Easter

We had fun learning about and celebrating Easter for a whole week at our house this year using these cards I found online.  Sylvia worked hard on the Easter story block set and took them to preschool for her share day.  The kids worked on our spring mural for a few days.  They came up with many things that Jesus loves.  Sylvia wrote this message on the stem all by herself.

"Palm day at 

Jerusalem when Jesus died on the died on the cross.  Jesus rose from the dead.  Thank you for you did on the cross."

We "egged" a few of our friends and neighbors and made a card for a friend who was sick.  Instead of making a graham cracker tomb like suggested, the kids did "magic painting."  I wrote "Jesus Loves Sylvia" and "Jesus Loves Eric" in white crayon on watercolor paper.  They then painting to see what the secret message was.  We finished out our week by opening an empty gift to remind us that the tomb was empty (this got mixed reviews).

Easter day didn't go quite as planned since our family had been sick.  I stayed home with Drake, while Dan took Sylvia and Eric to church with Nana and Papa.  We made the most of our weekend by taking plastic Easter eggs in and out of a cardboard box, dying hard boiled eggs, and going on a scavenger hunt.  We'd been reading Where Are Baby's Easter Eggs all week so I sent the kids on a hunt through our house and yard just like they do in the book.  We also enjoyed quick visits from the grandparents.

Erickson is 3!

I can't believe Eric is already 3.  He has so much fun celebrating his birthday with friends and family in March.  We can't believe how much he's grown up in the last 6 months.  Looking like such a big boy now. 

 

Three brought about potty training for Eric.  Dan took Sylvia and Drake for an entire day while I stayed home and filled Eric with fluids and took him potty many, many times.  The final count was 27, I believe!  He's still working on it but I'm proud of how far he's come.

 

We waited for some nice weather and took his 3 year old pictures in our back yard.

 

Sylvia's Special Day

Sylvia had one of her preschool special days in back in March.  Mrs. Nelson was filling in for Mrs. Fink which meant that Mrs. Potter (her associate teacher from last year) was also there.  This was super exciting for Sylvia.

 

Singing the weather song.

Adding her "Jesus Loves Sylvia" heart to the cross.

Eric took a break on the couch during Sylvia's share time.

Sharing her Easter story blocks with her class.

Singing the good-bye song with her class (and her little brother).

Green Day

Preschool Green Day was back in March.  Here's Sylvia's green picture and a video of her class singing The Green Song.

 

Eric's Maisy Birthday

One of Eric's favorite TV shows is Maisy.  According to the QUBO (the channel Maisy is on), "Maisy is a cute little mouse that lives in a cute little house."

We did some coloring of Maisy and all of her friends and then watched Maisy's birthday episode.

On Maisy's birthday, her friends enjoy some sandwiches and potato chips.

The kids played a freeze game, played with a parachute and painted.  It got a little crazy with the paint but the kids had fun.  Plus, Maisy paints on each of her shows so we had to do some painting.  You can see all the hard work Eric and Sylvia did to decorate for the party.

I decorated Eric's birthday cake to look as much like Maisy's as possible.  He counted his candles after blowing them out.

Maya watched intently as Eric opened the doll camping set she picked out for him.

Saying "thank you" to Macy for the big truck and cars.

Eric giving Hayden a high five to say thank you for the new markers, play doh, sidewalk chalk and paper.

On Maisy's birthday, her friends give her a watch, a trumpet and some crayons so that's what we put in our party gift bags.  I wasn't able to find little trumpets so these party blowers had to do.

Happy 3rd Birthday Erickson!

Eric's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Eric's 3rd birthday with a few family gatherings.

Bill and Becky's family joined us for dinner a few days before Eric's birthday.  He got a new water bottle and some sidewalk chalk and we all had some yummy cake balls.

Nana and Papa celebrated with us while they were over watching the kids on a Tuesday morning.  Eric loves his new lawnmower from Aunt Ginny.  He also got Richard Scary's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go and Maisy Goes to Preschool from Nana and Papa.  We all enjoyed some cupcakes from the Bread Garden. 

 

Grandma, Grandpa and Great Nana joined us on the 6th for dinner and cake.  Eric got a new gas pump to fill up his lawnmower and cars from Grandma and Grandpa.  His card from Great Nana had $3 in it but we're not sure if he knew what it was.

Sylvia's First Cake

Sylvia helped me do a lot of things to get ready for Eric's birthday last month. She wanted to bake him a pretend cake but I suggested we go ahead and make a real one. I let her come up with the recipe all on her own. She loves being in the kitchen with me and I was impressed that she had such a good idea of how to make a cake. It actually turned out looking like a cake although there was a bit too much baking soda for it to taste yummy. She let Eric help frost it and we all tried a piece. Dan wasn't around at the time so he tried a piece later on. I thought he must have liked it better than I did because he ate his whole piece. He didn't realize that we only expected him to take a bite and said he forced himself to eat the whole piece.  What a great dad.

 

 

Cake
1.5 cups flour
2 eggs
2.5 T baking soda
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 shredded carrot
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Bake at 350 degrees for 33 minutes.

Frosting
1 cup plain yogurt
3 T brown sugar
8 drops blue food coloring