Easter Day Fun

Easter morning was filled with a.) the Easter bunny's visit, b.) Grandma Kate's crazy schemes to make enough food for a 20-person feast :) and c.) some last-minute tie-dyed egg-dying fun for Misha.



Last year, at age 3, Misha was not a very good Easter-basket finder. He walked into his dark room and announced, "I didn't find it!" We turned on the light and he peeked around, saying, "Maybe the magic queen taked it!" Finally, after a lot of guiding, he found his basket and was delighted in particular with the peanut butter crackers - so much so that this year he remembered the crackers in his basket even though Josh and I had completely forgotten!

This year, he scrambled upstairs and began actively looking in drawers and cupboards. He still needed a bit of inspiration for places to look, but eventually he found his goody-laden baskets (yes, plural - thanks to Grandma Kate). This year he also really wanted to SEE the Easter bunny, so as soon as he found his basket, he ran down the stairs and opened the door to look outside - but it was too late. That bunny was too fast. So he dove right into eating his chocolate bunnies. Luckily, after a few bites he decided to save them. They remain on our counter, completely forgotten.



Grandma Kate's deviled eggs - everyone loved them, even Misha!



Egg-dying adventures:





My impression of an Easter egg ... (30 weeks)



It's just not Easter without a bunny cake - my mom makes great bunnies! And Misha loved it, of course.



After a very filling Easter dinner, we appeased Misha by going to the park so he could dig in the sand with his third Easter basket - a sand bucket! Happiness for Misha is sitting in the sand and digging. South Dakota children, deprived of parks for about half the year due to the weather, really know how to appreciate a good park. Note how much fun Daddy and Misha are having on the rocking sea animals!






Spring is here - I love watching Misha's delight with nature. (That red speck on his sleeve is a ladybug.)



On Monday, we took Kate to the airport in Sioux Falls and said goodbye. Misha was very sad to see her go, so we cheered him up by going to a park.







A random picture of Misha's morning hair-do:



Kate brought us an awesome 3D castle puzzle, which Josh whipped through so fast I hardly got to help at all! It turned out great.

Easter Activities

We've been keeping very busy over the long weekend. Yesterday, we went to the community Easter egg "hunt." It was completely different than I expected, as this was not a hunt at all! Rather, the kids had to wait for the signal, then run into an enclosed grassy area to pick up as much candy and as many eggs and toys as possible. The sad part was that the parents were greedier than the kids. The kids were quite laid-back, walking among the toys and scoping them out, stooping to grab something if they deemed it cool enough. Here's a photo of the swarm of kids - Misha IS in this photo, if you like to play Where's Waldo. (He's wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with orange stripes on the arms.)



Josh and Grandma Kate started a papier mache piggy bank project, pictured here... (It's not done yet!)

It's always a good day for play-dough:

Here's Misha talking to Aunt Tanya on the phone. He's quite the conversationalist now!

Posing with Grandma Kate:

Decorating Easter cookies with his buddy Jessica:

Our beautiful cookies!

A walk in Indian Hills with a stop at the park (Mom and Mish on the hamster wheel):

A pretty tree in Indian Hills:

Playing with his transformer bday present from a little friend in Texas:



Running wild in his cool dino shirt from Great Aunt Glo:

Grandma Kate making sure the Easter bunny's baskets are just right. :)

Chuck E Cheese

Misha has been wanting to go to Chuck E Cheese for quite some time, only knowing that it was a fun place with games. We had told him that maybe for his birthday we could go - so we took Grandma Kate with us down to Sioux Falls to have a good time. I think Grandma Kate had as much fun as he did! At one point, she went to the bathroom and didn't come back ... and finally, we found her in the video arcade racking up tickets to earn Misha a prize. Funny!

Misha had fun playing on the rides, bashing worms, playing Skeeball over and over, and trying out everything.

Even though the prizes were "cheesy," Misha was quite content with them:

... especially this ridiculously enormous sucker!

Birthday Bash

We have a visitor - Josh's mom! She flew in from balmy Texas this past Saturday to find snowflakes filling the air. Misha was very excited - not only is Grandma Kate here, but it was his birthday this week AND Easter is on the way.

Saturday morning, he climbed up on our bed to wake us up.
Misha: Mommy, it says eight, two dots, three, four. What does that say?
Mom: Um ... it says 8:34.
Misha: Is Grandma Kate here yet?
Mom: No. She doesn't come until 12:30 - that's in four hours.
Misha: (pause) Mommy! It says eight, two dots, three, five. What does that say?
Mom: It's 8:35.
Misha: Is Grandma Kate here yet?
Mom: Not yet.
Misha: (pause) Mommy!! It says eight, two dots, three, six. What does that say?

And so on.

Now that Grandma Kate is here, Misha sticks to her like glue. He has made some funny observations, which I have been permitted to reproduce here. The first is his question, more than once, about her height. "But Grandma Kate, why are you so small?" His other funny observation was the soft skin under her chin. "Why is this so fluffy?"

We had Misha's fourth birthday celebration on Sunday (though his actual birthday was the 6th) - the first year we had a real "party" for him. We had four little kids over in addition to Misha! The party was only an hour and a half long, but it was enough to wear us all out and we had to recuperate the rest of the day.

How to Have a Birthday Party
Step One: The Cake.
The train I had envisioned in my head looked far different than the one I created in reality; however, Misha and the kids thought it was pretty cool. And that's what matters.

Step Two: Decorations.
With some help from Grandma Kate, we decorated the house with streamers and balloons.

Step Three: The Theme
Since it was the week before Easter, I made Easter baskets for all the kids (boxes and oatmeal containers covered with paper). First, the kids found the basket with their name on it, then they decorated it with stickers/markers before going on an Easter egg hunt in the kitchen and living room.

Step Four: Food
We lit the candles, tried to get a chorus of Happy Birthday going, and watched Misha blow out the candles. This surprised Mommy as much as Misha because I had accidentally bought trick candles! Then we served the cake. Truth be told, kids only pretend to eat. I think each kid ate one measley Oreo wheel off their piece of train, sucked down the juice drink, and called it good.

Step Five: A Little Free-Play, and then Presents
As Grandma Kate commented, you have a vision in your head of Misha in the middle and all the other kids in a semi-circle watching Misha open each gift in turn. In reality, it's total mayhem, with all the kids helping him unwrap everything! It's best to keep this part short and sweet. The photo below is quite deceiving, as this orderly opening lasted about two seconds.

Step Six: Outside with you!
Luckily the snow was melting and the sun was shining and we sent them outside to blow bubbles. This was timed perfectly so that when the parents showed up, the kids already had their coats on. Ah, peace. :) That took care of the 4th birthday. So ... how many more of these do we have to do??

In case you haven't gotten enough birthday pictures, here's a slideshow of some more.



In the evening, we went to my parents' house to have the family party, with Grandma Diane (who fulfilled Misha's request for a unicorn cake) and Grandpa Bill. Misha liked having his two grandmas together. Then of course he got more presents!

Movie Star

Forward roll in action!

Here he's playing with his new doctor kit. This present was a HUGE hit. He has been to the doctor so much that he knows all about it. He'll listen with his stethoscope and instruct us to "take a deep breath!" He'll take our blood pressure. Then he'll look in our ears and say ominously, "It looks a little red." He'll take our temperature and say, "Put it under your tongue!" Then he'll say with a little too much pleasure, "Now I have to give you a shot! Don't cry!" He even took some doctor tools to day care and proceeded to give everyone check-ups all day.

Cuddling with Grandma Kate

Storytime with Grandma Kate.

Balancing Act

This is such a cute video of Misha on the balance beam at class this week that I had to post it.