Saturday, April 25, 2009

Young kids on Easter

Here are a few pictures of the kids on Easter. They were a little disappointed with the small amount of candy the Easter Bunny left for them. My friend's kids had the same experience with their Easter goodies. As parents, all we could do was shrug our shoulders and tell them, "It must be because of the recession".

A few recent events

It is Friday night and as I sit down to write a blog I realize that I have nothing to say. I think I had something to say but by Friday evenings I tend to not be able to access at least half of my brain. I guess that goes along with the "half" things around here: half-done dishes, partially-put-away laundry, picked-up rooms except for the few piles here and there, the garden waiting to be planted, half-baked sharing time, and a work project that I have thought about doing but have not yet started. I realize no one looks at our blog for the written content so I will just get to the pictures and then go do something productive like watch TV.

Ryan had a birthday over a month ago. He turned 4 years old and had a fun birthday with his Young cousins. I made the birthday cake which had a "dinosaur on land and sea" theme. Ryan liked it so that was all the mattered. Of course, it had to be chocolate. He is definitely my child. Now that Ryan is 4, he has started acting like he is 14. He wonders why parents are so bossy. He gets mad when we tell him what to do. He tells us that he can't wait to be an adult so he can be bossy and eat candy for breakfast and not healthy food for dinner. We have power struggles. I thought that was part of being 3 but apparently we are having a resurgence. Ryan also likes to tell us how much he loves us and even gives random hugs and kisses. I am pretty sure he is trying to manipulate me when he does this, but I am trying to accept it as a sweet act with honest intent. Here is a picture.

Ryan got to go on a field trip to Raley's with his Tiny Tot class. Now for the rest of the pictures. This next one is of Alison's first ride in the bike trailer. It was a very short family bike ride but Grandpa S. even came along for the occasion. We rode to a park less than 1 mile from our house but Alison still cried all the way home. We have not gone out on a bike ride since.
Alison is going from baby to toddler right before our eyes. She loves to play with toys and interact with her brothers. She crawls everywhere and is the human vacuum cleaner. I can put her on the ground and she can spot a small clear something and I have to race her for it. Sometimes, I don't win. I think she is getting into the "I only want mommy" phase which is not my favorite. She got her first top tooth today.


Last week was spring break and I took the kids to one of our favorite stomping grounds, the Oakland zoo. Here is a picture of my monkeys at the zoo.