Bunny Brunch

We invited the family over for a bunny brunch to celebrate Easter.  To celebrate, we had a ham and multiple breakfast items, including a french toast casserole and mini egg strata's.  The food was delicious and the celebration with our family just added to the fun.

The boys allowed everyone to refresh their memory of Peter Pan and introduced everyone to Jake and his friends.

Jackson LOVES the idea of a party and was on the lookout for more people to come over.

More people meant more abilities to show off their Pirates.

Uncle Tony reading a Jake book.

Kim refused mimosas and we had our radar up that she could be pregnant and she later confirmed it. Yeah for Baby Gabby's 1st holiday.

A Jake in the Neverland Pirates Easter

The Easter bunny was very kind to Jackson and Connor.  As they didn't really have anything on their Christmas list, we decided to give in for Easter when they were very interested in Captain Hook, Peter Pan and new friends in Neverland, Jake, Izzy and Cubby.

Inspecting the baskets.

A tick tock crock makes these boys very very very happy!

Jake and Peter Pan books were definitely necessary for our book lovers.

The Jolly Roger, the Bucky and figures, figures and more figures.

I would relate this similar to the staging of the Little People animals. Besides the Jake friends, the boys also received the Snow White Figurine set, which just added more and more people to play with.

The Jolly Roger and Bucky are full of passengers.

Connor set up a dance party for all of the figures.  It was incredibly creative and I look forward to seeing more and more of this creativity when playing with their gifts from the bunny.

Fun at Chipotle

We are so lucky that the boys have continued to eat quesadillas from Chipotle. It is one of our favorite places to eat and allow online ordering, which is perfect for an easy dinner.  Because we order weekly, it is very rare for us to go in anymore.

After getting pictures with the easter bunny, we decided to get dinner at Chipotle.  It can tend to be incredibly crowded and the kids waiting at a table without their "cheese" can lead to an eventful visit.  The line was short and there were plenty of available tables.

Connor still loves guacamole but only from Chipotle. We'll take it!!

Silly selfies....

Mouth full of cheese and chips.

Posing for a picture.  He know wants to look at the picture to see if he looks good!!

Egg Hunting at St. Pius

We had so much fun at the St. Pius egg hunt last year and despite some concerns about the boys getting taken over by the older kids, we opted to go again.

Getting a pep talk in the church.  They were surprisingly quiet despite how eager they were to get out to find the eggs.

 The walk over to find the eggs.

Unfortunately, the organizer didn't think about the distance that the children would need to go to get the eggs after the "younger" kids were sent out and by the time that the boys got to the field, they were not able to get any eggs.   I was incredibly disappointed for them even though they barely understood.   The parents were instructed to share with kids that didn't get any and instead of sharing, we heard boasting and praise for getting their baskets full of eggs.  It never ceases to amaze me how "winning" is the prime directive of parents.  This is apparently very common in egg hunts and we had hoped to avoid it.  The boys didn't seem to realize although they completely understood that they didn't get any eggs.  We assured them that we would do some egg hunts at home. 

The school had just upgraded their playground so the disappointment of not finding any eggs immediately disappeared.  All smiles again!!!

And, Jackson, got a surprise visit/squeeze from the Bunny.

pictures with the Easter Bunny

We went back and forth on whether or not it was necessary to go visit with the Easter Bunny.  I had explained to Connor that it was up to him to talk to the bunny about what he wanted in his Easter basket so when they woke up from their nap, he was ADAMANT that we needed to go.

So, off we went, despite Jackson's objection to the whole thing. We had concerns that there would be drama and were cringing at the idea of a long wait and keeping them occupied.  Somehow, things worked out and as a reminder for next year -- get to the mall the day before Easter and arrive 1/2 hour before the Bunny was done for the day.

And, with no muss or fuss, the 2013 picture with the Bunny...

Connor told the bunny that he wanted Jake and the legos and we were done!  His lack of smile was because he just wanted to be able to relay what he wanted in his basket and be finished with the whole experience.

And, it wouldn't be right to not do a flashback.

first pic with the bunny in 2011

second pic with the bunny in 2012

Toddler Made Tasty Treats : Cinnamon roll bunnies

These treats had a LOT of promise. First, they were cinnamon rolls and who doesn't love a good cinnamon roll and there were raisins.  Well, the raisins were well received but I'm starting to realize that the boys just aren't all interested in cinnamon, which is something that they definitely didn't get from their mother.....

This bunny is missing an eye but you get the idea!!

Always suspicious to start.

 

After eating the raisins and pulling the ears off, they were done.  They had a small bit of the icing but other than the raisins, these were definitely a no go :(

And, this face on Connor sums up his feeling on the bunny. Still looking forward to some bunny fun this weekend.

Toddler-Made Tasty Treats: Daisy Biscuits

The boys were up for some baking fun after missing the prior week due to our week in Disney.   School of course did not disappoint when they were celebrating the start of spring.

Connor was super excited to pose with his flower and started hard at work licking the sprinkles.

Jackson's smile says it all with regard to this excitement.  It didn't end until he gobbled the last couple of bites.

Connor did his best with the posing but not a great job eating except for the sprinkles.

He made the decision that after further surveying, he wasn't going to eat anymore BUT, he sure does look cute!!!

Jackson was a machine and I spent so much time trying to convince Connor to enjoy his biscuit and by the time that I turned to Jackson, it was almost gone. He didn't talk and just kept eating, eating, eating. Another winner for treats.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The boys started their St. Patrick's Day celebrations at school on Monday making shamrocks with green painted hands and cookies on Wednesday.  On Wednesday for school, they wore their green.

              (SUPER obsessed with their Sight Words lately, which they were watching in this pic)

We made pretzel doodles with green M&M's on St. Patrick's Day and finally caught up with the Shamrock Cookies on Monday that we had forgotten about on Wednesday when they made them. Connor remembered when it was time to get their school bags. 

When we made these treats for the first time at Christmas, neither boy would try them despite liking pretzels, chocolates and M&M's.  I kept on trying and they finally gave in.  They even helped separating out the green M&M's from our Christmas bag.  Both of them indulged in the kisses during the unwrapping process..

They are getting so much better at following directions.  Baking treats is becoming easier and we didn't even need Michael's help to control the potential chaos!!!

Connor dissected the doodle by eating the treats first and then tackling the kisses. For some reason, he was hesitant by the time he got to the  pretzel. Silly Connor!

On to the cookies -- double day of St. Patrick's Day inspired treats.

Big smiles for cookies. Yet another winner for the boys in terms of eating on their own. When did this start happening??  They ate the cookies so quickly that they didn't even offer us any :(