here comes peter cottontail...

life seems to revolve around weather...

we were so happy to have a couple of weeks of warm weather...there's just so much more to do when it's nice out...but...winter came back to haunt us just in time for easter egg hunts...

we prepared for easter by visiting the easter village at purina farms (it was definitely our shortest visit...it was so so cold!) ralphy stayed bundled in his seat the whole time...

we colored easter eggs friday night after the last fish fry...

on saturday elli took part in the hunt at our church and then the hunt put on by our town's park board...as father anderson said before the 9 am hunt began, "we'd have been warmer if we'd done this at christmas!" it was so cold and windy...everyone was bundled up with coats, hats, scarves, gloves...it was not easter egg hunting weather!

elli was a good sport and gathered lots of eggs (she'd been practicing and gram & papa's for weeks)...but...by the time she began the next hunt at the park at 10:30, she was tired and ready to go home...

on saturday evening, we headed to gram & papa's to get the kids' easter baskets (and hunt some eggs) ...

and then we went to grandma & grandpa g's to get the kid's easter baskets (and hunt some eggs).... on easter morning, elli ran downstairs and jumped in our bed (at 6:45am...because "it was day!") she rolled around for a few minutes before jumping down off the bed...when she hit the floor, she froze and then tried frantically to get out the words that were racing through her mind..."the...the...the... easter bunny came... and...and..and...put eggs in your bedroom! he was here!" you couldn't have asked her to be more excited about the fact that he really did come! she waited for us to jump up and get the cameras and then she had all the eggs in the whole house picked up in what seemed like seconds...

she found her basket and the one hidden for ralphy...it was a great morning! ralphy seemed to enjoy the commotion, too...next year will be so funny as he races around with elli! our little darlings took an early nap so i went to mass by myself...we then packed up and went to the first stop: ralph's mom & dad's...we ate, played, visited and then the kids had an easter egg hunt...
then it was time for the next stop: grandma & grandpa brown's...we played, visited, ate dessert and then the kids had an easter egg hunt... we missed everyone at granny's, but 3 stops would have been nearly impossible...so the kids and i went to granny's monday to play, visit, open easter eggs and eat leftovers...yum!

and now, once again...we're ready for warm weather...

big changes...

we've had some big changes around here...

elli moved into her big girl room a couple of weeks ago (although the flowers are still not painted on the walls...) she loves her new room and easily gave up her crib in the nursery...she occassionally comes downstairs in the middle of the night, but usually she stays in bed all night...her new wake up time is 6:45 - 7:00...she jumps out of bed, runs downstairs, jumps in our bed and says, "it is day!" (that little internal clock sure works well...if i could just figure out how to alter it a little...)

ralphy made the big move up to the nursery and is sleeping so well up there...he needed to some room to roll over in bed! he is rolling everywhere and is also a the verge of crawling..he can get up on all fours and lunge and do the "army crawl," so he is literally seconds away from really going places and his hands and knees!gram and papa got elli some chicks...they are at our house now, but they will be going back soon...elli loves them and she is pretty good at grabbing them out of the box...she is really gentle, but she moves really fast with them...the thought was that we could keep them here to get them tame...i don't think that is working too well...i think they have learned to run for cover when that wild blond-headed girl comes around! ralphy got another haircut...his hair was in his eyes, so he was in need of a trim...but he really wouldn't hold still when his daddy came at his head with the clippers, so initially he had a crooked haircut...so ralph buzzed him a little shorter to even things up...i will admit i miss his long hair, but short is better than crooked!
and...ralph turned 30 on april 1st! we celebrated at nick & jessi's with a bbq on the deck...as elli says, "happy birthday, old fart!"