Home Depot

Jeff took the kids to their first Home Depot Kids day - they both made a bird feeder and got personalized aprons, pins, and certificates of completion.  They had a great time!!!

Happy Easter!!

Goofy, as always

"I found one!"

Racing for the eggs

Happy Easter!

Easter w/ Gigi & Poppy!

Some quiet time with one of Joey's Easter presents

Our neighbors, Tom & Paula - we'll miss them when we move!!

We spent Easter at my parents', with Julie & Molly, Ron & Diane, Tom & Paula, and Kim Bright.  We had great weather, great company, and fun with the kids running all over the neighborhood!

Easter Saturday

Just hangin' out

Taking inventory of the winnings

Teeter-Totter

Melanie & Grace C

Swinging with Lily H

Joey's three-second face paint

We had a great Easter weekend.  Friday night, we went to Grandma & Papa's for dinner to visit with Uncle Rick, who was in town for work.

On Saturday, the kids had two egg hunts!  We started at Lions Park in Zionsville for a pancake breakfast and age-divided egg hunt, where the kids had a great time running into several waves of friends - we ended up there for about three hours, since it was a beautiful day to play at the park!  After a little rest at home, they headed back out - this time to the Westons' neighborhood hunt with Grandma, Papa, and Jeff.  For the second Easter Saturday in a row, I was at a funeral (!)

The face painters, by the time we got to them, were completely done with their job, and trying to rush to their next booking.  Joey, however, would have nothing of Melanie getting her face painted and him not getting a turn, so they slapped this artwork on his cheek.  When he caught a sight of it later in the reflection off the car, he proclaimed, "HEY! My smiley face doesn't have a nose!!"

Mel's first (actual) movie

Mel & Joey's daycare was closed today for just the second time since we've been going there (five years!); we didn't even know it was closed until Jeff went to drop them off, and I was on my way out the door to go to work.  I stayed home with them, and Mel begged all morning to go see Grandma & Papa.   We plotted a way to go visit, leave Joey with them, and go see a movie.

The third time must be the charm!  In the past, I've tried to take Melanie to the cinema to see "Rio" and "Puss in Boots" - both times we were not able to stay for the movie - the loud, the dark....who knows.  This time, "The Croods" was a success!  It must have worn her out, as she was asleep just as soon as we left Grandma & Papa's to head home, and stayed asleep once home!

Bowling!

Action Shot

Pretty excited

Like watching paint dry

Talking strategy

Melanie and her friend Grace had never been bowling before, so we went along with Erika and some friends for dinner & bowling this past weekend.  We had the bumpers in (which helped Jennifer & me as well!) - and it was funny to see just HOW slow these girls could get the ball down the lane.  Mel's ball stopped one time, and the manager had to go out and retrieve it.  We all had a great time, and Melanie can't wait to show Joey how to bowl!

Random Pictures

I love how he looks to her to figure out what he should be doing....

Joey got (one of) the Purdue Pete books out during Purdue's conference tournament loss.
Melanie was happy to read it to him.

Snuggling with Daddy and the iPad

Teamwork.  Melanie has become quite a master of following the Lego
directions and designing cars, houses, etc

They asked for their hair this way, and then asked for a photo...
Goofy kids

The kids are growing more and more into playing with each other, on their own.  Melanie is a constant stream of playing school and pretend, and assigning everyone their roles.  She is very interested in the move, her new school, and making new friends in the new neighborhood.  Joey is very interested in whatever Melanie is.  We were headed to a waterpark this weekend, and Joey got disciplined and couldn't go.  I am not sure if he was more upset by the fact he couldn't go swimming, or that he couldn't go with Melanie.  As for her, she loves loving on him, and needs to learn the idea of "personal space."  She's such a little mother to him, calming him when he's upset (one example was on an elevator this weekend - he didn't like it, and she patted his head, saying "It's okay, Joey, I'm right behind you.")  I know all of this will change, so I'm just documenting it now while it lasts :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

On the way downtown, we stopped by the green river. 

Partly-green pancakes

The kids had St. Patrick's Day parties at school on Friday, so the rest of the weekend was very green-themed!  Melanie would be upset if I didn't mention the green jello; it was a big hit.