Happy Easter everyone!  So much to celebrate and this begins the start of school vacation week for Aiden and Chris. I guess you could say that vacation officially started last Friday and the boys are super excited!  We’ve got big plans for our week off but in the meantime, let me catch you up.

After school on Thursday we had one of Aiden and Chris’s best buddies Jack over to play with his Mommy and sister Evie.  The boys had a blast and were sad to see the play date come to an end.  It’s always nice when everyone gets alone effortlessly!

We lucked out and not only had good Friday off from school but also had Mike home earlier from work.  What a treat!  The boys and I packed up and headed to visit Great Grandma Tess in the nursing home on Friday morning.  They enjoyed hearing her play “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” on the piano and also got a kick out of playing in their central courtyard on a perfect, sunny morning.  The boys were troopers and made me a super proud Mommy as they were so patient and well mannered with the many elderly visitors who took a great interest in them and wanted to touch and pat their heads and shake their hands.  At times those environments can even be a bit overwhelming, even for me, but they were super troopers and we all enjoyed a nice early Easter visit.

Friday night I was thrilled to head out with 8 lovely ladies to Plan B Restaurant in Springfield.  We had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed catching up and laughing the night away and they even managed to surprise my friend Kym and I (who are expecting 5 weeks apart from one another) with a baby celebration.  How lucky are we?  I am so thankful to have these ladies in my life and so thankful for such a night of fun!

Saturday we had the best gift of all.  Mike was home ALL DAY LONG!  Something simple yet it was truly such a nice, welcome break for all of us.  Each year our church hosts an amazing Easter egg hunt, this year with over 17,000 eggs!  We packed up and headed out to Granby, CT to join in on the fun.  Last year the boys selectively chose to only collect their favorite colored eggs and ended up with about 5 a piece.  With age must come expertise because this year they understood and participated in the hustle and bustle, collecting about 15-20 eggs each.  They got such a kick out of it and were thrilled to see many of their friends there as well.  We headed home and they spent much of the day outside while I enjoyed some Easter baking and Mike cleaned the garaged.  As energy levels dropped, we headed in to refuel for dinner and wrapped up the day with some egg decorating fun.  I was surprised at just how much they enjoyed the activity.  They both got brave and taste tested their eggs and Christopher ate 2!  I have to admit that I don’t particularly care for plain eggs {something about the fact that they could have turned into baby chicks} and I have never cooked a hard boiled egg myself so it was a learning experience for all.  Fun memories and pretty colored eggs!

Our Easter morning started bright and early as we heard Aiden and Chris chatting away at 5:40. Mike and I agreed that they could come get us before they dug into their Easter baskets but we soon learned that they had been up for nearly an hour and had already opened, assembled and played with their goodies and of course polished off a great deal of candy along the way.  Oh to be so young, so sneaky and so full of energy!  Apparently Aiden woke up early to use the bathroom and snuck out to discover that the bunny had visited (we are guessing 4:30 am).  He of course had to wake up his partner in crime and they set to work immediately.  Busy, busy boys. 

We enjoyed an early breakfast at home before packing up and heading to Belchertown to visit Grammie, Dziadzu, GG Mimi, Auntie Laura, Uncle Eric and Eric’s parents, Phil and Lil.  We had enjoyed  a delicious brunch, an egg hunt and some much enjoyed playtime outside.  We all had a blast and we headed out mid-afternoon to visit with the Hopkins/Tagliavini clan at Uncle Carl and Aunt Patti’s in Westfield.  It was so nice to see everyone and it wasn’t long before the boys were riled up and ready to cause some trouble.  They even had their little cousins, Rose and Ivy interested in what they were doing, acting like silly goof balls.  We relaxed, visited and enjoyed some delicious desserts before heading home to call it a day.  We are truly so very blessed and we are so, so thankful for the amazing people in our lives.  If only everyone could be so lucky!

Here’s to an amazing week ahead and the official start of April and week 37!  Our little man has officially “nested” long enough to be considered FULL TERM!   So exciting!  And now we’re ready for him to grace us with his presence :)