Easter Weekend Fun

I was reading through the newspaper this week and saw many advertisements for Easter Egg Hunts for yesterday. There were several ones for free in local parks, but I saw that the Amana Heritage Society held an anuual one that you needed to register for and it was $3 per child. I figured that an almost 3 year old might have better luck coming home with something at an event that seemed a bit more organized.

We got there at 8:30 (it was a little chilly) and got to meet the Easter Bunny. Madeleine wasn't too sure what she thought of him at first, but later wanted to go back and see him again.





They even had some live rabbits that the children could pet.



They gave those under 5 a head start and off they went searching for their Easter 'nests'. Bonus - every child went home with a nest. There were 5 that had special 'glitter eggs' in them that meant the child won an extra prize. We didn't bother looking for any of the special ones - I think the older kids had that part covered.

Madeleine with her Easter 'nest'. Each nest had the usualy jelly beans, a chocolate lollipop, pencil, some other assorted candy and 3 Amana eggs. The eggs are hard-boiled and then painted and dipped in some sort of glue. They are supposed to last for years.




We finished the weekend off by making a chocolate bunny cake. Note for next year: since you have to frost a cake that has been cut, go with a white cake. The crumbs will be less obvious! Madeleine decorating the cake:



The finished product. Note the unibrow (Easter Bunny needs eyebrows mommy) and his green 'arm'.

Madeleine-ism's

I was going to post some pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt this morning but then discovered that the front of the camera was left open, so it is charging. Instead, here are some of the latest 'Madeleine-ism's' that can be heard around our house.

"Mommy, I need help with my jammies. The sleeve is upside out" (inside out)

"When we take daddy to the doctor, we get to ride on the alligator" (elevator)

While watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "I see the ariel Mickey. I see the ariel" (arrow)

The Disappearance of the Basic Jelly Bean

I obviously must feel strongly about this issue if I felt the need to blog about it.

At lunch yesterday I went to Target to pick up a few things for Madeleine for her Easter basket. A little chocolate, some jelly beans and a couple of small toys. They had a ton of chocolate but I went back up and down the aisles looking for regular ole jelly beans. They had Starburst Jelly Beans, Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans, Sweet Tart Jelly Beans, some sugar coated sour ones and Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans. Seriously, bumpy jelly beans? Soft, sour jelly beans? Were are the bags of the NORMAL jelly beans?

I ended up going to the local grocery store and to my delight I found bags upon bags upon bags of Brach's jelly beans. REAL jelly beans. Even better, HyVee already started marking down their Easter candy and they were 50 cents a bag. Note to self: go to HyVee for easter candy a few days before Easter and most of it will already be 1/2 price. A few extra bags may have leapt into my cart.

On a side note, I could only find one kind of Easter grass at Target. EDIBLE Easter grass. Who eats Easter grass .... anyone??

A book by so many names ....

Last week we had to trek back down to the U of I hospital to have David's cast taken off and the stitches removed from his surgery (he found a bunch they missed when we got home but that is another story).

Madeleine has develpoed a dislike for loud noises, so when they brought out the saw to remove the cast she and I left the room and headed for one of the kid play areas. She went to check out the bookcase.

"Mommy, mommy look! Mac and cheese! Mac and cheese!"

Mac and cheese? She held up the book - Green Eggs and Ham.

Are YOU potty trained mommy?

Let me start off by saying Madeleine went to bed at 8 PM and not a sound was heard until 7:30 AM. Ahhh ....

I heard her call me once and I was debating calling to her or hauling myself out of bed. I heard her dresser draw slam and the bedroom drawer open. I closed my eyes and sensed her in the doorway then I heard her go into our bathroom. Heard the ripping of the diaper tapes (yes, I am still afraid to give up the night time diaper) and the slamming of the toilet lid. After a couple of minutes I got up to check on her.

"What a good girl Madeleine. You got up and went to the bathroom all by yourself"

I got what I can only think of as The Look I will be seeing a lot of in the future.

"Yes, I did. I a big girl mommy. I potty trained. Are YOU potty trained mommy?"

Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep

It has been a rough week of sleep in this house. I should rephrase that - this has been a week of little sleep.

Madeleine is not all that fond of sleeping this week and we can't really figure out what the issue is. She is either up singing to herself for hours (and then is a little bear in the morning) or she is waking in the middle of the night.

Tonight she went to bed right away and we did not hear the usual medley of nursery rhymes, ABC's and other toddler songs (there are always five monkeys jumping on the bed so the song NEVER ends). All we heard was .... silence.

I'm not dumb, I'm going to sleep. Her falling asleep is only half the battle. I like to think she is preparing us for having a newborn in the house again. Unfortunately, I have a feeling we are headed for Three. I hear Three is worse than the Terrible Two's. :(