Play hard, sleep soundly

After a tough day of playing, our big guy fell asleep on Momma's lap.

Tie One On

I should have known she was up to no good when Katie escaped my line of sight for about 20 minutes yesterday. Turns out, she was "organizing" Dad's ties for him. She was sure she was in trouble, so when I found her, she immediately dissolved into fits of tears. Wouldn't even look at me, in fact.
Still upset, but willing to face the music.
Okay, now the tears have stopped and she's remembering how much fun it was to take all those ties off their perch on the rack.
And finally, a smile that says it was worth the possible punishment. Of course, I was too busy laughing to be upset about it. She certainly keeps our days interesting. 

Family Photos

Grama & Grampa pose with the little ones while we wait for Tyler to get his shoes on.
The proud grandparents and their grandchildren.
We managed to get a family photo as well--the first one to include all five of us since Christmas! 

Beware, the flaming cake

We also celebrated Grama Susan's birthday on Easter. Katie enjoyed the celebration...
...until she realized the CAKE WAS ON FIRE! Quick! Run! Why isn't anyone doing anything about those raging flames???
Once the inferno was extinguished, she was happy to participate in the eating of the cake. Whew....crisis averted. 

Our Little Bunnies

Benjamin Bunny?
Katie was quite pleased with herself as she hammed it up for the camera. Check out her new bunny rabbit, an Easter gift from Grama & Grampa B. 

The Hunt

Katie was so excited when we took her in the backyard to hunt for eggs.
Sixteen eggs makes for a heavy bucket, but she didn't seem to mind. When momma had to take the "real" eggs back into the house, we had a situation on our hands. She was quite happy when we gave the bucket back to her with just the plastic eggs remaining.
Ben wasn't much interested in egg hunts, but was quite happy to snuggle with Grama Susan. 

More fun with eggs

Tyler couldn't resist trying his hand at egg dyeing as well.
Turns out you're never too old (or young!) to enjoy this Easter tradition.
Katie and Daddy proudly show off the finished product. 

Katie's First Easter Eggs

Although she was a bit tentative at first, Katie quickly took to egg dyeing with great gusto.
What we were unable to capture on film was the great big splash each egg made as she dropped it into the dye.
Daddy and Katie having fun.
Mom got in on the action while Ben happily munched on his waffle in the background. 

Tony Hawk, eat your heart out

Tyler has renewed his interest in skating and is taking great joy in showing us his repertoir of tricks.
Dropping in.
Isn't this a move from Swan Lake? 

Crazy Kate

Katie proudly displays her love of Doritos. It reminds us of that scene in "Over the Hedge" where they open the bag of Cheetoes and the orange dust mushroom cloud rises from the surface of the earth. You really have to have seen the movie to understand, I guess.
Although she's much to big for it, Katie still loves to crawl into Ben's exersaucer. It's just as well, as he seems to prefer standing next to it.
Dinner is always an adventure. In this shot, Katie has smeared butter from her roll all over her face and in her hair. Looks like it must be bath night! 

The Final Four

Sean Geiger was in town for "guy's weekend" in April and everyone was up at Sneakers to watch the Final Four games on the big screens. I took the kids up to join them for dinner. We all wore Buckeye Red to root on my husband's team. Geiger decided we all looked like we belonged together, as my husband was the sole blue shirt in our crowd. Go figure.
That looks like Gator blue on Chris. He got to attend the final game in Atlanta that week and saw his beloved Buckeyes lose to the Gators in the second championship game of the year.
Greg and Ben check out the menu. 

Big Ben!

Ben has hit so many milestoes in the last few weeks. He has quickly gone from commando-crawling (on his belly) to crawling, to sitting with ease. Now he pulls to standing every chance he gets. Here he is greeting me from his crib.
Showing us how the big guys crawl. Can you see how pleased he is with his new abilities?
Ben now takes all his meal sitting in his high chair like a big boy. In the last two days alone, he has chosen to boycott any food that requires a spoon, preferring instead to do it himself. Thank heavens for Cheerios!
The latest crawling technique to take hold involves one knee and one foot. At first, he was immobile when he got onto the hardwood floors, but he quickly learned how to maneuver around on them. In this shot, Ben had just come across a cup of Katie's snacks sitting on the floor. He gobbled them up in no time and was off to search for more hidden treats.