Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you! These are the ears Aunt Maryann left along with a chirping chick. Grandma and Grandpa Ulrich sent too many treats for us all and some cute little Jesus books. Everything was a hit. Grandpa Papczun and Nancy were ready to post things as well and we convinced them to hold onto it to give in person when we are in Cleveland in May. Thanks to everyone!

Coloring our eggs, complete with aprons on.

This year seems more like the "firsts" for Elliot since he's old enough to somewhat understand what's going on. He was very excited this Easter and we tried to pump it up as well. We managed a 7am church service and then hosted brunch for 12 (+3 toddlers+1 dog) at 10am. Upon returning from church, his Easter basket "appeared" and he certainly knew it was something special. He doesn't eat candy yet (whew) so it was sidewalk chalk, little balls, and toys for the beach this summer (love the Target $1 bins!).

Brunch was scrumptious as everyone brought lovely goodies (and I got my "formal" hosting out of my system for a while!). Renee came with her husband, and completely spoiled Elliot with an overflowing Easter basket, full of all of his favorites-- cereals, animal crackers, Thomas the Train dvd, bath toys, you name it. I felt bad for her-- she was "off duty" and ended up entertaining Elliot both because we were scrambling to get the food on the table and Elliot just has to be near her if she's around. She didn't seem to flinch.

We then did an Easter egg hunt in the living room-- plastic eggs stuffed with Teddy Grahams and Cheerios (not the smartest-- the Cheerios went all over with each egg opening...). The kids had a ball and the non-kid-parties found a reprieve on the deck. The munchkins seemed to really like it, but it was good that Pat made the hidden eggs super obvious, as the snacking on the goodies became the focus instead of the hunting.

All the kids did relatively well-- Paul did the best, though. We have an issue with Elliot biting and he attempted to bite Diane's head today, much to our major dismay (what the heck do you do with that?!?! Besides regular reprimands and hanging our heads with embarrassment...). He also is still learning to share, which seems to be pretty hard (I am guessing normal for this age?). It was very difficult for him to let go of his scooter and try to enjoy seeing others enjoy it. This is definitely something to constantly work on.

We forget how over-stimulating an event like this is for the little ones. Everyone was ready for a nap once 12:30p rolled around.

The reality of my spring break being over will come pretty fast when I am up at 5:15am tomorrow instead of sleeping in until 8am with Elliot each morning... We had a superb time this week together and time absolutely flew. I had all these big plans for the Aquarium, play dates, and nothing happened it seemed but laundry, packing away baby clothes (sniff sniff) and dodging the rain by making forts in the dining room.

We spent late on Saturday at the lake... this is us watching helicopters go by. We were unsuccessful in getting the seagulls to eat Elliot's Shredded Wheat on this trip to the point.

I am sure every parent says this often, but I am amazed at how old he suddenly looks. Is kindergarten tomorrow?! Yikes.