The Past Week (April 5-11)

Hayden riding the rhino (it took a couple of tries to get him on). Today we took a much needed trip to the zoo. I feel like Hayden just needed some special one-on-one time with his mommy, and walking around the zoo on a nice day seemed to help us both feel better.

Last Monday (April 5) was my sister's (Brooke) birthday. I decided to make a cute little balloon cake in which I used different cake and frosting flavors. To celebrate, we walked around Gardner Village, ate dinner at Archibald's, came to my house for cake, and then did a little bit of Dance Party on the wii. Happy 22nd Birthday, Brookie!

I hope she made a good wish. Brooke actually paused for a moment before blowing out her candles because she was determined to have the perfect wish (I have no idea what it was).

Earlier on Monday, I babysat my friend Jenny's kids while she did some work on their new house. We made pancakes, played, watched part of a movie (that's the pic below), played some more, then made mac & cheese and frosted cupcakes for lunch.

Here's a picture of Dan and I from a friend's birthday celebration a few weeks ago. Dan's dad recently passed away this weekend so it's been a challenging time for Dan and his family. I didn't know his dad very well, but he certainly raised a wonderful son. My love and thoughts go out to them at this time.

Easter, Painting, and Parties

Easter Sunday-April 4
The Easter Bunny left a trail of Easter eggs leading downstairs for Hayden to find. There were 30 eggs in all plus 5 more in his basket.

Hayden managed to find all 30 eggs. Below is a picture of him counting them just to make sure.

After the egg hunt, Hayden started to check out some of the other fun things the bunny left for him.

Here he is opening one of the gifts.

A Toy Story game and a new Zhu Zhu pet (Winkie) to play with Num Nums (I promise I don't make up these names).

Testing out his new Scooter.

Easter Treats
Carrot shaped sugar cookies

Egg and Easter Bunny shaped sugar cookies

Mini Easter Bunny cakes

The big Easter Bunny cake

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter Brunch. Hayden got to go on another egg hunt, and he was spoiled by his grandparents, too. He got a fun dog chair, a Toy Story tent, a basketball, and a baseball stand where the baseballs pop up out of the stand automatically.

Check out all those fun eggs!

Hayden's great grandparents (Bob's mom and stepdad) sent Hayden this cool backpack with some fun little toys inside. He thought (and still thinks) it was way cool. Thanks Mam and Papa.

He also got an Easter basket full of goodies from Grandma and Grandpa, too.

Cousins--we thought we'd get a picture of Hayden and Gage together in their Easter attire.

The mamas and their boys.

What a wonderful Grandma our kids have!

Saturday, April 3
We started off the day going to the Easter Egg Hunt at Draper Park. Here's Hayden with the Easter Bunny. We also got to frost and decorate a cookie before the hunt because there's nothing like adding to the sugar high that kids are already on, right!?

We met Jenny and Kristen there with their kids. It's always fun to have friends at the egg hunt. It was cold, but at least the kids had fun.

Hayden got 3 eggs and a bunch of candy. One of the eggs had a ticket inside, so he got to turn it in and get a prize (a bubble wand).

Here is a picture of Hayden during the actual hunt. He's the one bent over far enough so you can see his underwear just above the top of his pants. Afterwards we went to McDonald's with Jenny and her kids for breakfast. Later that day Hayden and I went to Dan's parents' house to visit for awhile. Hayden had a great time playing with all the kids there, too.

Thursday, April 1

We had a playdate with Michelle and Abbi at Color Me Mine. Here's Hayden painting a dog, and below is Abbi painting a dolphin. Afterwards we met up with Michelle's husband (Justin) and their son (Ty) at Arctic Circle so the kids could eat, play, and get bunnies in their kid meals.

Wednesday, March 31

The book fair was taking place at our school, and Clifford was there. Hayden loves this big, red dog.

Thursday, March 18

We went up to Layton after school to celebrate Layna's first birthday. She's my sister's (Danika) daughter. Here are Layna, Luke, and Hayden having fun at Chuck-E-Cheese.

The boys really enjoyed playing ski ball. I'm sure Layna will be playing soon enough, too.