We ventured over the river the other day to order Mateo's birthday cake and decided to take a stroll down to the water with cookie and muffin in hand. We found a nice spot to enjoy our snack, and took a moment to enjoy our friend's handiwork (hi Jason!) - he helped build this nifty footbridge a couple/few years ago prior to moving from the area. Then we climbed all those stairs in the background and were delighted to find that they came up behind a pizzeria/malt shop :-)
Uncle Fred sent these photos of an Earth Day celebration in Arkansas - one of Avery and George, and the other of a fearless female flinging fire. Our celebration was much tamer than that - we made Earth Day tambourines. Would've been fun to be there - thanks, Fred!
Gabby Karen invited us to a special performance by Ballet Folklorico at my hometown high school and we jumped at the chance, both to take in a little culture and to spend time with Gabby. This dance troupe from the Milwaukee area performs dances (and rope tricks) complete with fancy costumes from different regions of Mexico. Mateo was torn between paying attention and being the center of attention, as this was the day after Easter and he was going through a pretty heavy sugar withdrawal. He was dancing on the chair, on my lap, on his belly on the table and on the floor. He did sit down, however, when the dancers wearing "old man" masks walked through the audience and (in his mind) threatened to touch him. The performance (and company) was well worth the trip and the parenting struggle.
Easter day was about as full as it could be. After trying to locate all the eggs the Easter Bunny left at our house, we met Kevin's family for brunch, then stopped in to visit Great Grandma Jean and ran into the Randy Meyers on our way out, then finished the day at Auntie Jan and Uncle Barry's house. Auntie Jan had set up an egg hunt in the woods for the older kids, and a slightly easier one for Mateo around her house. Gabby Karen helped Mateo get started, and Auntie Jan and Uncle Corey joined in, too. What an eggs-austing day :-)
The Thursday before Easter, I took Mateo Easter-treating at our local businesses, and as part of the loop we stopped at the library for storytime. That's where Mateo made these bunny ears :-) He wouldn't wear them around town, but when he refused to wear his helmet on his little 4-wheeler I told him he at least had to wear his bunny ears. To my surprise, he did!
