I made little Easter baskets for Hayden and Bailey. They were smaller baskets that sat in a bucket hat. Hayden's basket and hat were green. Bailey's basket and hat were pink. I have an abundance of plastic eggs. I purchased the sticky backed foam letters. They were bright glittery colors. I put them inside the eggs in three and four letter words. The kids baskets has eggs full of letters and one little toy each. In the picture above Hayden is opening the eggs and trying to figure out the words the letters are supposed to be. I previously made some handouts for a Relief Society Leadership Training coming up this April. I had scrap paper in strip forms. Hayden took all those strips that were just big enough to make his words on. He had a great deal of fun making words using the letters. Bailey is on Claude's lap while he opens her Little Pony toy.
Eventually our little Bailey needed to go downstairs to explore all the toys. We by-passed the toys and headed to the back yard with Little Pony in hand. Little Pony was introduced the Owl and Elmo in their hanging baskets, the planters with dirt for Bailey to play in as the summer warms up, and down the hill to see the turtle on the rock. They even played in the sandbox a bit.
The older grandmonsters have all hiked on this hill at some time or another. Papa loves to hike this hill. But Hayden and Bailey and their little legs have only gone down the hill behind our house to the creek and up and down the creek there a bit. We ended up hiking all the way back to a trestle bridge for the train. This trestle bridge goes over Eagle Creek which is the creek behind our home. The kids did really well on this extended hike.
We first past a tree that died and broke in half. It turned out to be a Honey Locust tree. Now as gentle and good as that sounds, a honey locust tree has enormous thorns along its branches. It turned out not to be a good tree for the kids to play around. They were fascinated by the thorns though.
Then we went across the little road cut through the woods on the hill. This parcel of land our housing community is in was originally a farm. We were going to see where the old barn had been before it was leveled. That didn't take long. It is really just a pile of boards. The crafty side of me thinks there is some great wood there to make something out of.
Down the road be sauntered to find a pile of rocks. Now this does appeal to little ones. They carefully sized it up and determined the best place to try and climb on it. My job was to find rocks close enough to try and get a good picture or two. It gives me a better appreciation of those photographers that follow people around as they explore caves, or under the sea, or whereever. You forget they are there because you are watching the star of the show talk about how hard it is to get to where they are or to do what they are doing.
Then the Mini-Marx's were off and running. Andie and I told them to keep looking back and as long as they saw us we could see them and they were okay. Oh the energy!!
Halt!! Bailey found sticks. We were not going to find 'Bambia' on this hike but Bailey found something that could be held on her head so she was a deer. She also found a great place to sit and pick out leaves and sticks for her bag of treasures.
Hayden amused me by finding a stick. We determined it was the perfect size for a walking stick for him. He carried the stick the rest of the hike. Such a little man!!
We did stop and take a bit of a break. Andie took my camera and got a picture of my with the little Marx's.
Then it was time to head back to our home. We found a moth on Hayden. He was very still and the moth just seemed to really enjoying being on Hayden's t-shirt. Even when we decided to walk again this little moth stayed on Hayden's t-shirt. It crept from the front of his t-shirt to his shoulder and then around to the back of Hayden's head. Eventually the little guy flew away. But it fascinated all of us for a good long time.
The other fun thing about that long walk back was the enormous fallen tree. I noticed it on the way over the hill. It looked like some kind of creature. The branches touched the ground and kept the trunk up in the air. This made the branches look like huge legs. As we came back down the road I pointed it out to Andie and the kids. Andie thought it looked like a praying mantis, Hayden was sure it was a dinosaur, and Bailey was sure it was a crocodile or alligator. Whatever it was, it was a place Bailey was sure she needed to play. This crocodile or alligator needed food. Bailey is really into preparing pretend food and this tree creature was in need of a special Bailey meal of a leaf. Off she headed into the trees to feed the crocodile-alligator tree creature. Hayden and I headed to the end where the roots would have been. Turns out there was a place hollowed out in the ground and lined with rocks. I'm not sure what could have been there but I am sure those rocks didn't get lined like that on their own. Hayden and I climbed the rocks on this end of the tree and eventually he met Bailey in the middle of this tree. There was a really good branch they each took a turn climbing to get to the top of the tree trunk. Amazingly no one fell, no bones were broken, a few scratches from branches were added to our bodies, but it was fun to play with the tree creature.
Then we made the end of this longer than planned hike. Here is a picture of Andie with her little ones. Hayden on the left and Bailey on the right. The house on the left front is our home. The kids were really happy to see Pa's cool house again. When we got home all of us were worn right out. We found snacks and headed to the basement for a video. Bailey took a good nap. Hayden had a good quiet time. I got a great shower.
When we returned Claude said he had come out two time to find where we were since we were gone so long. Claude fixed dinner and I headed off to my Friends of Sadieville meeting.
I returned in time to help get Bailey and Hayden ready for bed. Bailey was in her Little Mermaid outfit. She 'yoves' Ariel. Hayden was in his new space pajamas. They managed to find the bookshelf on the side of the TV and rearranged all the Readers' Digest Condensed Books I have stored there. The covers are fun colors and the size is perfect for little hands.
Tuesday would begin with a breakfast of muffins and bacon. Then we finally got around to decorating Easter eggs. Claude boiled a dozen eggs before Hayden and Bailey ever came but we never stopped long enough to get them colored. Hayden and Bailey wore their bucket hats that their Easter baskets came in and ended up coloring their hands green. The eggs got colored and Claude and I will enjoy some deviled eggs and egg salad over the next few days.
Now we thought we might write with chalk over the driveway. We had to locate the chalk. Hayden opened the door to garage and headed right for the shelf where it should have been. But we moved it the day before because we thought we would be playing on the patio. There were rain clouds overhead so I put it on the card table in the family room. I checked there and it was not where I left it. As I crossed the room to go back up the stairs I saw and remembered. Little Miss Bailey determined the little frog in its hammock beside the entertainment center needed to have a piece of chalk to use like a bottle. The bucket of chalk was tucked in the corner and the frog still had it's stick of chalk for nourishment.
I grabbed my camera and we headed out in the front to write on the driveway. Then we realized how windy it had become. Hayden and Bailey were about to blow away. I placed my camera on the little table on the front porch and followed the kids as they ran in the wind. We ended up in the backyard and then down the hill. This little adventure turned into another hike but this time the camera was on the front porch so no pictures. We hiked down to the edge of Eagle Creek and then followed the creek to the bridge that comes into our development. There is a little dam there to slow the water down. My allergies kicked in big time. I only had one tissue in my pocket. I had not planned on this hike. My left eye began to itch very bad when we reached creek level. By the time we got to the bridge it was swollen and very irritated and my poor single tissue was worn out. I finally told Andie I needed to head back to the house. By then Hayden was ready and he and I walked back to our home.
On the way back Hayden explained to me the meaning of the word 'thoughtless'. It means you think more of yourself than you do others. Then he explained that the word 'selfish' is the same kind of word. They are two different words but they both mean you think more of yourself than you do others. He is a fascinating young man
We got home, got a drink, blew my nose, did a potty run, and found the car keys. Hayden was sure we needed to rescue Bailey and Andie. I buckled Hayden in his car seat and got in the drivers seat. Hayden told me to be sure to drive like I had watched Andie drive. Then it would be just right. I did fine getting down the driveway but I realized the emergency brake needed to be released. I pressed down on the emergency brake and it only pushed it down further. That meant I needed to find the release somewhere else. It took me a bit of time but I finally found it and released the brake. By the time I got on the street, Bailey and Andie were about 4 houses down the street. We drove on down and picked them up. Andie said Bailey would have stayed outside forever.
It was time for lunch so we did a backwards lunch. Claude had purchased some Choco-Tacos. They used to be on the menu at Taco Bell. Hayden and Bailey each had a Choco-Taco. They wolfed them down. Then I took sliced of cheese and cookie cutters. They cut out the shape they wanted and ate the cheese shapes. We added some of the hot dogs from the day before and had a great little feast.
Andie took the kids down for a show before quiet time. Then I put Bailey down for her nap and Andie put Hayden down for quiet time.
During quiet time Andie packed up and loaded her car. After quiet time we scurried off to Georgetown for Andie to say hi to Mimi. Then to Brookings Park for a picnic with Papa and Claude and playtime at the park before their drive home.
Years ago we took a family camping vacation with all of Claude's family. We went to Green River Gorge so that most of the family could go white water rafting. Then we went through Yellowstone National Park. While we were camped at Green River, I decided my kids needed a bath and clean clothes. I got water and warmed it up in my mother-in-laws camper. Then I took my kids in turn into the camper shell on our truck and cleaned them up really good and put new clothes on them. With my work all done, I took my good book and a folding lawn chair and determined I would get some sun while I read my book. As most young mothers would, I fell asleep quickly. It was not for long but it was long enough that when I awoke I heard my three kids playing happily nearby. They were laughing and having a great time. I turned around to see all three of them in the pit for a fire. They had ashes rubbed all over their clean little bodies and clean clothes. So the picture above was one of those "When you are a parent you will understand!" moments. Hayden and Bailey found the grills by our picnic table and enjoyed playing in it a bit before we realized they were not in the grass with their cars.
After dinner Hayden and Bailey took their cars to play on the concrete roads. I just love this feature of this park. They have two big concrete tables with roads on them. The kids really enjoy driving their cars. This time the village made of concrete looked like Pinocchio's village.
Then it was time for the Marx family to head back to LaGrange, the Christensen's to head to Sadieville and Papa to head to his apartment.
Papa asked Bailey if she wanted to ride on his shoulders to the car. Hayden took Claude's hand and off we were with the Mini-Marx's to their car.
It was a great Easter and we filled it as full as we could. Claude and I were exhausted in a most happy way. Now I must go make egg salad and deviled eggs!!!
Thanks for another fun-filled weekend!
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