Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Long Weekend

What a perfectly long weekend to spend with my boys!  Easter this year was one of my favorite Easter's so far.  Both Shaun and I had Friday off, so we got 3 full days all together and got up to all sorts of fun.  Sam did not acknowledge the idea of an Easter Bunny, especially if you compare it to how interested he was in Santa this year but we had good time nevertheless.  Here is an account of our Easter 2011!
Kicking off Easter weekend with Smith bringing a treat to have on Thursday.  Mmmmm.
It seems we spend every holiday with our buddies at the zoo!  On Friday, we spent a sunny morning at the Zoo Eggstravaganza.  It was a beautiful morning and we got there so early we got to watch all the animals having their breakfast.
Nemo!  Nope, not exactly but at least he knew Nemo is a fish!
Baby Gorilla and Sam have a heart to heart... always our favorite stop!
A little Easter fun, as we pit stop to colour an Easter Egg.
My favorite little face.
Nothing, I repeat nothing, beats a bouncy house!
Another cool station was planting a seed bomb and then decorating the cup.  
Here's our bunny cup... darn it, I thought I might look more excited about this thing than him and this photo is proof!
Chillin' in the butterfly enclosure.  No butterflies but lots of cocoons.
Checkin out girls...
And this is the face that proves how badly Sam needs to wear sunglasses outdoors.  We call it the Pirate!
After nap on Friday, Sam woke up to find out the Easter Bunny had stopped by.  He found a pile of eggs and a clue!
First clue led him to the dryer and he found a new toothbrush!  
Another clue led him to a pile of eggs and a DVD...
The ball tent held some stickers and another clue!
Somehow Monkey even got stuck watching over his new bedtime book and a clue!
After a few more clues, finally it took Sam outside to find his new sand box.  Instantly in love!!!  Such a little boy - loves diggin' and scoopin' and dumpin' sand.  Probably hours of my life will be spent beside this box this summer!


We had gymnastics on Saturday and then made the drive to my Grandparents' farm for Easter lunch.  Sam immediately found himself a buddy in this farm cat.
Back inside to play with the chicken from Granny.  It lays Easter Eggs... Sam at them all.
Two beauties!
Auntie Brie and Kal made a really cool Easter Egg hunt outside for Sam and Colton.  Lots of eggs to find alllll over the yard!
Great Auntie Bobbi got Sam a glider!
Favorite photo of the weekend.  Love everything about it!
Race... Dad is in the lead!
Emptying out all the goodies from the egg hunt... WOW!
Sweet little family... heart!

For Sunday, we again found ourselves in an intense Egg Hunt.  This time at Gramma and Grandpa Connolley's.
Egg Hunters!
One of the cool things that Kaili did to make the Easter Hunt special for Sam!  We sure love her!
Final stop, GOLDEN egg with a little chick inside!
WOWOWOWOW!!!
Roxy catching snowballs on our Easter walk.
Sam throws some snow for Roxy.  Hard to believe it's the last weekend of April and there is still this much snow!!!  Hopefully a few more beautiful days like today and it will be gone for a couple months.
Hiking up the hill with Gramma and Grandpa.
I love rubber boots!
My two favorite guys again!
I don't think this photo gives you even an idea of what sort of a climb this is.  Very steep, very long and Shaun did it running with Sam on his back.  Beyond impressed.  Honestly, I wished he was carrying me up it!!!
Boys!
Connolley guys
Another highlight of the weekend...
Gramma Bee gave us two tiny pet frogs for Easter.  They are soooo cute!  We tried to think of names but Sam only wants to call them Mom and Dad.  Mom and Dad are very happy and adjusting well to their new home.  I was placing them up on the shelf and heard Sam yell to me "No mama, Bam's grogs!"  He loves them!  No good pictures as of yet, but there will be!



Saturday, April 16, 2011

Proof the Sun Did Shine!

Early last week, the boys and I got out on a BEAUTIFUL sunny morning.  We played at the park, took a wagon ride and tried our hands at side walk chalk.  They loved it!  Though a little messy, still plenty of fun being out on the path making our scribbles.
Editing my drawing!

SAM + SMITH = BFF
Break from drawing for a little jog.
Holding hands getting ready to head back to the house.
This weekend's gymnastics shots!  It was Dad's turn to take Sam.
Sam in front support on the parallel bars... my little Hercules! 
BIG jump into the pit.  Dad stands by jealous, wondering how he can get himself into the pit too!
And roll!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

April Antics!


Puddles, puddles everywhere!  Too much fun.  Though the snow was getting a little tiresome, each new snowfall has meant a whole bunch more water to splash around in.  Here is a splashy type afternoon for rubber boot sort of fun...




One VERY snowy and cold day last week, we needed to stay inside for the morning.  The boys tried their hand at puzzles and jewelry making and did GREAT!  Pipecleaners are the key to taking the difficulty level of this craft down... easier for little fingers.
Sam finished his early so he's just going to help his buddy Smith!
Smith carefully putting beads on the pipecleaner... very focused!
Sam loved making his bracelet.  So much so that I couldn't get him to stop putting beads on at a size that would fit him.  He kept going and going and ended up making a bracelet for Mommy!
Sam started gymnastics lessons this month.  Some of you may know that gymnastics was a HUGE part of my life growing up.  I believe it's the sport that built the foundation for me wanting to be a life long athlete and PE teacher.  I spent many hours in the gym, both training/competing and coaching, so to see Sam at gymnastics made my heart sing.  He LOVES it.  He is the youngest in his class so he gets a real kick out of his coach (who is super silly) and is very eager to get going.  The coach was very impressed with his front support on the parallel bars... like a little Hercules!!!  Here are some shots from the parent viewing area that Shaun took on our first class.  Not going to lie, I'm going to leave the family viewing area when I take pictures so I can get right in there.
Warming up!
ROLL!
Balancing while stepping over fishies!
Jumping with Coach Paul... this was taken right after I was reprimanded  by Coach Paul for stepping onto the trampoline.  He told me trampolines are only for kids and coaches... tear, I thought I could sneak a quick bounce in!
Sam thinks I should be allowed to jump too!
BIG event this weekend... Sam had some of his very best girlfriends (and one other very brave boys!) over to practice their Easter Egg hunting skills.  We searched for eggs, ate a Easter brunch, coloured eggs and played in the sunshine.   An absolutely perfect morning filled with some of our favoritest people.  Another celebration of good friends!
Sam sporting the Easter Egg bag that Gramma Bee made us.

Love love love this little animal...

Sam chooses some decorations for the party.
Let the games begin!!!  I placed five eggs at each location (one for each kid) and they would grab one and leave the rest. Worked quite good, especially if you consider that these kids are all under 3.  We used empty plastic eggs and they LOVED it!  Too much fun!
Lovely little Logan takes a break to color some pictures!
Pretty Payton is a fast egg hunter finding one in the bedroom... Christopher is right on her heels to swipe his own!
Adorable Avery playing patiently waiting for the big kids to finish their search.
Sam and his gals (Christopher wasn't into sitting with all these girls!)  Look at all the eggs they found!
Time to get crafty!  Princess P and her Momma colour  eggs together.
Logan gives her egg a high five for being so great!
Now to the park to burn off some of that Easter brunch sugar!  Sam and Payton race down the slide.
Our wonderful friends, as they head out to get on with their day... can't even say how much I love these three!!!
Payton getting pushed on the swing by her daddy!  Holy BEAUTIFUL hair on this child... wow!
Parker flying high!  Loves it!
The Ross girls head home - I love them...
and so does Sam!
Our tiniest egg hunter is getting hungry and sleepy, so the Farrell family also had to get going.  What a perfect way to spend a beautiful day!  We are so lucky for the great friends we have!
It was time.  Time to build a tricycle and hit the open road.  Shaun and Sam worked together to build a very cool bike Sammy got for his birthday from our Red Deer friends.  After all the hard work it was time to enjoy a bike ride!
Sam showing Shaun which step to do next. 
Fixin' this part right here...
... and tightening this one up back here!  This was one of the moments "like father, like son!!!"  Probably could even add like Grandpa to that saying!
And we're off.  Sam loves it.  Loves it!!!  Unfortunately his little legs are about half an inch too short so he needs a push everywhere he goes.  Hard on mom and dad's backs but totally worth it!
Sam and his new ride... love at first site!
Busy April so far, but thought it's get it all put up before too much time passes and I lose motivation.  This first week of April has made me very excited for summer... can't even wait to spend our days outside playing with friends.  YAY for sunshine!