The Hunters

First, I have to say how much I love it when Eliza and I sing at the top of our lungs on the way to school.  Hearing her belt out, "This girl is on fire!!!" makes my heart smile.  And now, baby brother is getting in on the action.  He does his best to sing along with us, knowing few of the words.  His faves are "Ho Hey" and "All the Single Ladies." He also does a mean, "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" complete with hand gestures. 

Yesterday was the Easter egg hunt at school.  Ezra was confused.  He eventually got the hang of it and put a few eggs in his basket, but mainly he wanted to play on the playground as usual and couldn't figure out why everyone thought cleaning up all those eggs on the ground was so fun.  At one point he wondered off to push a dump truck around and came across the egg he's seen holding here.  His face says it all, "Look, there's another one of those eggs over here.  And we don't even eat them?  Weird." 

Of course Eliza is a pro.  Her class was all lined up, ready to make a run for it.  She once again found the golden egg and suprisingly she even offered to share it with Ez.  The good news is the school doesn't put candy in the eggs.  The bad news is we now have about 2 million stickers, all cut individually, scattered all over the house.  The Easter egg at church last Sunday did involve chocolate and, let me tell you, eating just enough of it myself to cut down on her sugar but a small enough amount so as to not prompt her suspicion, is an art form. 

Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break with lots of outings.  Some I got pictures of, some not so much.  We went to Dino Park for the first time and it was a great combo of intellectual for Eliza and plenty of space to run for Ez.  He roared at every dino we saw.  We went to the Waco Zoo with some friends and Eliza got very serious about keeping track of all the animals she saw with her Zoo Passport.  Ezra said a few new words while we were there, like alligator and elephant.  He also does an adorable impersonation of an elephant.  We went to the Botanical Garden and saw a bunch of Fairy Houses and got to cross some streams via rocks.  They loved exploring.  After the garden we headed to the nearby IHOP to stave off a hunger  meltdown and that pancake with a face on it might have been Eliza's favorite part of the whole week.  She also got to have her fingernails painted for the first time ever.  The Rodeo was a big hit once again; Eliza did a bunch of crazy rides with S and Ezra so wished he could join them.  I think we're going to have 3 roller coaster afficionados in the family.  We also had a few playdates and playground trips and met up with our neighbors at our favorite hang out. And we met up with some old friends for St. Patrick's Day festivities and our kids got to meet for the first time.  The balloon animals were a hit.  We also took E to a swim lesson but that wasn't exactly the highlight, unfortunately.  All in all a great week though.  I'm exhausted and the kids were very excited to be back at school this morning.  Ezra said, "Malachi!" when he saw his friend, gave him a great big hug and then ran off to play trucks.  Eliza wanted to show off her fingernails, painted green for St. Patrick's Day. 

Early Bird

Ezra and I have settled into a new little routine.  No matter what time he goes to bed, he always wakes up at the same time.  Eliza will stay up late on the weekends and sleep in the next day.  Not Ez.  Early mornings have become our one-on-one time.  If it's a week day, S is gone before we even wake up.  And if it is a weekend, I usually let him sleep in a bit, since he loses so much sleep during the week.  Usually Ezra and I eat fried eggs together and play trains or chase.  I'm slowly learning how to play with a boy, or at least this boy.  Growling, running, knocking things over and crashing cars or trains into each other is typically involved. 

This pic was not taken in the morning, obviously.  It's at the turtle pond, and I don't anticipate ever getting ready early enough to hit the turtle pond before work, haha.  This picture was from Friday after school.  I surprised the kids with a little Jamba Juice picnic at the turtle pond.  Ezra decided he wanted to keep some of the crackers for himself, instead of sharing with the turtles.  You can see why we need scar ointment.  Kiddo always has some sort of scab or scratch on his face!