Easter Party at Preschool

Ethan had a blast at his preschool's Easter party.  The kids started out with an adorable "bird in a nest" snack (yes, I did just use the word adorable to describe a food ;).  The bird was a marshmallow Peep, and it was sitting in a rice krispie treat nest with chocolate eggs beside it.  Too cute! 

As always, Ryan watched patiently from his stroller!

 

Ethan and his classmates each got to search for 5 eggs out in the church's yard.  Ethan found his 5 eggs very quickly and was anxious to check out the candy inside.  He was thrilled with the new Lightning McQueen Easter bucket that I gave him this morning.

 

The poor kids were looking directly into the sun, but the parents did manage to get some photos of the whole class together.

Ethan is left-most in the top row. 

After the egg hunt the kids went inside to do a bunny craft.

Ethan carefully added stickers to his two bunnies.

Showing off his completed bunnies

The party finished up with some relay races.  Here Ethan is trying to walk quickly while balancing an egg on a spoon.

More Puppet Show Fun at the Nature Center

I took the boys to another puppet show at the nature center this morning.  Since the weather is nicer now, it was MUCH more crowded than the Valentine's Day puppet show that we saw back in February.  We sat way in the back of the room so that Ryan could stay in his stroller.  This one was about the story of Peter Cottontail.

 

It was crowded, but fun!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

This is the first year that Ethan has been able to participate in our neighborhood's annual Easter egg hunt.  Last year he was sick and missed it, so he was especially looking forward to it this year.  He has been kind of obsessed with the Easter bunny recently and has some interesting ideas about him.  Ethan is convinced that the Easter bunny comes to help you find Easter eggs (the concept that he hides them has escaped Ethan at this point!)  On our way to the egg hunt, he kept talking about the Easter bunny:  Where does he live?  Will he come with us back to our house?  What color is he?  And he said several times that the Easter bunny was going to help him find the hidden eggs. 
The Easter bunny is the spouse of our neighbor who organizes the egg hunt.  They rent a costume for this event every year.  It was cute that Ethan was more interested in hugging the Easter bunny than finding eggs.  Fortunately our neighbor was a good sport, allowing Ethan to hug him several times and even helping him find an Easter egg.

Waiting with our neighbors for the hunt to officially begin.  Ethan made a beeline for the Easter bunny (he's standing right in front of the bunny)

 

Different yards were labeled according to age so that kids were hunting with others of similar age.  That worked out really nicely so that everyone had a chance to find plenty of eggs.  This neighbor's yard was for 3-4 year olds.

Ethan was beyond ecstatic when the Easter bunny helped him get an egg!  Too bad my camera focused on the branch that was in the way rather than on Ethan and the bunny. 

Ethan LOVES the Easter bunny!  Bet you didn't know the Easter bunny wears tennis shoes ;)

Ethan's basket was filled with a bunch of eggs, and he enjoyed opening them to find out what candy was inside

 

What a fun morning!

Ryan and Mia

Ryan had a second "date" with his girlfriend Mia today ;)  I babysat for Mia this morning and enjoyed watching her and Ryan play together so well.  They spent a lot of time crawling from room to room following  one another and checking out various toys along the way.

Heading for the groceries

Playing guitar

Ryan and His Truck

Ryan received this toy as a birthday gift from us, and he is just now getting interested in playing with it and riding on it.

Katie's 4th Birthday Party

Ethan had a fantastic time helping celebrate Katie's 4th birthday today!  She had a really fun party at a bounce place with lots of inflatables and games.  Here is the birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles. 

Ethan enjoyed the delicious pizza, cake, and ice cream- YUM!

 

The kids each received a cup of tokens to use to play the video games which were a bit hit.  Ethan loved the games that involved steering something (like this speedboat game).  Only after I uploaded this photo did I notice the fire and apparent carnage in the background of this speedboat scene.  Maybe next time we'll stick with a "friendlier" racing game! 

 

Ethan's friend, Caelyn, played a game that awarded tickets at the end.  She hit a major jackpot when the machine apparently malfunctioned and kept spewing out tickets, and more tickets, and more tickets.  She was ecstatic!  It only stopped dispensing tickets when another child entered tokens to play the game.

St. Patrick's Day Celebration and Ryan's Fun with Art

Today Ethan and his friend, Quinn, had fun at a St. Patrick's Day party at our local living history museum.  They enjoyed learning about St. Patrick's Day through listening to a book and singing songs.  Each child was given a leprechaun finger puppet, and in this song they were supposed to "hide" the leprechaun different places (here it is on their backs).

Ryan did a great job being content to sit in his stroller, watch, and listen

The kids were preparing to participate in a parade, so they made drums to carry and play.  Here Ethan is decorating his with a leprechaun and clover stickers.

Ethan showing off his finished product!  The boys also made kazoos.

The kids got to listen to several lesser known instruments being played.  Here they are singing along to a dulcimer song.

This guy cracks me up.  He is one of the employees who isn't afraid to dress up and be silly with the kids and their parents.  He dressed up like a leprechaun and performed a little song and dance.  Wish I would have caught the dance on video-it was cute!

On a completely unrelated note, Ryan has shown an increasing interest in playing with the art easel that we have in the basement.  He is finally tall enough to reach the chalk and use it on the blackboard.  He thinks drawing with chalk is so much fun.

 

He was having such a great time, he decided to draw double-fisted!

Ryan's 2nd Top Tooth

Ryan's second top tooth was not far behind the first.   Today we noticed that (as you are looking at him) his left front tooth has come through the gumline.  I'm hoping he'll be able to chew a wider variety of foods soon!   

Ryan Walking with His Car

Recently Ryan has been enjoying pushing his car toy around.  I think that he'll be walking independently in the near future!

Two Firsts for Ryan: Top Tooth and Girlfriend ;)

Today is the first day that we noticed one of Ryan's top teeth poking through the gumline (as you are looking at him, the right front tooth has appeared).
Ryan also had a playdate today with his first girlfriend, Mia :)  Aren't they adorable together?  Mia's mom, Emily, and I are in the same mom's group at church, and Ryan and Mia got to spend a lot of time together in the church nursery while our group met over the last year.  They play so nicely together!

I almost caught both of them looking!

Playing together at the train table

Ethan's Special Day at Preschool

At Ethan's preschool, the kids who have a summer birthday get to celebrate their half birthday with the class on their designated "special day".  I appreciated the teachers' thoughtfulness in remembering those with summer birthdays!  The "birthday" child's parents bring in a snack and drink on their child's special day.  Today was Ethan's special day, so I made penguin (confetti cake) cupcakes and brought milk for the kids' snack time.
Ethan was so excited to celebrate his special day and to dig into his cupcake!  Here he is wearing his birthday crown getting ready to pray before snack time.

 

It is probably difficult to see in this photo, but there are 3 1/2 candles on Ethan's pretend birthday cake.

Getting ready to blow out the candles

 

After blowing out the candles, they gave off a ridiculous amount of smoke!

 

Hooray, time to eat!

A messy, but delicious, snack!