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  E4 is finally old enough to ride on my back in the Ergo.  It’s so nice and I can get so much more done.  She looks a bit apathetic about it in the picture because she was getting sleepy, but she really does seem to love it.

  It was a good day.  We went out to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory, where for the first time in years (ever?) the wait staff sang to me and I got a free dessert, since E2 decided to share with them that it was my birthday.  I hadn’t thought of telling him not to say anything so that they wouldn’t sing, and I discovered it didn’t embarrass me as much as I thought it would. (It probably helped that it was a late lunch and the place was empty.)  And the dessert- an almond/caramel/chocolate/ice cream thing- was scrumptious!

Everyone was in bed/asleep fairly early, so I had the late evening to myself.  The only celebratory beverages we had in the house were 3 different sparkling fruit juices, (no Dr. Pepper!) so I chose a sparkling cherry.  It wasn’t Dr. Pepper, but it was pretty good.

  Since we were all together, we celebrated my and my mother-in-law’s birthdays on Saturday with brownies and oatmeal cookies.  My in-laws gave me a dozen gorgeous long stem roses.

 E2 has a toy he likes to play with at his grandparents’ house.  It’s an old happy-meal-type toy that he calls “party ball” and puts inside small things he finds.  I think right now it has a rubber band and super ball.

 We love books!

  One of our family’s favorite outings is shopping at Target.  And if it’s close to meal time, the kids get especially excited- because it often means a hot dog combo!

  This was sort of posed, she was on the couch but got off before I could get the camera, so I asked her to get back on.  I started to tell her, “Say ‘Cheese,'” but instead asked her what else we could say.  She came up with a bunch.  This particular shot was, “Fuzzy pink slippers!”

  Part of my current “art in everything” series: the kids had left the Teddy Grahams on the table after their snack, and I thought the monochromatic look made an interesting composition.  I like the way this one turned out.

  K brought me roses, just because.

  Typical for this time of year, the rain forced us to move the annual family egg hunt indoors.  K’s mom went all out with getting the eggs ready, the adults had a good time hiding them, and the kids found them in a fraction of the time it took us to hide them.

The entire day was just a blast.  The kids woke up to a treasure hunt I had put together the night before- E3’s had pictures to find the next clues, while E1 and E2 had to decipher Braille notes for their next clues.  Later, when we went to K’s parents’ house for a late Easter dinner, the kids looked for Easter baskets my mother-in-law did for each of them, we had the egg hunt, and then the kids broke piñatas my sister-in-law, nephew and nieces made.  (Instead of the normal “hanging the piñata and hitting it” method, they broke them by playing soccer with them.  Very effective, and they seemed to enjoy it, too.)

On a photographic note- I took tons of pictures, and this was the only one I thought was half-way decent.  I’ve got to find a way to make my snapshots better, but first I have to figure out why they aren’t working now.  Is it lighting? Shutter lag?  Too close?  Too far?  My eyes just can’t frame when everyone is moving around?  If anyone has any tips, hints, etc. I’d love to hear them!