That Tricky Easter Bunny!

I realize that this is EXTREMELY late, but better late than never, right?

The Saturday before Easter I realized that I still hadn't prepared anything.  This wasn't laziness on my part;  I hadn't had a chance to go to the store without the boys, and I didn't want them to see any presents beforehand.  Plus Jared wanted to be a part of the choosing as well.  So on Saturday night Jared and I went to Wal-mart for our date.  In Jared's words, "This is the worst date I ever had."  (Think Nacho Libre)  Wal-mart on Sat. night is bad anyway.  Wal-mart on the night before a holiday is insane.

Our Easter Bunny was very tricky-- he hid the boys' Easter baskets!  We warned Luke that this would happen.  Well, actually I explained this to Luke and Jared looked at me rather incredulously.  Apparently the Easter bunny doesn't hide everyone's baskets.  But he did in my house when I was little, so he did it for Luke and Micah too.

This is Luke searching for his basket:

Micah's basket was under a chair in the living room.  He didn't understand looking for a basket at all, but Luke found it for him.  One thing Micah DID understand was how yummy fruit leather is.  He was a big fan.

I read on Val's blog that they celebrate all of the egg hunts/ easter baskets, etc. on Saturday so that they can easily focus on the Resurrection and the Savior on Sunday.  I think I remember that when I was little our Easter Bunny come on Saturday too.  I think we'll do that next year.

Holes

So another one of Luke's fascinations is holes.  I have a favorite pair of jeans that I've worn about every other day for the past 3 years.  (Yes!  I need new clothes, but that is a whole other topic-- and what feels like light-years away!)  Anyway, when I wear them-- because I still do-- Luke can't leave the hole alone.  He pulls at it, pokes at it, talks about it, etc.  If his socks get even the tiniest hole I have to throw them away because he will pull his shoe off to poke at, pull at, fiddle with his hole.  For some reason he thinks holes are totally cool.

Well, yesterday we were at Wal-mart.  I was loading groceries onto the belt and turned around to find Luke-- for once!-- not pestering the cashier about whether or not she had a fan.  No, no, he was laying on the floor staring at the lady behind us.  I couldn't figure it out.  So I asked him what he was doing.  He replied (VERY LOUDLY), "I'm looking at that lady's holes!"  

It's one of those moments when you are absolutely dumbfounded as to what you should say.  So I didn't say anything at first.  I looked at the lady, who looked something like this:

And then I just laughed.  Luckily the nice lady did too.  She looked at Luke who was inching closer and closer across the floor, almost nose to her knee, and asked, "It looks like I've been through a war, doesn't it?"  

Techno Dummy and the Rest of Tessa's Visit

Blogger is all different, and I'm all confused.  When it comes to technology I wish the world would freeze and let me catch up for a year or two.  I can't even figure out Facebook, let alone answer an iphone.  I don't have to worry about iphones and what not, though.  I just have a Tracfone that can barely ring.  What can I say?  I'm out of the loop.  Someday I plan to get in that loop, but as of now I will just take forever figuring out blogger. And posting all of my pictures backwards and out of order.  

Tessa came on Sunday, the 8th (Easter).  She left on Wednesday morning.  Luke was in school, but Micah and I got to take her to the train station.  Micah was a big fan of watching the train.  

On Tuesday we picked Luke up from school, went to his occupational therapy appointment and then spent the rest of the afternoon at York River State Park.  It was the PERFECT day to be outside.  The boys swung (or is it swang?), climbed on equipment, checked out the ceiling fans and air conditioners in the office, went for a walk, threw rocks in the water, and generally tuckered themselves out.  And Tessa and I talked and talked.  I love having friends like that-- we won't see each other for months or even years but can pick up just where we left off when we meet each other again.

So Monday morning we had gone to Lowe's.  That afternoon after naps we went to Jamestown Settlement.  Luke picked Tessa as his favorite buddy, and happily dragged her around.  Tessa was a great sport about it.  I shouldn't even say it that way.  She wasn't just "putting up with Luke"-- she honestly had a good time.

 Leaving the Settlement, Luke climbed up on top of the car.  He is so silly sometimes.  Tessa snapped a picture as I yelled at him to get down.

 And... the rest of the pictures from Tuesday.

Great trip, Tessa!

Tessa! (and a trip to Lowe's)

My good friend from college, Tessa, had a conference in DC last week. Her boss let her fly in a few days early. She took the train to Williamsburg from DC, and we got to hang out for those few days. It was so nice to catch up and to play! Luke fell in love with Tessa from the second he saw her. I think it may have had something to do with her iphone. But he quickly loved her for herself soon enough that on the second night Tessa was here, Luke was climbing in bed with her during the wee hours of the morning. I'm sure she loved that!

Luke wanted to take Tessa to his favorite places. So, of course, our first stop was Lowe's.

I can't believe I haven't gotten pictures of the boys at Lowe's before this! And truthfully I didn't get pictures this time either. Tessa did. But she shared. Most of the pictures are of Luke because, like always, the boys are running in opposite directions. So Tessa and the iphone followed Luke, and I chased after Micah.

Here are all the reasons Luke loves Lowe's:

TRACTORS!

AIR CONDITIONERS! (GIANT ONES)

WASHING MACHINES

UM....

REFRIGERATORS

CEILING FANS!

VENTS!

LIGHTS!

DRAINS!

ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT LUKE LOVES MOST!!!

One more ride before we go:

And that was a great morning!

Sunday with the Wilkersons

A typical Sunday starts with Jared heading off to meetings and me scrambling to get both boys ready, myself presentable, the snacks packed, the blankies gathered, and lugging everything/ everyone to the car. The boys and I are pretty much always late.

Sacrament meeting consists of passing snacks to Micah as fast as he can stuff them into his face while simultaneously catching Luke before he topples over the seat because he is standing up to look for Ms. Keegan or Caleb or Brother Harmon or whoever it is that has popped into his head at the moment. It also consists of handing out band-aides. No-- no one is hurt. It is just the toy of choice. Other activities include clamping a hand over Luke's face when he starts to demand VERY loudly to go to the urinal to pee pee, playing "which crayon is not yellow" over and over again, and looking at a few books.

Honestly, though, Luke has actually gotten to the point that, though a good amount of shushing is required, he can make it through the entire meeting. Micah makes it through the sacrament portion of the meeting on a good day (even given the fact that we were late getting there.) So he and Jared often spend most of the meeting hiding out in the Relief Society room where Micah can move and Jared can (sort of) still listen. Usually I stay in sacrament meeting with Luke.

But yesterday Luke wiped Gluten-free cracker mess all over his pants, and the typical didn't quite pan out. I (not thinking) used a wet wipe to clean him up, and it was the end of the world. "I need new pants! I need new pants!" He CANNOT tolerate ANY wetness on his clothes. He was trying to strip down right there on the first row of the overflow, and I tried to distract him by suggesting we find D and Micah. It worked. He was distracted, but the rest of the meeting was a wash. Here is what happened in the Relief Society room during the 2 1/2 minutes that we (mostly) didn't step in to stop to them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXvQjP3rv5Q

Energy much?

The day progressed with Micah crying in nursery and being brought to us. I walked laps outside during the second half of Sunday school to put Micah to sleep (the stroller ALWAYS comes with us to church.) Micah finally fell asleep and I parked him in Elders Quorum and made it to Relief Society. About 10 minutes before the meeting ended I saw Luke's teacher. I went out to see what's going on, and there was Luke standing in the hallway trying to get his pants off. Apparently a tiny drop of hand sanitizer fell on his pants. He was crying that he needed new ones. Well, I didn't have extra pants, but I did have some spare shorts. So this is how Luke finished off the day:

And off we went to check out the GIANT air conditioner before heading home.

Yep, in our family Sunday is DEFINITELY a day of rest.

Student Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter one of our friends put together an egg hunt for the LDS students' kids. About 6 families showed up which was really the perfect number. Luke and Micah both understood about hunting eggs this year, so it was a lot of fun to watch them find the eggs. Can you see Luke rearing to go?

And they're off! My kids took a bit of a running start:

"Look Mom! An aquamarine one!"

Micah stopped at the first egg he found, bit it open, and just went to town. I guess we need to work on delayed gratifaction.

Not sure what this face was all about:

Micah spent the rest of the morning raiding people's Easter baskets. I constantly found him with this look:

(basically the "my mouth is so full of candy I'm about to throw up" look) Awesome!

Also that morning Micah decided he was brave enough to go down the slide all by himself. I got the best pictures EVER!