Easter 2013
As I sweep the house of former holiday candy, another holiday sneaks up upon us and again, the chocolatefest commences.
I was more prepared for Easter this year in some ways due to the fact that in February, I discontinued my Saturday work schedule. After 13 years of working Saturdays, it was finally time to give Jon's parents the rest they deserve and to enjoy the entire weekend with our angel. Jon still works Saturdays but he comes home from lunch and Kristina LOVES to check out the FedEx truck de jour.
This was the first year that I actually had the time to color eggs with Kristina and it was fun. She showed me how to do it since literally, it had been years, maybe decades, since I've indulged in such a task.
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| Making an egg with "P" on it for Papa. |
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| So proud of our eggs! |
Given I had Saturday off, I still found myself up way too late on Easter Eve prepping for the Easter Bunny's arrival. When will I learn.....?
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| Kristina set out a cupcake, hard-boiled egg and shredded carrots (that's all we had!) for the Easter Bunny with a message on the plate that read "I Love You Easter Bunny From Kristina". |
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| Ah, yes....the Easter Bunny's yearly tradition of leaving chocolate eggs leading from the bedrooms to the Easter Basket! |
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| The Easter Bunny left socks, fingerless gloves, hairbrush, chapstick, and nail polish...in addition to lots of sweets. |
As usual on holidays, Kristina slept with us so I could capture the moment she woke up to discover if the Easter Bunny had been here. Around 9am, Kristina awoke and crawled to the edge of the bed and stretched her body out as far as she could --- only to see some eggs in the hallway! I grabbed the camera placed conveniently next to our bed and followed Kristina...who was as excited this morning as she is on Christmas!
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| The moment Kristina saw her basket |
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| Checking out the goods! |
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| No basket is complete in CA without a bunny from See's Candy! |
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| "Hey, look! The Easter Bunny ate everything but left the hard-boiled egg!" |
The Hunt
Time flew and before we knew it, it was time to start planting our Easter Eggs in preparation for our yearly neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We now have 5 families participating with 8 children total vying for several hundred eggs. It was a joy watching them race throughout the yards and completely filling up their baskets, over and over again.
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| Our yard (and Marc's yard) littered with Easter Eggs everywhere! |
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| One of my favorite photos of Kristina with Kira (L) and Gaby (R). |
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A rare moment when all 8 kids were together:
(L->R): Kira (6), John-John (2), Kristina (6), Gaby (5), Daniela (2), Andrea (5), Jasmine (5), Diego (1) |
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| Everyone's soooo excited! |
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| They searched high and low... |
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| On the go! |
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| Ohhh, look at that beautiful long hair (that is no more...watch out for next blog post!). |
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| Oh my gosh --- she's hit the motherload!!! |
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| I LOVE this shot of all the kids (except wee Diego) going crazy for eggs! |
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| The kids with some of their loot. |
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| Our happy little angel |
As much as my heart wanted to cook up an Easter feast for friends and family, I just couldn't do it. I was working on very little sleep and I finally gave in knowing I couldn't do it all. We ended up going out to dinner with friends Zoltan, Monalisa and their daughter, Jasmine, and our neighbor/friend, Marc. Afterwards, we enjoyed dessert at home and some evening entertainment thanks to the girls.
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| Whenever the girls get together, we know we're in store for some dressing up and singing. |
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| No doubt they were singing a "Barbie and the Popstar" song. |
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| And yes, Kristina still wants to be a Popstar when she grows up. We'll see!!! |
It was a blessed Easter and although there's enough candy to last us until Halloween, the memories will last a lifetime.
Batter Up!!!!
We're trying to find Kristina's niche -- and see what sports/activities -- she really enjoys. We tried the ballet but when she kept asking the instructor "Is class over yet?", I started to feel maybe it wasn't the best fit.
We tried Karate and she really did like it...but when she left Pre-School, she would have to resume the Karate at the studio - and the studio was too loud for her sensitive ears. Last week she started "Sky High Dance" which is a combo of many types of dance styles, including hip hop, so she's really enjoying that.
But for fun, we also signed Kristina up for T-Ball at our local Park. She's never been to a baseball game and does not understand the entire concept - yet. Here's a little overview of our newest "Dodger"!
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| Very first practice, holding a bat and seeing the T. |
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| And it's a line drive up to the mound!! |
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| Kristina runs after every ball...but would return to the circle before throwing it to first base! |
Let's just say she looks so darned cute in her uniform that it's hard to get frustrated when she's out in the field playing with the dirt, rearranging the chalk lines, and busting out a move (the latest from Sky High Dance) right there for all to see.
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| First practice in her Dodgers jersey...getting some advice from Coach Dad. (No, Jon's not an official coach...) |
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| Busting a move on the mound! |
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| And it's a hit! |
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| This is how Kristina runs and stands on the bases...with her fingers holding the helmet on! |
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| Coming into home plate...holding the helmet on! |
Last week, on April 6th, was their first game. Kristina is great at hitting and running and even fielding the ball when they have her on the mound. However, if they place her anywhere else (i.e. near 3rd base), she'll chat with everyone and will then run after every ball no matter where it is hit -- even if it's down the first base line into the outfield! In fact, last week, when the ball did go into the outfield, so did *every* kid on the team -- leaving no one in the infield to receive the throw in! And who leads the pack in getting every hit? Yes...it's Kristina. I'm starting to think that if she loves to be the one chasing the ball all the time, then maybe we'll check into soccer next....
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| She's always #1 in our book...and now she's #1 on the Dodgers! |
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| Getting her individual photo taken by the photographer. |
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| The 2013 Mason Park Dodgers! |
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Kristina and Kira, both on the same team
(Now if they only chased the balls like they ran after the Easter Eggs!!) |
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| Oh, look who's directing the team's next move! Surprised? |
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| Action shot throwing the ball to first base. |
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| "Oh, look at the cute little birdie in the sky. Hi birdie!!" (Kristina, eye on the BALL!) |
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| I'm so proud of our little girl!!! |
I'm hoping to keep up with Kristina's blog a little better than I've been doing as it's truly my outlet and stress release. However, I find myself getting stressed because I don't have the time to update as often as I'd like and there is so much going on! Next weekend, Kristina and I will fly to Las Vegas for the night so we can see Grammy and Poppy. They will be in Vegas for a week, along with Aunt Sadie and Bob, so we really can't wait to see everyone ~ even if only for 24 hours.
Then the following Tuesday, 4/23, I head down to San Diego for a full week of work. Our national Occupational Therapy Association's yearly conference will be there and I'll be missing Kristina tremendously. She's already made me cry saying "Mommy, don't go. You'll make me sad." sigh.....
To be continued....
