Pre-Easter

Spencer was out of school for spring break for 2 weeks and 1 day.  Then he went back to school for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and was off again on Good Friday.  It's the stupidest schedule I've ever seen.  Why wouldn't they just give them the whole week before Easter off and then the day after Easter?  Why not just shift the whole break to be later rather than earlier?  Whoever made that schedule doesn't 1) work and 2) have kids in school.

On the last day of Spencer's break (Monday the 21st) I had to work.  Michael was home with the kids.  They did all sorts of fun things including going to Peter Piper Pizza and winning all sorts of tickets.  This is THE picture taken that day:

On Tuesday (the 22nd) Elliott started a tumbling class.  It was actually scheduled to start the week before when we were in Tucson and I figured he would just miss the first one.  But then the teacher had car trouble and it was cancelled.  It worked out so perfectly.

Only three kids showed up the first day.   Both of the other kids were teeny tiny girls.

Nothing notable happened on Wednesday that week.  I worked on Thursday.  Then on Friday we drove down to Tucson for Easter weekend.  We originally left a bit after 4:00 pm. We were a block from home when the tire pressure indicator came on.  We have nitrogen tires and we can't just add air at the gas station, so we went home and the kids, Ginger and I stayed there while Michael took the car to Costco.  We were hoping it was just a minor problem, but it turned out to be a nail in the tire.  Two and a half hours later we got a very late start to drive to Tucson.

On Saturday we took a very special picture.  Let me explain.

Spencer was 4 years, 3 months and 10 days old when Elliott was born.  This is them meeting for the first time about an hour or so after Elliott was born.

Elliott was 4 years, 3 months and 10 days old on Saturday the 26th.  I just HAD to re-create the original picture.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

There wasn't much pre-planning for this picture so I was lucky to find a towel in the linen closet that somewhat resembled the baby blanket from the hospital.

Side by side.  They've both grown a bit.  Elliott about 40 pounds and Spencer about 25 pounds.

After that nonsense we dyed Easter eggs.

Ginger was thrilled.

Then my mom and the kids decorated their annual bunny cake.  This year they did chocolate on chocolate.

I added the sprinkles on the bunny and the sprinkles in the grass.

After the kids were in bed that night we got their baskets ready to go.  They each got a bathing suit with a rash guard shirt. a place mat, a DVD, a marshmallow pop, an animal wash cloth and cheese balls (that were called bunny tails).

Spencer got the Peanuts movie and a storm tropper pop.

Elliott got the Minions movie and a minions pop.

My mom and dad gave them little buckets.

Then we supervised as the Easter bunny hid candy.  Well, we left the room so he could work in silence and anonymity and we just watched out for kids.

And while we were out of the room, Winston showed up and brought an etch-a-sketch with him!  I think he had a hard time writing Happy Easter on it.

Then finally I made my contribution for Easter the next day.  

The whole thing almost melted into a delicious chocolate puddle on Easter.  It was a warm one in Tucson.