We celebrated Easter at Grandma Banana and Papa Pizza's farm. As usual, it's always icky and rainy when we get there - but we managed to make the most of things.
Friday morning, we headed to Grandma's bike shop. It was time for Kylie and Neela to get bigger bikes. They picked out their own - Kylie's is pink with polka dots, and Neela's is purple with ribbons. They tested them out all over the store before they pedaled them down the street to the van. Brooke was looking at striders, and we quickly realized she could keep one of the big girls' "little bikes" and practice with that. Then, we went out for lunch with Papa, and headed back to the farm for play time.
We LOVE our playhouse - and found all kinds of pies, cookies and goodies to "bake" for our visitors.
After the playhouse, we headed to the barn.
We were searching for the chickens Papa made sure Brooke had for her first Easter at the farm. Brooke initially loved them, but didn't think too much of them after about 2 minutes.
For once, Neela loved the animals, too! Kylie and Neela spent hours out with the chickens... feeding them, watering them, holding them, dropping them, naming them... They couldn't get enough!
Of course, a visit to the barn isn't complete without climbing on Papa's tractor. All 3 girls enjoyed climbing up and "driving", but did NOT like it when Papa started up the tractor -- "TOO LOUD!"
Everyone else arrived on Friday night, so Saturday was time to dye Easter eggs. Kylie and Neela really enjoyed the challenge of the eggs - and made many, many colors. They also made a few coffee filter decorations just to use up some more of the color! Brooke only wanted to work with Uncle Tony on her eggs. The eggs were the opposite of the baby chicks! At first, she didn't know what to think.... after a few minutes, she was very entertained by them!
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| Grandma, Kylie, Neela & Angie |
We must have been crazy, but we got the girls all dressed up for Saturday night mass. They looked beautiful in their purple dresses and hats. (Did we mention they loved playing the piano too -- especially when someone was sleeping???)
Brooke slept with Grandma and Papa - Sunday, she was up before everyone. As she walked out to the porch with Papa, she saw an egg on top of the clock. She looked at Papa very surprised, and said "Egg?". Then, she started looking a bit more - and it turned into "Egg, Egg, Egg". She'd pick them up, look at them, and hide them again! Grandma didn't want Mommy to miss out, so Brooke showed Mommy a few hiding spots - then brought over an egg to "open" it. After we opened it, Brooke tried a bite - then gave the rest to Papa... guess it wasn't as much fun opened!
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| Before the big girls got up, Brooke had all her eggs lined up! |
Kylie and Neela were also THRILLED to look for eggs! They started the instant they woke up - and didn't ever stop! Once they found all the eggs - they kept putting them in their baskets to carry around. We had to take the eggs away before all the shells were cracked. Grandma made a lot of eggs - so we all would have been eating a lot of eggs!
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| Brooke's Elmo Basket |
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| Kylie's Pink Basket |
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| Neela's Purple Basket |
After the girls found their baskets, all the grown-ups were looking for their's. (Brooke woke Uncle Tony up with "Cockadoodledooooo!" and scared him!! Not sure who jumped higher -- Tony or Brooke!) Of course, Grandma told Neela you couldn't help anyone find their basket - so she wouldn't tell anyone where they could find their goodies... Kylie was a little more helpful :-)
We had a giant breakfast, then everyone got dressed up to go outside. The girls enjoyed every minute of looking for their eggs outside...
They had money, fruit snacks, bouncy balls, mardi gras beads... Rollie (Heidi and Cory's new puppy) ended up with more beads than any of the girls! Rollie likes to bark, so Brooke was trying to make him happy. On the way home, we asked Brooke who barked. Normally, it's a puppy or Cy. This time, it was "Rollie". After thinking a few seconds, then "Rudy", then "Cy". Cy didn't make the trip this time - we thought Rudy should get acclimated to the girls before we threw another dog in the mix!
Leaving the farm was bittersweet for Mommy... Grandma and Papa have moved to Fargo, and we aren't quite sure when we will get to visit the farm again. Daddy took some pictures for Mommy in front of our playhouse. Grandma painted the signs with our names on them a while ago, and Papa spent half a winter converting the grainbin into our playhouse.
We can't wait to visit Grandma and Papa at their new house with the elevator -- and as Grandma's sign says, "Change is not the end of the road, it's the bend in the road... Unless you fail to make the turn!"
Fargo, here we come!
