Easter Sunday Morning

The night before Easter was one of the longest nights we have had around our house for a long time.  Except for a couple of hours, Eden was up all night with a croupy cough, vomiting (from the coughing), and a hurting left ear.  I called the pediatrician's office as soon as they opened on Sunday morning to see if they could see Eden in the after hours clinic. While we were waiting to hear back from the nurse, the kids were excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought them.  Their baskets were filled with new flip flops, new books and new games.

They also had fun hunting for all of the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden around the living room.

They were even more excited when they discovered that some of the eggs were filled with money!

Eden and I left as soon as we finished and headed up to the doctor to discover that she did indeed have a left ear infection and an upper respiratory infection.  Poor baby!

 

I was so disappointed that we missed church on Easter Sunday morning but was so thankful that our pediatrician's office was open on the weekend and was able to get Eden some medicine to make her feel better.  It was not what I had planned for Easter morning but if there's anything I've learned in the six years of being a mom, it's that life with kids rarely goes as planned!

FUMC Easter Egg Hunt

The day before Easter we attended the annual Easter egg hunt at Mr. Reed's.  It is the only hunt we usually attend because a) it's fairly small, b) everyone is guaranteed to leave with at least one big prize and c) they have a free hot dog lunch after the hunt which means I don't have to plan lunch for one day!  My kids were thrilled when I told them that Addison, Aubrey and Ryan were coming with us to the hunt this year.

 Parker was also excited that two of his friends from school were there!

Ryan being silly before the hunt

The hunt is broken into age groups and all of our kids were in different groups this year, so my mom took the "bigs", I took the "middles" and Emily took the "littles" to their respective hunts.  Everyone did great and left their hunts with a lot of eggs!

After the hunt, the kids sat down to see what treasures they had gotten in their eggs.  They all walked away with lots of candy and two big prizes, including lots of new stuffed animals!

It was a very fun morning and we were so glad that Aunt Emily and the kids got to come with us!  Life is always more fun when cousins are there to share it with us (at least in our family!)

Eden's Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

Eden had her Easter egg hunt at preschool the Thursday before Easter.  She was so excited about this hunt and talked about it for several days leading up to it.  Eden has been struggling lately with being anxious and crying in new situations, so I wasn't sure how the hunt would go.  When I arrived, she was listening to directions from her teacher about where they could/could not hunt and she seemed very excited. 

When I asked Eden if she wanted me to help her hunt, she quickly told me that she wanted her teacher, Miss Tammy, to help her.  As they started, she stayed very close to Miss Tammy for the first few minutes and then she was off!  She ran all around looking for her numbered eggs and didn't ask for any help at all. 

   

She easily found all twelve of her eggs and put them in her egg carton.  I was so proud that she was brave enough to finish the hunt independently and without any tears.  That is definitely a small victory for her right now.

After the hunt, they went to recess and Lily got to join them.  I don't think we are going to have any trouble with Lily being ready for preschool here in a couple of years!

Lily's First Dentist Visit

All three kids had dentist appointments the week after spring break.  I scheduled all three appointments on the same day at the same time, because who wants to go through that torture more than once!  And yes, I made sure it was a day that Cory could go with me.  I'm efficient, not crazy!

 

Parker hopped right up on the exam table, made small talk with the hygienist, and had his teeth cleaned like a pro.  Again...where has my baby gone?!?!  He had a great checkup with no cavities and found out that four of his teeth are starting to loosen.  I hope the Tooth Fairy is saving up!

In an effort to let Lily watch what she was about to do, Eden decided to be a good big sister and go next.  She chose her sunglasses and with a little hesitation allowed the hygienist to start her cleaning.  Lily watched every little move with a lot of curiosity during Eden's cleaning.  Eden also had a great checkup with no cavities.  (I'm so thankful that so far the kids are taking after me and not their daddy when it comes to their dental genes!)

Last up was Lily.  She was not thrilled about it finally being her turn and almost started putting up a fight until the wonderful hygienist suggested that Eden sit and assist her with the cleaning.  Lily thought this was a great idea and became the most cooperative two year old I have ever seen!  She picked out her glasses, laid down on the table, and didn't make a peep the rest of the cleaning.

We were even able to get x-rays of her teeth without any trouble!

After they were all finished, the hygienist let the girl's "clean" the snake's teeth, which they both thought was very fun!  I'm thinking we may have a couple of dentists in our future!

The kid's checkups went much better than I ever expected and I was very happy about no cavities x 3. We love how wonderful our dentist and her entire staff were with all three of our kids and look forward to seeing them again at our next visit.

Golfing with Granstan

The last Sunday of Spring Break, Parker got the chance to go golfing with Granstan and Daddy.  The weather was perfect and Parker had a great time chipping and putting and pretending to be a real golfer.  Notice in the last picture how he is lining up the ball before he putts... just like Granstan!  Hopefully, this will be one of many golfing outings together.

Flashback

The weather was so nice during spring break and we enjoyed family walks around the block every night after dinner.  One night as we were walking, I saw this:

 and had a huge flashback to this:

Where has my little baby gone?  It seems like just yesterday that we were taking Parker to the park for the first time.  Time goes way too fast and it's moments like these that make me wish I could slow it down just a little bit.  Before I know it, he's going to be just as tall as his Daddy.  Now...can someone please pass me the tissues?!?!?!

Happy Helpers

The week after spring break, I had to go to Sam's with the other AR coordinator to buy supplies for an AR trip.  Eden and Lily tagged along with us and "helped" us with our shopping!

When we got to the check out stand, we had a little problem with our school's Sam's card and ended up having to wait in line for almost 45 minutes while they found a solution.  The girls both did a great job of being patient (even Lily who had not had a nap!).  It turns out that sitting/climbing on a cart full of coke boxes can be quite entertaining!