Easter 2008

This year, Rainah and I came over a few days before Easter to hang out a little with the fam. Rainah wasn't feeling well, so mom and dad went to church Saturday and then I tagged along with Jessica and Justin on Sunday morning while they watched her. Service was awesome (I mean, what other church plays a Nickelback video and sings a Coldplay song complete with some pyrotechnics for Easter Sunday??)
When we got back home, Hayden was just beginning his Easter egg hunt and pretty soon after, Don arrived. We had a super yummy ham dinner (which Rainah devoured!) and later went to see our fav, Will Ferrell, in Semi-Pro (thanks again, mom and dad, for babysitting!)
Here are some of the highlights:






Eating rocks (I guess she didn't know that ham was on the menu for later)


Daddy's here!


Hayden checking out his loot










Talan


Uncle Justin reading to Rainah






Rainah and her Easter basket






Hayden


Talan is SO BIG!






Chocolate is GOOD!

The Easter Bunny

Luckily we were able to make it to Twelve Oaks Mall to see the Easter Bunny again this year - the bunnies on the west side of the state are a bit creepy looking to say the least. Last year for Rainah's first Easter I took her to the mall here to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny ... then took her to Twelve Oaks to have it taken AGAIN with the better bunny. I mean, what's up with the rabbits wearing huge clown bows and having scary grins on their faces?
Anyway, I pretty much figured it would go something like pictures with Santa- the lip, the tears, the reaching for mom when I set her down... but she did none of those! First she grabbed at his whiskers, then looked at the camera, then started bouncing (because bunnies go, "hop, hop, hop"), and then she grabbed his paw and put her cheek in it. It was so sweet. Of course, I got a few good photos:


Last year's "creepy bunny"


Last year's good bunny


Playing with the bunny's whiskers












So soft




Cousins Hayden and Talan

Sugaring

This morning we attempted to go check out the Blandford Nature Center for their annual Sugarbush. It didn't start out too great, as we had totally wrong directions, but once we found our way, we began with a pancake breakfast featuring REAL maple syrup. Rainah dug right in and ate 2 pancakes and a little sausage, then spent a few minutes running around the cafeteria. We then headed over to the nature center and of course Rainah wanted to walk everywhere herself... through all of the nasty, sticky mud. With the uneven ground and areas of snow, she had a hard time staying upright. There was a one room schoolhouse and other old buildings where people showed different aspects of tapping the trees and making the syrup. Rainah went downhill pretty fast (I think she wasn't feeling well on top of continuing to fall, and it being cold), so we weren't able to do as much as we wanted, but here are the few photos I got:


In the schoolhouse


The one room schoolhouse


Rainah walking the trail




First spill of the day








Tapped tree


Some great horned owls (there were some other animals, too, but we didn't get to see them all as Rainah was starting her meltdown)

Long walk

Today Rainah and I decided to bundle up and take a nice walk to get the mail (our mailbox is ALL the way at the other end of our street). It was a sunny day and looked nice out, so I figured we'd get some fresh air. Rainah did a great job and made it almost all the way there and back (I did have to carry her the last few hundred feet), but she had a good time and it was SO nice to get outside. We can't wait for spring!!!!




Starting down the driveway


Making sure mommy's still there


So glad to be outside






Walkin and talkin




The mailbox is ALL the way down there???




















That's a long way home!