Easter

We had a nice, low-key Easter this year.  My parents couldn’t make it over to the house because my mom had been taking care of Mee-Maw (my grandmother) while she was in a rehab facility (for breaking her OTHER hip.  But, Rich & Lana came over to hang out while Noah opened his Easter basket.

 

Star Wars was a huge hit this year.  We’ve watched Return of the Jedi about 87 times. It always ends the same.

 

So here’s where I admit that I’m a bad mom.  We didn’t have an Easter egg hunt.  (GASP!)  There was a recent discussion on a private message board that I frequent about when to hide the eggs – before the kid wakes up or later in the afternoon.  And all I can think is that I apparently suck because we didn’t do an Easter egg hunt at all.  Well, we did – kind of – but not a typical one.  I continued the tradition that my mom started with me when I was a kid. 

Noah’s last egg (buried under all that green grass crap that is a pain in the ass to clean up) had a clue in it.  After reading the clue he had to go find the next egg, which also had a clue, and so on.

I made the clues in the forms of little poems, just like my mom.  I wrote this shit at like 12:30 the night before so don’t laugh!  I managed to grab 2 of them before they were thrown in the trash. 

The first one said:

Rub-a-dub-dub

This is where we scrub!

Come on, he’s only 3.  I made it easy.

It’s dark outside

You’re counting sheep

If you go camping

This is where you sleep.

(Look, rhyming isn’t easy.)  Up the stairs…

…to find the egg in his tent.

Unfortunately, I can’t wow you with the other poems that were tossed, but there were 4 in all.

The last one led him to the dryer where his gift awaited!

Iron Man crap!  Yay!

Which was a big hit with his dad.

Lana understandably trying to strangle Rich.

After we were done we headed to the park with Noah’s RC car so Uncle Rich could play.     Later that week Noah cut the antenna off his car and I had to pay $16 to get it fixed.

Colin’s 5th Birthday

I remember the first time I ever saw Colin.  Amanda was the first of my close friends to have a baby, and when I saw him for the first time I was awestruck.  I’d never been around babies before and he was just so tiny and seemed so fragile.  And now he’s 5.  He’s shy and he loves the Clone Wars and there’s a little girl at school who has a crush on him – and, speaking of school, he will be starting kindergarten this fall.  Where does the time go?

Colin’s 5th birthday was at the Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve in Southlake.  It was a refreshing change of pace since we’ve been to Pump It Up (all you moms know what I’m talking about) about 10 times since the beginning of the year.  Not that I’m complaining – Pump It Up wears Noah’s ass OUT and, subsequently, he usually has a great nap.  But it was still nice to do something new.

Here are a few pictures from the party.  The rest are here.

 

The birthday boy (in the middle) trying to get a closer look at a frog.

 

Cooper (Colin’s little brother) checking out a lizard.

 

I am NOT touching that giant cockroach.

 

Noah had gone to the circus right before this party.  Recognize the light saber?  Way more interesting than an old…WTF is that, anyway?  

Checking out some deer tracks.

 

It was a beautiful day and there was some great scenery.  

 

After the party, we headed to a nearby park to free the party favors (lady bugs).

 

And then have a little fun on the playground. 

Spring School Picture

The background is FUGLY, but of course I bought the picture anyway.  Because how cute is the subject?  Kind of a ham, though. 

I always buy ONE 8x10 photo when they do these school pictures.  I’m sure they know that I just scan them and print copies on my own, but they charge like $60 for 3 SHEETS.  WTF.

Circus

About a month ago, Trevor, Debbie, and I took Noah to his first circus.  Noah had a good time, but his absolute favorite thing about it wasn’t the elephants or the pony he got to ride – it was the light saber Nanny (Debbie) bought for him.  Of course! 

 

May the force be with you.

See that little stuffed elephant following him?  There’s a dog in there.  He had real stuffed animals, too, so it was quite a surprise when this one started walking around.

Talented sheepdogs

Female Gumby

Maybe I’m a fuddy-duddy, but I thought this outfit was a little risqué for an audience full of little kids.  Is it just me?

Noah got to ride a pony. He was not interested in petting it at all.

Just as this guy got to the 5th level it all came down.  But you have to hand it to him – he got this far by building the platforms one at a time while standing on them.  Impressive.

World’s smallest bike

No circus is complete without elephants.  Of course at this point I always feel guilty that I’m at the circus because I wonder how well those elephants (and the tigers, dogs, etc) are treated.  Then someone else will always point out that they are probably happier in the circus than losing their tusks in Africa or starving to death in India.  :-|  Aren’t elephants happy ANYWHERE?

More pictures here.

Sugar & Spice

 

That’s right…Rich and Lana are going to have a daughter!!  I am so excited I can barely stand it.  Sometimes I think I am more excited than they are because I know what they are in for.  And it will be so fun to have a little girl around.  Although that means I still have like 10 huge containers of boys’ clothing that I need to get rid of.

 

Rich’s Favorite Band

If you know Rich, you know who I mean.  The good part about the concert was that it was at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK so it wasn’t a big clusterf*** like the American Airlines Center can be.  The bad part about it was that it was in DURANT, OK.  Yeah.

But we bought tickets and off we went.

Pre-concert photo.

Notice the scarf because it snowed that night.  In March!

Did I mention we were on the res in Oklahoma?

Rick Nielsen hawking their latest release – ON EIGHT TRACK.

Notice the 5-necked guitar!

Wouldn’t be Rich’s daughter if her first concert wasn’t Cheap Trick.

Random post-concert photo

   We went across the street to walk around the casino after the concert was over.  Unfortunately, I didn’t gamble because you have to pay to play blackjack!  Yet another reason to hate Oklahoma.  All photos.

Up next: exciting, awesome news that I already alluded to in this post!