Go Cubs!

We're officially a baseball family now! Today Ragen had his first t-ball game and he couldn't have been more excited. Jeremy is an assistant coach which makes Ragen extremely proud. The first practice was canceled last week due to rain so today's game was the first introduction to the sport for all the kids. It was hilarious! I knew we were in for some good laughs when the very first batter hit the ball about a foot off the T, picked it up himself and ran with it to 1st base. :)

Ragen did a great job out there today and Maggie was a happy cheerleader (until the 30 degree temps got the better of her). Looking forward to a great season, Cubbies!

Direct contact!

Ragen with his buddies Jake & Sam

Easter

Easter seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye this year. The kids woke us up at 7 o'clock on the button singing songs they'd made up about it being Easter. I hadn't wanted the hard boiled eggs to sit out all night (yummy egg salad!!) so I told them I'd go down to check on things. I quickly hid the eggs and then rushed upstairs to tell them the bunny had come! I had also forgotten to have the kids put out a carrot for the bunny so I put a few half-munched carrots out as if he'd gone into our fridge to help himself to a snack. Ragen got a kick out of this.

After our baskets and egg hunt, we ventured down to visit Jeremy's grandma who'd ended up in the hospital a few days before. She was in high spirits and loved the drawings the kids had made for her. Our timing wasn't great so our visit was pretty short. The kids were excited to see that Great Grandma has brought them Easter baskets to the hospital!

From there we joined Jeremy's side of the family at Anthony's in Des Moines where we spend most Easter brunches. It was sad that Great Grandma couldn't join us as she loves having all of her grandchildren & great grandchildren together. Plus we have a new addition this year as Ava is only 3 weeks old. Nana & Bumpa were gracious hosts and it was fun to catch up with the cousins.

After a few hours of downtime at home, we went over to Mimi & Bumpa's house where the Easter Bunny had hidden even more eggs and brought more baskets. Yikes! Grandma B (Keri's grandma) had a great time watching the kids in excitement as they found their eggs. I couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that the Bunny hides in the eggs in the same spot she did when I was a little girl! :)

Another Easter has passed us by but we do not forget the true meaning of the holiday. Our kids are doing better at grasping the significance of Good Friday and Easter and we look forward to them connecting more & more of the dots.

Easter Bunny loot

Maggie has been desperately wanting "dress jammies" and anything Disney Princess is a bonus!

Ragen manages to turn a bubble wand into a Light Saber


Good little egg finders

Found them all!

All dressed up in our Easter best!

The best Godparents!

Chad & Ronni always spoil our kids at Easter - they are such wonderful Godparents! Last year we were lucky enough to all be in Palm Desert at the same time during Easter so this year we had to do it long-distance. A few weeks ago a large box arrived and the kids could hardly wait to open it. Their eyes got wide as saucers when they saw what was inside. The most awesome egg decorating stuff EVER (not to mention plenty of candy)! These egg kits were things we'd never seen (is it possible that Spokane is on the cutting edge of something?!?) ;)


Thank you so much Uncle Nuk & Auntie Roons! We love you and hope to visit soon!!

We have been begging for a week to be able to use our new stuff! The time has finally come and we can hardly contain our excitement!

Both opted to start with the roller brushes first

Ragen focus was incredible

Maggie loved making the spinner go extra fast!

We couldn't believe thow this thing worked so well and didn't break the eggs

Maggie's final product (I love the ones with one tiny splash of color on it)

Ragen's finished product

Adventure Kids Playcare

This is genious! You might remember Child's Play Cafe which really was a great idea until they decided to put it on Main Street in Bellevue and pay one of the highest rents in all of the city. Now, there's a similar concept in Issaquah (in the same shopping center as Target) except you get to leave! At Adventure Kids Playcare, it's basically a drop off babysitting service and the prices are comparable to what you'd pay a babysitter.

Today they had a free Grand Opening event that was also an Easter/Spring festival as well. They did an egg hunt (several different age groups) throughout the play space so the kids of course fell in love with the place. They also had taken over the empty space next door for tons of crafts, a disply from Petco (complete with rats & snakes - ewwwww!), pizza, ice cream sundaes, face painting, balloons, and more. Outside they had a couple of bouncy houses, a fire truck to explore, and this awesome mobile video gaming theater.

By signing up today, we got a great deal on the annual fee (which goes towards arts & crafts, snacks, etc) and I now look forward to our first date night where we drop off the kiddos! If you become a "fan" on Facebook, you'll get notices of specials so be sure to check it out!

Ragen was a little confused as to why this Easter Bunny looked different that the fully costumed Easter Bunny we saw at Seattle Gymnastics Academy yesterday. I quickly explained that this must be one of the Easter Bunny's daughter's who helps him during this busy season! He bought it...

Egg hunt - Mags even found a golden egg

Getting Ragen to leave this place was near impossible. He was playing all kinds of Mario games on 52" plasma tv's with the sound blasting. He was in HEAVEN!

Feeling super-cool after sitting in the fire truck and getting a trading card

2 weeks of break

I started out last week thinking I might be one of the unluckiest moms around but it turns out that I was completely wrong! Somehow it worked out where my kids had 2 different spring breaks. That meant 2 straight weeks of being out of our routine, having a kid with me at all times (if not 2 kids), and absolutely no "me-time."

Ragen was out last week and we had a great time together. He's growing up so fast and it seems truly impossible that he's going to be 6 soon. Since Maggie is in pre-school, we get quite a bit more 1-on-1 time together so this turned out to be a real treat for my big boy and me. He was so well mannered when we had to do the boring old errands (he actually accompanied me to Gene Juarez for a brow wax and sat there like a perfect gentleman!). We managed to fit in plenty of fun things for him and I am so thankful for our special time last week.

Friday, both kids were out because Maggie's school took the day off for Good Friday. We went to the Seattle Gymnastics Academy for some playtime and they had a blast! The Easter Bunny even showed up for a visit!

Next week is Maggie's turn for vacation and I look forward to some fun mommy-daughter activities with her too! I might gain a ton of weight due to my lack of workouts but it's worth it :)