Little Man

Since the day Hank was born, people always tell me that Hank looks just like a miniature man. I've never agreed until today. I took Hank to get his hair cut and somehow the difference of just a half-inch less of hair makes him look all grown up! He's a cute little man!

Jelly Bean

This is a picture of my little Jelly Bean sitting in a basket on top of my kitchen counter stealing from my jar of Jelly Beans.

Easter Feast

So much planning and labor goes into the production of Easter Dinner that its almost a shame to eat it. Not! It was delicious!

Grover Family of 3 and a 1/2

Easter Basket

On Easter morning Hank woke up to find his Easter basket filled with little toys and chocolates. He immediately picked out the foil wrapped chocolates and started to dig in. He took the foil off of each chocolate, gave it a lick, and then opened up the next one. Grandma was worried that he would overdo-it on the chocolate but he really just wanted to get the wrappers off and sample each one.

Dode Reunion

On Saturday night we went to Nicole's little brother's wedding reception and got to hang out with Nicole for a little while. It was fun to see people from back in the day and catch up with Nicole. I wish we could have visited longer but the reception was ending and people were clearing out when we got there.

Sunday Best

We did Hank up in his Sunday best for church on Easter morning complete with little linen pants, a striped tie (under the vest), and brown suede shoes.

Eggcellent

In my family, we have a tradition where each family member must decorate a signature egg with their name on it. Later, when we turn the eggs into deviled eggs for Easter dinner, we smash the eggs against each other to determine who's egg is superior. I put my "Coco" egg up against Aaron's egg and got crushed.

Mom & Me

I couldn't get Hank to sit still long enough to pose for a picture with me because he was too involved in finding out what was inside his plastic eggs.

Easter Mayhem

On Saturday morning we took Hank to an Easter Egg hunt that was hosted by a local elementary school. I had no idea how many millions of greedy kiddos and over zealous parents there would be. As soon as the whistle blew, hundreds of kids dashed into the field to grab as many eggs as they could fit in their baskets. Mud and elbows flew everywhere. Hank got a little lost in the shuffle and ended up in the back of the pack. Luckily, we were able to glean a couple eggs that the masses had missed. The whole hunt was over in 20 seconds or less. Out of the 4000 eggs, we only managed to snag 2! Better than nothing.

Frosting on the (cup)cake

Last Sunday I made mini cupcakes to give as treats to my young women. I rewarded Hank for "helping" me by giving him a cupcake to eat. As soon as he'd licked the frosting clean, he'd toss the cupcake and beg for another.

What a Hoot!

Sometimes Aaron will play a game with Hank where Aaron pretends like he is crying (making a boo-hoo-hoo sound) to lure Hank into close range, and then Aaron will grab him and tickle him or kiss him. Hank picked up on the game quickly and he likes to make the fake cry sound because its so pathetic sounding that it always make me laugh. Well, last night before bed I was reading Hank a book about barn yard animals and asking him what sound each animal makes. When we got to the page with the owl on it, I couldn't figure out why Hank kept making the fake crying noise. Then I realized that Hank thinks that owls cry! We always tell him that owls make a hoot-hoot-hoo noise and so when I asked him what sound the owl makes, he started to cry, boo-hoo-hoo, like an owl. I love that boy.

the backyard

Yesterday Aaron performed the ceremonial first cutting of the grass, which is a welcome sign that spring is almost here. Ahhh....the smell of fresh cut grass. It reminds me of how much work we have to do to get our backyard into shape. I can't wait!

garden project

Aaron and I have been working on the construction of a raised garden bed in our backyard. Its turned out to be way more of a project than either of us anticipated. For some reason, we thought that we could just stack the bricks together like leggos and call it good. Wrong. The walls have required some serious mathmatics, which is not our strong suit. We've got the system down now though, so we're going to try and crank it out for FHE.

BLUE (pink) EYES

We kicked off our exciting weekend with a two hour visit to the walk-in clinic on Friday night. I'd noticed that Hank had some serious eye goo going on but I was optimistic that it would clear up on his own. When his eyes turned a pretty pink color, we knew we had to take him into the doctor. Sure enough, conjunctivitis (aka pink eye) in both eyes. Poor kiddo.

the Hunt

Everyone knows that kiddie Easter egg hunts can be ruthless--kids pushing and shoving to snatch the most eggs. So, we decided to give Hank a competitive advantage by letting him practice in the backyard for the big event. Once he discovered that we'd placed an M&M in each plastic egg, it didn't take him long to get the hang of gathering as many eggs in his basket as possible. Now that we've taken a dry run, we're ready for Easter!

Play Ball

With only two weeks left until the Mariner's opening game, we thought it was a good idea to show our team spirit. Its looking like Hank's babysize hat is a little tight, so we'll have to get him outfitted up before the big game.

14 Weeks

No, people. This is not an optical illusion or trick of the camera. This is actually me 14 weeks pregnant. Since I already look like I could pass for 20-22 weeks, I wonder what I will actually look like in 20 more weeks. My belly button has already popped out! Done! (I wish). I'm grateful that I can at least still wear my normal clothes.

Dress-Up

I thought only little girls like to play dress up, but apparently all kiddos like a good game of dress-up. Yesterday, after Hank was already bathed and dressed for the day, he decided to raid his closet and put on his sunday clothes complete with sunday shoes, suspenders, and tie. Sometimes Aaron will have to dress up on a weeknight for a meeting and I think Hank likes to try and be like dad and wear his dress up clothes, too. Either that or he just has a really bad fashion sense at an early age.

Potty Time

My optimistic goal is to have Hank potty trained by September, but at the rate we're going, its not looking good. I bought Hank a potty seat last week and we've been practicing sitting on it--trying to get Hank to just make friends with the potty. Usually Hank will tell me right after he does his job, but so far I haven't been able to catch him in the act yet. Let the fun begin!