Hoppy Easter!

Well, the Easter bunny finally got to Greensboro, and we headed out to meet him. Hayden has been looking forward to this all week. After we parked and got down there, we realized we got there just in time for his break. We took a walk, got a smoothie, window shopped and went back to get in line. By "in line" I mean Jay and Hayden held our place while I chased Lila around the better part of two floors of the Four Seasons Mall.

When it was finally our turn, I was none too surprised that little miss wanted nothing to do with sitting with said bunny. We sat her in the chair at his feet, and she still cried. I gave her a pacifier, still crying. I was about to give up and just let Hayden hang out with him when I spotted giant eggs that were part of the backdrop. Perfect! So bink-in-mouth, butt-in-chair, egg-in-lap Lila and creepy-face-usually-reserved-for-Santa had their picture taken with the Easter bunny. I love these kids.

Happy Easter!

What a fun time of year this is! Flowers blooming, grass growing, and of course, Easter. This was Lila's first Easter, but Hayden was no stranger to the Easter bunny, Easter basket and hunting for eggs! We started the day off with a quick trip downstairs to see what the bunny brought the little ones! Hayden enjoyed a few new puzzles, two movies, cars and candy. Lila got a play gym, with fun zoo animals hanging around to entertain her. We made a small lunch for us and Gloria, which Lila slept all the way through (until my first bite of coconut cake)!

Hanging out with grandma!

Checking out the play gym!

After lunch we headed to Aunt Jana's for more lunch and an Easter egg hunt! Lila was content to be passed around amongst family while Hayden was more than happy to hunt eggs with the big kids. He did an awesome job finding eggs, and helping his cousins find them too!

Hayden and Zoe found a caterpillar too! They wanted to race them, but only had one. Good news...he won every time!

And when Lila got a little fussy, we handed her over to the baby whisperer, aka Uncle Eric...

All in all, it was a great day but super exhausting! We were so tired when we got home, we all just relaxed and spent the evening doing a big bunch of nothing. Fine with me!

Happy Easter!

Hayden's age certainly makes holidays a lot more fun and interesting! This was the first year he got candy in his Easter basket, the first year he dyed eggs and even went on his first egg hunt! Last year we were in the Netherlands so there were no eggs to hunt but plenty of flowers to see.

On Saturday, he and Jay dyed eggs outside on the porch. Hayden was really excited to watch the eggs change color, and had a blast with the stickers. We did it with minimal mess, and I was quite surprised! Once they were dry I put them in a bunny bowl on the dining room table and every time Hayden saw them he was so excited. He was really proud and kept saying "Ea-ter eggs!"

On Sunday he woke up to a few surprises from the Easter bunny. He had a Cars easter basket with new Thomas the Train pajamas, a fun number puzzle and candy. We let him have a few pieces before our fun Easter lunch and he seemed pretty content.

For lunch, we went to Andy and Teressa's new house. They are right down the road from us now. Hayden had a blast with two of his faves, Cooper and Sydney. After lunch we busied the kids for a few minutes while the Easter bunny hid some shiny eggs for them to find. Hayden was way more interested in giving the eggs to Sydney because she had her bookbag. Hayden was all of a sudden not so excited about his Cars basket because Sydney was WEARING her bookbag, and he couldn't quite understand why he couldn't wear his basket. After some candy and cookies, we headed home with a very tired (but still handsome!) little boy. Easter might be his favorite holiday!

Look what the bunny brought Hayden!

Despite our never-ending traveling status, the bunny managed to find Hayden anyway! He's on a reading kick, so he really enjoyed his basket full of books. We did also enjoy some warm chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, and maybe next year the Easter bunny will drop off a few sweet treats for him!

Happy Easter...from the Netherlands!

For Easter weekend we headed up north to the Netherlands. I booked two rooms at the Holiday Inn Leiden for the four of us (Amber & kids, Evonne & Anessa, Mandie, Hayden and myself) for two nights. We planned to go to Amsterdam and also to visit the Keukenhof Gardens. We headed up Friday morning, and to our surprise were met with NO traffic. Thankfully, since our last trip was definitely soured by horrendous traffic.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in and were pleasantly surprised with our accomodations. Our rooms were spacious and comfy, breakfast buffet was included but best of all, this hotel totally catered to kids! There was a "jungle room" for the kids with a ball pit, video games, small playground, blocks, etc. The kids were in heaven! Whereas most of the time we spend with bored kids in a room, this time around they were begging to go play. We also had an indoor pool to enjoy, but Hayden was not really feeling that adventure. They had Easter activities for the kids, and another play room with more video games, a bounce house and ping pong tables. We love to travel but it's hard on the kids sometimes, so this was win-win for everyone!

Saturday morning turned out to be grey and cold so we bundled up and headed to Amsterdam. We wandered aimlessly for a bit but by the time we had a destination in mind, the rain started. And poured. The rain definitely put a damper on the day, and limited what we could see. I had been to Amsterdam before, in 2007, and had seen everything I wanted to see then but the others hadn't been yet. In the end, we split into two groups...one that wanted to get out of the rain and go back, and one that wanted to see a bit more before calling it a day. It worked out perfectly, and everyone was pretty happy with our adventure.

On Sunday I heard the rain at 6am so we all slept in a bit before getting up and at 'em. We ate breakfast, let the kids play and packed up the cars. The weather was grey and dreary but not raining (!) so we headed to Keukenhof to see the tulips. We spent a few hours wandering around amongst the gardens, and really enjoyed it. We saw the giant windmill, wooden shoes and tons and tons of flowers. With the cold winter and cold weekend, the tulips weren't all the way up yet but it was beautiful!

We headed back home around 3pm, after a diaper disaster with Hayden was handled. We stopped for food and gas (in MORE rain) and were making good progress. Hayden was having a little trouble with his teeth and general crankiness, which came to a head about 30 minutes before we got home. He was crying uncontrollably and chewing on his fingers and threw up everywhere. I took the first exit I could, cleaned him up and changed him and got back on the road. When we got home he slept through his diaper changed and slept until 8 this morning! We had a great time, but today there's no place like home!

Happy Easter!

It's Hayden's first easter! It's a quiet one since we fly tomorrow, and since he can't hunt for eggs or eat chocolate yet. But he liked his basket!

Hayden meets the Easter bunny!

The Easter bunny was hopping through the PX while we were shopping today, so Hayden and Addie got to meet him!