OBX 2016

We had a great Easter break in Duck.  The weather ranged from low 60s to high 70s.  We had a few good beach days.  On our way home, the temperature started at about 70 in the morning, then we drove through rain, sun, sleet, snow and ended up back in Canton with the temperature in the 30s.  

The kids played in the water a lot.  In the last few years, Anna has stayed more on the sand.  Not this year.  She loved jumping in the waves with Lukey.  

The sand was still fun to play in though.

There was a lot of erosion on our part of the beach.  They probably weren't supposed to do this, but the kids really liked playing on the cliffs.  They slid and jumped down them then laid in the water to clean off the sand. 

Lukey was looking forward to having watermelon in North Carolina weeks before our trip.  He was thrilled to finally have his watermelon.

Tim was pretty good about playing in the water with the kids.  Too cold for mommy.  Tim got a new cosi that said "Sworn to Fun, Loyal to None".  

The kids were able to convince Nana to go in the water with them too.  She brought Zena in too.  Zena was okay with it but didn't really want to go in the water much.

Egg Hunt in OBX

We thought we'd forget about the whole egg hunt idea.  However, Anna kept talking about how she was excited to look for eggs on Easter.  The Easter Bunny didn't prepare for this and wasn't up for another trip to the grocery store to find eggs and candy Saturday night.  He ended up finding Luke and Anna the Monday morning after Easter in Duck. They were pretty excited.  

Dying Easter Eggs

Lukey and Anna went to Grammy and Gramp's house to dye Easter Eggs with their cousins.   Anna probably dyed the most.  Lukey did a few though.

Paige liked to paint her eggs.

Anna's new bike

Anna got to ride her new Hello Kitty bike from Nana, Pa Bob and Uncle Ben today.  She did a great job!  We did a good loop around the neighborhood.  Lukey did a good job on his bike too but I didn't take any pictures of him.  This is going to be the year for him to lose the training wheels.  We said that last year too, but this year we really mean it.  

Happy Birthday to Anna

Anna wanted to wear this dress on her birthday proper.  No surprise.  She wears this dress all the time.  (Thanks Marianne!) She spent her birthday hangning out with Nana going to McDonalds a toy store and Holiday Market to pick out cupcakes and cheese.  She had a lot of fun.  Then when Tim and I got home we went out to dinner and then her and Lukey exchanged presents (they like to get each other something small for the non-birthday sibling for birthdays).  Anna got a new cat and cat accessories that she had picked out from Build-a-Bear a few weeks prior and Lukey got a ewok from Build-a-Bear.  

Anna has had a productive year.  Her favorite things are cats, owls, snails, butterflies and flowers.  Her favorite things to do are playing with Lukey and building legos and, going to dance class and, of course, any kind of art.  She also likes writing and loves reading and being read to.  She is pretty good at reading the first box set of Bob books (things like "Mat sat on the Cat. The cat is sad. This is Ruff.  Ruff is a dog, etc.")  She is also getting pretty good at reading her Hello Kitty books and other beginning reader books.  She can count to 100 by 1s and by 10s. She is an advanced speller and is always asking and guessing how to spell new words.  She is very imaginative and likes to tell stories about all of her cats that each have their own name.  She also likes singing and making up songs.  Its fun to watch Anna and Lukey play together and see how they fuse their interests.  They have good conversations about which of her cats are each of his Star Wars figure's pets.  Anna is always entertaining and we are very proud of her.

Anna decided that she wanted a Peep theme for her birthday just like when she turned 1.  She chose this Peep sunflower cake rather than the big peep (this was much easier to make so that was fine by me).  

decorations for the party

Party favors.

Peep-tini.  Some were made with Rum Chata.  Some were made with Peep chocolate or strawberry milk.  The Peep strawberry milk was not good..

We made another peep shirt just like the one she wore when she turned one.  

Lukey wore the same peep shirt that he wore to Anna's party when he was 2.  It fit him great.  

The best decorations were these pictures that Anna made of Peeps.  

Misc.

Anna spends a good part of each day coloring, painting or drawing.  She loves art.  She starts an art class this week called "Artists Who Inspire Me".  Hopefully she'll like it.  

Luke's hair looked especially handsome this morning.  

Anna at Dance

 

Usually we don't get to see Anna at dance, but yesterday was a surprise parent watch day.  My videos are not very good because I was watching Anna and wasn't really looking at the phone screen when I was taking them.  And, Anna was being blocked by the teacher in a good part of the beginning of the second one. Oh well. She really likes going to ballet and does a great job of following directions! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Jacob!

On Saturday, we went to Jacob's 1st birthday party.  I forgot to bring my camera so I didn't get a lot of pictures. He was pretty confused when everyone sang to him and stood around taking pictures of him.  He didn't even want to touch his cake until people stopped looking at him.  He seemed to have a lot of fun at his party.  He spent most of the night walking around and playing and smiling.  He is a very agreeable baby and rarely looks upset.  Happy Birthday, Jacob!