Happy Easter!

When the boys woke up on Sunday morning, they were excited to see that the Easter bunny had arrived and left them baskets of fun toys.  They quickly looked through their baskets, grabbed their new toys and we were off to my parents house for breakfast before church.


Turns out it was their lucky day - when we got to my parents house, they got these Easter presents from my parents!  Karsten's is on the left (since his favorite color is yellow) and Liam's is on the right.  They were so busy telling my parents about what the Easter bunny brought them that they didn't see these right away.


After breakfast we got the boys in their church clothes and they started playing in their green chairs.  I thought it might be a cute photo opp - the first of many.


Yay - a good smile!


Then we headed outside to get a few pictures.  This is Liam's determined face as he scooted down the stairs.


Pictures outside didn't go quite as I imagined.


I did get one picture where they both are looking toward the camera.


Then we had group shots, I think perhaps we should have started with these, because the boys were just about done smiling and looking at the camera.  I envy all of my Facebook friends who posted pictures of their little ones looking right at the camera and giving a huge smile.




While we were at church, that tricky Easter bunny came and left eggs in the backyard.






Liam liked to tell us about the eggs before he went and picked them up.


Now where did those eggs go?




Mario helped Karsten find some eggs.


Our eggs had money and stickers in them.  We've had our fill of candy from other egg hunts, so I didn't want to add more that Scott and I would end up eating.




 

One more attempt for a smile - no such luck.  I love how their bow ties turned out - I wanted them to be oversized and they came out perfectly.  They started as a men's tie and my mom made them into bow ties!


Then we changed clothes and had a light lunch before we headed back outside for some more playing in the sand box.


Liam likes to put the sand on the side of the sand box.  Karsten does NOT approve of this because Papa told him that the sand only goes in the box.  So, Liam puts it on the edge, Karsten brushes it into the box, Liam screeches in anger.  Repeat every 3-5 minutes.  :)




We called Gaga to see if she was feeling better and to wish her a Happy Easter.  Karsten was talking to her, then Liam ran up and pointed to the phone asking to talk.


Once he got the phone, he took off so we wouldn't take it from him.  He didn't really say much, just the occasional DA?  DA?


Apparently Scott and I walk a lot when we're on the phone, because Liam was pacing in circles while he was 'talking'.


After a short nap, the boys were recharged and ready to play again.  Karsten wanted to ride bikes, so Liam got to try out the big wheel for the first time.


He liked sitting on it but didn't understand how to make it move with his feet.  His legs were still too short to reach the petals - he needs to grow just a bit more.


Karsten was off and running on his bike.  He wanted Scott to be 'helping' him at the beginning, but eventually he got into a groove and was riding on his own.




Such a big boy on his bike!
 



Liam wanted to go where Karsten was going.


Then Karsten convinced Papa to go for a walk with him.  He turned a corner too sharply and took a spill, but Papa encouraged him to get back on.  He got back on but he wasn't too happy about it, although it gave him a good story to tell us when they got back.  


Hey there big stuff!


Karsten told Liam all about how to work the big wheel.

Hunting for Eggs (again!)

We had planned to attend the Easter Egg hunt that my employer puts on; however, swimming lessons conflicted, so we decided to try out the Easter Egg hunt that the rec center was running.

We had a few minutes to spare before the festivities started and the boys were mesmerized by the men playing basketball.  I LOVE this picture - isn't it sweet!


We arrived before most of the other people, so the boys got to check out the inflatables and all the fun activities.  Liam made a beeline for this inflatable and we thought he wanted to get inside, but instead he liked walking on and off the mat.  Ha - wouldn't have predicted that.


Karsten was far more interested in the balloon lady - I was so glad we found her before there was a long line!  Karsten requested a yellow dinosaur and she delivered - the dinosaur even had teeth!  Liam got a blue bunny holding an orange carrot.


We decided to try the requisite Easter bunny picture again.  Karsten was telling Liam that it was okay, the Easter bunny was not a stranger.  Liam was staring at the Easter bunny trying to decide what he thought of him.


Then he decided...


They even had a fire truck on hand that the kids could 'drive'.  The dinosaur was a big help - this was Karsten showing the firefighter how the dinosaur could ROAR!




Then it was time for the Easter egg hunt.  Since it was so wet outside, they held it in the gym.  Liam was in the first age group which was really tough for Karsten to understand.  He wanted to go hunt eggs at the same time as Liam.


Checking everywhere for eggs!


When he was done hunting for eggs, we opened them all to see if he had found the 'golden ticket' for a prize.  No such luck, but he did share some of his candy with Karsten.


Liam was getting tired and didn't want to do anything.


After much waiting, it was finally Karsten's turn to hunt for eggs.  He went in the side that was reserved for 3 year olds without parents.  He went into this rock climbing 'thing' and all of a sudden I couldn't find him anymore.  There were so many kiddos running around and I was frantically looking for his little blonde head and white t-shirt.  I moved over close to the door to make sure he didn't leave the gym and just when I was starting to panic, Scott spotted him.  He had climbed inside the rock thing and couldn't get down.  Another parent lifted him down from the top.  WHEW!


This tall guy fascinated Karsten - he really liked his yellow pants and was super impressed by his juggling!


It was lunchtime when we finished up, so we decided to check out a German sausage place that we'd heard good things about. It was good - not sure we'd make it a regular stop after swimming lessons, but good on occasion.