Easter

We had a fun Easter this year! It was so fun to be able to watch Austin enjoy the traditions and festivities of the holiday! I went a little overboard on the eggs and candy part...oops! Maybe someday I will learn. We were also lucky enough to get to have Sarah with us for the weekend!

Saturday night we colored some eggs. Austin was very interested...for a little while.

Watching Daddy drop the color tablets in the water

Watching the eggs

Taking a little "exercise" break!

Finding his Easter basket Sunday morning

His first chocolate bunny.

(We may have a little chocoholic on our hands!)

Giving his bunny a ride!

The egg hunt. (I know...it is a lot of eggs for one child)

Doesn't he look handsome in his church clothes?!?

Family Easter Party

Yesterday we had an Easter party with Justin's family. Austin had a great time playing with his cousins and running around Jason's backyard. He absolutely loved the slide, and finding toys to push down the slide!

We had a great dinner together. Then we did an egg hunt for all the kids. It was so much fun watching Austin's first real experience with all this. At first he wanted me to help him, then he just wanted me to hold his bag, while he did all the collecting. Then, he got very picky, and only wanted eggs from certain places. It was very funny. (I have it all on video, but can't figure out how to upload them right now.)

Bucket Head

Austin loves his Aunt Sarah! While she was here this weekend, I got Austin's Easter basket out so he could show her. He decided that it needed to be a hat...not just any one's hat, but Sarah's hat. Then, when she would put it on, he would say "March! March!" and they would march around the room together! It was hilarious! (I tried to get a video, but my battery was dead!)

He wouldn't let her take it off. She was a good sport about it, and left it on for him. They played and played together, and even read books with Sarah's "hat" on!

Swim Lessons

We started Austin in swim lessons the end of February. It started out as the 2 of us doing to a parent-tot class together, to get him used to the water, but mostly to get us out of the house. On his third lesson, he started freaking out. We spent the entire 25 minute class time on the first step of the pool, where the water came up to his ankles.

So, I decided that rather than pull him out of the lessons, and try again later it was better to keep going and get him over this crazy fear of water. We switched him into private lessons, and started with 2 lessons a week just to get him used to it.

He is doing better. He has had 6 private lessons, and he only cries for part of each lesson now! So, hopefully he will keep getting better, and will learn to love this!

The program we have him in teaches water survival skills. It is really amazing watching some of the other kids that are there. There are kids his age, and maybe younger, that are swimming. So, when I can get a good picture I will post it. Hopefully, he will have some impressive water skills to show off soon! But for now, I am just happy that he isn't SCREAMING through the entire lesson anymore!

Cars

Austin has developed a great love for cars lately. He loves the movie Cars, he loves to look at cars, and he loves to play with cars. He became fascinated with Justin's remote control truck. He wanted to play with all the time...not just watch Justin make it work, but do it himself. So, after watching my walls and furniture get rammed over and over (mind you it was too cold and snowy to take it outside), I decided to invest in a Tonka remote control car for him to play with instead. This little car is awesome! It is soft, so it won't hurt anyone or anything, and it can flip over...like two cars in one!

He still loves Justin's truck, but the new car has worked out very well for us!

(Let me just preface this by saying that I am a total sucker for this kid. I ran into a neighbor the other day at Wal-Mart and she said the she thought having her 2 year old in the store helped her save money cause she just gets in and out. Not me! I know, I know...NOT GOOD!!!)

So, one day while at Wal-Mart I wandered into the toy section, and found a whole "Cars" section. The little cars were on sale, so of course I had to get a Lighting McQueen car for him. Do you think he likes it? Take a look at these pictures and decide for yourself!

Spring

Austin's swim lessons aren't too far from one of our favorite places to go: Wheeler Farm. So after his swim class, we decided to take advantage of the sunny spring weather, and stop by the farm. Austin is always entertained , and loves to see all the animals, and feed the ducks and geese. It was a great fay to go because there were a bunch of little lambs out with their moms.

On the way home, we stopped at Wal-Mart to find a "Lightning McQueen" toilet seat. Austin has been interested in using the potty (he has even successfully used the big boy potty twice), and I thought this might help! As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I hear him saying "Mom, look! Look!" I turn around to see this:

Saint Patrick's Day

I have decided that I want to make holidays more exciting around here. I am not the world's most creative person, so I did a few fun things for St. Patrick's Day...nothing big...baby steps, okay? And, I forgot to take pictures of the things I did do.

So, I made Justin a green egg sandwich for breakfast, and colored some milk green for him. He ate it, but had to close his eyes to not see that it was green!

Austin got to go to swim lessons in the morning. Then we came home, and just hung out around the house. He spent a good bit of time reading books.

Jeri and Lexi came over to join us for our St. Patrick's Day feast. We had corned beef (Austin LOVED it!) and cabbage and a loaf of green bread (he also loved the colored bread!). For dessert we had shamrock shaped sugar cookies with green frosting and sprinkles, and eclairs with green frosting (thanks Jeri!). I did get pictures of Austin enjoying dessert. It is my only proof that we did anything somewhat festive for the day!

Hopefully I can do more next year, when Austin understands a little better what is going on!