Family Fun Weekend

We had a busy weekend. A play date, a birthday party, and Kangaroos class, but the best part was a visit from Aunt Sue and Cousin Maria. It's always great to see them, and we had lots of fun. I have a few videos to share but have been having technical difficulties for the past few days, so here are the pictures, and I'll see what I can do about a work-around for the videos.


Sue brought an Easter basket, and Alex got to hunt for Easter eggs. It was extra fun because the egg hunt we were supposed to do with our friends that morning got rained out.


In addition to the basket, Alex got a crazy Whack-a-Mole card game.




Maria and Alex looking at his seed planters.



Happy pic of Sue and Maria, taken by Alex.



More photography by Alex. We all loved how tall we look when our picture is shot from this angle.



It was colder than expected, but we spent some time playing outside. Alex was showing Maria how he builds dinosaurs from the bones (sticks) he finds.



Flying with Aunt Sue!



We all worked together to finish the puzzle that Dave, Alex, and I have been working on over the past week.



Here's an Alex-eye view of the puzzle. (You never know what you will get when he has the camera.)



Shortly after completing the puzzle Alex decided we needed to take it all apart.

Gardening Season Has Started

Last weekend we planted seeds for parsley, chives, lettuce, and -- because Alex wanted flowers -- Zinnias. We used egg cartons to start the seeds (except for the lettuce) because Alex read about that in one of his Winnie the Pooh books (thanks Grandma and Grandpa C!). We already have one Zinnia sprouting up!

Getting some more potting soil.



The young gardener at work.



Carefully watering the seeds.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Yesterday, Alex's class had a performance of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Alex played the slice of cherry pie. He loved his costume, which he colored, and that his dad was there. He was less interested in going on stage without his Daddy. Ergo, we won't be sharing any video of this performance.

Alex the Performer

We're big Justin Roberts fans in our house and recently saw Justin and The Not Ready for Naptime Players in concert. Last night Alex started a new game -- being Justin Roberts. He grabbed a microphone (a plastic wand), got on stage (his area rug), and declared "I am Justin Roberts!" Then he proceeded to make up songs to perform. He even invited me up on stage and gave me an instrument (a pair of binoculars) to play along. Fun stuff!

Solving Bigger Puzzles

We all like puzzles in our household, and I recently found a "family puzzle," which is a 400 piece puzzle with regular-sized puzzle pieces and larger-than-normal pieces. I figured that Dave and I would enjoy it now and that in a few years Alex could do it with us too. Well, Alex saw the box, wanted to know what it was, and decided to dive right in. He liked sorting the edges from the rest of the pieces and did a great job helping us put together the outside of the puzzle. Now, every night before dinner we work on the puzzle a bit. Alex has taken to it really quickly and has amazed us with how well he can find and place pieces.

Alex and Dave working on the edge pieces.



Alex putting the last few outside pieces in place. The funny part is that he had all the pieces together but decided to take them apart and put them in one at a time rather than put the whole group in at once.

Alex's Imagination Story

At school, Alex's class made Imagination Stories. They each drew a picture and told the teacher their story, which the teacher wrote out. Here's Alex's story. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but I'm glad it has a happy ending.

There was a monster. There was a butterfly. The monster hit the butterfly. The butterfly hit the monster. And then they were nice.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

This weekend Grandma C. came to visit so we could help her celebrate her 80th birthday! We had a lot of fun while she was here.

The birthday girl!

Grandma and Aunt Laura playing Candyland with Alex.

Cousins! Carolyn and Alex on the couch.

Putting candles on the cake.

Blowing out the candles. (Alex got to help since his half birthday was earlier in the week and because Grandma is very nice about things like that.)

Alex loves AJ's iPad.

Alex took this picture of Carolyn and me. What a great shot of us!

Goodbye hugs for Carolyn and AJ.

Big goodbye hug for Grandma.