An Outdoor Easter (cause if we are anywhere else, we are screaming!)

It has been a busy week!!!

Mamie and Pops' 30th wedding anniversary was on March 26th...Happy Anniversary and thank you for giving us 30 long years of a united marriage! We hope you guys enjoy at least 30 more together!

Pops' birthday was on March 30th! We will omit his age :) but I had quite the difficult time trying to figure out what to get him this year. He has everything and hates clutter so I can't just go get him something I think looks nice, it has to have a purpose! I did overhear him saying he thinks placemats might look nice on the kitchen table...so I ran with it! In a family as large as mine, determining the number of placemats to purchase was a whole other troubling task. I settled on 10 of each pattern. The patterns complemented each other so he can mix and match for up to 20 guests! He liked them, so it was a win! Happy Birthday, Pops....we love you bunches and are so happy to have celebrated with you! Sebastian even dressed up for the occasion...he looked so handsome in his preppy shorts...YES, we finally had a day of shorts weather!

The forecast was calling for cloudy skies and wet climate most of the holiday weekend but we actually got pretty lucky. The storm that was due to hit Saturday morning, actually hit us through the night on Friday. This left some very moist grass but a BEAUTIFUL day of 60 degree weather on Saturday! We could actually wear shorts and even felt hot when sitting in the direct sunlight! So, I preppied (yes, that's a real word) up Sebastian and we headed over to Mamie and Pops' house to celebrate the old man's birthday!

As I have mentioned in previous posts...Sebastian is obsessed with the outdoors! He will literally sit at the front, back and garage doors just crying to go out. Night or day, rain or shine, freezing or decent, he wants to be out enjoying the fresh air. Generally, we try to accommodate, but...sometimes enough is enough or it is just too darn cold! He has the biggest fit when I let him into the garage, he thinks he is getting to play in his wagon, and then pull a fast one on him and usher him into the car! You would think the world was ending! We try to soothe with a ball for him to hold during the trip but it usually results in tears for most of the ride. I have been torn between getting all my last minute errands done (before this baby pops out) and just going home and letting the poor boy be a boy and play outside.

Anywho, I have trailed a bit...Saturday was so beautiful and it was so nice to actually be able to let Sebastian play without having him bundled up in two coats and mittens and a hat! He spent almost the ENTIRE afternoon in Mamie and Pops' backyard, playing ball and just wandering around. He was outside so much that he missed his morning nap (a huge mistake) and was pretty grumpy from about 5pm on! He managed to scrape up his little knee and face planted towards the end of the day, scrapping his little nose a bit. It was a great day though, I love that he is outdoorsy and wants to play and be a boy but we are struggling with finding a happy medium of indoor vs. outdoor time, complete meltdowns occur several times a day!

Easter morning, we started off bright and early...8am mass to avoid the crowds! This meant being up before the sun but I think it was worth it because I can only imagine how packed the other masses were. As Fr. Paul so eloquently put it..."You guys are the smart ones...I think you made a wise decision getting up early because the 9:30am mass is predicted to be crazy." Sebastian was dressed in his Sunday/Easter best...so cute in a tie! He did really well throughout the mass...he has no patience for sitting still so the fact that we had no fits and no shouting episodes was wonderful.

We went over to spend the holiday with Mamie and Pops after church...made cinnamon rolls for breakfast! The Easter bunny decided NOT to hide our baskets this year...not too bummed about this one...and Sebastian was very intrigued by the mound of candy and toys. He especially loved the play screwdriver!

We also had a small (just Sebastian) egg hunt. It was quite funny. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, but we hid them in clear view and once he discovered there was a Jelly Bean inside the egg, he was determined to locate them all. He would find an egg, shake it and then find an Aunt or Uncle to get the Jelly Bean out before looking for another one. At one point, he had a whole cheek full of half chewed Jelly Beans! It was quite cute because he was a really good seeker :)

Once again, we spent most of the day outdoors. The forecast called for thunderstorms on Sunday but we just had cloud cover and slightly lower temperatures than Saturday. It did rain Saturday night but that was ok.

It was ok to be out in but by golly, after Friday, Saturday and Sunday spent mostly outside...I just wanted to sit on the couch! It is hard to have him outside at my parent's house because they have a giant pool in the backyard....pavers everywhere (not a lot of grass)....steps around the pool...pine needles surrounding the pavers and just about every other hazard you can image. Not at all ideal for babies/toddlers. In our yard, I can usually open up the back door and let him loose...its fenced and about as baby proof as you can get, very little for him to get into trouble with. However, if it has rained a lot, our yard becomes quite squishy and the slope of our driveway makes me too nervous to have him out there. So, it is constant, close range following when he is playing outside at my parent's house, you don't get a moment to just sit and rest.

I am so thankful that he is unaware of the purpose of a swimming pool...I dread the day he figures that out because I definitely foresee that becoming just as much of an obsession as the great outdoors. It's going to be a splendid summer!

I am proud to say that this little girl has stayed in there at least til April! That has been my goal...for several weird reasons. One, my insurance plan renews on April 1st and I really wanted to pay my deductible once! Two, as you can tell from the above mentioned activities...March is already a busy month, we don't have any family birthdays in April so she will have the whole month to herself! Three, I really needed to have at least this long to prepare everything at work and welcome a few more weeks of training my substitute. Four, its springtime...we want to get as far away from the cold/sickness season as possible! Finally, Sebastian was 3 weeks early and although I was happy to lose the uncomfortable late-pregnancy symptoms, he really could have benefited from those last few weeks in the womb, so this little girl needs to soak up as much development as possible in there.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!!!