Tons of Pictures from A Great Easter Weekend of Friends, Family, and Fun

We had quite an Easter weekend and plenty of opportunities for pictures, as will be obvious below. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well with friends and family.

The festivities began for us when Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Thursday afternoon. We realized my dad had not been here since Drew's birthday last year (since we were up there so much in the fall/winter), so Drew had plenty new to show him. Since it was a Thursday (Army early release day for family time), Bill was home at a decent hour and we all enjoyed a tasty dinner together...God, I love our slow cooker. At bedtime, Drew was thrilled to get one story from each of the four of us and showed off his story memorization skills to Grandma and Grandpa while they were reading on the loveseat.

Since Bill was off Friday and Grandma and Grandpa were here, Drew skipped school that day and in the morning enjoyed a walk with Grandma and Grandpa. Friday also brought more exciting arrivals as our friends who left the Army last year returned to Sierra Vista for him to take a job as a civilian on post. We were thrilled to see them and it took no time at all for Drew and his buddy Danny to get reacquainted. When they left last year Danny was just 1, so the boys weren't quite at the same playing level, and while there is still an 18 month age gap, the level of play gap has narrowed considerably.

Here Drew watches as Danny enjoys one of Drew's favorite pasttimes: removing all the books from all the shelves. We used to find Drew in bed in a sea of books, as he would sneakily shuttle all the books over from the shelves to the bed after storytime and goodnight kisses.

Then the boys went to work on "recreating" the train track Drew and I had built prior to our friends' arrival. Drew begs and begs for us to "build a cool track with me please" and after playing with it for 10 minutes decides it needs some modifications. I guess that's a 3 year old for you.


We enjoyed some non-meat pizzas and salad for our Good Friday meal and since we hadn't put the extra leaf in our dining room table yet, it was standing room only. In this pic, Drew decides Grandpa's got a good setup leaning against the couch and promptly sets about mimicking Grandpa's pizza eating stance.

Our other friends who originally came to Fort Huachuca from Fort Gordon with us (as did Kimmi, Steve & Danny) also joined us for dinner that night and I snapped this great shot of the 3 kids.

On Saturday while Drew was napping, the mailman delivered the Easter package Grandma Mary had informed us she sent, so upon the end of his nap, Drew came to check it out. The basket included all Curious George stuff, including a new mini-monkey that Drew was very happy about.

He also shows off the stickers that were included.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa took Drew shopping to pick out a couple of Easter presents, so that night they spent some time playing with the body part puzzle game he had picked out.


Easter morning we had to wake Drew up in order to allow time for breakfast before getting to church. Upon seeing what the Easter Bunny had left for him, Drew practically ignored the books, Cars coloring, visible candy, and even the bicycle. He was most enamored with those plastic eggs and loved opening them to reveal what was inside.

After a few minutes we did get him up on the bike.

But it wasn't long before he was back at work cracking those plastic eggs in half to see what was inside. I knew he'd be overcome with excitement at the egg hunt we had planned for after church.

Finally, Drew begins to notice some of the other things in his basket, like this new Firebears book.

Then we enjoyed a breakfast casserole that I had put together the night before (I'm starting to get the hang of this cooking thing) and finished getting dressed and beautiful/handsome for church. In the car on the way there I repeated to Drew that he looked so handsome, and he quickly picked up on that and said "Daddy looks handsome too." I asked him if Mommy was handsome or pretty and he said "Mommy's pretty." "Grandpa's handsome." "Grandma's pretty." He's got it all figured out in that little head of his.

We seriously overestimated how early we needed to arrive for mass, so we were able to take a few pictures before church started.

Family pic (we have to stop taking these while looking directly in the sunlight)

Grandma, Drew, & Grandpa outside church.

Upon our return from church, the first order of business for Grandma, Mommy & Daddy was to get moving on the non-ham contributions to our Easter afternoon lunch/dinner, but Drew had much higher priorities...riding his new bike of course!

After a quick change out of dress clothes, Grandpa and Drew headed out for a few circles around the cul-de-sac.

And he's off!

This looks worse than it was. He kind of went down in slow motion, so it wasn't much of an impact. He's not quite tall enough to put his feet down but we wanted to get a bike he could have for quite a while, so we went a little big.

He's back at it in no time.

Drew returned to the house still on the bike and for a second I half-thought that might be where he would take his meal.

But we were able to distract him quickly, since after Grandpa and Drew headed out for bike-riding, Mommy (I mean the Easter Bunny) strategically placed the eggs she and Grandma had filled the previous afternoon. Upon his return to the house we pointed one out to Drew and then he was on his way to search for the remaining eggs.

Some were easier to locate than others.

Others, he had to reach high...

and low for.

Eventually Drew found the jackpot egg! Grandma thought the two golden eggs and one bronze egg should include non-candy special surprises and donated the monetary features of the egg hunt for Drew's piggy bank.

Drew shows Grandma an egg he discovered during his hunt.

Drew shows off our Easter table. Shortly thereafter he expressed his displeasure with the plan for Mom, Dad, and Drew to sit on our patio loveseat. He really wanted to sit on the bench that goes with our dining room table. To distract him I suggested making placecards with everyone's name on them so people would know where to sit. We used some of the Curious George stamps that Grandma Mary had sent in Drew's Easter basket to decorate the simple card stock place cards and Drew delighted in running over to the table after we completed each card.

Post-Easter dinner shot of my girlfriends and me

We had used our patio table to put the food out at mealtime, but after the tablecloth was removed it became a plaything for Drew and Danny to enjoy. The banged on it and delighted as Bill rolled the plastic golf balls over it and down the middle opening.

With our dinner guests and company all departed, Drew and Daddy cuddle up with their heads on Nemo to watch the end of the Masters golf tournament before a very belated Easter nap.

It was a wonderful holiday weekend.

Drew's Inadvertent Funny of the Day

Yesterday afternoon Drew and I took a walk/bike ride for a few blocks around our little neighborhood. It's hard to believe Drew ever struggled riding his tricycle when I watch him zoom down the sidewalks now. At times he was able to pedal fast enough that I was able to walk a little faster than just leisurely.

After about 30 minutes it was nearing time to start preparing dinner, so I told Drew it was time to head home. He was not pleased to hear this and tried to start pedaling in the opposite direction. I repeated (trying to stay calm) that it was time to go home and we could ride bikes again tomorrow. Drew said "No Mommy. It's not time to go home." Then, pointing away from himself, he said "I wanna ride my bike all way to Tucson!" I burst out laughing while he looked very confused, and then I explained that Tucson was maybe just a little too far to ride bikes. And he said with all seriousness, "Maybe when I get bigger I will ride my bike all way to Tucson." God I love that kid...

Biking His Way around the Cul-de-sac

I know I just posted a video of Drew riding his bike, but since Drew's friend Ian, who lives in Ohio now, liked his video so much in the last post, I thought we'd add another one.

Though Ian's mommy and daddy are very good friends of ours, Drew and Ian only got to spend a few months together when we were both stationed here in Arizona. Since then, they are left with viewing pictures and videos of each other. So go toddler friendships in the Army.

Drew is really getting the hang of steering now and clearly doesn't want any help from Mama anymore.

Adventures in Bike Riding: Flintstone Style

So Drew went through a brief period of not being terribly interested in his tricycle. After watching Elmo ride his tricycle on Sesame Street, however, he started randomly saying throughout the day "I pedal my feet." This is funny both for the randomness of the comments as well as the fact that when he rides his bike he hasn't yet actually pedaled his feet. So before we went to daycare on Wednesday Drew pointed at his tricycle and said "Ride bike Mommy." I promised we would do it right after school...so we did. I was hopeful that having seen Elmo push the pedals Drew would pick up on how to actually "ride" his bike. No such luck. As you can see in the video, Drew prefers the Fred Flintstone method of travel.



When I told him to push the pedals down he used his hands to push them down. When I tried to explain to put his feet on the pedals and move his knees up and down he pushed up and down on his knees. It was fairly entertaining.

It doesn't seem to be affecting his enjoyment level on the bike, so I guess we'll just let him figure it out eventually. He especially enjoys coasting down the slight incline from our driveway into the road. As I post this Drew and Daddy are outside trying the pedaling again and I think Dad is having more success than I did.