Pirates...

Marissa introduced a pirate game to the kids the last time she was at our house. They went around hiding from pirates and imagining that they were in the back yard (coming to get them). They would peek outside and jump when they 'saw' them and race inside to get away and hide. So now that is their game to play! They love to pretend that I am the pirate and (as I walk around the house picking up things) run away as I get near! Aaahh the screams and screaches I get when I get close!

Marissa...

I guess we owed Marissa a sleep-over from a few weeks ago, so we took her home last night and she spent the night. Benjamin and Hannah LOVE it when she comes to play with them! She finds all kinds of different activities for them to do. When she is not here, then they have 'new' games to play! This time it was all about "Kids Fun Town" where they take all of the pillows in the house and lay them on the floor by the bed. All of the sheets and covers come off the bed too. There is now padding on the floor so they can slide off the bed and into the big pillows and do it over and over again! What fun to be a kid!

Easter...

Happy Easter! We went to my parents today for our traditional Moroccan feast and Easter egg hunt. Benjamin, Hannah and Levi were the only kids in their age category so they had lots of eggs to find! They had so much fun running around finding their eggs in the pots and plants. Everyone got prizes for the eggs they found. Marissa found the golden egg, so she got a special prize! No one fell into the pool but almost everyone ended up in the jacuzzi for some swimming!

Egg dyeing...

We went to the Barnabes house to dye eggs today! We took Marissa too. The kids sat at the table and got right to work. Hannah loved to drop her eggs in the blue dye and then grab them out with her hands (not with the spoon). So she ended up with blue hands and blue speckles all over her face, hair and shirt! Benjamin was on a mission to get all of his eggs the same color. He couldn't wait for the next mug of color to come his way so he ended up with a lot of light pink egss! It was a true test of patience! No one could wait better than Eddie though, all of his eggs were bright and dark (perfect like the pictures)! Afterwards we were treated to lunch and lots of play time!

Biking...

Benjamin has really been into biking lately. I think it is because we got him a new helmet and it fits better. Well, today he decided that he wanted to go for a bike ride while Corey was doing yard work. By the time Corey realized that Benjamin was taking a bike ride, Benjamin had almost made it to the corner. Corey ran down the street after him and finally caught up with him. Luckily he had a bright orange shirt on that (hopefully) people could see. We got him back safe and sound...no harm done...except for a few missing heart beats!

Eggs...

We went to Granny and GranDad's house today to help get ready for Easter. They had a bunch of plastic eggs that needed to be stuffed with candies for the egg hunt on Sunday. Benjamin and Hannah went wild with the candy! Benjamin ate so much chocolate and Hannah dove into the jelly beans (she loves them!) They had fun putting the candies in the eggs too.

GranDad took all of the kids and Corey for a hike to "look for rabbits". They hiked all over the property and even took a net to catch one if they found one. They found lots of holes but no rabbits. Maybe next time!

the car...

Benjamin and Hannah have turned the space underneath the kitchen sink into a car. They take it all over town. They get in and tuck their stuffed animals inside with them and go for a drive. Many times they take a trip to Parkway Plaza to go to Play Town! They go shopping at JCPenney or go to Starbucks...so funny!

Easter egg hunt...

Today we went to the Bread Basket restaurant in Alpine for an Easter egg hunt and some fun! We joined Andrew, Emily and their two children and Heather and Marissa. It was raining and the restaurant had a power outage so it wasn't very busy. Benjamin and Hannah were so excited about it but they stayed in line to wait for the hunt to start! When we finally got the "go ahead" we ran around looking for eggs, they found a lot of them and didn't want to stop. They looked on the grass, in the bushes, on the fence railings, in trees...there were eggs everywhere! As a prize for finding eggs the restaurant gave out cookies to everyone. Like I said it wasn't busy and they had plenty of eggs and cookies! There was also face painting and hair coloring and a raffle where everyone who was present won! All in all everyone had a good time!

Mast park...

This is a new park for us. It is in Santee. We went and met up with some other friends. Today was the first time that all of the children played together! Benjamin and Hannah usually just play together and hang on me but today it seemed that they were into doing the same things as the other kids. They built sandcastles and had "tea" in teacups, they ran around on the play structure and rode their bikes around the walkways together. Most of the kids brought their tricyles or their push cars so they were all on the same "wave length" today! Kinda cool when that happens!