Happy Easter! He is risen!

Dying Easter eggs

Before dying Easter eggs, James was stripped down to his diaper. We got a kick out of him admiring his belly. He would pat his belly, and laugh; he was very proud of it! James has a good 5 lbs on Paul, despite being 5 months younger. We love the chubbiness!

Easter egg hunt

Saturday morning we had our annual Easter egg hunt at church. Unfortunately, it was raining. Fortunately, the 0-4 age group was inside! We still had a good turn-out, despite the rain.

Our youth group's idea of humor. This is Jonathan trying to get an egg down from the top of this painting.

Benjamin made a haul, and then starting helping others fill up their baskets.

"See my egg?" Paul caught on pretty quickly, and got about 10 or 12 eggs for his bucket.

James exceeded Sarah's expectations, and collected more than one egg for his bucket!

Pre-hunt photo

Children's museum

We went to a children's museum one of the days that our company was here. The kids loved it, of course!

The fish market room--always a favorite. Not sure how Jonathan squeezed in here!

Dinosaur table!

Our Easter Visitors

My brother, Jonathan, his wife, Sarah, and their son, James came to our house for Easter. We had a great time together. The cousins got along pretty well--mainly because James is so easy-going. Paul would grab a toy from him, and James would just move onto the next one. We kept busy between church services, naps, and playing. Jonathan preached Good Friday. This will be their last time traveling for Easter for some time. He gets his call next Wednesday.

Playing in the empty trunk.

James loved all of the new toys!

A visit to Harry's--waiting for our food to come.

Playing baseball!

"It's so much easier to run with this thing on my head!"

"Cheese!"

"Is it time to go outside yet?"

"New" Bike

Indoor baseball

Everything I know I learned from my brother

How to line up cars

How to "hoard" cars, so that no one else can get them

How to say, "Mine!"

Conversations

Benjamin is at that age where every day he says something amusing or interesting or insightful...

Said to Grandma while we were in Colorado, and Grandma was chasing him: "Grandma, you're pretty fast for an old person!"

While talking about sharing cars with Paul: "I like to share the weird cars with Paul." Spoken like a true older brother!

Conversation while putting together a Noah's Ark puzzle:

"Mommy, let's pretend we're in heaven."

"Okay."

"Hmmm...I wonder where Jesus it?"

"I don't know. He must be doing something else."

"I know! How about you pretend to be Jesus."

"Um, all right."

"Jesus, you sent this flood didn't you? No, actually it was God."

"That's right."

"And all of the people in the ark died."

"No, all of the people that weren't in the ark died."

"Oh, yeah. They died because their houses got flooded."

And another heaven conversation:

"Mommy, I'd like to go to heaven soon. When do you think we should go?"

"Well, remember you have to die first."

"Oh, yeah, so maybe when I'm really old then I'll die and go to heaven."

"Are you excited to go to heaven?"

"Yeah! Because you get to see Jesus there!"

That conversation really got me thinking. How many of us are actually excited to go to heaven and see Jesus?

Check out this invention

This definitely helped improve Paul's score, since he wasn't all that interested in rolling the ball down the alley. He's much more into throwing balls.

Bowling

Monday was rainy and cold, so we decided to take the boys bowling. Paul had never been inside a bowling alley before, and Benjamin hadn't been bowling since he was about Paul's age. They had a great time. Paul was more interested in just exploring the place, but Benjamin really got into it. Thank goodness for bumpers, though!

Out to eat

Benjamin enjoying his ice cream! About a month ago, we met Jonathan at Friendly's after work. Jonathan and I both couldn't get over how grown-up Benjamin seemed--patiently waiting for our food, ordering himself, having a nice dinner conversation. "So, let's talk!" It was just so pleasant. It seems like Benjamin has matured so much since he's turned four.

Hiding

Paul enjoys emptying this cupboard and hiding in it. It's adorable to watch his "counting" when we play hide-and-seek. He covers his eyes and "counts." And then he says "Where are you?" (It sound more like "are ooo?") He'll look around and say, "Nope!"