I love Easter. The weather is (usually) great and lots of fun stuff. The girls and I drove to the Tri Cities for Easter and Michael met us there. Friday we had a cook out with Michael's family. It was a little chilly, but not enough to keep us inside! Olivia was so excited to color eggs:
Paige would rather pull the grass out of her basket:
They had a blast hunting eggs:
And playing soccer:
The next day was the Easter party at Dad and Tammie's! Practicing for paddle ball:
Love this gap toothed smile:
Family pic (not everyone was cooperating, obviously):
Watching the adult egg toss:
Paige and Pappy:
Hunting eggs:
We had a blast! Daddy had to head back to Nashville and the girls and I headed to Granny's for the night. We went to church with her the next morning. Olivia was up at the crack of dawn to check out her Easter basket:
Paige wasn't feeling great and slept in. Olivia was dressed and ready before she woke up!
This was my first attempt at getting their picture together:
The one on my phone turned out a little better:
After church we headed to Lilo's for Easter dinner and more egg hunting!
Lilo was slaving away in the kitchen while we took pictures:
Paige cracked us up with this fake snake from Lilo's garden! Olivia was slightly afraid of it. Paige bent over, looked at it and picked it right up:
Warmer weather and longer days certainly make things easier around here! We've been outside the majority of the time. Olivia loves going to feed the ducks:
Paige likes the ducks, too. These particular ducks are pretty brave and get very close. There's one duck that is particularly aggressive and will hiss at the other ducks to get the bread. Here's Olivia "fussing" at him:
We also hit the park a few days a week:
But we mostly just enjoy playing outside at home:
Last week in gymnastics, they worked on back handsprings. They have been prepping for them for several weeks, but it was the first time the coach spotted them on an actual back handspring. Olivia decided that she wanted to work on them at home. I bet I spotted her on 300 back handsprings, but lo and behold...
I am so proud of her! She is very determined. Of course, Paige had to "flip" as well.
Paige is really coming into her personality.
She can be very girly. As in bringing me a tutu to put on her:
But also loves to get dirty. Here she is playing in the dirt behind the hedge in front of our house. In a dress:
She is also sleeping by herself in her crib for at least 5 hours a night. Hallelujah!
We spent the weekend in Nashville with Daddy. Yesterday was a beautiful day for the zoo:
My monkey's in front of the monkeys. The Nashville Zoo is really nice!
Olivia's face after looking at a snake:
Hard to see, but here is Paige eye to eye with a baby crocodile:
Checking out the elephants:
This was our view of Olivia most of the day:
Walking slightly ahead with the map. Cracks me up! Paige spent about half her time in the stroller and the other half insisting on walking by herself (at a snail's pace):
There's a really neat dinosaur exhibit. They are all animatronic, so they move around and make noise.
A little afraid of T-Rex:
There is a HUGE playground at the zoo called the Jungle Gym.
Livi on a zip line:
Next we headed to the kangaroos. This part was awesome! There is a paved walkway in with the kangaroos. You are allowed to walk right through their area. You can pet them if they get close to you. Here's one snoozing behind Olivia:
The kangaroos weren't the only ones snoozing:
Our last stop was the flamingos. They were so pretty:
Props to all the single parents and military spouses out there. It is HARD! And we're only on day 9. Michael started his new job March 25th, so we borrowed Papaw's truck, hitched up the trailer, and moved him there the prior weekend. We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies rolling up:
It's not necessarily the parenting that's hard- it's the being alone at night when the kids are in bed. I adore my girls, but sometimes an adult conversation is nice! Michael definitely has the harder end of this deal, though. He's in a new city, with a new job, in a little apartment by himself.
We've been keeping busy on our own. Olivia is really into doing "experiments" right now. This one we filled 2 glasses with water, and put a paper towel draped in all 3. We added blue food coloring to one and yellow to the other.
The next day:
Paige was interested, too:
We were pretty excited to play outside last week, even though it was still a little chilly:
We visited Daddy in Nashville last weekend. It was rainy Saturday, so we went to the Adventure Science Center, which is a hands on science museum for kids. Everyone in Nashville had the same idea, as it was pretty crowded. It was fun, though! Michael helped the girls build this arch and this was the picture I got:
There was a "tinkering" exhibit that was pretty neat. Everyone had to wear safety goggles. I do mean everyone:
The next day was beautiful and we found a great park within walking distance of the apartment:
We sadly left Daddy and headed back for school. Luckily, it is supposed to be beautiful this week, which means lots of time to play outside!
