Easter

We went to my Aunt & Uncle's house for Easter. We always do a big egg hunt, but this year the weather was not cooperative. We managed to hunt for our eggs while it was still only a little drizzly. Ayden had fun finding other people's eggs and looking at the letters to find out who the egg belonged to. He would then run to that person and tell them where their egg was. Found his egg!

We also do a hunt for the little kids with plastic eggs.

Excited about the big chocolate bunny!

Even though it was raining off and on, he still managed to get Grandma to play badmitton with him.

Ayden & GrandmaWe played games inside to stay out of the rain.

Ayden & Uncle Matthew

Happy Easter!

Ayden had a ton of fun coloring eggs this year - and it was a lot cleaner than last year.

Posing with his eggs - and a mouthful of sandwich.

We had a visit from a certain bunny!He totally forgot about the Easter bunny when he woke up and we didn't remind him until after he was dressed and ready for church.

He got some cool home-made pajamas from cousin Anneke.A nice family picture after church.
Part 2 pictures to come in a couple of days - we're heading to my Aunt & Uncles house later today for the annual egg hunt with the family. We'll see if the weather cooperates, it looks like it's going to start raining any minute - we might be having an indoor egg hunt this year.

So proud...

My son is stubborn....really stubborn. He does not like to do things that he does not want to do. So, when we try to practice something or teach him new things, I have to take advantage of when he's in "the right mood." Thank God for his preschool teachers because he rarely wants to listen to me teach him anything. Given all of this, I get excited when he tells me he wants to write his name, or even try to write his name. For Ken's birthday card, he told me he was going to write his name all by himself....and he did!
Now, I know it's backwards, we're still working on making the D not look like a P, and he goes a little overboard with the lines on the E, but he was quite proud of himself!!
To add to my surprise, he told me he wanted to write on the envelope - he wrote this and I didn't even have to tell him how to spell it. "Dap" was impressed too :)He just continues to surprise me with what a smarty-pants he is (when he decides he wants to be and wants me to know!)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We went to Grandma & Grandpa Frank's house last weekend for a fun BBQ for Grandma's birthday! Ayden insisted on picking out his own present and wrapping it himself....he even wanted to open it for her :) We couldn't find any birthday candles, but my mom insisted that Ayden had to have a candle to help her blow out, so we had to settle for a jar candle in the middle of the lemon bundt cake.

They have an ATV for Ayden at their house, but it needed a new battery, so he got to ride it using "daddy power."

Ayden has been obsessed with the idea of climbing trees lately. I have no idea where it came from - probably from a friend at school. He has asked numerous times if we will teach him how to climb a tree. When we are in a parking lot, he goes over to the trees to try to climb the trunk. Since our neighborhood (and pretty much everywhere around us) is such a new area, we don't have any "climbable" trees. Well, he found that Grandma's house has lots of trees to climb. Aunt Dominique kept a watchful eye and helpful shove to get him into the little tree on the patio.

So proud of himself!

It was time to move on to a bigger tree

He needed the long-armed help of Uncle Matthew for this one!

Fun day at the zoo

Last weekend, we spent a great day at the zoo and the park with Grandpa and Grandma Jill!
The little man!Both of my boys checking out the flamingoes.Petting a skinkHe said, "Look, I a zookeeper!"

After a picnic lunch in the park, he played a little T-ball

and moved on to some pitching - he even hit a few!

We tired him out!

He needed a ride back to the car

I thought he was taking a nap...

...but apparently he was playing "dress up"
This is why he doesn't dress himself :)

Swimming Lessons

We had a shaky start to swimming lessons at the new indoor pool. Ayden's first lesson on Feb 1st was full of tears and fit-throwing. When we talked about it in the week leading up to his first lesson, he kept insisting that I had to get in the pool with him (because we did a mommy & me class last summer). I told him he was 3 now and only kids and teachers get in the pool when you are 3. He was not satisfied with that answer. Luckily, he had a great teacher who made a connection with him through his tears and he only cried for about 5 minutes or so. The next lesson the crying lasted 20 minutes...of the 1/2 hour lesson. The following week he started crying when we pulled in the parking lot. I was prepared with jelly bean bribery and there was no crying once he got in the pool! Success! The next few lessons he was finally excited to be there.

As of last lesson on Wednesday, he can:

jump in
put his head under the water

climb out on his own

do "kickers" and "scoopers"

.....All of which he could do at the end of last summer.

So, we spend $55 for a month of swimming lessons to get him to the point he was at at the end of last summer. Hopefully next month he'll actually make some progress!