At the Beach

We just got back a few days ago from a super-duper-fun-filled week in California. We left late Thursday night and drove all through the night so the kiddo's could sleep hence making the drive easier on us adults.  It worked out perfectly and we arrived in Anaheim just in time for a breakfast stop and then we went straight to the beach.  The day started out pretty cloudy and cold but ended up being a very beautiful day and I finally got some color back into my skin. 

Since it was so cold, we left the swimsuits in the car and just wandered and played around the shore.

Here they are digging for seashells.  

Then the kids started to feel brave and decided to test out the water. 

And even though the water was freezing cold, this crazy gal just couldn't resist and the pants started to get a little too wet. So we went back to the car and changed into our swimming clothes. 

We took a little break from playing in the water to build sandcastles. Although we ended up moving it closer to the water to get better sand, but then it just got destroyed before I could even get a picture of it. 

The boys were a little tired from driving through the night so they took a little snooze on the beach.

As you can see, Addy (and me) loved playing in the waves as they splashed up on the shore.  One time, I held her and we went out pretty deep to where the waves first started to crash over. She loved it until it got too cold and she was shivering uncontrollably. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent running back and forth between the towel to get warm and playing a few minutes in the water.  I was just happy knowing she could probably be a beach bum like me because that means we will just have to take a few more trips to the beach as she gets older!!

 

The next couple of days we spent running around in Disneyland!!!  

Pictures will be coming soon.

seriously, this girl cracks me up

One of Addy's favorite games to play is hide and seek. Hence we play it on a daily basis and I always have to give her the last time warning. I know you mom's know what I am talking about.  If I don't let her know in advance that it is the last time we are playing then we end up with serious fit throwing. 

 Anyways, we were playing this afternoon and she was already cracking me up with her counting; one, two, three, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, fourteen, fourteen, fourteen (repeat) until finally 'ready or not here I come'.  So I had told her it was the last time and so she goes off and hides and I start counting.  Well it is a good thing that she usually starts counting with me towards the end so I have some idea as to where she it or else I never would've found her.  

She had hidden herself in here:

The Washing Machine

She had crawled in here all on her own and scooted all the way to the back. Really if I would've just walked into the laundry room, I probably wouldn't have seem her because she is so tiny! The greatest part was that nobody even suggest that it would be a good place to hide (lots of times she just hides where ever we do) She just came up with it all on her own and she was right it was a great place. 

Needless to say, I was cracking up like none other.  It was so hilarious!  I'm not sure she will ever do it again though because it kinda freaked her out when she tried to crawl out and the inside started turning. This seriously made my whole day!

Egg Hunt

Sunday we invited some friends and one of Mitch's cousins over for a delicious easter feast.  It is sort of turning into a tradition to have ham, funeral potatoes, baked beans and rolls as part of our dinner.  All of which are my favorite so two and two together and Easter dinner is one of my favorites.  It even beats out Thanksgiving!  

After dinner the boys hid some eggs around the backyard.  We had the girls get there shoes on but then we told them they had to wait by the door until all the eggs were hidden.  So this is how they waited!! Hidden behind the curtains/blinds and watching their dad's hide the eggs. I just think it is the cutest picture :)

Armed with Easter baskets and ready to go!

And they ran around finding eggs with some slight help from the adults to point them in the right direction.

Addy's skirt was/is way to big for her. Every time she bent over to pick up an egg, her little undies or crack would hang out.  I tried to get a picture because I thought it was funny but the only one I got was from a distance and you can't even tell, lucky for her!

"Look at all my eggs!"

 

I tried to get a cute after picture because she really was thrilled and kept asking if we could do it again. This was as good as it got.  I think she was a little distracted with finding the candy inside the eggs. 

Easter Morning

Surprise!! 

The easter bunny came to our house too!

He brought lots of smiles and happy squeals from a little two year old. Truthfully, we kind of forgot to stop on Saturday to pick up a few little things for her basket.  Good thing she was so awesome at potty training that we had left over toys that we used in the easter basket! Also I had already bought lots of easter candy for our egg hunt so that helped to fill in!

 

As you can see, she didn't even care. There was candy and chocolate and that was all that really mattered! 

Mitch, looking to see what treasures the easter bunny brought him?

For breakfast, we made easter pancakes.  Addy was even able to help with a couple of them.

We spent the rest of the morning playing, getting ready for church and prepping food for our easter feast. We ended up being so busy that I never took a picture of her in her easter dress.  If you scroll down a few more posts you can see it from the wedding festivities. It was such a cute dress we just used it for both occasions.   

Easter Party

On Saturday afternoon, we went over to my aunt and uncle's for a little easter gathering.  They seriously have the funnest backyard for kids.  Addy had a great time playing in the sandbox, getting pushed on the swings and riding around on the bikes pretending she was just as big as the other kids. 

After dinner, my aunt had a cute little chick pinata that the kids had fun smacking around.  We only blindfolded Addy the first couple of times because she would walk over and barely hit the pinata with the bat.  We thought if she didn't have the blindfold on she would be able to see where to swing and hit it harder.  It didn't happen, she still just barely hit it. Then we told her there was candy inside and that was why we were trying to break it open and then she didn't even want a turn. She just wanted the other kids to hit it!! 

Once the candy came out, she was all about stuffing it into her bag!

Dad still had to make sure she got a couple of good things for him!!

Then we tried our hand at roasting peeps. I never did try one because I was kinda sugared out. Mitch, being the boy that he is, threw one into the fire just to see what would happen and it expanded into a pretty good blob! 

It was a very fun day and I'm sure Addy is going to be asking to go back a play soon!!

Coloring Eggs

This was kind of a last minute plan, I went searching for our plastic eggs from last year and in the mean time came across a egg dye kit.  It seemed like a fun family activity so we boiled some eggs and had a messy good time!

Yes, he is a cheese head!

We quickly gave up on the idea of trying to keep her hands clean and focused more on just keeping her clothes from being ruined. 

Addy definitely had a great time!  She kept laughing and saying, "this is fun" as she took her eggs from one color to the next. 

When we went to clean up, she didn't want to take her last egg out of the dye so we just slowly started cleaning out one bowl at a time.  So she ended up with one plain green egg and two multi-colored eggs! Truthfully, I think her eggs turned out to be the best :)

Playing...

              ...in the SNOW!!!

This really shouldn't surprise me because I do live in Idaho; but still it is almost the noon hour, and we still have snow outside.  

At least someone was happy for the two minutes she was out playing. Then she came inside saying, "it toe code". Hehe, I just love two year old talk!!