Easter Fun 2012

The night before Easter we did some Easter egg decorating. This year Hannah was way more into it than the previous year and it was so much fun. She probably would have decorated for hours if we had had more eggs. She was a very careful and patient egg decorator. She put a lot of thought into each egg, first drawing on it, then deciding what color (or combination of colors) it was going to be. A few days after Easter I bought a couple more kits at the store so that we could enjoy more egg decorating in the future. She is also now a huge fan of eating boiled eggs. :)

 This year we started a tradition of leaving something out for the Easter bunny to eat. We were out of carrots, so we left lettuce instead with a little bowl of water on the side. She was very excited to leave the Easter bunny food.

 She was so excited she even asked to sample the lettuce before heading to bed. :)

 Easter morning the first thing she said upon waking and us coming in to get her up was, "Let's go see if the Easter bunny ate his lettuce and drank his water!!"  :)  After opening her basket from the Easter bunny, Hannah helped me make monkey bread and then we all got ready and headed over to Josh's mom and step-dad's for Easter brunch. Hannah and her cousins had fun opening their Easter buckets from Grandma and Papa & we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast (broccoli/bacon quiche & a sausage/spinach quiche, monkey bread, my sister-in-law Mel's homemade cinnamon french toast casserole, and fresh fruit). The girls had a blast hunting for Easter eggs after brunch. Every time (and I mean literally EVERY time) Hannah found an egg she'd shout out with excitement, "I found one!!"  It was pretty cute. After the girls found their eggs from the Easter bunny, they wanted another hunt so we sent them inside and hid the eggs once again. :)

Look at all my eggs!

and almost losing all her eggs :)

the girls showing off their favorite egg

With grandma and papa (just missing cousins Austin and Tristan)

family pic

enjoying their eggs

sleepy girl on our way home

Easter day trip to the park before dinner

Hannah is 3

Last week and weekend we celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday. I am so happy we were able to have all of her birthday celebrations take place without the birth of her sister interrupting anything.  :)  Having two April babies made me a little nervous of the fact that they could possibly share the same birthday, I'm happy to no longer have to worry about that! On her actual birthday (4/4) Hannah and I met Josh for lunch near his work. It was great to see Josh during the day and Hannah was very excited to enjoy lunch time with her dad. After her nap I took her to meet up with her BFF Kenzie at the park for some fun in the sun. After the park we headed home to make dinner. A few days before her birthday when we asked Hannah what she wanted for her bday dinner and she asked for mashed potatoes, chicken and asparagus (& a chocolate cake w/ sprinkles for dessert). :)  Her requests were easy to meet. That evening we had her open up her gifts from mom and dad. A new Richard Scarry book (her current fav. author) titled What People Do All Day (this was one of my all time fav books as a kid); some new books for her Story Reader; flip flops; her birthday shirt (we order her a personalized shirt every year to wear at her birthday party); a new sleeping bag and a balance bike. She was very excited about her gifts and was eager to try them all out. When we asked her later what her favorite gift was, she enthusiastically said, "my pink flip flops because I've alwaaaaays wanted flip flops!!"  :) The funny thing is, last summer she refused to wear flip flops, yet this year was sooooooo excited about them :)



birthday dinner







showing off her new shirt



all cozy in her new sleeping bag

trying out her balance bike

We had Hannah's 3rd birthday party at Rohnert Park Gymnastics. The kids had a blast taking part in various activities for an hour while the adults either chatted or played too. :) After the gymnastics activities everyone enjoyed snacks/appetizers, we sang Hannah happy birthday and then she opened her gifts. Clean up 10 min. = VERY happy mom and dad!! (after her last two birthday bashes the house was a mess so this was a very nice change!) That evening we met up with friends for dinner and then decorated Easter eggs at home before bed. Super fun day!


listening to the gymnastics instructors before getting started



balance beam

a little nervous...but eventually tried out the zip line

birthday cupcakes I made per her many requests...pink, green, sprinkles, jelly beans and flowers  :)

blowing out her candles

new water table from her friends

ready to try out her new scooter

Our beautiful birthday girl

3 year pics of Hannah & belly shots of Jordyn

My good friend Andrea came down from Grass Valley with her little guy Hudson to visit last Monday. We enjoyed lunch together at our house, watching the kids play and catching up. While visiting Andrea also snapped some impromptu pics of Hannah and of my belly. All the pictures below she took in less than 10 minutes. She's so talented! Hannah hugs, kisses and rubs my belly so often every day and I've wished that it could be captured on film....well now it is! Thank you Andrea!!  :)

Enjoying every minute of maternity leave

Oh I could so get used to being a stay at home mom :)  I have enjoyed my three weeks off from work so incredibly much. Don't get me wrong, I love my job...teaching is my passion & I could never walk away from my profession, yet spending so much time focusing on my family, myself, my house, my "to do" list, etc... has been extremely refreshing and rewarding. The first of my three weeks off was spent in Humboldt with my family. The last two weeks here in Rohnert Park have been filled with accomplishing many things off my incredibly long list of things I needed to get done; spending lots of one-on-one time with Hannah; ejoying a pedicure with friends; organizing/cleaning multiple rooms of my house and enjoying relaxing evenings with Josh and Hannah (void of laundry folding, dish washing, etc... because I've had the time to get that done during the day). I know my relaxing, non-hectic days at home are limited because any day now another sweet little girl will enter our lives, so I continue to enjoy each day and relish in the moments. This week we celebrated Hannah's third birthday, traveled to Fairyland & the A's Opening Day game today, will have Hannah's birthday party with her friends at Rohnert Park Gymnastics tomorrow and celebrate Easter with Josh's family Sunday. So many fun events and special memories created. I hope the next 4 1/2 months of time off work

go by ever so slowly...

reading a book in her "fort" with dad

wanted to pose for a pic with her baby

Saturday morning trip to the donut shop with mom and dad

Having fun at My Gym in Santa Rosa

tracing her name and drawing a picture of her family at mom's work

3 year doctor checkup

being silly and striking a pose for mom

cuddling with her cat Chloe

testing out our new glider

making coffee for dad

coloring with her cousins Mazzy and Camryn

With my beautiful sister-in-law Cassie (due in July)

cousins :)

homemade smoothie=smoothie mustache :)