to go to Focus, so hopefully it will work out soon.


Rylan has either outgrown or worn out most of his winter clothes, so I was being creative with his new summer clothes. I thought he looked really cute in this green polo.


Another cute picture. Rylan is so rarely willing to pose for pictures, so I take advantage of it whenever I can.


Our Easter snow! We woke up to just a light dusting of snow, but about 7:45 it started snowing again. I decided not to wear my sleeveless dress and sandals after all and opted for a sweater set and more "practical" shoes. (I have heard stories of Coloradans wearing snow boots with Easter dresses. Evidently it snows almost every Easter!) I snowed steadily for about six hours, and it was the most beautiful snow I had seen, at least in a really long time. The snowflakes were so large they looked like butterflies. All in all, it was a wondeful, relaxing Easter. We went to a great church service, came home to eat a delicious brunch of home-made cinnamon rolls, eggs, grits and bacon. I made Charlton's favorite dinner later, oven-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and biscuits.

Rylan beat us downstairs on Easter morning and as soon as he noticed the baskets he was super excited. I intercepted him as he was climbing on the table. His basket had a new shiny Lightning McQueen car and lots of eggs filled with his favorite candy, M&M's.

Our Easter cake. Nothing super special, I decided to make it at the last minute. Yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing, and of course, sprinkles. It was delicious, if not terribly creative.



My handsome Clarke men. I found a blue oxford cloth shirt for Rylan and the cutest bucks shoes on Ebay for a great deal. He looked like such a big boy in his dressy clothes.

Me and my sweet girl in her Easter dress.


Caroline's Easter bunny. Thanks, Nana! Rylan has a blue bear that he calls, "bear-bear" and he has been completely attached to it since about 7 months. I wonder if Caroline will bond with her "bunny" the same way. Rylan thought it was very neat that Caroline has a special "friend" like his bear-bear.


Rylan with his mouth full of M&M's investigating his Easter eggs.



Here we asked Rylan to smile and this was his response.

The kids with their Easter baskets. We had to move our egg hunt indoors because of the snow, but Rylan still had a great time searching all over the downstairs for his eggs. After he found them, he would shake them to see if they had something inside, open them up, and then add to his ever growing pile of candy.

A little art project and fun with Caroline's hair....

When Rylan was born, I had a special frame that opened like a book. On one side I put his baby picture from the hospital and on the other, I put a mold of his footprint. With Caroline, I decided to do a little something different. I didn't have hospital pictures taken of her, so I took some when she was more alert about a week later at home. I took a mold of her foot, too and then designed a "page" with her picture and initials. I wish I could have gotten this picture to turn out better, I should have taken it before I put it under the glass, but at least you can get the idea. The colors match the lavender and sage green in her room.


Here is what my sweet girl looks like fresh from the bath.


Ahh, much better. The wild hair is all combed and tidy.

Picnic fun

Wednesday was absolutely beautiful. We played at the park in the morning and saw a preschool class on a field trip having a picnic lunch. I told Rylan we could go home and have a picnic too, with Daddy. So, we spread our blanket on the back patio, because the sprinkler was running in the yard, and enjoyed our sandwiches in the sunshine. So much fun. When the cold and snow come tomorrow, hopefully it won't be so bad since we thoroughly enjoyed this taste of spring.



Miss Caroline modeling her sun hat.

Trying to decide which egg to start with. Very important decision.


This colored "water" smells funny.


What an interesting egg!


Look at this beautiful blue egg! Also notice the not-so-beautiful blue fingers.


All done with dyeing, now we get to pick out some stickers for decorating.


Rylan making Easter cookies. A few seconds after this picture, he ate part of the ear off the bunny. He loves eating the sprinkles.


The finished iced cookies. Yumm!

Rylan dyes Easter eggs pt. 2

Rylan dyes Easter eggs

Easter Fun

Easter has really crept up on me this year. I looked at the calendar last week and realized it was sooner than I had thought. Maybe it is because the weather has been very un-spring like the past two weeks. We have had four snow storms, including one blizzard. My poor tulips are frozen on the side of the house and still covered in snow on the front.
I am so eager for warm weather, especially so we can get outside to play more often. Thankfully with Easter coming, I had a few "tricks" for indoor entertainment. We made our standard iced sugar cookies with sprinkles, of course. Rylan is crazy about sprinkles and preferred eating them to actually putting them on the cookies. Usually when we ask him if he would like a certain food, he adds, "With sprinkles on it?" Maybe I need to try that trick to get him to eat his veggies.
We also dyed Easter eggs for the first time. That was one of my favorite parts of Easter as a child, but I was a little nervous to try that activity with a two-year old. Somehow the combination of colorful liquid dyes, fragile eggs, and an excited toddler seems like a recipe for disaster. So, with a thick towel protecting the counter and a sheet on the floor, I mixed all the dyes, rolled up Rylan's sleeves and set out a half-dozen hard-boiled eggs. Rylan had the most wonderful time, even better than I had expected. He loved dunking the eggs into the cups of liquid and then pulling them out again to observe the colorful transformation. We had so much fun, and..we only broke half the eggs! Not bad for our first time.