Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! Pre-church photo shoot- please disregard Leyla's tights and sandal combo- my fault for waiting until the last minute to find her Easter shoes (and was then unsuccessful).

Quick pause for dance moves.

So sweet.

 Really love this one.

Connor the photographer! In the 3rd trimester now and the belly is large and in charge.

Quick Easter side note- it's been exactly a year now since I was baptised and confirmed as Catholic. The RCIA process (almost 9 months of weekly bible study and regular masses) was such an awesome experience, one that I'm extremely grateful for. While I would have preferred to have been baptised as a child, it was really interesting to go through the becoming Catholic part as an adult. I feel like I had a real appreciation for the religious education. These pictures were from last Easter:

We took advantage of the warmer temps yesterday by taking the kids down to one of my favorite little beaches in Darien for a long stroller walk, some rock throwing and a little baseball action.

Trading snow angels for sand angels! Come on spring, you're almost here ;)

Andrew's been back at it in the basement this weekend. Between Friday and Saturday he finished the framing, replaced another window and ran all the wiring for the electrical. He had our contractor walk through yesterday afternoon to take a look at all his work and he said everything looks great. The contractor will be back on Monday to remove a beam and actually hook up the electrical. Still lots left to do but it's coming along much faster than we expected. Doesn't it look great? ;)

Egg Huntin'

One of my favorite things the town of New Canaan does is it's annual Easter egg hunt. It's usually held at Waveny park- an absolutely awesome setting for an egg hunt. Unfortunately since winter seems to be never ending this year and there was still snow on the ground this past Saturday, they opted to hold it in the high school's gym instead. They still had the Easter Bunny, the bounce houses, the face painting, the bake sale and the band but as you can imagine it was insanely crowded. We didn't stay very long. However all was not lost- the kids still loved the hunt (and the treats inside the eggs), and were absolutely giddy about getting to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap (Leyla especially). Definitely worth the trip!

We had friends over on Sunday afternoon and had another hunt in the backyard then. Annie brought the bunny ears- so cute!

Spot Comes to Visit

Quick random post-- Connor's class has a mascot: a giraffe named Spot that gets to come home with each child for a week. Spot has a journal that the kids can draw pictures in and write about their adventures. We're also supposed to take pictures with him when we can. Some were really cute, so including them here. Needless to say, Spot was a major celeb around here- they put a hat, jacket (and scarf!) on him when they took him outside, strapped him into carseats when he went in the car, etc. Both kids really loved having him here.

Sitting down for snack when Spot first arrived.

 Backyard action.

Leyla loves the swings so much.

One day we took Spot out for ice cream with Connor's best bud Tristan and his little sister. Big superhero fans if you can't tell.

When Connor was at school Leyla would sneak naps with Spot. Here she is just waking up one day. She's got Connor's Puppy in there with her too, she's a total lovie hoarder...

Kids with Spot and their lovies before bed.

Weekend/Week Pics

We had another great weekend. Awesome dinner out with friends at a new restaurant in New Canaan, and major productivity around the house. I've been full fledged nesting lately (love this!!) and have tackled just about every closet, counter top, and junk drawer in the house over the past couple weeks. On Saturday we tackled the basement. We had a lot of extra stuff left over from living in Tokyo, not to mention kid stuff we're done with, holiday decorations we don't use, old toys, clothes, etc. We packed up our car to the brim with stuff that Andrew then took to Good Will. Felt so great! 

Couple pics from the weekend:

Andrew was able to frame two walls and the basement stairs. He's doing such an awesome job, especially being that he lets Connor help the whole time- which obviously slows him down. Such an awesome Dad :) And Connor really thinks he's building the basement too. Check out the excitement!

 Ready for action shot.

Beginning this past January I've been teaching Connor's Sunday school class on Sunday mornings. It's a great group of kids and I've really been enjoying it. This Sunday we read about St. Patrick and decorated Shamrock cookies (a huge hit!) Did you know the shamrock symbolizes the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? I didn't- I'm learning right along with the kids!

 Connor and his buddy Cole.

Connor and Leyla decorating one more round back at home.

Since the boys were banging around so much in the basement, I took Leyla on a 4 mile afternoon stroller walk so she could snooze. She really loves these walks. I told her that we were going on a walk for her nap and to go get herself ready (she's been fully dressing herself including jacket and shoes for a while now). She came downstairs in jammies (for more snuggly sleeping she said), jacket, shoes, her lovie and blanket. Here she is all snuggled in and ready to go!

Horsing around on the giant pillow pile they make almost daily.

Couple pics from this week:
We've had some crazy weather lately- snow, rain, low 50's and sunshine- it's hard to keep up. Here are my rainy day (colorful!) kids:

Crazy grape lady at the grocery store. She likes to push her own cart, and sneak mouth fulls of grapes when she thinks I'm not looking ;)

After a January/February break we started back up at Leyla's favorite class at the Nature Center. She was so happy to see her pal Friday the guinea pig again. She absolutely loves that class!

Decorating Easter eggs.

One warm day we did an Easter scavenger hunt outside. There was still snow on the ground from last week, although it melted quickly. Have I mentioned yet how ready I am for spring?? Seriously.

Connor's teachers gave this to me this week. It's a picture and frame they made at Daddy/Special Friends day last weekend. Such a great picture of them!

Tim the Tool Man

I'm amazed at how much work we've done to our house in the three years we've been here (and by we I mostly mean Andrew). He's become quite the handyman over the years (he not so secretly loves this stuff). His latest endeavor- finishing our basement. We agreed on some ground rules- that we'd let a "professional" handle the majority of the electrical (Andrew swears he can wire the outlets himself- big fingers crossed here- everything else we'll let an electrician take care of), the moving of a major beam that supports the weight of the house (kind of a biggie in my opinion), and the flooring. I love that he enjoys doing this stuff so much- it obviously saves us a lot of money, the kids adore "helping" him (especially Connor), and it keeps him out of the bars ;)

In his spare time he's been reading this, which makes me laugh.

Posing with the new circular saw he got at Home Depot. He was practically giddy bringing it in the door. Side note I really love this picture of the kids ;)

Over the weekend he replaced one of the two basement windows, and the stair case. After he ripped out all the stairs I asked how he knew how to install stairs, to which he replied that he just watched a demo on youtube. That made me a bit nervous.

Ready for action.

Stairs before. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the picture of Connor on Andrew's shoulders after the stairs had all been ripped out. Connor thought this was so cool.

When it was time for Leyla's nap I didn't want them to be banging around down there too loudly so Andrew and Connor planted the first seeds for the garden (below are spinach, kale, tomatoes and peppers).

Leyla on the (almost) finished product. The stairs are now wider (and much sturdier) than before. They'll eventually be carpeted. Not bad!!

Today all the lumber was delivered so I guess he'll begin framing the walls over the weekend.

On Saturday morning, before they started on all this, it was Daddy/Special Friends Day at Connor's school (basically breakfast with the teachers and Dads in his classroom.) Words cannot express how excited Connor was in the days and weeks leading up to this! Here they were before heading out.

March 11th

Can't believe it's been two years since that awful, terrifying day. It feels like it was a lot longer ago than that. Thinking of Japan today.

Date Night (24 Weeks)