Easter!

I always take forever to get my holiday posts up. I take way too many pictures and then I feel overwhelmed about paring them down and getting them all uploaded in a readable fashion. But anyway.
This year, the Easter Bunny was very generous to Dane. Instead of an Easter basket, he brought an Easter bucket, which is much more useful. But amid everything Dane received, his definite favorite was the magnifying glass:

Haha, the magnification makes him look a little insect-like.
Then, we colored eggs between sessions of conference. Dane enjoyed this even more than I expected.




Sometimes, he couldn't wait for one to be done before he added another one.

He'd examine each egg to make sure it had really changed color

This one had a "D"

Yatta! We colored all the eggs!

Here, he's hoisting the egg and yelling "Happy Easter!"

Check out the goblin hand. Luckily, the dye comes off really easily.

After conference, we were off to our yearly Easter tradition at the Penovich's. We missed their big egg hunt, but they saved some eggs just for Dane.




After only finding a few eggs, Dane discovered that if he threw the eggs into his bucket hard enough, they'd crack open and candy would come flying out! So from then on, every egg he found he'd pick back up and throw it in the bucket numerous times in an attempt to get at the candy.
Here he's dancing a proud little jig for getting the egg open.


Joel found some fun places to hide the eggs, like up in the fort:

Wait a second--!

Luckily, Dane got to the egg first.




After finding the egg on the trampoline, Dane wouldn't stop jumping for a while.

I asked Kenji to take a picture of me so it could be documented that I was there. He refused. He was trying to pay me back for all the times I failed to get his picture, so I guess it was deserved (though you'll notice that he is in these pictures this time). So I handed the camera to Jake, and this is what he came up with:

Gee, thanks Jake.
This one is better.

Dane wanted to stick his egg in the pipe. Of course, it went too far back, and none of us could get it out. Jake tried blowing through the other end to no avail. Then Joel came up with the idea to stop one end with his hand while Jake blew from the other end again. Miraculously, the egg shot out when Joel took his hand away. Even more miraculously, I lunged and caught the egg and all the candy that was threatening to fall out of it. It was pretty awesome.
So that was our Easter. It was a nice day to relax, listen to the words our prophets, enjoy some family time, and remember the resurrection of our Savior. I've been feeling really grateful lately for all of our blessings and the knowledge and peace we gain through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I should be better about keeping that gratitude at the forefront of my thoughts.

April Fool's Payback

After Dane's snow-in-the-face trick on me, I paid him back.

Spring has Sprung!

On this, the first day of April, 2010, my firstborn and I decided to enjoy the beauties of spring.
We frolicked in the grass,

Rode bikes,

Played catch,


Inhaled the scents of new life,

Swung on the swing,

and enjoyed the growing flowers.

He is actually trying to eat the blade of grass, for some reason.
And, as anyone is wont to do on a fine spring morning, we made a snowman.

Dane's upward gaze may be attributed to the fact that his hat is a 6-12 month hat.
Unfortunately for the snowman, Dane was very interested in its nose:

He soon figured out an easier way to enjoy snowman nose:

But then, he kindly returned the nose to its rightful place:

Here's all that was left of the poor nose:


So, I guess it was Mother Nature who pulled the April Fool's Joke on us today. Dane made his attempt, though. At one point, he had a big snowball in his hand and said, "Mommy, I need to hold you," wanting me to hold him. As soon as I had him in my arms, he stuffed the snowball in my face. How did he learn that? I told him to say "APRIL FOOLS!" but he didn't get it.
Here are my attempts at arm's length shots:

I must say, I am jealous of those of you who take beautiful pictures and have children who will pose for you. Dane has never really been very cooperative in that respect.
Here, he's saying "Mommy, stop saying 'cheese'!!"

Please don't judge me for sending my child out in the snow without a coat. He is wearing three shirts and refused to put on any more.