Easter - Part Two

Of course, Kelli was confirmed, etc at the Easter Vigil mass on Saturday night. We were so excited that she became Catholic. It was one of the most beautiful vigils I have ever attended. Sunday morning, we headed south to my parents. We enjoyed a tasty brunch and had a mini egg hunt in my parents' back yard.
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At Noon on every Easter Sunday for the past 60 some years, all of the neighbor kids gather on the corner for a big "egg" hunt - really, it's just neighbors hiding candy throughout their yards and the kiddies collecting it. We always get a picture of everyone before the mayhem begins. Besides our children, there is one other second generation kid there this year. One of the neighbor couples had been attending the hunt for almost 40 years. How neat is that?
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The non-walkers enjoyed some time together. Andrew is in the middle and Molly is on the right.

Patrick was helped out by a kind neighbor boy, also named Patrick.

Andrew checks out his spoils in the Easter basket that was mine when I was little.

Easter - Part One

Here are some shots from the Easter Egg Hunt at St. Therese

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Patrick and Luke are delighted to meet the Easter Bunny!
.Joe, not so much.
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The bunny seemed to know Granddad...
.Luke discovers some eggs. Much to mommy's delight, the plastic eggs were not filled with candy, but with little toys like stickers, rings, vampire teeth, you name it. Since the rest of the weekend was sugar overloaded, we were glad to have a little break. The boys liked the toys even more than candy.
.Patrick and Luke don their pirate eye patches and say "Arrgh!"
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Andrew hung out on Mommy's back the whole time. Next year, buddy!
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Luke couldn't wait to scare us all with his vampire teeth.

Be careful what you wish for...

As we turned out of my parents' driveway on our way home to Milwaukee, I announced to my coughing children, "If anyone needs to hurl, do it now."

Luke, right on cue, threw up all over.

Next time, I think I'll announce, "If anyone needs to sit quietly for nine hours, do it now."

Cover boy

These are from Andrew's 9 month photo shoot. We had some more creative ones, but he had stopped cooperating at that point.

Love Sniffs

Some quotes from around here....

"You get what you get, and you don't get a fit!"  Joe to Patrick while he was doling out toys.  Patrick was complaining about the toy he was given.  Doesn't that sound like something a mom would say?  I have no idea where he picked that up.

"I love leprechaun food!" - Joe commenting on our corned beef dinner.  Note:  He didn't actually love leprechaun food.

"(sniff, sniff)  Smells like yucky!" - Luke commenting on that same dinner

"See her over there?  That's my friend.  Her name is 'mommy'" - Joseph pointing to me, said to a teacher at his school.

"Smell my ear!  Smell my ear!" - Patrick wanting me to give him little 'love sniffs' around his ear.  All of the boys love them, probably because they tickle.

"(grunt) (pause) (grunt, grunt)"  Andrew trying to get my attention.  It's funny because he's so serious.

Palm Funday

We're trying to make the move to the actual church, not just the cry room.  We picked last weekend to begin the transition, clearly forgetting about Palm Sunday coming up.

The boys LOVED the palms.  They quickly became swords.  Awesome.  Once we squashed that, we noticed that they were using them to "tickle" the folks in front of us.  Again, awesome.  I just wanted to crawl out of there.

Then, there was the trumpet.  We sat right in front of the choir, complete with a trumpeter for the solemn occasion.  The boys covered their ears every time she played.  I hope she wasn't offended.

Finally, the crowd participation in the Gospel kind of threw off the boys.  At one point, someone exclaims "Jesus is the king of the Jews."  Luke must have only heard the last part because he hollered out "The JUICE??"  Chuckles all around.  Except for me.  That little whimper was the very last of my pride going the way of the dodo.

Another March Snowman

While mommy was working at church, Daddy and the older boys (where was Andrew, I wonder?) built a big snowman. The boys were very proud of their work! March seems to be the best time to make snowmen around here because it's not so bone-chilling cold and there's not so much snow that the kids get lost in it.

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The poor snowman melted the next day, starting with his face. I saw Joe looking out the window and asked him how the snowman was doing. "He's not looking so good"

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Speaking of not looking so good, Andrew got a little shiner! This happened while I was working, not to out Scott or anything. Perhaps that's what was happening while the snowman was being created! I think he fell on a toy. Either way, it makes him look really tough.

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Finally, Joe had a few school projects that I wanted to share (mostly because I took pictures of them then tossed them to keep the paper clutter at bay) This is his Groundhog's Day project. Every time I saw it, it made me laugh. It's probably the teeth.
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I love that Joe goes to a Catholic school. This is one of their art projects while they were learning about the pope. Gotta love it!
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These mittens are covered in flavored marshmallows. I can't figure out why, but as you will see in the next picture, those marshmallows were a little too tempting, even if they were completely stale.
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See the bite marks? My guess is that Luke was the perpetrator since he loves red flavored things and that's the only ones that were nibbled.

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Sorry this is sideways. Another food based art project for us. It had to get tossed quickly so no one would "taste the rainbow" (get it? they're Skittles)

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Happy Birthday to Grandpa D and Uncle Brian! We even have a new second cousin, Noah, Scott's cousin Christi's new baby. We can't wait to see everyone at Easter. The family just keeps growing!