One of the things I had planned for Will and I to do together this weekend was go back to Country Lane Tree Farm (that we visited in September) for a full morning of Easter fun. The Bowlanders (farm owners) had organized a whole bunch of activities, including a pancake breakfast, for a very reasonable price! They do so many nice events for families and classes/students. (http://www.countrylanetreefarm.com/) We planned to meet up with Molly and Cora, while Craig stayed home with Sophie. In the end, Papa tagged along with us too (by his own request, and we were glad he could join us!) and Molly's husband Brian joined us as well. We hit the 9 a.m. reservation and I will remember for next year that that is the best time to go! It got so crowded later and we were also lucky to have nice morning weather before the winds and rain picked up for the afternoon.
In anticipation of a potentially muddy day at the farm (I was right!), I picked up some cute rain boots for Will at Target. I showed them to him on Friday and he LOVED them! He wore them all over the house Friday evening and this is what I found when I came down Saturday morning:
He put them on the wrong feet and said he was ready to go to the farm! He insisted they stay on while he used the potty. :) He likes that he can pull them on himself and expressed his great disapproval when we had to take them off after our farm trip... and wear something other than frog boots to church.Posing with Papa upon arrival.
While I waited in line to buy our tickets, Will and Papa went to check out some animals.
I finished up getting our tickets in time to walk over and find them checking out THE cutest baby animals I think I've ever seen! They even had milk bottles on hand so that the kids could bottle feed the baby goats!
There was a huge turkey just walking around! At one point, it was walking around this tree and Will thought it was following him. He's gotten pretty comfortable around most farm animals, but the turkey gave him a bit of alarm.
Cora arrived and she and Will checked out the ponies...
...and fed them some hay.
It was a muddy route to see the llamas, but they are Will's favorite.
Feeding the goats some bread. And there's that cute, brown alpaca too.
At breakfast, Cora told us the pancakes were "scrumptious"! She is talking so much more since I last saw her and it's so fun to catch up with them. Molly and Brian are expecting their second child, a boy, on Will's birthday!
I was so excited to see how well both Will and Cora did on the "big kid" swings. They really had fun and I'm now even more excited about our new swing set! We're hoping to get started with it in the next month or two.
Papa showed Will a baby chick.
On the hayride, heading out to the Easter egg hunt.
This is such a cute shot of the Pearson family! Cora's waving to the Easter bunny and Molly is just glowing. (Molly, I'll send this one to you.)
They set up the egg hunt at different levels of difficulty amidst the tree farm. We chose the "intermediate" section and were instructed to find six eggs and try to get one of each color. Then we brought them back to the farm in exchange for prizes.
Checking out each others finds.
Sweet Cora was so funny. She kept trying to give Will her basket. What a generous little girl! Look at Will's expression. He's like "are you sure?"
Then when we told Cora she should keep her basket to get prizes, she started pulling the eggs out to put them in Will's basket. Funny girl. 
On the hayride back to the farm.
Another funny Cora moment: she kept saying something silly and clearly cracking herself up because she would giggle and cover her mouth like this:
It was so cute!This was the barrel train that they took the kids for a little ride in.
These next few are some of my favorites. I asked Will if he'd like to hold a "baby bunny" (they're a little bigger than "babies" actually) and he said yes. He was a little unsure as the man put the bunny in his lap and made sure he was okay.
Then the bunny turned a little and looked up at him and Will got this little smile on his face.
I think he really thought this was fun!
And that was our trip to the tree farm! We'll definitely go back next year with Sophie too.
After nap, (oh, and you may also notice a haircut for Will!) we got dressed for church and headed to the 4:30 service... only to find the parking lot empty! I totally didn't realize they had the new member service that night at a later time (too late for the kids) so we just didn't get to church this weekend! I do feel terrible, but what else can we do with two other functions to attend on Sunday.
Instead of going straight back home though, we went over to Kelly and Steve's for the kids to meet baby Celia. The Munoz family was just settling home on Saturday so we didn't stay long, but it was nice to see them again.
These next few are some of my favorites. I asked Will if he'd like to hold a "baby bunny" (they're a little bigger than "babies" actually) and he said yes. He was a little unsure as the man put the bunny in his lap and made sure he was okay.
Then the bunny turned a little and looked up at him and Will got this little smile on his face.
I think he really thought this was fun!
And that was our trip to the tree farm! We'll definitely go back next year with Sophie too.
After nap, (oh, and you may also notice a haircut for Will!) we got dressed for church and headed to the 4:30 service... only to find the parking lot empty! I totally didn't realize they had the new member service that night at a later time (too late for the kids) so we just didn't get to church this weekend! I do feel terrible, but what else can we do with two other functions to attend on Sunday.
Instead of going straight back home though, we went over to Kelly and Steve's for the kids to meet baby Celia. The Munoz family was just settling home on Saturday so we didn't stay long, but it was nice to see them again.Our mirror decorated with Will's eggs.
Oh, darn it. I had a picture of the kids' baskets in detail, and now I can't find it. I'll try to add more later about some of the cool stuff the Easter Bunny brought us.
Oh, darn it. I had a picture of the kids' baskets in detail, and now I can't find it. I'll try to add more later about some of the cool stuff the Easter Bunny brought us. Hunting for eggs in the living room on Easter morning. Another thing I was planning (that I read about in Family Fun) is to put puzzle pieces inside the eggs instead of candy. Then the child can complete the puzzle when all the eggs are found. So I had a 25 piece Nemo puzzle from the Dollar Store only to realize on Saturday night that the pieces didn't fit inside the eggs. Bummer. I just stuck the puzzle in his basket and left the eggs empty. I'll have remember that for next year and use a 50 piece puzzle instead.
Discovering his basket.
Will got a couple special books on rock painting for kids (which is a neat hobby I'd like to get into with the kids - more on that later), some egg-shaped sidewalk chalk, a couple Diego card games including Memory, the Nemo puzzle, some chocolate kisses and his favorite yogurt raisins.
Soph finding her basket (after some pretty drastic hinting and glimpses - LOL) behind another curtain.
Sophie got some new jammies, a butterfly book, bath toy, new toddler toothbrush, and some super fun scarves.
I ordered the scarves from Lakeshore when I got Will's peg board. I'd seen them in other catalogs like Hearthsong, etc. for much more and couldn't justify the price just for some simple scarves. But Lakeshore had 12 of them in rainbow colors for like $16. We're going to use them for peek-a-boo, twirling and dancing (as Will demonstrated for us on Easter morning), and whatever else she wants to dream up. Sophie immediately started putting them on her head and Will was tossing them into the air. I was thinking of storing them in an old wipes container so she can just pull them out like tissues.
The bath toy links together to form a catterpillar and has different straining slots in the bottom of each cup.
On beautiful weather days, it's so nice spending time outside at Kelly's farm or Craig's parents house. It's just so peaceful and quiet there. For some reason, Father's Day 2008 stands out in my head as one of the most peaceful, beautiful afternoons I can remember. We ate lunch outside and played on a blanket with Will (just 12 months old). I even lounged in a hammock. It's too bad every weekend can't be perfect weather so that we can just chill out and spend time with family outside.
This one is Craig's favorite.
Big Papa sure did a great job helping the Easter Bunny hide the eggs!
Okay, I'm just going to say in advance that I fully realize there are way too many pictures of the same thing... but they are all just so cute! And this is what I'm talking about with the playing outside with family. How often does the whole family (i.e. grandparents) just go outside for a swing? These are the kind of memories that are going to stick with kids. And then just throw on a shirt and tie and you've got yourself a perfect photo op! :)
He's watching Papa in the swing beside him. You'll see why in a minute...
I love this face. He's looking at me like "do you believe this guy, mommy?"
Bad lighting (sorry)... but check out Big Papa standing while swinging!! He almost looks fake!
I love this kid to pieces!
Later, Will had to try standing on the swing like papa. This only lasted a few seconds and did not involve swinging.
And that concludes my swinging "album" - LOL.
Discovering his basket.
Will got a couple special books on rock painting for kids (which is a neat hobby I'd like to get into with the kids - more on that later), some egg-shaped sidewalk chalk, a couple Diego card games including Memory, the Nemo puzzle, some chocolate kisses and his favorite yogurt raisins.
Soph finding her basket (after some pretty drastic hinting and glimpses - LOL) behind another curtain.
Sophie got some new jammies, a butterfly book, bath toy, new toddler toothbrush, and some super fun scarves.
I ordered the scarves from Lakeshore when I got Will's peg board. I'd seen them in other catalogs like Hearthsong, etc. for much more and couldn't justify the price just for some simple scarves. But Lakeshore had 12 of them in rainbow colors for like $16. We're going to use them for peek-a-boo, twirling and dancing (as Will demonstrated for us on Easter morning), and whatever else she wants to dream up. Sophie immediately started putting them on her head and Will was tossing them into the air. I was thinking of storing them in an old wipes container so she can just pull them out like tissues.
The bath toy links together to form a catterpillar and has different straining slots in the bottom of each cup.
On beautiful weather days, it's so nice spending time outside at Kelly's farm or Craig's parents house. It's just so peaceful and quiet there. For some reason, Father's Day 2008 stands out in my head as one of the most peaceful, beautiful afternoons I can remember. We ate lunch outside and played on a blanket with Will (just 12 months old). I even lounged in a hammock. It's too bad every weekend can't be perfect weather so that we can just chill out and spend time with family outside.After cleaning up and getting dressed, we made our way over to the Riedeman's a little before 10:00 where Sophie immediately layed down for a (past due) nap and Will got to go outside for another Easter egg hunt. It's so funny that now, while he's the only participating grandchild, his every move is hovered over with both video and still cameras to capture every bend of the knees. It's like he's trailed by papparazi. Haha!
This one is Craig's favorite.
Big Papa sure did a great job helping the Easter Bunny hide the eggs!
Okay, I'm just going to say in advance that I fully realize there are way too many pictures of the same thing... but they are all just so cute! And this is what I'm talking about with the playing outside with family. How often does the whole family (i.e. grandparents) just go outside for a swing? These are the kind of memories that are going to stick with kids. And then just throw on a shirt and tie and you've got yourself a perfect photo op! :)
He's watching Papa in the swing beside him. You'll see why in a minute...
I love this face. He's looking at me like "do you believe this guy, mommy?"
Bad lighting (sorry)... but check out Big Papa standing while swinging!! He almost looks fake!
I love this kid to pieces!
Later, Will had to try standing on the swing like papa. This only lasted a few seconds and did not involve swinging.
And that concludes my swinging "album" - LOL.Here's a rare photo of just the two of us. Yikes! Do we ever look washed out!
We had a delicious brunch and I even managed to finish eating before Sophie woke from her nap... hooray! Will and Sophie both got little Carribbean-looking outfits from Tom and Marilyn's recent cruise.
Since last Easter, Will has gone from being the only grandchild on both sides to being surrounded by FOUR new, baby girls! By now, he's used to new babies and meeting Celia hasn't come as a shock. He's known Kelly was pregnant and that there would be a new, baby girl in the family. He also says her name - Cecilia - with perfect enunciation... though Celia sounds more like "Silly-a" from Will. So this year, I thought it would be appropriate to take pictures of all the grandkids with both sets of grandparents. This one is not the best of either of my kids, but I like it nonetheless.
Awww. Doesn't Celia look so sweet and dainty with her hands all folded up like this? She had just come from her bilirubin check this morning and, aside from a mild case of jaundice, is doing very well at home. We had her propped up to take a picture of the two baby girls to compare their size difference.
I wish Craig had been a little bit lower when taking this shot because it looks like a really good one. I was standing off to the side in case Sophie decided to flail her arms and get too close to whacking Celia. I'm going to see if Steve got a better angle or else I'll just crop the camera out of the corner (LOL) when I print this one.
Will did so well holding Celia for the cousins picture. And apparently Sophie thinks this is the funniest thing ever. I love this one!
Haha! Look at her smile! Doesn't she look like she's about to do something ornery?
A family photo. (Gosh, my hair is really getting long again! I don't notice that till I see it in a picture.) This was actually the best out of MANY shots despite the fact that neither child is looking OR smiling. Oh well. I guess you take what you can get with toddlers at nap time.
And here are a few outtakes that we narrowed down to find our favorite picture above. Marilyn's friend Micah arrived just before we started taking these photos. He teaches both piano and voice lessons and always enjoys getting Will to sing a musical note at various pitches. For some reason, this always works better when Will's a little sleepy (like today) and Will had started singing during our "photo shoot". So here he's singing and you can see how good he is by MY expression... just kidding. 
A little hand action to really bring on the drama with this voice lesson.
And then demanding that Craig look him in the eyes during his serenade. :) 
Onto Great Grandma and Grandpa Konesky's house and another photo with the grandparents. I love my mom's and Will's face in this one, but dad's not looking.
This is probably how pictures are going to go for quite awhile: posting/ordering more than one just because not every child will cooperate in the same photo. :) This is a pretty good one. Haha - this time dad is the only one looking!
This is my Goddaughter, Stella Grace. She and her sister are 10 months old now! Doesn't Stella just look like a porcelain doll in this picture?
Stella and Mya - opening their baskets from us.
They had on the cutest, satiny dresses and sassy headbands!
Will got a little basket from the Rethmans with some very cool treats inside. P.S. - he loves that Dora Easter book, guys! Great choice!
And of course Soph got a little basket too. 
Lovin' the shades!
Casey and Will sorting foam, bath tub letters and numbers and spelling various names.
Soph and daddy.
Another very washed-out picture of me - yikes! - with my sister and some-day-sister-in-law. P.S. - I LOVE that dress, Amanda!
We had another very yummy meal and spent some time visiting with family. Sophie got another nap at this party (we carted around the pack 'n play for this day), but Will did not. He was very good, playing nicely and behaving for most of the day. We headed home around 4:30 or 4:45 and Will totally passes out in the car. Craig drove and I was doing that mouth-open, falling-asleep-head-bob in the passenger seat. We were all exhausted! Once at home, Craig was able to transfer a sleeping Will from his car seat to his bed for an approximately 45 minute nap. While he slept, I unloaded and organized all of our holiday stuff and cleaned up a bit. Sophie played with one of her very cool toys from the Rethmans - a set of measuring cups and spoons. Love them! 
But when Craig went in to wake Will so he could eat dinner and get ready for bed, our son was a totally different child from the sweet boy we know and love. He lounged on the couch (while whining) briefly with Craig but then soon broke down into inconsoleable sobs/whines/screams. There was absolutely no reasoning with him and a very difficult struggle in calming him down. He was just exhausted and totally... OFF, for lack of a better description. And this is why it is just not a good idea to mess with the napping schedule of a young child. Despite a lovely day, I'm not sure it was all worth it to seem him like that in the end. Thank goodness we don't have any holidays that will require two parties in one day for quite a long time now.
Awww. Doesn't Celia look so sweet and dainty with her hands all folded up like this? She had just come from her bilirubin check this morning and, aside from a mild case of jaundice, is doing very well at home. We had her propped up to take a picture of the two baby girls to compare their size difference.
I wish Craig had been a little bit lower when taking this shot because it looks like a really good one. I was standing off to the side in case Sophie decided to flail her arms and get too close to whacking Celia. I'm going to see if Steve got a better angle or else I'll just crop the camera out of the corner (LOL) when I print this one.
Will did so well holding Celia for the cousins picture. And apparently Sophie thinks this is the funniest thing ever. I love this one!
Haha! Look at her smile! Doesn't she look like she's about to do something ornery?
A family photo. (Gosh, my hair is really getting long again! I don't notice that till I see it in a picture.) This was actually the best out of MANY shots despite the fact that neither child is looking OR smiling. Oh well. I guess you take what you can get with toddlers at nap time.
And here are a few outtakes that we narrowed down to find our favorite picture above. Marilyn's friend Micah arrived just before we started taking these photos. He teaches both piano and voice lessons and always enjoys getting Will to sing a musical note at various pitches. For some reason, this always works better when Will's a little sleepy (like today) and Will had started singing during our "photo shoot". So here he's singing and you can see how good he is by MY expression... just kidding. 
A little hand action to really bring on the drama with this voice lesson.
And then demanding that Craig look him in the eyes during his serenade. :) 
Onto Great Grandma and Grandpa Konesky's house and another photo with the grandparents. I love my mom's and Will's face in this one, but dad's not looking.
This is probably how pictures are going to go for quite awhile: posting/ordering more than one just because not every child will cooperate in the same photo. :) This is a pretty good one. Haha - this time dad is the only one looking!
This is my Goddaughter, Stella Grace. She and her sister are 10 months old now! Doesn't Stella just look like a porcelain doll in this picture?
Stella and Mya - opening their baskets from us.
They had on the cutest, satiny dresses and sassy headbands!
Will got a little basket from the Rethmans with some very cool treats inside. P.S. - he loves that Dora Easter book, guys! Great choice!
And of course Soph got a little basket too. 
Lovin' the shades!
Casey and Will sorting foam, bath tub letters and numbers and spelling various names.
Soph and daddy.
Another very washed-out picture of me - yikes! - with my sister and some-day-sister-in-law. P.S. - I LOVE that dress, Amanda!
We had another very yummy meal and spent some time visiting with family. Sophie got another nap at this party (we carted around the pack 'n play for this day), but Will did not. He was very good, playing nicely and behaving for most of the day. We headed home around 4:30 or 4:45 and Will totally passes out in the car. Craig drove and I was doing that mouth-open, falling-asleep-head-bob in the passenger seat. We were all exhausted! Once at home, Craig was able to transfer a sleeping Will from his car seat to his bed for an approximately 45 minute nap. While he slept, I unloaded and organized all of our holiday stuff and cleaned up a bit. Sophie played with one of her very cool toys from the Rethmans - a set of measuring cups and spoons. Love them! 
But when Craig went in to wake Will so he could eat dinner and get ready for bed, our son was a totally different child from the sweet boy we know and love. He lounged on the couch (while whining) briefly with Craig but then soon broke down into inconsoleable sobs/whines/screams. There was absolutely no reasoning with him and a very difficult struggle in calming him down. He was just exhausted and totally... OFF, for lack of a better description. And this is why it is just not a good idea to mess with the napping schedule of a young child. Despite a lovely day, I'm not sure it was all worth it to seem him like that in the end. Thank goodness we don't have any holidays that will require two parties in one day for quite a long time now. I love these - Will is a zombie while Soph is her usual, jolly self.
All in all, we had a lovely Easter weekend. Lots of fun memories, good food, and time with family. I did vent to my mom while on a walk earlier in the week that I sometimes feel frustrated that our holidays are spent in chaos just trying to get from place to place to spend time with other people. And that often makes me feel a little cheated of a relaxing and enjoyable holiday with my children because so much of my time is spent preparing and organizing our outings. (Mother's Day last year was a prime example of this!) But I try to make the best of it by doing some of those quality-time things I want to experience with them on the days surrounding the actual holiday, and then just psyching myself up for an exhausting, crazy day of "celebration" with others. This week I was able to take two afternoons off from work to squeeze in a little extra prep time and time for myself so that it didn't feel so hectic, which was wonderful. Mostly, I'm just sad that we didn't make it to church. After all, that is the meaning of the holiday in the first place. But we said our prayers and just thanked God for another day with our healthy family.
All in all, we had a lovely Easter weekend. Lots of fun memories, good food, and time with family. I did vent to my mom while on a walk earlier in the week that I sometimes feel frustrated that our holidays are spent in chaos just trying to get from place to place to spend time with other people. And that often makes me feel a little cheated of a relaxing and enjoyable holiday with my children because so much of my time is spent preparing and organizing our outings. (Mother's Day last year was a prime example of this!) But I try to make the best of it by doing some of those quality-time things I want to experience with them on the days surrounding the actual holiday, and then just psyching myself up for an exhausting, crazy day of "celebration" with others. This week I was able to take two afternoons off from work to squeeze in a little extra prep time and time for myself so that it didn't feel so hectic, which was wonderful. Mostly, I'm just sad that we didn't make it to church. After all, that is the meaning of the holiday in the first place. But we said our prayers and just thanked God for another day with our healthy family. 