Easter Egg Hunt @ Fitler's Square

I was bummed that Hurricane Sandy had ruined our Halloween festivities.  Fortunately, we were in town for the Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by the same park/organization (where we had our family photos taken).  I was expecting to see lots of summer acquaintances from playground trips and Oliver's former daycare class, and was surprised that none of those people showed up.  They must have gone last year and known this was an event worth skipping.  Oliver was very excited to go, and told us so on the way over. But our lil' introvert was consumed by the hub-bub and didn't really have a good time.  They had different age groups "hunt" for eggs in different locations. In hindsight, we should have stuck Oliver in the 18mo-3yr old group instead of the 3-4yr old group - lesson learned.  

Oliver's face in this photo (right) is priceless.

Oliver ended up with three eggs - mostly containing huge pieces of bubblegum!  Totally not age appropriate. We salvaged the trip with a detour to the playground and some rides on the slide with Daddy.

Cousin Fun - Video Edition

In theory... here are the videos (from both the flip & my DSLR camera) from the cousin fun on Sunday.

And here are some videos from Monster-Uncle Bill and happy Lukas.

Cousin Fun - Lightening McQueen Style

On Sunday, we headed to my Uncle Bill/Tante Kim's house where Nicole and Devon were having a playdate with my cousin Billy and his son Nathan.  My mom was also there and the cousins had a blast.  My uncle has lots of acreage behind his house and very cool boy-toys. Someone gave them a battery operated car and Oliver was in HEAVEN!  They also have a quad and a golf cart - a little something for everyone.  After driving around on the yard, we quarantined the fun to the hockey rink, where we could keep a better eye on them.  It was a chilly day, but even the babies joined us outside.  We can't wait to do it again once it's a bit warmer!  

March Visit to Opa/Mormor

Last weekend, we headed to Jersey to mooch off of Nicole/Devon's weekend plans.  On Saturday, we hung out at my dad's.  The boys had fun with matchbox cars, checking out Opa's old model trains in the basements, and decorating Easter cookies with Mormor, while the babies showed off their newest tricks.

Lukas tries to get in on the matchbox car action

Alex proved his ability to crawl and pull himself up, by getting into the dirt of Margit's potted plants when we weren't paying enough attention to him.

Alex is making a break for it!

Big kid fun!  Decorating eggs

Lukas's newest trick is that he can pull himself up on things.  He is super fast and managed to wiggle away from me mid-diaper change to practice!

In the morning, the boys and I took in yet another Montville sunrise.  Oliver happily watched a movie on the ipad while I fed the munchkins their morning bottle.  

Bathtime Parenting Fail - through the lens of Oliver's camera

A week or so ago, Adam was at happy hour on bath night.  Oliver joined me in the bathroom with his camera while I was bathing the twins.  Everyone was in such good spirits that I suggested "Hey Oliver, want to join your brothers in the tub?".  What was I thinking??? 

The happy big brother (before)

Lukas

Alex

So I piled Oliver into the tub... Alex loves nothing more than to splash, splash, splash.  This upset Oliver, who started to whine.... (I call this Oliver's "faker cry" expression)

Oliver's whining upset Lukas, who has similarly sensitive ears. Alex is meanwhile thinking "What's the matter with these two?  I was having so much fun."  So, Oliver didn't want to sit next to Lukas, because he was too loud, or Alex because of the splashing... What a great idea on a night I was flying solo!

Out of the tub, everyone was happy again!

From Oliver's viewpoint....

Here are some photos Oliver has taken over the last 6months.   I got him this camera as a special birthday present from Mommy (golf clubs from Daddy), and it makes me happy to see him using it all the time - even if we do need to delete 90% of his attempts.  He's definitely getting better, and its not exactly an easy camera to get a non-fuzzy photo from, even for me. 


Pauline!

"K" our nanny, with Lukas

On days that I'm not trying to get dinner on the table (ah, the wonders of cooking-ahead!).  Oliver & I will hang out with the babies on the bed in his "new" room (ie the au pair room).  We read books, Oliver makes the babies laugh, and we all enjoy looking out of the window.  I thought he did a really good job getting a photo of me with "da brothers". 

See!  Even photos I take with this camera are a bit blurry

Here's a compilation of some of Oliver's favorite things!  His red car from Omi, his fire engine, his firehouse from santa... and the toilet?  We have potty training on the brain. 

Speaking of... Oliver is potty trained! The whole ordeal was much less tramatic that I had been bracing for. We went cold-turkey from diapers to underwear (not even pull-ups at night). He had a few accidents those early days, but he never wet the bed (at night or nap) and caught on quickly.  We let him quick a "special treat" on his first accident-free day, and on Tuesday after daycare, Oliver and I picked up "Berenstain Bears: The Bad Dream".... and we have been reading that book, and that book only ever since!  ahhhhh.....   It's been three weeks since we started and he is already telling us when he has to go and doesn't require a lot of coaxing from us - yeah!  Now if only he had better aim!

March Visit to Pop-pop & Grandma

On Sunday, we packed up the boys and headed to Delaware.  Not too much to share about the visit - I haven't been the last few times, so I was happy to tag along this time (and bring the camera!). 

... And the fun continued

After the museum, Tante Nicole & Devon came back to Philly with us and slept over!  Oliver & Devon were so cute together and played so nicely, well, until the very end, when Oliver had zero interest in letting Devon touch his firetruck.  We are all so very excited for another summer in the bungalow!

At bedtime, Devon put on his dinosaur PJs, so of course, Oliver had to as well.  The boys had a blast jumping on the bed together, and surprisingly, no injuries were sustained.  They aren't quite old enough to sleep in the same room yet, and we had to read books in separate rooms, but I'm sure all of that will happen soon. 

In the morning, the boys helped Daddy/Uncle Adam make pancakes, played in the basement, and did arts & crafts together.  Tante Nicole got a sense of what caring for our two delightful babies feels like!