Ballerina and Princess Andrea

Andrea loved ballet so much that we put her in a second session of lessons.  Grama Marty also sent Andrea a lovely new ballet dress from Montana. Andrea wanted to pose in it, and do some ballet moves for the camera.

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In honour of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, Andrea's SK teacher sent home a note asking the children to dress up as princesses and princes today.  Naturally, Andrea was in her glory.  She was so excited to see a real wedding between a modern-day prince and his princess! She was also pleased she was allowed to dress up like a princess for school.

Easter Weekend 2011

Our Easter Weekend, as usual, was full of activity. The fun started on Thursday night. Andrea and Ryan had a ton of fun in the bathtub together. He just loves her, and she thinks he's the cutest thing. They are so good together.

Ryan was full of smiles after having such a good time in the bath.

On Good Friday, we went over to Gram and Papa Gagnon's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Gram made this cute bunny cake for the kids.

Originally, Kevin wasn't in the mood for an Easter egg hunt. He stayed upstairs and pouted, until he heard everyone else downstairs, having fun. Then, he decided to join us, and voila--smiles! Candy is a great motivator.

Ryan was due for a nap at the time of the Egg hunt, so he chose to cuddle on Papa instead of participating.

Andrea was very excited with what she found! The kids opened all the eggs they found, and shared the loot equally.

Ryan slept through the whole thing! Even the kids screaming with excitement couldn't wake him up. He was too exhausted, but quite comfortable on Papa.

Kevin and the girls invented a game where he rolled the empty plastic eggs down the stairs, and Andrea and Izzy tried to catch them.

Ryan, refreshed after his nap, was enjoying the view from Gram and Papa's sliding doors. They were decorated with Easter stickers, and also look out at the birds visiting the bird feeder in the backyard.

Andrea drew this picture of her and Kevin hunting Easter eggs with Gram and Papa. She also tried to make the Easter Bunny's face in the picture. Nice work!

On Saturday, we coloured our Easter eggs at home. They came with a cute pop-up village to decorate the table, too.

Andrea's being silly for the camera!

Kevin was being silly, too . . .

. . . showing off his bum to the camera!

Ryan is wearing his bunny ears they made at daycare. This is my sweet baby bunny!

Easter Sunday, early morning: the Easter Bunny came!

He even left a personalized message for the kids, using chocolate eggs, on the living room floor.

As per tradition, the Easter Bunny left a trail of chocolate eggs from the kids' beds to their bedroom doors. Follow that trail to more goodies!

Yummy! Chocolate eggs!

Chocolaty giggles!

Andrea discovered that the space from a missing tooth makes a great chocolate egg holder.

Once again Ryan, who woke up early, slept through all the excitement.

Kevin finally noticed the eggs in his room! He thought it was funny the Easter Bunny made part of the egg trail follow the road path on his car rug.

When Ryan woke up, we gave him a pile of eggs to investigate. He liked the shiny paper.

Then his reaction was like, "Um, okay, so what do I do with this?"

The Easter Bunny brought Ryan some interactive books, since he's not interested in eating candies yet.

Andrea's wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

She's posing in the dress Grama Marty sent her from Montana, and showing her walking Easter Bunny toy and basket.

Mommy and Daddy got each of the kids a special Easter surprise this year: new bikes!  They had totally outgrown their old ones, and really needed new bikes.

Ryan got a push/ride-on toy. Kevin is teaching Ryan how to drive!

Ryan was so excited about honking the horn that the picture turned out blurry!

Notice the tentative smile? Kevin was a bit nervous about getting on his first big-boy bike.

Andrea was loving her new bike, but upset about the training wheels. We promised her they can come off once she gets a little more practice riding.

My Li'l Biker Dude: Kevin liked the bike once Daddy took him outside and started to push him around on it.  He doesn't really pedal it himself, though.

Andrea hopped on and was ready to go.  They even drove their bikes down the street to Gram and Papa's, where we were going for Easter dinner.

Ryan loves TVs--especially when they are right on his level, and he can push the buttons. At least he seems to enjoy watching hockey!

Daddy and Kevin set up a car ramp. Daddy would zoom the cars up the ramp, and Kevin would try to catch them before gravity pulled them back down. 

Ryan and Papa had fun playing peek-a-boo around the corner.

Gotcha! Hehehe!

Andrea and I had Easter Monday off from school, so we planned a special "Girls' Day" at the mall. We took the city bus to the mall, bought some toys at the dollar store, rode some coin rides, and had lunch together. She still loves the coin rides, even though she's almost too big for them.

Easter Videos

The Easter Bunny had a sense of humour this year. One of the treats in Andrea and Kevin's baskets was a wind-up bunny that walked and pooped jelly beans!  They also had fun trying to race their bunnies across the kitchen table.

After Ryan woke up, Kevin did something really kind. He gathered up a bunch of Easter eggs from the hunt, and gave them to Ryan. Good sharing, Kevin!

When we went to Gram and Papa's for supper, Gram was making Ryan laugh with her tickles.  He could see her coming, and would get all excited!

"Gagnon Demolition"

Ryan is living up to the name of Uncle Marc's business, as displayed on his little t-shirt. Andrea and Kevin build up the blocks . . .

. . . and Ryan takes them down!

Demolition is hard work! Ryan needs some rest.

Ryan was really talkative in the tub that night, too. I'm not sure if he was telling me about his day, or simply having fun in the bath. He was waving, and it sounded like he said, "Hi, Mama!" He also seemed to be singing with me.