and here it is

easter is an interesting holiday to me; being a person that is in no way religious i find the holiday itself a bit strange. i knew from the beginning that our home would not be a place where the easter bunny stopped by to visit, but as a child who loved her tootsie roll banks i knew we wanted to celebrate the day of chocolate bunnies and resurrection. okay, more chocolate bunnies and less fairytale.

i came up with the idea to send the kids on an in home treasure hunt while watching the easter egg hunting weather turn sour a few days leading up to the holiday. i had a basic idea of what i wanted ge to experience, but the idea unfolded after the presents were bought and the husband and i sat down with a pad of paper and newly bought markers. the husband suggested that we cover the home in misleading clues mixed in with the obvious. i suggested that we end the hunt in riddles to make the big presents a bit more thought provoking. ge brought the fun home when he figured out what we were doing and became so excited that we no longer cared that it was early morning. 

we did minimal candy and more practicality in gift form. games, cars, bottles, pacies, necessities, and the occasional emmie were purchased and hidden throughout our home. ge was given his easter basket with a star taped to the bottom and we tried to explain to him that he needed to find a star in the house that matched the one in his bucket. little man looked around and immediately started naming off the presents he could see, but couldn't quite grasp what we were asking of him. by the third clue he was in, and was off an running as soon as he found his next goal; be it letter, shape, or number. 

after the first few clues in he was led to a new basket, a pink basket, and his treasure hunt became his and chunk's treasure hunt, and he so enjoyed being the collector of all gifts. ge would find the clue, open the present, and tell chunk what he found. he was very good at placing the presents in the correct basket and was never jealous that chunk was part of this new game. i don't know if we have seen him so excited for a new adventure and that smart little brain of his was so happy to be so active and so intense in search. 

he loved that the letters of the alphabet went in order and would often pause to sing us the alphabet song. clues and eggs were left behind as he went in search of the next piece of paper that would lead him to the next treasure, and so on. we wondered how quickly he would catch on, if he would become bored, but he loved the rate that his basket filled with new treasures and the excitement of the educational aspect of this new easter tradition. he was always so happy to accomplish the next task, to figure out the clues and run throughout the house to pounce upon his hunting grasp. to say that we were proud of him throughout the hunt is an understatement. 

the riddles were a point of concern for his dad. was a three year old ready to grasp the concept of begging a question through rhymes? turns out, he was. he blurted out the answers to the riddles seconds after they were asked and those were his favorite moments of the entire hunt. chunk's book, a new bubble gun for ge, and uno moo were perfect gifts to round out a perfect morning. 

this is a new tradition in our home for easter. as the kids grow older the elements of the hunt can become more difficult. i look forward to ge always taking the lead in letting the little ones know how to get a treasure hunt done. by the time he was done searching for his treasures we had spent an hour of our easter morning in pure bliss and morning coffee and breakfast tasted even sweeter than thought possible. 

we finished off our easter day by taking a 3 hour tour of our area by way of the schuylkill trail. we made it to valley forge national park, where george washington housed the revolutionary troops, and the weather gave us a beautiful background for a wonderful family walk. there wasn't a moment in our entire day that wasn't full of laughter and smiles and i will always look back on our first tradition easter with fond memories. especially because warles joined us. 

entire photo goodness can be found here.

it's kind of ...

every night as i get ge ready for bed we discuss the events of the day, or the weekend, in order to remind him that even though he has to sleep now, we actually did have fun in the past. tonight we were talking about our awesome easter weekend and i asked him why he didn't want to say hi to elmo or the easter bunny while we were at the fire house on saturday and he replied, "well, because they were creepy."

i have a blog that includes pictures sitting up in my head that includes all of the fun details from our weekend, but instead of writing it now i am going to put it off until tomorrrow because - well, because relax. that's why. relax + beer + last moments with the husband before he is off to month end work week + relax = no lengthy blog tonight.

we had an amazing weekend and my idea worked out perfectly and right now there is a giant thunderstorm happening outside and even though my brain and my body are pretty effed up for currently undisclosed reasons i am going to end this run on sentence by saying that all of those good things in the before of this sentence are making all the bad things okay. well, as okay as the bad things can be. relax.

a few things

today was a rough one in mommy land. i love my little ones, but as any parent knows - some days are more trying than others. this particularly rough day led to my husband coming home before tomorrow and i gave him the nickname, "the closer." seriously, the man is a stress relieving genius. when i feel like i am all done he swoops in and makes the kids laugh while i make him home-made blue cheese stuffed burgers in return.

oh, by the way, my dinner tonight was awesome. 2 lbs of 94-6 ground beef, garlick, salt, pepper, a spice concoction i keep on hand (smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, oregano, sage, poultry seasoning, pepper, salt, chipotle powder, and a bit o' rosemary). mix the beefy goodness together, create 8 patties, place about a tablespoon or so of blue cheese crumbles on the top of 4 patties, cover with more spice mixture, and finish by placing another patty on top and smoothing the lines out for cooking. i use my skillet to cook - medium high on both sides for 2 minutes and then tent on med for about 3 minutes more on each side. top with arugula, maters, and red onion. so. effing. delicious. so yeah, he may be the closer, but i make his tummy happy.

i am beyond thrilled that it is the weekend. we are easter egg hunting (not for hard-boiled - hardy, har, har) tomorrow. even though the rain is here, we are weathering the storm - literally. i am looking forward to our family time this weekend and for baskets full of candy and toys for the kiddos. plus, having the husband home, who doesn't babble or spit craziness when i speak to him (normally) is a gift in itself.

he ain't no share bear

yesterday the kids received easter presents from their beloved nana and papa. toys r us messed up and sent 2 of the chunk's present, something that has confuseled the ge monster for the last 24 hours. we have had many a conversation about why nana sent chunk 2 presents and he only got 1. the realities of the additional present are impossible to explain to him and he simply cannot get over it. this morning he was lying on the floor playing with chunk's new rolly turtle happily. he looked up at me and said, "hey mom, it's nice to share!" to which i replied, "yes, you can share your toys with chunky, too." "well, no," he said back to me "today just chunky is going to be nice."

nice patrol

ge has become the hall monitor of that which is nice and that which is not. the which is not being things that ge does not want to happen. today he took a toy away from chunk, a toy that he knew he wasn't supposed to take away. when i let him know that it isn't nice to take toys away from other people he responded with, "mom, it's not nice to tell me it's not nice." yeah, that makes sense. telling him to go to bed, getting upset if he does something wrong, and asking him not to climb underneath my feet as i walk are all not nice things to do. today a bee tried to come into our home and he closed the glass door and gave the bee a lecture about how coming into our home is also not a nice thing to do. he has become the hall monitor on all things not nice for ge.

chunk decided last night that sleep wasn't necessary. i disagreed, but my cries weren't as loud as hers when i was trying to sneak in at least five seconds of shut eye between her crazy needs. i assume she is going through a growth spurt, teething, or a learning curve of some kind. i take that back, she is pretty much just being 7 months old. and, in a moment of tmi (but one other women who breastfe(e)d could appreciate) ytf do the little ones think that biting after feeding is hilarious!? she will seriously finish up the second side and clamp down. when i yell out she starts laughing and looks so proud. babies are evil. plus, they still chew on your shit and don't poop outside like puppies. mebbe an american bulldog named matthew mcconaughey would have been a better choice. mebbe not.

we have decided not to tell the kids that a giant bunny is going to hop around and bring them presents on sunday, but rather to let them know that we love them and bought them a basket of gifts. i had a hard time with the santa thing, but i have to admit that the excitement for christmas was fun. i just don't think a giant rabbit is something i want to start making lies about. and, to be honest, i find the tooth fairy incredibly creepy. i would rather them believe in powdered toast man.