Recap: Easter Sunday

Just another lazy Sunday...as evidenced by Shammy...

and Grandpa Norman...

Meanwhile back in the kitchen...

Zoe decorates the super yummy carrot cake Grandma Sharon made.

Grandma Eileen joins in on the fun...

Zoe shows off her work...

"Aunt" Angela (really cousin Angela) & Dejan got roped into playing in the sandbox with miss zoe...

Sitting down for Easter Dinner...minus Brian who was winging his way home from Australia.

Dan's ready for dessert!

Chit chatting away and...

sharing stories!!

While the kids learn that you can throw the gel clings (decorative stickers) onto the window and they'll stick!

Zoe then moves on to jumping off the couch into Micah's arms...

Thanks for catching me Micah!

And Shammy follows around the one admitted non-dog person in the house! (We all know Teresa gives shammy people food on the sly!) In a second, shammy's gonna start really leaning into Teresa! Or nudge her hand with her cold nose begging for some petting!

Thanks to my bros and Grandma Sharon for being my dishwashers and house cleaners and for all your help in my husband's absence!

And I escaped being in any picture!!! =)

Easter Basket Hunt!

When I was a kid, the Easter Bunny never just placed our baskets full of treats in plain sight.  The Easter Bunny (E.B. for short) cleverly hid our baskets in the house only leaving clues behind and sending us kids on a wild goose chase to find them. 

A tradition that continued when E.B. came to our house for a visit this year.  Zoe got so excited when she got a note from E.B.  It took her a second to figure out what was going on but then  had a blast running around the house.  Of course she had more fun finding the notes than actually finding her basket!

You can follow the hunt with this series of videos...(just click the arrows to play.)

I missed taping the 1st clue which read:

Your Easter Basket can't be found

You must look and look and look around

First find daddy's office chair that spins around!

(Note the shout outs to Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Norm!)

*short break to go upstairs*

and now join us upstairs...

**oops, we had a little shoe incident...rejoin us after the clean-up**

And here she is posing with her basket...

I think this tradition will have to continue for quite some time.

Zoe and her Easter Bunny...

"And here is my singing bunny that I love so much!!!"

Easter 2006

Easter 2007

Easter 2008

Easter 2009

Why does she have to grow up so fast?

By the way, Zoe cried and cried when I packed away the bunny this year...it was so sad.  It made my heart ache.  She loves that bunny so much!

Easter Egg Hunt!

The day before Easter, my friends "E-Lo" & "Uncle D", held a big Easter Egg Hunt in their backyard for their family & friends' kids.  

E-Lo planned it all out very carefully...each kid had their own colored bag and looked for eggs in their assigned color.  Zoe had pink, of course.  It was an easy choice since there was only one other girl in the sea of boys!!

 

Let the hunt begin...

Found it!!

Uncle D gives a hand to Zoe up the hill...

and points her in the right direction.

Got it!!
 

Searching and searching for more eggs...

Zoe takes a step back to survey all the activity.

Hey, I think I found one!

Yup...

Got it!

Taking a moment to inspect all the trinkets and candy

After the egg hunt, we feasted on way too much food and delicious birthday cake for Uncle D.  Just look how content and independent my child is...hey, wait Zoe, what are you eating???

Big globs of butter cream frosting!  Oh my!

Thanks E-Lo and Uncle D for the hospitality and the feast and the fun!!! 

I pick out my own outfits!

Zoe wants to dress herself so badly - "I do it!" is a common phrase when trying to get her dressed.  With gentle guidance I get her into at least matching clothes...but there just wasn't anything I could do about the pumpkin hat!

Monkeys & More...

Time to catch up on a month's worth of happenings!!

Back on March 29th, we went to a local junior college that specializes in exotic animal training for their annual spring fest fundraiser.

Zoe met up with one of her boyfriends, Nicholas, to check out the zoo and all the activities.

We all got enamored with this gibbon.  He was very loud with a myriad of noises.  We couldn't believe that just this one primate could make so much noise. 

  

You can hear for yourself in this little video (click on the arrow buttons.)

 

But clearly, climbing the fences is so much fun!

Brian compares his wingspan to the California condor!

One of the kid's activities was to "fish" for prizes...Zoe thought that was quite neat. She caught some stickers, tattoos and a beaded necklace!

 

 

Another activity was a treasure hunt for more prizes where she found more stickers and tattoos.

After we left the zoo, we had lunch at a local mall and the kids were treated to a train ride.  Thanks E for riding with the kids!

All in all, Zoe had a blast!