the egg hunts continue!

Last Saturday morning we were surprised to find the Easter bunny hopping outside our house, courtesy of my mother-in-law. I was afraid it might confuse Tyler beyond belief or blow the Easter bunny story for him, but he totally bought it! While the Easter bunny made an escape to it's vehicle I got Jason's shoes on and had Ty search for our baskets, and then we were off for the hunt. Tyler was thrilled to find money in some of the eggs, and candy in others. Jason was just interested in gathering. He later spent the better part of an hour emptying jelly beans from one egg to another, in the basket, back in eggs, etc.













Later, after a few rounds of practice egg hunting (me hiding empty plastic eggs in the yard for practice, aka: getting him out of my hair and out of the house), we stopped briefly to watch a few minutes of Aiden's lacross practice.

Later that afternoon we met up with Al's mom and step-dad for the Medford Easter egg hunt. It was really cute and Jason loved his hunt and was really pleased with his 5 or so eggs. Tyler was excited, but slipped on some mud early on in the hunt (you can see him falling in one of the pictures), so I had to coax him to finish. He was disappointed that he didn't get more eggs, but was happy overall. The highlight of Tyler's egg prizes were an Easter bunny head key chain and a parachuting bunny toy. Jason particularly a piece of candy and then later liked throwing his eggs, which were real, so they then became broken eggs. LOL.








That evening we went to Jim & Cara's place for pizza dinner. Cara was making the "Easter pies" for brunch the next morning. Katie helped Aiden and Tyler make eggs. We all enjoyed the beautiful weather out on the deck. Jason played with (and ate) playdough for the first time. A nice night, but my allergies (or a cold) came over me quickly and I was exhausted.








When we got home I fell asleep while putting Jason to bed, and then later on the couch. I woke up briefly for my Easter bunny duties and then was back to bed by 10:00. Exhausted!

spring break time!

Friday was the first day of spring break, so I decided to bring the boys to Great Adventure by myself. However, it appears that the rest of NJ, PA, and DE also thought this would be a good idea. Even with free parking and season passes it took me about 50 minutes to get through parking and the line to get in! Thankfully it wasn't nearly bad as I expected it to be once we got inside. A line of only a minute or so to see some characters.


Tyler got to ride a ton of rides, of course by himself as he prefers!


They spent some time in the Wiggles World play area. Jason preferred to go up the stair, get scared the look of the slide, and scoot down the stairs repeatedly.

After a quick lunch is was off to the dolphin show. Tyler was fascinated by it, and Jason kept trying to get my attention in case I weren't aware that there were dolphins jumping out of the water in the direction we were all looking. And then he kept "woof"ing at them. Apparently they resemble dogs to him. Anyway, the show was fun for them!





Quick snack after the dolphin show.

Brothers pretending to get along.

Jason wandered a little in a play area while Tyler ran all around using up lots of energy.

After a very unsuccessful first ride last week on the carousel, and had been reluctant to let Jason on anything. Occasionally I asked him if he wanted to get on things and he'd shake his head no, so I didn't push. Plus, Tyler had wanted to go on things by himself anyway, but when Tyler asked Tyler if he wanted to go on this ride Jason signed "yes" emphatically. I put him on and he waited patiently for it to start. He LOVED it and as Tyler cheered Jason started yelling...yelling so loud in fact that the ride operator had to ask me if he was upset because if so she'd need to stop it. Nope, loud and happy! In fact when he got off he signed "more" so we got right back on.


We head back over to Wiggles World and after some rides the boys played for quite a while in the foam ball fun zone. Tyler ran around like crazy. Meanwhile (thankfully) Jason was quite content to stand in exactly the same spot just repeatedly throwing foam balls. The place is quit4e over-stimulating for ME, but apparently not for them!

Later Ty went on a few more rides, and Jason joined him (happily this time) on the carousel TWICE before we decided to call it a day and come home.

last week before spring break

Monday we had rain, rain, and more rain. Yucky stuff. T-ball cancelled, again!

On Tuesday I did something I never expected to do. I took Jason to a chiropractor and Ayurvedic practitioner. I few people had mentioned going to someone like this when I was dealing with issues with Jason's allergies and such, but my brother's girlfriend Cara had been persuasive in getting me to make an appointment with her practitioner almost 2 weeks prior after i had been telling her what was going on with Jason (this was all prior to his 18m appointment). Anyway, we went (Cara came with us), and I'm still a little perplexed about the whole visit, but I'm also open to trying what they said. Apparently his gut is very badly damaged from vaccines and such, so we have to heal that. She wants him off of all dairy, which I'm struggling with. We started a regimen of creams and probiotics and other drops. Well, we attempted to start, but it's tough with a child who won't eat and drink consistently! Anyway, I'll keep you updated on that front.

That night we got to kid's night at Chick-fil-A. The last time we were there Jason was having trouble climbing up on the apparatus, but I thought maybe it was because of the jeans he was wearing. This time he was in sweatpants and was definitely trying to climb, but still couldn't. I don't understand the child. One step forward, sometimes two steps back. I guess the good news is that I didn't have to climb up on those things either!

On Wednesday we had some beautiful weather again. I think we stayed after school for a bit, and then we were back again at the school shortly thereafter to take Tyler to his school club. While there I got a text that my friend Michele was with her daugther at a doctor nearby. Michele and I were friends and met when our husbands worked together in Lakehurst. She even watched Tyler for me when I worked part-time when he was a baby. Anyway, ever since I moved to FL almost 5 years ago we haven't seen each other much, so I jumped on the chance to meet up with her. I quickly packed Tyler's t-ball gear and picked him up from his club and we met for a brief dinner at McDonalds. It was great seeing them! Felt like we hadn't missed a thing.

From there it was a quick change in the car before heading off for the field where my mom met us for tball practice.

Thursday was even more beautiful and Tyler came hopping out of school with a little Easter basket and was in a great mood with the start of spring break. Unfortunately the attitude didn't continue, and I was about ready to send him back to school about an hour after spring break began. LOL.! Unfortunately couldn't get out to play because Tyler had a dentist appointment. I can't say how thankful I am to have found Tyler's dentist. He was anxious about going, but not fearful like the other times. He got there and he was totally cooperative for some xrays, cleaning, fluoride treatment, and examination. He had never even had a fluoride treatment before because he'd always freak out too much. And he walked out there with an armful of "prizes". He was as happy as could be. I guess he'll get to be that happy again in a week, because it turns out he has one small cavity. Poor child has acquired my soft teeth. I feel bad for him, because he never misses a brushing, but i guess I need to be more vigilant about helping him regularly.

That afternoon my parents left for Atlantic City for the night and we got a surprise visit from a family member, bringing cake, flowers, and lollipops for the boys. I caved and let them have a light dinner and then dig into their pops.
After that it was more outdoor time before getting a text that Beth and her family were heading to the beach, so we met them there. The big kids even ended up in the water!




Home just in time for baths and bed!