Egg Hunt

Our ward (church) play group did an easter egg hunt at the park by our house. We had a great turn out - lots of kids, and PERFECT weather - which is always a gamble, so yay! Plus, I have never experience such great candy in an egg hunt! Way to go ladies! I found ghirardelli chocolates, dove chocolate, whole packs of fruit snacks, and gummy savers?! Wow, sorry about the crappy jelly beans, those would be from us! The Lou Bird, in good form, gathering her eggs.

Nice egg, Jofus!

Candies! Sweet!

All tuckered out after the hunt.

I just love this pic of Mayzie - you can see her little hand is holding an m&m, an I love the lines of her legs and the beam she is sitting on. Good composition, if I do say so myself!

Super Aunt Kasey

Joe's Mom and younger sister Kasey came to visit us last week! She lives in D.C. and has not been home for months, so we were all happy to see her!

Here is Calvin giving her one of his "bone crushers."

Hidden talent

One night at dinner we were trying (as always!) to get Calvin to eat. Then somehow we came up with this brilliant challenge: "Calvin, you can't eat with your eyes closed, can you?" He was laughing so hard and actually EATING too! He thought it was the coolest trick, and of course we went along with it, poking our our faces with forks when we tried it ourselves. Here he is, showing off his new trick!

Life on the farm

We went to this cool "farm" in Glenview called Wagner Farm. They had this great indoor area with lots of hands-on farm chores, like gathering eggs from the chickens, milking the cows, and feeding the pigs. The kids LOVED it! They had some other cool little exhibits like an old general store. I would totally recommend it, and it was all free. They also had some REAL animals outside that were fun to see; chickens, cows, and horses.

Mayzie is digging for some eggs under the chickens.

Calvin was super pumped to discover this type writer. Mina was too - she led me to it with my eyes closed so she could surprise me with it.

I asked Mina what her favorite thing was at the farm and she said "milking the cow". I must admit, this was the coolest simulation. When you squeeze the utters, water comes out and goes in a bucket below!

We all had fun and want to go back soon!

Keep your pants on!

Mayzie's new favorite trick is taking her pants off. She does it any place, anytime. Some of the more memorable times were at Dairy Queen, and yesterday we went to visit Joe at work and she could not resist taking her pants off for his co-workers. If she's not in a onesie, the diaper is the next thing to go. We've found her several times up from her nap, in her crib, with nothing on her bottom. One day I thought I'd be smart, so I put her in a dress, thinking I wouldn't have to deal with miss "no pants". I could not keep the diaper on then, and next thing I know I am stepping in something warm and mushy on the rug - please be a muffin - nope! Yuuuckk! So onesies are the way to go, she hasn't figured out how to get past the snaps - yet! Any tips, moms? I know some of you have had this problem too!

Calvin boy...

The past couple days Calvin has asked me this burning question:

"Mom, are we on the Earth?"

Yes, Calvin.

"Tell me when we are not on the Earth, okay Mom?"

Okay son, I'll let you know.

Pig making!

My Aunt Chris is wonderful cook and fabulous entertainer. She is truly as close to Martha Stewart as they come! I recently asked her to do a cooking demo for us. She is my Dad's sister and on my Dad's side we are german. My Dad's mother, aka Mama, made rouladen every weekend for dinner. Our family affectionately calls the rouladen, "pigs", like pigs in a blanket. They are a big favorite of all the men in our family, and Joe has become a big fan too. The recipe is essentially bacon, onions, and parsley rolled up in a piece of beef, browned and braised in a savory sauce for many hours. My Aunt makes HUNDREDS of these each year at Christmas time for the multides that gather at her home, us included. We quickly learned that making the pigs is a lot of work, and takes a lot of love!

Here is my cousin Lisa and Janelle, Aunt Chris, my Mom, and Aunt Laurie, pounding out the meat, nice and thin. We were at my cousin Lisa's house, she has a the gorgeous kitchen!
My Mom (holding the heirloom mallet that Mama used to pound the meat) and Aunt Laurie. My Aunt decided very soon after we began that she would never make these herself!

Cousins Lisa and Janelle.

Here's the group with me and Chloe, my cousin's daughter - so my 2nd cousin??

Here's the cute little piggies, all rolled up and ready for a coating of flour and then a quite fry in the pan, and on to the roasters for slow cooking! This was a treasured experience with the ladies in my family. Thank you so much Aunt Chris for the lesson! We all got to bring some home, and they were delish! I'm waiting for Father's day to attempt them again!

Hooray for pumping!

Mina can pump (is that the right word, it looks funny?) all by herself on the swings! Yay! She figured it out on one of the nice days we had last week (before all the snow). She stayed and kept herself going on the swing for at least 20 minutes! Way to go Mina!