Easter Weekend Fun

So we had a lovely week off. We didn't do much, but it was nice not to have to worry about catching the bus in the morning. My house showed the effects of having four screen-free children running around, but I got over it! :-)

Then, the end of the week was time to dye eggs!

Marilla and Emma, the neighbors' little girl. They're just a few days apart in age. This was one of Emma's first times venturing out without her blankie, so there were a few tears. We had to get out Rilla's backup blanket and read LOTS of stories.

I was still on a kick of moving furniture around, so here is Rilla playing with the crib side. She thought it made a great little cage. We moved Lincoln's crib out of our room and into Marilla's room, and now Marilla sleeps in the double bed with Cheyenne in the other room. I was wanting to get Lincoln his own room while he learned how to sleep, but I had no idea there would be such a dramatic improvement in his sleep. He went from waking up 3-4 times a night to sleeping 7-9 hours in a row! I am ecstatic. As a bonus, I now don't want to strangle my husband with my bare hands every time he coughs, since it doesn't wake the baby up!

*Brief interlude from typing while I ran upstairs because I heard a little girl asking "Can somebody wipe me?" only to find an empty bathroom. Apparently the play with the dollhouse is very realistic, and the 2-inch tall doll is now potty-trained.*

The Cottens came down for Easter weekend, so I stole the pictures off her camera before Bethaney left. So about half of the following pictures are her's, which will be a bit boring for those people who have already seen them on her blog. Anyway, the first few pictures are from the farm last Friday, when Dad and Justin tried out their new rototiller.

Dad watching the action from one of the MANY stones they pulled out of the garden.

Farmer Justin.

Using the bucket for a big 'un. It freaks me out when the front wheels go up like that.

What a gorgeous day! And the dirt is so rich and brown.

Tori and Alex watching.

This is the day they went halves on a pygmy goat named "Ginnie." I have yet to meet the goat, but I'm sure it will be a hit with the kids (and me, actually. Pygmy goats are hilarious). I love having relatives on a farm-- my kids get the joy of playing with pets without me having to lift a finger to care for pets!

Cheyenne reading, surprisingly.

Orianna and Lily enjoying the dress up clothes Aunt Lindsey bought for Rilla's birthday.

While Rilla feels compelled to wear a raincoat indoors. She practically lives in that coat. Which is okay, since we're on track to have the wettest April on record here in Central New York.

Mr. Gilbert, lunching it up.

Starting to dye eggs!

Careful little girls!

It's much nicer to face art projects like this with another adult! I think we've dyed eggs three years in a row now-- once with Marilyn, and twice with Aunt Bet.


Of course, I bought about five egg-dying kits last year during the after-Easter clearance, but they were in a closet in the room that had the sleeping baby, so we used food coloring and vinegar.

Observing Aunt Bet's efforts carefully.

Pretty colors! The purple (on the left side in the middle) was a little weak, but the others were gorgeous.

Then, a break while the eggs dried...

Then on to decorating! I love the deep concentration on their faces!

Busy table!

Elliott really got into it! He was dotting eggs long after the girls had gone to play.




Gilbert was corralled in the high chair while there were spill-y bowls of food coloring littering the landscape.

Q-tips full of food coloring.

Washing up the pretty bowls.

I love the effect when the egg cracks-- something that happens quite a bit when there are young children handling the eggs.

They are happy-making!




I love these daffodils. We don't have many bulbs around our house, but these are in the little strip of woods between our house and the house backing up to us. Cheyenne went and cut these for me!

Gilbert-- happiness is a little car, complete with a puddle in the back.

And mud in the yard.

Reaching out to his mommy.

This picture encapsulates my son. Loud and moving. I love this kid.

The girls on Molly (named after Cody's dear departed horse.)

Rilla got a turn in the "baby" swing.

The girls on a flower hunt.



Orianna's bouquet. Orianna, Lily and Rilla all brought me bunches of flowers-- the taller the girl, the longer the stems. Orianna's flowers had long enough stems to put in water. Rilla's flowers were the heads only!

How exciting to have flowers again!

Lily's hair after a full day of playing. It is slightly possible that neither Bethaney or Clover took the time to do their kids' hair that day, too.

Cheyenne, with a fascinating book about Praying Mantises. Rilla and I went to the library Saturday (everyone else was entirely too busy and important to go) and Cheyenne requested that I get her "ten good books." I got ten books for her, but Marilla pretty much cleaned out the Beginner Reader books. This was one of those. Good thing Cheyenne will read about any kind of book she can lay her hands on.

Chocolate-y teeth! Aunt Bet bought cupcakes for spoiled children.

One cute little catcher. At this point, she had already run through a few day supply of clothes, and was in her jammies.

An odd looking Easter Bunny, hiding the eggs.

Another one.

Orianna finding an egg.

Rescuing one from the gutter drain.

Satisfaction over finding such a pretty red egg!

Gilbert was not finding eggs, but he was enjoying being barefoot outside.

Lots of mud for young toes this year.

Eggs look very cute on pine tree limbs. Or is it fir limbs? Unlike my siblings, I never went to Paul Smith's, so I have no idea.

This picture makes me happy.

A tree egg!

Evan and Justin thought they were SO tricky with this one!

Elliott getting an egg under the tree.

Under the car!

Looking up...

"I found it!"

My pretty gap-toothed girl.

Cheyenne found the tricky egg!

Gilbert, watching the action from Daddy's arms.

Then, the guys hid the eggs in the back yard...

While Lincoln explored the deck stairs...

And the big kids posed for pictures!

Silly kids.

Loving kids!

Little friends.

Elliott is a goober.


Poking around the mud.

Running around the backyard, finding eggs.

An egg firmly clutched in her hand.

Retrieving the egg Rilla found on the clothesline. (I actually got to hang clothes on there today! Yay!)

I have NO idea what was happening in this picture, but, oh my!

Yup, this gives me a heart attack. But Lincoln laughs.

Rilla wanted in on the action.

What a skirt bottom looks like after running around grass that is completely saturated with water.

The backs of dirty children. You should have seen the dirt left in the tub that night.

Filthy! And Cheyenne's skirt is now in the Salvation Army box. It's way too short and I decided she owns too many clothes for me to expend time and energy trying to add material to lengthen it.

Then, since Evan doesn't see the point in exerting yourself in looking for eggs that aren't chocolate, he hid chocolate eggs in the family room while we waited for the ham to be done on Sunday. Well, that was the plan, but when he and Justin hit Wal-Mart Saturday afternoon, it looked like a very efficient tornado had moved through the seasonal aisle, hoovering up all the Easter candy. So the kids got to look for Hershey's kisses instead.



"Where are they?"

Olivia's crown.

This is Lincoln's favorite place to be these days-- up and down the stairs every 30 seconds.

I woke up this morning, planning to make this skirt for Cheyenne. However, Lincoln is teething and is a little bear, so I waited until he was down for his nap. THEN I remembered that my sewing machine is in the closet in his room. Hmmph. So I decided to write this blog during the day, and maybe I can get to the skirt this evening. I'm still trying to decide whether to sew until late tonight, or get up early to watch The Wedding coverage on the computer! :-)