Eggs-cellent Easter

After several days of cold, dreary, rainy weather, we awoke on Easter morning to discover a warm day, getting warmer by the minute. What a nice Easter surprise!
Rudy was soooooo excited that Easter was coming. He kept getting out of bed the night before and telling us he saw the Easter bunny outside, and Paul and I better go to bed or he wouldn't come. Of course, he was up early and ready to see what he got. He was very happy that the Easter bunny gave him a Star Wars leapster game!




After a leisurely morning we headed to church. When we got there, I realized I hadn't taken a picture of Rudy yet, and I wanted to make sure I got one before he was no longer fully or neatly dressed. He was his usual cooperative self the first time I took the picture,

but then gave me a little smile. He had been asking to wear a tie and was so excited when I found a "kids size" tie for him. He proudly wore it at church (and got many compliments on it) and then didn't want to take it off for the rest of the day, and kept it surprisingly clean!

After mass, there was an Easter egg hunt. Here he is anxiously waiting to start.

And they are off!

Rudy, like many of the other littler kids, picked and chose which eggs to grab, and would walk over ten just to get to one!

Our priest was taking this picture of Rudy and these girls, and I couldn't resist getting a quick shot. Talk about a thorn among roses!

Showing off his bucket of eggs.

After church we went out to lunch with my dad. I hesitated to include this picture because Paul is the only one that looks great in it, but it's the only family picture we took.

For dinner, we walked over to Paul's aunt's house. Rudy wore his tie because he wanted to be the handsomest one there.

He loves all the toys he finds at Aunt Pat's house - left over from when her boy were little.

Sean had to prove that he could be handsome, too, so he got dressed up (for about 3 minutes, then took the tie off and eventually the shirt.)

Nothing like a little driveway bowling to work off a big Easter dinner!

I think every time we are at Pat's house, Rudy ends up snuggled with someone in this chair watching TV. It is the best and most comfortable seat in the house!

Walking home and playing with the transformer he got from Aunt Pat. By the way, transformers have gotten so much harder than when we were kids. Even trying to follow the picture directions is impossible!

Easter Eggs

Even though I have been dyeing Easter eggs for as long as I can remember, I seem to be learning something new the past few years. Last year I discovered (after Easter) that if you dye fresh eggs, they can be hard to peel. So I got smart this year and a few weeks ago, stocked up on eggs so I would have some to dye that weren't fresh. Then last night when I pulled them out of the refrigerator, I realized I had bought brown eggs. I think I did the same thing last year! This year I was not going to run out and buy new eggs, so we dyed them. They turned out really colorful - the colors are darker and deeper and look different than just blue and red and green.


Even more amazing is the fact that Paul got in on the act this year. He is very meticulous about his work, so he dyed two or three eggs while Rudy and I powered through the rest. But at least he joined in the fun!

Like father, like son.

Rudy adding some stickers to the finished products!

The Touching Museum

A few months ago, Vincie and I found a deal for half price tickets to the Please Touch Museum. We hadn't been since our membership expired about a year ago, and we wondered if the boys, especially Tyler, were getting a little old for it, but we bought the tickets and planned our trip. A few weeks before we went, Rudy asked me out of the blue when we could go back to the "touching" museum. He didn't know I had purchased the tickets, so I took it as a good sign.

First stop was the water play. The kids didn't last here for very long.



Then we headed to the room where the activity changes regularly. This display was all about accessibility - you could type in braille, pedal a bike with your hands, and practice using a wheelchair.



The carousel was next - always a favorite.

Then we wandered down to the Alice in Wonderland area. Rudy, Tyler and Noah had fun running through and pretending the queen's guards were after them. Here they try to fight one of them.

Rudy was very much into the costume aspect this trip. Here he dressed up as "a card" to paint. I actually thought I lost him here because of the costume. I was watching him, Tyler and Noah (Vincie had the other 2 kids), I looked away from Rudy for a second to see Tyler and Noah and when I looked back, I didn't see Rudy. Tyler and Noah headed over to where Rudy had just been so I told them I had to find Rudy. He turned around and said, "I'm right here." In the time I had looked away, he put this costume on. When I turned back, I just looked for the orange shirt he had been wearing.

Posing with the Philly Phanatic.

Taking a lunch break.

This was Rudy's favorite area. He could have played here all day. Once again, he had to dress the part. He moved 'bricks' from one area to the other and put them on and off the conveyor belt.

Paging Dr. Sean!

The hospital was yet another are where the boys were really focused on their jobs. The three of them sat around this baby and took care of it for a long time.

One of the last areas we went was to the space section. Rudy is dressed up in a lab coat and looking a bit like a mad scientist. I think he scared a little girl playing near him by looking at her like this.

And then he added the astronaut's helmet to the costume.

He could stand in front of a blue screen and be on the TV screen. I had to take a picture of him, since he couldn't see it and be on it at the same time.

Overall, the boys had a lot of fun, and could have stayed a lot longer. Vincie and I both had to work, and scheduled this trip based on past trips, where the boys ran through and saw everything in a short time. Next time we'll have to allow more time.

Windy Cleanup and Cloudy Walk

Saturday we attended the spring clean up at our local wildlife refuge. It was cold and windy and dreary. There were a lot of people there, and by some miracle, there was not much trash, so we didn't spend too much time in the cold. This picture is us with another person from our church who participated with us (her husband took the picture).


Yesterday, I made plans to meet a friend and her daughter. Rudy and Sanai haven't seen each other since his party, but they had fun at Smithville.
Racing motorcycles.

Playing video games.

BFFs

Chasing a rooster.

Closing up a door that was left open (then we made them open it again in case it was left open for a reason!).

Rudyisms

Rudy was looking at a sale circular that had pictures of bikini bathing suits all over the cover. He was so excited to point it out tme, "Mom. Look. It's like what you wear, only it's waterproof so you can wear it to the beach!" I had laid Rudy's clothes for church out on his bed. He came down at one point to show me he was able to take something hanging in the closet AND get it off the hanger. He was so proud of himself. I noticed then that he had sweat pants on and I told him he couldn't wear sweatpants to church. He said he didn't like what I had picked out, so I told him he could choose something else, just no sweat pants. I heard him start down a few minutes later and I could hear the rustle of athletic pants- so I had to go help him pick out proper clothes! In the car discussing dinner plans, Rudy says, "I'm not going to have dinner, just dessert." I laughed and said, "I don't think it works that way." His response was, "It does work that way if I do something nice for you." Rudy came home excited to tell us that he got to use the "bounce-o-line" at school.

Playground Weather

Since the nice weather has surfaced, we have spent a lot of time at the local playgrounds. Rudy can almost go over the monkey bars. He can hang on and move his hand once or twice before he drops.

This was a curvy ladder he had to climb to get to the top of the structure.

King of the world

Comtemplating his next move.

Not Just for Birthdays

On Friday we met with Vincie, Noah and Sean. Our original plan was o go o The Please Touch Museum, but Tyler got a better offer, so we decided to save that trip until he could go with us. Our backup was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese - early in the morning when it is not crowded is a great time to go. Then we headed to the nearby mall for lunch and shopping. Very seriously driving a boat.

Noah and Rudy did this ride about 5 times in a row. It simulated a roller coaster and some other things. Sean rode the first time but then was done.

The view from above the ride where you can see their facial expressions.