Easter

We had a very nice Easter on Sunday.  We sang in the choir while someone else watched our kids and I was able to enjoy the talks, which were very good.

We did a little Easter egg hunt in the backyard with plastic eggs for the girls while the real eggs were cooling off. They enjoyed it once they got the hang of it.

Carmen was done about halfway through once she realized there was candy in the eggs.

We also hid some Easter baskets with a few little toys.  They both got water guns, which they tried shooting at each other for a few seconds until they realized they were getting wet.  So they decided to water the plants instead.

Girls.  Amber reminded me that we'll have a boy soon.

I was too engrossed at the time to take pictures, but here is a dramatic reenactment of Amber and Olivia dying Easter eggs.

And the finished product (many of which have already been bedeviled).

And this is what happens at bedtime when you feed your kids nothing but Easter candy for a day.

Olivia one-liners

"Daddy can you hold my gun?"

"My body smells like water."

"You can't destroy a month"

"I don't want to talk.  There aren't any more words in my head."

Flower beds

This is old news now, but it seemed significant and I haven't mentioned it here yet.

When we moved into our house, it already had some nicely landscaped flower beds.  We realized later that it must have been right before we bought the house, because the plants grew and grew like crazy over the next couple years.  We ended up ripping out the terror plants and some of them died during our last freeze, so our flower beds were mostly weed beds.

A few weeks ago Amber researched what plants she wanted and over the course of a couple weeks we bought and planted a new crop of flowers and bushes in the front and back.  The girls were a big help, of course.

We got the whole area mulched and now we have nice looking flower beds again, and hopefully we'll be able to keep these ones under control.

Zoobilee

One of the perks of being a zoo member is that we get to go to Zoobilee, the zoo's members-only, after-hours event.  They gave the kids a passport and they had to go around the zoo and get stamps next to animals from different regions of the world to get their prize at the end.

They also had lots of activities set up all over the zoo, like hula hoop dance parties, bounce houses (we had to tear Carmen away), free carousel rides, and free snacks.

Along the way we stopped for some of the girls' favorites, like the aquarium tunnel and pygmy huts.

We even managed to spy a few animals while we were there.

It was a fun night!

Swagger Wagon

A few years ago, we realized that some day we were going to need a bigger car unless Amber stopped loving babies so much.  We set up a savings account and I calculated out an amount for some automatic transfers so that when that day came we'd be prepared.

Without about a month to go before the deadline, we finally went out car shopping yesterday.  We weren't sure if we wanted a crossover or minivan, but after trying them both out we were quickly converted to minivan.  From my research I'd had my eye on a Toyota Sienna, and the dealership we went to had exactly what we were looking for.  That evening, after writing the biggest check I'd ever written, I drove home our 1-year-old 2011 Toyota Sienna LE.

It's the next step up from the standard model, which means it has a V6, dual power sliding doors, a rear camera, removable 8th seat, and lots of other snazzy features.

The one thing it didn't have that we wanted is a built-in GPS system, but we may get that after-market.

We took it to go out to eat to celebrate, and we're definitely not used to it yet.  It's much bigger than my little Tracer and barely fits in the garage, but with the V6 it's fun to drive and handles like a car.

The kids seem to like it so far, I just hope they like it enough to not spill all over the light interior (ha ha).  I suppose then we'll be official minivan owners.