Easter 2015

Easter weekend was so much fun! It started with a trip to the Greensboro Science Center on Good Friday, Saturday was for cooking and some fun around the house, and Sunday - of course - was Easter. After we got home from Greensboro on Friday I got out the stuff to color eggs. Grant has been talking about doing this for a while and he had so much fun with it. We used a Planes Fire & Rescue kit this year.

He got a little heavy handed with the stickers so when he
ran out, he asked me to draw the names & numbers of his favorite
hockey players and race car driver on them with a sharpie.

I was really excited about hiding Grant's Easter basket this year. I know not everyone does that but mine was always hidden growing up (until I moved out, I'm not kidding) and I love watching Grant hunt for his basket, it's so fun for him. I decided to get a little creative this year and do a little scavenger hunt. So when he woke up that morning there was a note taped to his dresser from the Easter Bunny. Grant goes "It's an Easter card! How cool is that?!" So I read it to him. It said: Happy Easter, Grant! This year I thought I'd send you on a fun hunt for your basket! Are you up for it? You'll find your first clue in the place where your Daddy helps cook dinner. Good luck buddy! He was a little confused at first and thought the kitchen but we steered him toward the grill.

Um...yeah, there are two. The one harboring the egg is broken.

Clue #2!

That one said: Your next egg is hiding in the place where you sleep.

Your next egg is hiding in the place where your Daddy keeps the lawn mower. He'd definitely figured out the game at this point and was off to the garage!

That clue said: Your next egg is hiding in a box with lots of sand. To the sandbox!

Your next egg is hiding in the place where you have fun with your toys. That could have been two places, but it was the living room where he found an egg hiding in his hockey net.

Which told us: Your next egg is hiding in the place where your Mama makes dinner.

Another egg??

This was the last clue. It said: Tired yet? If you need a bath after all that hunting you'll get a fun surprise too! To which Grant replied "I don't need a bath." Husband told him that maybe he should go to the bathroom. "But I don't need a bath!" But we finally convinced him that maybe he should look in the tub.

Surprise!

It didn't take nearly as long as it looks like it did and it was so much fun to watch how excited he got every time he found a new clue. Later on at Gramma & Grandpa's house he told everyone about the adventure the Easter Bunny sent him on.

That dinosaur book is probably his favorite thing that he got. This boy is obsessed with dinosaurs and that book has a ton of them. All morning he sat there thumbing through the book while we got ready to go and then brought it with us to my in-laws house (to "read" in the car and show everyone at lunch).

He got a new set of flashcards that he's pretty jazzed about too.

Side note: That "Goatilocks" book is pretty funny

But it was all about the dinosaur book:

"Hey Daddy. I'm going to read this dinosaur book to you."

We went to my in-laws for Easter lunch later on that morning. Even before Grant thought about his basket he asked "Is it time to go to Gramma's yet?". He was so excited to see everyone and play. We ate lots of yummy food and we took a nice walk after our huge lunch. It was such a pretty day and a pretty awesome weekend! 

High Five for Friday

Hi there! Today I'm linking up Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week.

1) Last week, on Thursday, we had the opportunity to go to Grant's Easter party at school. It was adorable, so much fun, and Grant was so excited that we could both be there. The kids got bunny noses painted on by one of the teachers, there were lots of yummy snacks for them to have, and then we got to do a craft together. 

2) Good Friday was spent in Greensboro at the Greensboro Science Center. Husband doesn't get Good Friday off but he was jealous that we were exploring a new place so he took the day off. I'll get a post up about it eventually, but it was a really neat place. It's an aquarium, museum, and zoo all in one. Lots of neat stuff to see and do and a great way to spend our day off together!

He was so excited about the sharks!

"Look! I'm like Thor!"

Through a tunnel and this bubble, you can go inside the otter habitat!

3) Saturday was Easter prep which meant cooking and my helper was chomping at the bit to get in the kitchen with me. He helped me make the macaroni & cheese and couldn't have been more proud of himself (he also enjoyed the compliments at Easter lunch).

He really is a help!

4) Easter! I'll do more about this soon, but this year the Easter Bunny sent Grant on a little scavenger hunt for his basket. It was a lot of fun to watch him look for all the clues and finally find his basket. And he got to enjoy a little chocolate bunny before heading to Gramma & Grandpa's for a big lunch.

The Easter Bunny brought this dino-lover a new dinosaur book
that might be one of his favorite things ever.

5) My sister sent us a box this week! She sends things to Grant for Easter every year and there was some stuff tucked in the bottom for me too :)

You can never have too many ring pops.

Syracuse sweatpants (and OMG are they comfortable) and three
boxes of my favorite store bought chocolate chip cookies!

6) They recently did pictures at school and they were cap & gown for the kids who will be moving to kindergarten this year. I knew it was coming but I still wasn't prepared. And Grant talks constantly about graduation, the songs they'll sing for us, and how we'll go to the party after. I'm not handling this well. The poor kid thinks I don't want to go because I can't talk about it with him or I'll just start crying!

Not ready. Not even a little.

7) Three words: breakfast for dinner.

Stuffed french toast (with hash browns). One of my favs!

8) Last night Grant really wanted to go outside to fly this foam airplane my sister sent him. He's been begging all week. The storms squashed his dreams. But I had bought the ingredients to make "fluffy stuff" (more on that in an upcoming post) so we did that. He loved it! He played with it for an hour and a half and only stopped because it was bath time. 

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday we took Grant to his first Easter egg hunt! It's always my intention to go but then we're busy or he's sick or whatever. But not this year. The parks near our house have fun things planned throughout the year and they do an egg hunt every year (right across the street from where I took Grant to Trick-or-treat the Trails). They have some fun stuff set up for kids to do for a couple hours and some local people set up booths then at noon they turn the kids loose on the eggs!

When we were walking over to the event we saw a firetruck on display. Firetrucks are one of the things that excite Grant to no end but the boy was on a mission. We had planned to meet a few of his friends out here and he was not to be distracted from finding them.

His "humor mama with a sort of smile while I try to
continue looking for my friends" face.

No boy can resist the opportunity to climb inside a firetruck!

When I saw the amount of people at this thing I figured the odds of finding anyone we planned to meet out there were very slim. And I was very wrong. We managed to find 2 of the 3 families in about 5 minutes (never found the 3rd but they may not have made it) and Grant was so excited to play with his friends!

Checking out the slide with one of his friends.

They had some of this inflatable stuff for the kids to play on and I
think Grant could have stayed on this one all day!

And the rest of the time before the egg hunt started was pretty much just boys being boys running around. 

I absolutely love watching him interact with his friends.

"Come look at the eggs!"

There was a brief pause in the running around for a photo op with Raphael (who acted surprised at Grant being dressed like Michaelangelo and Grant loved it!).

We made our way over to the bubble machine and the boys just ran around popping bubbles until it was time for eggs.

Kids love bubbles!

We made our way to the field where the eggs were with about 15 minutes to go. They had taken down the fencing and I was AMAZED that not one kid made a move toward the eggs until it was time. 

Waiting patiently for the signal...

The Easter Bunny comes to tell them it's go-time...

And they're off!

It went really quick! I'd say in about 5 minutes there was not an egg to be seen. At one point Grant broke an egg and he just left his bucket out there and ran over to Husband with the broken egg because he didn't want to leave it. They didn't allow parents for this age group out on the field so, of course I go into protective-mom-mode and get worried someone will take Grant's eggs (he was so excited about this, it would have made him so sad if he left with no eggs). So I'm standing behind the line yelling over the noise "Grant! Get your bucket! Don't leave your bucket!" I'm sure I looked like a maniac (and for no reason because no one touched his stuff). But he had a good time and was very excited about the eggs he found! I'm so glad we got to go this year.

Easter 2014

Easter weekend was SUPER busy! That could be why I'm posting this over a week later. My brother-in-law got married on Good Friday and we came home from the wedding Saturday which meant all of our Easter prep and festivities all pretty much took place Saturday afternoon.

When we got home there was a big box for Grant from Auntie Shauna waiting to be opened. That box contained "magic jelly beans" that needed "planting". Egg coloring. I had cooking to do. And I was chomping at the bit to get a look at all the wedding pictures I'd taken. It was a busy afternoon and evening.

The "magic jelly beans" were first in the line up:

Dig...

Plant...

Water.

Grant was very excited to plant the jelly beans. For the rest of the day he'd just randomly stop, gasp, and say "I think something is growing! Let's go see!" When ever we'd ask what he thought would grow he always said flowers.

Egg coloring was after the planting and in between my cooking.

He was so excited about the egg coloring!

The coloring kit came with stickers to make faces on the eggs

Some of the faces he came up with made me laugh so hard!

At some point in the evening, Grant helped me make the macaroni and cheese for Easter lunch. He was so excited that he got to stir all the ingredients together (and test the cheese to make sure it was ok). It can be so much fun to have him in the kitchen with me :)

When Grant woke up Easter morning, he immediately wanted to check if flowers had sprouted from his magic jelly beans.

He was pretty surprised to see that lollipops had grown from the jelly beans!

Now that's a garden I can get excited about :)

Grant was so excited about the lollipops that had grown outside, he completely forgot that he had to check if the Easter Bunny had left him anything. As it turns out, the Easter Bunny (like last year) had hidden two baskets. But the Easter Bunny and I had a talk, and he's going back to one basket next year.

One basket was hidden under the coffee table

And the other was in Daddy's shower!

He was excited about those socks!

The Easter Bunny is really good at picking out books.

We always do Easter lunch at my mother-in-law's house. We always eat too much good food and then talk about how we have no room for all the dessert that was made...then gorge ourselves on all the dessert that was made.

This year Aunt Debbie brought some arts & crafts stuff for Grant and they made fun Easter pictures for everyone. Grant loves when Aunt Debbie comes to visit!

And then, having no idea how full and tired everyone is, Grant insists on everyone playing hockey with him. It usually ends up being just Grant and Gramma. 

And then when someone "scores"...

...it's hockey fight time.

What? Doesn't everyone's family holiday end with a hockey fight?