Easter Hunt / Brunch (2013)

We kept up with our annual tradition of a fun easter egg hunt for the kids and followed it up with brunch together. Aaron got to join in on the fun this year, though he was more interested in eating things that weren't meant to be eaten - like his bowl and his toy car. 

Following our big meal, we went out to play on the beach and soak in the sun. Jon joined us this year so he was getting as much sun as he could before heading back to 30 degrees that afternoon. 

Easter Hunt Clues (2013)

Happy Easter to our lovely Aaron, Emily and Kyle

On an egg hunt we send you if you’re up for the trial.

For each of you, a special treasure you shall find,

if you solve all the clues with your powers of mind.

Find each egg in order of the clue

To know where next we will send you.

Not two but three young ones we do send,

So to clues marked Aaron his ears you must bend.

Mommy or Daddy can help and carry your bro.

Start with this egg:  READY... SET... GO!!!!!!!!!

[Aaron]

In the penthouse Aaron loves to play

If he could, he would cook here all day

You play a ball game up on this table

With your hands, or paddles, if you are able

Where you keep your baseball and softball cleats

You will find an egg here, it’s not very neat.

USA played the USSR in hockey

Find an egg on it if you are lucky

[Aaron]

Bounce bounce goes Aaron while Mommy showers

There is no way Aaron would happily stay in this for hours.

Hanging by our closet in the doorway

In this Aaron likes to do a little sway.

This toy helps your baby brother walk

Sometimes this toy even seems to talk!

Shoot some hoops over here, SWISH!

And find an egg as well if you wish!

We are growing some yummy yummy berries

Go get the egg here that you can carry.

[Aaron]

This is one of Aaron’s favorite places in the kitchen

It seems with the stovetop cooking he will pitch-in.

[Aaron]

Aaron is an expert in all things Tupperware

Let him find the egg over in there.

While in Madison you did your first kind of this race

Be careful and look up high to find an egg in its place.

In Dominican you held a special monkey named Gabby

When you see here, there is an egg for you to grabby.

In gymnastics on this you do a big bounce

Find an egg on yours, but on it don’t trounce!

In Park City Mommy gave Emily a dream catcher.
Find an egg on it, but don’t let it hatch-er

Monkey mountain is a fun place to hide

And one of those chimps may have just left an egg inside.

For this clue, individually you will have to work

For in a place for each of you, there is a great perk.

Emily

Emily, to find a fun, magical book

Seek where you rest upon kitty’s sweet smirk

You found your book, very good for you.

Now go get Kyle for two more prize we send you.

Kyle

Kyle to find a book about what you want to do when you are big

Look in the place where Daddy gets an IPA to swig.

You found your book, very good for you.

Now go get Emily for two more prizes we send you.

Aaron

Aaron to find your fun word cards,

Look by your crib, it’s not very hard.

Emily & Kyle

A conversation starter for the dinner table

You can find this prize, in fax, if you are able

This will be something fun to show everyone your intellect

Look by the signal that tells drivers right or left.

Congratulations! All the eggs and prizes you have found.

Now on to brunch at the Del we are all bound!

Aaron on the beach

These pictures are from Easter after brunch. Back when little Aaron couldn't yet walk, but merely meerkat. 

Cabrillo with Jon

Jon came to visit us and we have had a great time with him showing him the sights and relaxing. It was his first time in California, but something like his 48th state to have visited. Jeff and Jon took the kids over to Cabrillo while Aaron got a much needed nap.

Aaron's new ride

Aaron's birthday present from us arrived today! We got him a bike seat and he LOVES it! And we love it too! We never had one, or two for that matter, with Kyle and Emily, but rather the trailer that attaches behind the bike since we needed an option where I could take them both on my own if I wanted. This little seat is so much fun. Granted we've only had it 2 days now, but Aaron is very content on it and it is fun to ride with him. The only trouble is he wants my handles to steer as well. Notice his right hand in this picture. Typical boy wanting to steer. 

Play ball!

Breakfast on a Saturday before baseball and softball. 

Emily at bat last weekend

Emily at bat this weekend. She was the last batter so all the kids round the bases to clear them. It's very much a learning league. Watch Emily fly around the bases! 

Another home run ;-) It was a good hit off the coach pitcher. They get 3 pitches from the coach and if they don't hit his pitches, then they hit off a tee. Great hit Emily!

Easter bunny

No, we didn't go see the Easter bunny, but Emily put some bunny ears on Aaron for kicks. 

Cuties

This is a picture from a while back, but it's a cute one of Emily & Kyle. 

Aaron's playmate

At Kyle's tennis today, Aaron had fun with his playmate. 

Aaron at the park

Aaron is now very proficient at climbing the stairs and going down the slide at the park. And he's going feet first too. Great work Aaron!

Aaron on the trampoline

Speaking of climbing, Aaron also climbs up on the trampoline in Emily's room and likes to bounce. The boy sure knows how to find fun!

Easily entertained

While I was getting ready, Aaron entertained himself in my shower with a ping pong ball. Sometimes life can be so simple and so very fun. 

Kyle playing baseball

Kyle is playing Little League baseball this year and having a great time with it. The first game he took to get warmed up to it and by the time the third game rolled around (we missed the 2nd) he has been ready to play. He is great at getting hits and runs as fast as he can to round the bases. This video is from last weekend, but at his game last night, he nearly batted all around - he had 2 singles, a double and a triple. Pretty impressive Kyle! And he's getting to play short stop, pitcher position (they use a pitching machine but still have someone at the position), and center field. Needless to say, he's pretty involved in the game offensively and defensively. He's the only lefty on the team, though he bats righty. Here he is a video of one of his hits last weekend. 

Door opener

Aaron can now open doors...

Park City - Skiing

And now the skiing part of our trip. Day 1 we spent at the tube park. The next 4 days we spent skiing. Since it was spring break for many kids, not ours, ski school was full. We didn't book ahead so the kids were out of luck on that front for day one of skiing. They got to ski anyhow and worked with an instructor on the magic carpet to get their ski legs back. Both Kyle and Emily did well remembering how to ski. Jeff and I also got some skiing in with our legs back under us. Aaron stayed back with the sitter. 

The second ski day, Kyle & Emily went to ski school while Jeff and I skied with Mike and Mary. Mike is a crazy good skier - like black diamonds with ease - and Mary is a great blue skier. I could mostly hang with Mary though she is a lot faster than me and Jeff went with Mike a bit. Aaron and Mason were back with the sitter having a good old time. 

Ski day three, Kyle wanted to do ski school again as he was advancing very quickly. Emily was done with it because she didn't like them telling her what to do and she was bored doing the tiny practice hill. She wanted some real runs. So she stayed with the sitter in the morning and then skied with us in the afternoon. We were adventurous and took her from the hotel on the ski out run - her first time this trip off the magic carpet. It was a bit steep, but Jeff skied her down.

Jeff then went to ski some harder runs and I took her on the lift to some greens and she was a champ. Well, I should clarify. She skied well, but she was a kamikazee skier. She would just blaze down the hill as fast as she could. Granted she could stop, but she wasn't into turning and controlling her speed very much. She certainly scared me. She didn't want me telling her to slow down and she just wouldn't. Kyle, meanwhile, was working with his group and doing blue runs and having a great time advancing and being very controlled in his skiing.

Day four, neither Kyle nor Emily wanted ski school and they were ready to be turned loose. Kyle was ready for the blues and he showed us he had good control so Jeff took him on some blues. I stuck with Emily on the greens until she could show me control. After a few runs down green with great control, she was ready for blues. So we went all over the mountain. We did her first blue with Jeff, Kyle, Mike and Mary just to have extra eyes and help if needed. She did great. We ate a quick lunch and then all paired off to ski some more.

Emily skiing. Much better control today.



Emily and I went to all ends of the mountain and skied from top to bottom pretty much. She did great and only had two small mishaps. One area was very icy which was difficult to turn and control so I carried her skis down while she slid on her tooshy. At the same part, a dad and his 9 year old kid were doing the same thing. Our last mishap came on the Orange Bubble lift where Emily got off the lift about 1 second too early so instead of having her skis land flat and being propelled forward, she put her skis down and they were angled back and she slid down under the lift. They stopped the lift right away and we got her, but she was quite a bit shaken. There was a lake we had passed over about 300 feet prior to that likely scared her too as she slid backward (but really only about 5 feet, but under the lift so that is scary). She recovered well and we skied back to Jeff and Kyle for a few more runs together before having to call it a trip. 
Emily & Kyle skiing together

After we landed at 11pm, Kyle was sooo tired. He even slept most of the plane ride back which is uncommon on a plane for him since it's a chance to play on the iPad. Needless to say, he skied a lot - 4 days straight for 7 hours each day. After we landed, Jeff and the kids went to get the van and came back to get me, Aaron and the bags. Kyle insisted on getting out of the van to help load the car and the picture below demonstrates what he did to help... Notice Miko there with him. It took him several days to recover rest wise and his legs even longer. But he loved every second of skiing. It sure was a great trip. 

Emily pictures

I'm thinking Emily got ahold of my phone and took these pictures! Love these faces! And the one behind the camera too!

Park City - tubing

We went to Park City, Utah for some winter fun with our friends Mike, Mary and their 18 month old son Mason. We hadn't been there before so it was a new winter wonderland for us. We also hadn't been skiing for 2 years now since I was pregnant last year so it was a long overdue ski trip. And it sure didn't disappoint. It certainly ranks up there as one of our most fun trips. We all got to ski, except for Aaron. Aaron stayed back with Mason and a babysitter. Our babysitter worked out wonderfully - she is Spike's friend's cousin who lives there and had just graduated high school and a retired professional skier. So everyone got to have fun and I got a break from kid duty and got to ski. 

This will probably be several posts long to avoid the mega-post. So here is Day 1. We took a super crazy early flight - leaving at 6:15am!! Needless to say we were up super, crazy early for us. 

Jeff and Aaron in the van to the hotel. Aaron's first time forward facing, he didn't quite know what to make of it and was a bit bothered by the 9am sun in his face and that he was still awake at that hour after being woken up way too early. 

After a nap at the hotel in the kid play room with some fun fort building to create a quiet, dark place for Aaron to sleep, we decided to head out and have some fun since our room still wasn't ready after 5 hours of waiting for "just 20 more minutes". So we went to a tubing park. Aaron got to ride on the tube carousel which he enjoyed for a good bit.

Before you think we are irresponsible parents not putting a hat or gloves on the kids or making them zip their jackets, it was 60 degrees out that day. 

Kyle and Emily got to have some serious fun. They got to ride kid snowmobiles!! And then they went down the tubing runs. We got to do the tubing runs with him as we alternated who had Aaron down at the bottom. It was totally awesome! 

Swinging

Because I like videos of Aaron swinging. And he likes swinging.

Kyle playing tennis

Kyle still takes a tennis lesson with Nic and is having a great time with it. He still enjoys playing tennis despite having diversified his sports to include basketball and baseball. He is quite the little athlete with great sporting coordination. So this is just a short video of him playing a game with Nic. 

Aaron at 1 year

Aaron had his one year check up today and here are his stats:

20 pounds, 15 ounces - good for 50%
31 inches long - good for 80%

For comparison sake, I know both Kyle and Emily were 30 inches by 1 year since we had to switch car seats (height limit reached) and Kyle had just barely broken 20 pounds and Emily was at 19 pounds, I believe.

He's meeting his milestones and doing very well. We think he says mama and dada. We thought he said ball, but he says ball a lot and not just to an actual ball so we're not sure it's really a word. He does make a lot of noise and sounds though and is trying to communicate. He goes up on his knees and opens and closes his hands to tell us he wants to be picked up or he wants something in that direction. He waves goodbye and blows kisses. 

He still has 8 teeth though he's working on some molars we think since he chews on his two fingers, placing them where his molars would be coming in. And he's been a bit cranky and not sleeping well for his morning nap despite being desperately tired. 

He does still take 2 naps and it is normally a good 2+ hour nap in the morning and another 1 -1.5 hour nap in the afternoon. If he has a bad morning nap, he takes a longer afternoon one. He sleeps well at night from about 7pm - 7am more or less. He is very cute at nap time with our "nigh-night" ritual. We turn on the white noise machine and say goodnight to things around the room including Kyle's monkey mountain, scuba monkey, closet monkey, Stitch and his favorite, the basketball hoop. After we have a laugh about the basketball hoop and say "goodnight to you" he has his thumb in his mouth and is ready to go to sleep. 

He love, love, loves his brother and sister. They are a constant source of entertainment for him. He is very much in their faces now even when they are trying to do something else like homework. He often thinks he is the center of the universe and that everyone should pay attention to him. ;-) 

He is still crawling and standing up on his own, but he hasn't shown much interest in walking. (Note: at the time of actually writing this, 3 weeks later, he has shown some interest and has put together a few tiny steps and then doing his best timbers.) Despite not walking, he is on the go, go, go. He can open doors and drawers so he can get where he wants and get what he wants. You can't turn your back on this guy. He goes up and down stairs and knows to go down feet first on his tummy. 

He loves the tupperware drawer and the kid cup drawer. He is also very fond of the cabinet with the funnels. He will take the funnels, some cups and water bottles and Tupperware containers out and make a big mess. He does like to find the matching lids for the Tupperware. It's really quite impressive to see him in action matching them up. I didn't realize a 1 year old could do that. He likes to crawl around with some sort of cup in his hand so you can hear him coming. If it's not a cup in his hand, he likes pens, pencils or markers. 

He still eats well for the most part except when he's sick or tired. We are working on getting him to drink regular milk and he's just not diggin' it very much. He will take some sips and make a face at me knowing that it's imposter milk. He does enjoy seeing the milk drip out of the sippy cup and onto his tray or the floor. On that note, he is a very messy eater. A dog in our house would be very well fed by Aaron at feeding time. 

He loves his bath time and is starting to show some interest in books. We try reading to him, but he's good for about 2-3 pages and then is off to do something else. He also likes to chew on books. But he's slowly coming around to sitting still for a book. We're working on it. 

He gives hugs, kisses and zerberts and is getting even more snuggly with his hugs. He will wrap his arms around us and rest his head on our shoulders for a hug. He did this with Emily the other night when she was saying good night to him. It was very sweet. 

Swinging on his birthday

Aaron having a fun birthday morning swinging at the park.

Happy 1st Birthday Aaron!

Happy 1st Birthday Aaron! We didn't do a party or anything big. We had a nice Aaron kind of day. Aaron had his favorite foods, went to the park and played and we ended the day with a few presents and a bear cake for our air-bear (chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream frosting mmmmm). Aaron is thankful for the calls, emails, cards and gifts. Happy birthday little boy! 

The Air-Bear Cake

Birthday lunch

Balloons!

Happy Birthday to Aaron! He was pretty excited about his candle. I remember from pictures from my 1st birthday that I loved the candle too. There are plenty of pictures of me trying to eat my Big Bird candle. This one for Aaron wasn't nearly as exciting. Just a candle shaped in a 1, but he found it hilarious as Kyle and Emily blew out the candle for him. 

Mmmmm cake...

This was a super sweet card Emily made for Aaron. Here she is reading it to him. 

Opening presents! 

My bathtub xylophone! Thanks Kyle & Emily!

Kyle and Emily love the tool set too! Thanks Papa & Kari!

A fun driving set. Thanks Aunt Karen, Uncle Pete & Ethan!

Emily's piano recital (sort of)

And here is Emily's piano recital. Again she will miss the real one, but here is her performance from the practice recital. She is playing I Believe I Can Fly. 

Kyle's piano recital (sort of)

Kyle has been taking piano lessons after school for a few weeks. He has had a good time with it. Today was their practice recital. They are going to miss the real recital so it is their real recital that they played for us. Kyle's song is Hedwig's Song (from Harry Potter). 

Aaron baby giggles

Back at the computer playing some Baby Giggles for Aaron!

Clip clop cup

Aaron loves the Tupperware cabinet. What kid doesn't? He's always pulling bowls and lids out of there. And he loves to carry one around with him. Only he's crawling. So you can hear him coming as he crawls with a cup or something in his hand - clip clop.