Raised by wolves?

Easter at the Thomson's

After the initial Easter frenzie at our house, we headed over to our friends Carly & Chris's house for brunch and another egg hunt. We lucked out with beautiful weather, lots of kid & adult friends and a wonderful brunch! The girls were especially excited that Heidi joined us. Thanks Chris, Carly & Ada!

Hannah with Heidi

Easter Morning

Given our hectic schedule due to both of our seasonally demanding jobs, I just feel lucky and grateful when both Aaron and I are home on the weekends...especially for holidays. So Easter was a wonderful day because we had nothing planned and were both home. However, that sneaky bunny did leave some bunny-type gifts and eggs for the girls and provided a lot excitement WAY before we were able to drink coffee that morning! Thanks to Granny for help filling the baskets!

Emma showing off her treasures!

Yes - Hannah is using a Pumpkin bucket as a Easter basket.  And she seems to always be caught with the funniest faces.

Who doesn't need gum that comes out of a chicken's butt?

Hannah would have been SO happy with just the gum!

If you look closely, Hannah is drooling....because of all of the candy she had already eaten by 7:30 am.

Emma's first soccer game

Emma started soccer this spring.  She plays in a Pre-K group and I think she likes it.  At least she likes getting dressed up for soccer and is really excited that she gets to wear cleats!  She also gets really excited for water breaks and snacks. :)

Soccer Emma

Hannah running on/off the field during the game

Sweet action!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last year, I said I would never do it again.  I had no interest having Emma contend with grown men that were blocking other kids for plastic eggs.  But we did it.  And it wasn't that bad.  In fact, it was so much more mellow than last year - it was actually enjoyable for everyone.  Maybe it was this article about the egg hunt canceled in Colorado Springs because of unruly parents.  Maybe everyone read it and thought "I don't want to be that guy!".

Anyways, the event was fun.  We saw lots of friends.  The girls each found eggs - Hannah with 3, Emma with about 9 or so.  The Easter Bunny even arrived on the fire truck again.

Getting ready to hunt!

The action!

Checking out the loot - I think Hannah is already eating candy in this picture.

Cracker Jax

My friend Ryan that I grew up with lives in Phoenix.  We were originally going to hang out at the Cub's game together...but then I forgot my cell phone and couldn't call him...therefore, we couldn't find him at the game.  It was a bummer.  But he joined us for some adventure at Cracker Jax.  It is a fun activities center that has a driving range, batting cages, bummer boats, go-carts, and all kinds of stuff.  It was great to see Ryan plus it fun to drive go-carts and bummer boats.

Emma, Aaron and Ryan getting ready for bummer boat action.  Hannah was so sad that she didn't get to go :(

Emma driving her go-cart.  She is not responsible for the damage on the front!

 

Hannah feeling left out.

Phoenix Zoo

While we were down in Phoenix we headed out to the zoo for a day.  Our kids love the zoo.  Well, I should say Emma loves the zoo.  Hannah had never been and seemed somewhat skeptical of the animals....in fact, she seemed to have a scowl and a pouty lip for most of the day.  Not to mention all of the different types of animals created some confusion for her....as she would "moo" at all them in a questioning manner....asking if they moo-ed.  But by the end of the day, Hannah had perfected at least 10 different animals and now walks around our house displaying her new found skill.

Hannah's pout.

There is a sting ray exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo and we hadn't visited it during our previous visits so we thought we should check it out.  You are able to reach over and pet the sting rays and we were also there during one of the feeding times.  So for $5 you could feed the string rays as many dead fish and shrimp as you wanted.  Although we enjoyed petting the string rays, only Aaron fed the fish. 

Emma helping Aaron prep his fish food

Cute sisters

There is also an open monkey exhibit which is really cool.  You walk in and the monkeys are running around, climbing ropes and freely moving around. 

More pout with the monkeys

 The kimono dragon (I think - it was some kind of big lizard) exhibit was also cool!  There was a real one - not just the statue below!

And of course, we had to end the day on the carosel.  Emma was a pro.  Hannah, being the wiggler that she is, starting off on the jack rabbit...but was moved to the bench was she would sit still.  She still liked it.