YMCA egg hunt

For the first time ever we decided to partake in a community Easter egg hunt. Now I remember why we don’t usually do these kind of things. They always seem to oversell the fun, and Nick can’t eat any of the haul. The Y offered a little fun zone and egg hunt tonight from 5-7 so we packed up the kids to go. Unfortunately, their advertising was a little incomplete. We got there right at 5 only to find out the actual egg hunt didn’t start until 6:30. Sure, there were little games, crafts, and snacks (Gross – cookies Nick couldn’t eat – the kids got to decorate their own and it was quite disgusting thinking about everything floating around in those cans of frosting. Made me glad we couldn’t partake), but not enough to keep my boys busy for an hour and a half.

The boys each tried to roll a plastic egg down the gym floor with their noses. I guess that’s fun.

I didn’t take pictures of the “Grand Prize Game” (Bozo-style), mostly because I was too busy trying to keep Zander from taking out somebody with a plastic egg and melting down when he didn’t make it in the last bucket. We stretched it out as much as we could (Nick pouted his way through some of it), and then FINALLY headed outside at 6:30. The big boys lined up in one area, Ben got to head off to the small kids playground for his own hunt. He found his daycare friend Chloe and then the chaos began.

You see, I think that during a kids Easter egg hunt the kids should find the eggs. Not all parents feel this way. It’s quite annoying. The boys each got a few jelly bean-filled eggs, and we went to McDonalds for dinner. Yep, we won’t be doing this again.

All these toys

And my kids would rather play with a box. Figures.

Life Cycles

Nick’s music program this year was all about life cycles. They sang about metamorphosis, predators and prey, offspring, seeds and adaptation. It was quite the cute little show, even if it did start at Zander’s bedtime. Nick, always and forever my back-row boy, spent a good chunk of time talking with the kid next to him. These two stood next to each other last year too, and the same thing happened then. As for the singing, the kids did a great job. I just wish they had more than one concert a year.

Wave to mom and dad! Get it out of your system now.

Chatty Cathies.

And our favorite little neighbor girl, and the one girl she is now taller than in the class. Yea Brianna!

Dress up

It’s been awhile since the boys have brought out the dress up clothes. Tonight, they made up for that. Mike is gone. The weather is crappy. We needed something different to do. This is what we found. I’m concerned that at least one child may regret this decision one day. I’ll let you decide which one.

I have no clue where he figured out he could do this, but he can. Nick tried. He failed. Guess this is a trick for little guys.

Animal adventure

Each year a local school brings a big animal show to town (well, big for our town). This was the first year they did it in April instead of the same weekend as our school fun fair, and we jumped at the chance to go. Barry Devoll, the host, is a local boy who has gone on to do quite well for himself. In high school he owned a magic shop on our Main Street. After graduation he got out of the magic business and got into the animal business. He now travels the world mixing magic and animal adventures into one pretty cool show.

Prior to the show the boys got up close and personal with a bird (they could have held a big snake or turtle, but they were scared of the snake) for a $10 picture.

        

 

We were among the first in the auditorium and got great seats right in front. That meant that our good buddy Dalton was the first little person chosen to go on stage with Barry. After a funny little exchange about Dalton’s age (Barry tried to get him to lie and say he was 8), Dalton helped Barry pull this little sugar glider from an “empty” pouch.

The show continued on with several animals and several ways our own kids could help save the planet.

                      

            

The show ended with this cute guy (the father of the little baby right above). He was not on any kind of leash, and I was certain he was going to escape into the crowd. He didn’t, of course. All in all, it wasn’t a bad show for $25 for the family. Everyone had a great time, and that is all I can ask for anymore.

GF baking

Mike has been itching to use the new KitchenAid, but honestly gluten-free baking still scares the crap out of me. Too many flours and ingredients and no guarantee that it will even be edible, let alone taste good. So, today at the grocery store, I splurged on a Betty Crocker GF brownie mix (at $5 a box, for an 8x8 pan, this will definitely not be a regular occurrence) just so Mike could play.

I’m still not sold on the mixer (it kind of means I have to cook from scratch) but I’m guessing the day will come when I am ready for that.

Until then, the kids seemed to think the GF batter was just as good as the original. The brownies weren’t too bad either.

Superheroes celebrate Valentine’s Day, too

My little superheroes had a grand old time filling out their Valentine’s Day cards this year. This was definitely the easiest year for me. The hardest part was picking out the actual cards at Target. The boys – all three of them – stood in that one little section of the aisle for at least 20 minutes hemming and hawing over what to get. Nick finally ended up with basic cards and Nerds candy. Zander picked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with turtle head erasers, and Benny picked Monsters University.

At home, Nick grabbed his cards and school list and I never saw him again. Zander was almost as easy. Over the course of a couple days he methodically filled out his name and everyone on the class list. A quick check the night before the party revealed he had only missed two friends. Not bad for a kindergartner. Ben scribbled on a few and then I hurriedly filled out the rest 10 seconds before walking out the door on Valentine’s Day. Yep, I totally got it together over here folks.