Aunt Claire is the Best, Happy Easter, & April Fool's!

Monday afternoon the kids waited for Aunt Claire's arrival.  Caroline waved at every car that passed, saying, "Hi! Hi!" in hopes that she would see Aunt Claire inside.  To say they were excited when she arrived would be an understatement.  They loved having her visit, they loved her gifts, they loved her conversation, and they loved her Netflix app on her phone.

During the tour of our house, Caroline stopped in the playroom, picked a book from the shelf and asked her, "Do you like books with flaps?"

Later, she and Henry were reading on the couch.  Henry was reading a football book and so football became the topic of conversation.  He was lamenting the fact that the Patriots lost the Superbowl and matter-of-factly said, "Injuries occurred."

Claire was generous with her phone and let the kids play with it.  At one point they were texting me GIFs.  There were quite a few Spongebobs shaking his sponge tush, other cartoon characters shaking their bums, but then there was a real bum with peoples faces painted on each cheek and when the cheeks were squeezed the lips on the faces kissed.  It was at that point that their privileges got revoked.  In looking at their search history on Claire's phone, it went like this: butt; stinky; stinky butt.  They, of course, found it all quite hilarious.

For Claire's last night here, we took her to a Tex-Mex restaurant.  They were really busy that night and we were there until 8:00 p.m.  Henry was falling asleep by the end.  But it was good food and good company.  We definitely enjoyed our visit and can't wait for her to come back again.

Josiah had a writing assignment in his grammar lessons this week.  He had to pick from three different topics (Favorite Animals, Favorite Adults, and Things I'm Worried About).  Since he'd already chosen Favorite Animals earlier in the year, he chose Favorite Adults.  He had to pick three, but he couldn't think of any.  Even after suggesting yours truly, he said no and sat and thought.  The three he finally came up with were: his favorite CC tutor from four years ago, a substitute teacher at church from 2nd grade, and his Grandaddy.  I was clearly not even in the running...

Henry did a magic trick for his CC presentation this week.  He was quite proud of himself and even asked to do his presentation first (I don't think he's ever asked to do that before).  It was a card trick, in which you put a Jack of Spades into the plastic contraption, slide it over to reveal the whole card, then carefully slide it back and it appears that the middle section is gone.  He had a big grin on his face the whole time.  Then he gave the trick away and the class thought it was lame when they knew what he did.  "That's not a trick!"  Todd and I tried to tell him that a magician never reveals their secrets.

Since Josiah got his special meal with Todd last week, Henry got his meal this week.  The two of them went to Rainforest Cafe.  Henry liked all the animated animals and kept telling Todd that they were automatic, I think as a way to reassure himself that the gorilla above their table wasn't actually going to jump down on them.  Henry said he didn't want anyone else in our family to go there so that it could be a special place just for Todd and himself.  Of course, the other kids saw the pictures of all the animals and have already asked to go.

Today was both Easter and April Fool's Day.  We just had to celebrate both.  We actually went to church on Saturday because Sunday morning on Easter is typically crazy crowded.  Caroline danced through just about every song, a very dramatic dance with arms and legs moving all over the place.  She has a very modern, full-body style of dance.  The service itself was nice, then afterward we noticed a big flowery cross in the garden area.  We went out to look at it and Henry informed us that he helped make it.  All the kids in kids' church (1st & 2nd grade) helped make it.  Henry is standing by the flower he made.  He said, "I tried to puff it out a lot."

The purple/green flower right next to his face.

After the kids went to bed Saturday night, Todd and I got to work.  We pre-made some olive paste "cinnamon rolls" and dipped meatballs in white chocolate for instant cake pops.

That would be olive paste Todd is spreading.

"Cake pops"

Sunday morning, after wishing everyone a Happy Easter, we had to get breakfast going.  We surprised them with cinnamon rolls!  The boys both took big first bites.  They knew something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what it was.  Josiah asked if we had put coffee in them.

After telling them it was olives.

We did have real cinnamon rolls on hand to make it better.

Caroline felt the need to give herself bunny ears.

We had our Easter egg hunt around the house and in a weird twist, Josiah was the last to find all 12 of his eggs.  We did make it a little harder than in year's past, but he's usually the first finished.

Josiah spied the cake pops in the refrigerator in the morning.  We told him that they were a special treat for after dinner, so all day long Josiah was looking forward to these little bites of cake.  The time finally came and they were so excited.  I told them that Aunt Claire wanted to see how they turned out as an excuse to use my phone/camera. 

And then they discovered the meatballs.  I think Josiah was a little sad about this one.  He really wanted that cake.  Henry said, "I'll still eat it."  No surprise there.  Todd and I had a lot of fun with it, but I have a feeling we're going to pay for it one day.  They're going to get us back when they get older. 

My favorite quote from Henry this week,
Henry speaking to me, "When I get older and I want to marry someone, I'm going to say, 'No, you're ugly.' and I'll marry you [mommy]."
That's very sweet son.  Illegal, but sweet.

A few of our Easter pictures at our tree outside. Each child had to have a turn to be in the middle....

Happy Easter to All!