March into April

Time to play catch-up again! Here's Dusty Kitty getting big (this was taken March 18th).

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On March 21st, it was finally a nice, windy day and we had great success with our kites. When we got to the park, there were probably 25 other kites being flown!

Christian loved holding onto his for awhile, but then he wanted to play on the playground. Faith and Tony kept the kites going for a few more hours (!) and got them so high that they had out the entire spool of string. This was not the wimpy string that came with the kites, oh no, it was a separate spool that Tony bought for each that was much longer. It took Tony and I about 15 or 20 minutes to roll all that string and reel the kites in when we were ready to leave!

I took some of Faith's artwork off the fridge to put in her memory box and wanted to document it here also. Isn't she just the best little artist?


And this one made me laugh. In school they were supposed to make the cabin out of construction paper strips, but Faith had to add some extra flair to it! She made a door that would open, Abraham Lincoln, his mailbox (which opens and has a little pocket to hold mail), and a tiny envelope. When she got home and was showing it to me, she decided that there needed to be a mail carrier to deliver the mail, and she made him riding a bike because she knew cars hadn't been invented yet! The bike basket also has a pocket that holds the mail. I digitally labeled everything for your convenience :D

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Christian took this photo and I posted it to document Tony's new facial hair style--the "soul patch".

On April 1st, we didn't do much by way of April Fools pranks, but I did make Christian a turkey/tomato/spinach sandwich wrap for lunch. He enjoyed the heck outta that thing!

That night we went over to Joy's house for a homemade sushi night! Jordan was out of town for a business trip, so Tony wasn't too sad to skip it and stay home with Christian who was having a really late nap. Joy showed me how they make their own take on the California roll:

on seaweed sushi wraps she puts mayo, sushi rice (short grain rice cooked, then mixed with sushi rice vinegar), imitation crab, and cucumber and avacado cut in rectangular sticks.

She then rolled it tightly on the mat and sliced it. Before you eat it, you dip it in Kikoman soy sauce and then in toasted sesame seeds. I didn't know if I liked the flavor of the seaweed at first, but it grew on me and I really liked these rolls!

Faith and Sierra, after enjoying their dinner (that Sierra can put away sushi rolls like you wouldn't believe!!), ran around like crazy kids. Thanks for the fun girls' night, Joy!

April 5th was Noah's third birthday and Sarah threw a Thomas birthday party for him at my mom & dad's. Here they are playing "pass the Thomas" for a chance to win a striped engineer hat. (The kids LOVE that Eric's a good sport and always joins in on the kiddie games!)

They all ended up winning at some point! Here's Eric rocking his,

and my kids looking adorable in theirs.

They also played "pin the number on Thomas"

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and a relay of sorts where the little kids were train cars and they raced to shake (Brendon)Sir Topham Hat's hand. Christian got confused about where to run to and took off down the sidewalk! He finally responded to our calling and turned around after he got a couple of houses down the block.

On the 8th we had Ann & Natalie and the kids over for an Easter party. The kids first made cake pops. Instead of the cake & frosting mix, I food processor-ize a package of Oreos, then mixed in a block of cream cheese.
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They were so yummy! Here is Faith showing off her creations,

and Maddie assisting Christian with his.

They turned out so cute!

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Next, I had the kids put together some felt finger puppets that looked like bunnies and chicks, but had egg shaped bodies. Moms had to help a bunch (sorry moms!), but the kids loved the finished product!

Poor Brody thinks that most of our craft projects are too young or "girlie" for him, so he hangs out with the toys or just playing with Hunter while we do them.

I even had a mom craft this time--we made plastic egg wreaths!

After Faith took that picture, Christian wanted to take some, too. He got this great, albeit close-up, picture of Kynan.

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Then it was Ky's turn and he got this super-attractive shot of Christian! We had such a fun time playing and visiting.

The next day we had over my friend Brandy with her daughter Kelsie and twin boys Bridger & Garret. First we colored Easter eggs. Brandi's boys were so quick at egg dying, they loved plopping the egg into a color, pulling it out and moving on to the next egg. Christian, on the other hand, took 10 minutes to dye one--dipping it partially into one color, turning it, then putting another part into another color. It took forever, but his eggs did turn out awesome!

Then the kids decorated egg-shaped creamy Jello Jigglers with frosting.

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The boys all did big mountains of pastel colored frosting which reminded me of your windshield when you go through the carwashes that have the pink, yellow and baby blue foam soap :)

The girls took their time and turned theirs into masterpieces. We had a great time with Brandi & her family, we hope to get together with them soon!

On the evening of April 9th, the kids enjoyed some cantaloupe after their bath.

They were eagerly awaiting a visit from the Easter bunny! Here are some of their cute eggs. (By the way, Christian tried really hard to hold his towel closed and showcase his eggs at the same time, but it was too hard and I guess he just decided "what the heck!" Luckily I edit all these pics before posting!)