Egg Hunt #2

Following church, we came home and noticed the Easter bunny had visited our house. Gerrit knew what to do this time and found a lot of eggs in the yard that led him to the front porch where he found his Easter basket as well as Emmit's. I love how Gerrit took Emmit's book and started to 'read' it to him! Gerrit enjoyed a new book, garden gloves (so he doesn't always wear Adam's), flash light, golf balls, cars, and of course some candy!

He's wearing a new pair of bike gloves he got for Easter from Luke and Paul. He rarely takes them off - even wears them to bed! At least Adam gets his gloves back!

Following the egg hunt festivities we headed over to friends for the 'orphan dinner' as she called it. 3 families joined together to celebrate as our immediate families were too far away to get together with and celebrate.

It was a beautiful day too and Gerrit enjoyed playing outside with the boys. We were able to take a nap only to head over to other friends' for a bike race viewing party. (This is where Gerrit thought he could stay outside and play Ghost in the Graveyard).

Having great friends sure makes it easier to be away from family!

Easter

One of my favorite parts of the Easter service is the beautiful garden that is up front (and the smell too). I remembered the camera so we could take a few pictures in front of it. Gerrit was not the happiest kid as he was tired - he wouldn't even wear his sweater or let me comb his

bed head! Emmit didn't mind the bunny hat I made for him and wore it proudly all day.

(Sometimes 3 month olds are easier than 3 yr olds!)

Go STATE

Saturday afternoon we headed to our friends in the cities for our annual Final 4 party. This year was extra special because MSU played. We had to sport the colors and rub it in to our friends that our wonderful Spartans were playing. Emmit has on his 12 month onesie and the hat I made him while Gerrit wore his Junior Spartan shirt. Of course Adam and I too had on our green and white.

Even though our Spartans lost, we are still proud they made it as far as they did.

Egg Hunt #1

Sat. morning we headed over to the Lutheran church nearby for their annual Easter egg hunt at the park. It is a little outreach service they do - they read the Easter story and then let the kids hunt for eggs. Very well done and organized. Gerrit was too overwhelmed by all the kids (over 120) that he froze when it came time to look for eggs. Good thing I was along to find them for him! He liked the ending when we opened the eggs to find candy, stickers, tattoos, and bracelets in them.

Maybe next year he'll be more assertive (guess he takes after his father and dislikes crowds).

Coloring Eggs

Friday night Luke came over to help us decorate eggs. As you can see by the top left and bottom right photos, Gerrit has a bit to learn about handling eggs! And he didn't think he needed the little dipping tool either (it took a good day to get all the dye off his hands). Gerrit enjoyed dipping the eggs and hanging out with Luke. Emmit liked hanging out with Anne and watching us as well. Most of the eggs have a nice blue/green hue to them as those where the 2 colors that were closest to Gerrit too. [I was pretty proud of myself as I blew (and Cara helped too) quite a few eggs ahead of time (during my baking sessions) so we didn't have a ton of hard boiled ones to eat.]

Oxbow Zoo

Monday after baptism was a beautiful day - too nice to stay inside. After a slow start to our morning, we decided to head towards Rochester to a little zoo that is free. It houses animals that are found in MN so no giraffes or elephants. I have a feeling we will be visiting this zoo a bit more this summer.

You're ONLY 3!

Tonight we were at Dahlen's watching a bike race (surprised?) and Gerrit was outside playing with the kids (3rd grader, 4th graders and 6th grader). It was a beautiful night and they played football and who knows what else. It was dark and we were getting ready to go when Maddy (4th grader) asked me to get Gerrit and bring him in because they were going to play "ghost in the graveyard". I had to laugh because Gerrit did not want to come in - the little 3 year old wanted to stay outside in the dark with the big kids!

I will post Easter pics hopefully tomorrow night or at least some time this week. I head back to work tomorrow. Should be an interesting morning for all - especially Gerrit and myself as we have casually gotten up these last few weeks. Emmit - he goes with the flow!