This and That

As you can tell, I've fallen behind a bit on the blog. But here are some miscellaneous pictures that capture some of what we've been up to in the last month or so.

I was one of the party moms for Kaitlyn's Valentine's Party, so I made take-home treats for the class--pink, heart-shaped rice krispy treats dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. It looked so easy on Pinterest, but it wound up being a pain. However, I have this happy little picture as a memento of how much my daughter loved them. I hope she really enjoyed them because I doubt she'll ever see me make them again!

Elementary schools across the country celebrated Dr. Seuss Week in March. Here's Kaitlyn dressed up for red and white day. 

What would a Dr. Seuss Week be without Wacky Wednesday? Here's Kaitlyn being "wacky."

And little brother got in on the wackiness too.

Ethan's class had their Easter party at the home of one of his classmates. I love that we have moms in his class who are gifted in the area of party planning!

His class before the egg hunt.

Finding eggs with their names on them. 

Ethan and Molly are checking out their candy haul.

We're in the process of selling our current house and moving to a new one. We've had a pretty brutal showing schedule, and it has pretty much consumed our life. But it's forced us to get out and about more than normal. Here's a sampling of the things we've been up to during some of the many house showings. 

One beautiful day, I took the kids to a nearby park where they rode bikes for a while. Ethan is so thrilled that he can now keep up with Kaitlyn. 

One semi-nice day, we went to the zoo. 

On one not-so-nice day, Ethan and I hung out at the mall while Kaitlyn was in school.

Ethan was thrilled to get invited to his very first friend birthday party. It just so happened to coincide with a showing :)

Here's Ethan at Guitar Center. He's such a little Jeff! 

Ethan's Spring Program

Here are pictures of Ethan performing in his spring program recently. 

Holding hands with BFF Molly

Singing with gusto!

Miss Dele's Class

Such a handsome little man!

Ethan is 4!

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Ethan's 4th birthday! Since we are in the process of moving, we opted for a low key family party, and we were lucky that both sets of grandparents and an aunt and uncle could join us! I prodded Ethan for weeks to tell me what kind of cake or theme he wanted. All he would say is that he wanted a cake with a lot of colors on it. I suggested all kinds of things that I thought were more interesting: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Superheroes, Spiderman, etc. Nope, all of them were rejected in favor of a "colorful" cake. So I went with that. He picked out a cake that had red, blue, yellow and purple icing. I requested extra sprinkles. And he was very pleased with it all, which is really all that matters. 

With all 3 grandparents in town, he was the star of the show. The attention can be a bit overwhelming...

...which is why we got THIS look when we started singing. My sweet little birthday boy suddenly got very shy and refused to look at anyone while we were singing "Happy Birthday."

But as soon as the song was over, he was back to his cheerful, smiley self.

 Time to blow out the candles!

Those candles can be tough to blow out! Sometimes a guy needs a little help.

But he was a pro at devouring his cake. I don't think he's ever met a batch of icing that he didn't like.

Then it was time to open presents. He's really fascinated by space right now, so Mimi hit the jackpot with some books on space. The next time you see him, ask him to name some of the moons of Mars and Jupiter.

And Gran also scored with a big boy bicycle. He's thrilled to have graduated from his slow-poke tricycle.

What's this, you ask? It's a Spooner. Kind of like a skateboard without wheels. It's pretty amazing what you can do with one of these things. Perfect for a little boy who loves to flip and jump and spin.

Happy Birthday, sweet Ethan! You have such a kind and gentle heart and are quick to say "I'm sorry" when you do something wrong. You are full of energy and ask about a million questions a day. I can't wait to see you grow and learn and mature during this next year of life. As you tell me often, I love you from under the ground all the way to Pluto...and back.