April is usually a really busy month for the McLeans and this year was no different. We start off the month with Chris's birthday and our anniversary. This year Chris changed roles the first week of April and we usually have visitors for at least two weeks during the month. Add Easter to the mix and it makes for one fun month!
The boys were very excited to celebrate Chris's birthday. They are fully aware of what fun birthdays can be and to have another pop up was very exciting. In order for them to be ready to sing happy birthday to their Dad, I started practicing with them in March and they got pretty good at singing the whole song by themselves. The boys picked out their own birthday cards to give to Chris by screaming and pointing "Monkey one" or "Puppy one" at the desired card and they also decorated a box that held all of his presents. The boys and I got take out from our favorite dinner stop to have waiting for Chris when he got home. We also made a cake together and the boys helped decorate it. After a lovely round of Happy Birthday, Brady and Brody raced Chris to his candles and blew them out before he had a chance. They also tried to lick his cake and put their faces right in it! To end the celebration, Chris's parents came into town that evening to spend the week with us!
A couple of days after the McLean's arrived, Chris and I took off for our first overnight stay away from the boys. We headed to Napa to celebrate our anniversary, his birthday, and anything else we could think to celebrate. We had a WONDERFUL time. We stayed in a nice place, drank tons of wine, rented bikes to ride to a local vineyard, ate fabulous meals, slept through the night, got massages, ate more fabulous food, and drank more wine. We packed about as much into 24 hours as you possibly can and I only have the most random assortment of cell pictures to prove it! I can't wait to go back!
After our over night trip, we got to enjoy the rest of the week with Granny and Papa. We went to the beach, road bikes, blew bubbles, acted out silly songs, colored, traced hands and feet, did puzzles, and read books (the last four Granny pretty much did on demand the entire week!). The boys loved having them around 24/7 and were so sad when they left. It was really hard to drop them off at the airport because the boys did not understand where they were going and I was getting emotional trying to explain to them that they had to go home. It must have been very impactful because every day since their departure one of the boys says "Papa/Granny airplane" and points to the sky. Chris joked that maybe the boys just think his parents are circling in an airplane above us at all times. It's quite a funny thought but that does not make us any less sad to see them go!
A few days after Mary and Oscar left, my Mom flew in to spend the week with us. Her visit was equally as enjoyable. We went on mini adventures each day to places like the local farm, CuryOdessey (also with Aunt Kathy), Costco, Santa Cruz and such- allowing us to show her the fun things that we do in our neck of the woods. It was great to have another set of hands to handle the boys when we were out and about. They loved playing with Nana every waking hour of the day and demanded -in somewhat militant voices- to be read to and played with. Nana's trip also coincided with Easter/Aunt Kathy's birthday which was a treat for all of us!
The first day of my mom's arrival was sightly marred by the fact that Brody fell at our local park and got a pretty good size gash on his forehead (he tripped while running and hit his head on the leg of the bench). We walked to the park that day without my regular diaper bag and I had nothing with me to apply pressure with. Being resourceful, I took off Brody's shirt and used it to stop the bleeding (I have to say, I thought of my own shirt first but decided that was not a good idea, thank god in the heat of the moment I still had some wits about me). We were a solid 10 minute walk from home so I had to walk/run to my car with my 35lb screaming, topless, toddler laying in my arms whilst I applied pressure to his wound with my chin. We were a sight, to say the least. Him lying down and me applying pressure in that way actually worked pretty well because the bleeding slowed way down by the time we got home. I used an pack of steristrips from my graduate school days (how did I still have them in my closet, I will never know) to cinch the wound closed before loading him into his car seat. Once Brody stopped crying he turned back into his sweet self and kept pointing to the blood on my shirt and saying "Ut oh, Mommy owie". He though I was the one who was bleeding! I took him to our doctor and after getting a closer look at the wound, they decided it did need stitching. He was a champ through the whole event! Once he was numb, he simply laid there and let the doctor stitch him up, only eying him warily out of the corner of his eye and never wiggling away. He was just as angelic when the stitches came out. The plastic surgeon said that if every kid acted the way Brody did, his job would be a piece of cake. Chris and I were very proud of our little guy!
At the end of the week, we cashed in Chris's birthday present adventure from me which was an ocean kayak whale watching tour. We went down to Santa Cruz early Saturday morning to paddle out into the deep blue sea and to be one with nature. Within two minutes of being on the water we saw sea lions, sea otters and grey whales (moms and babies). It was fun and terrifying all at the same time. I have no pictures of any creatures because I was white-knuckling my paddle the entire time. It's weird how vulnerable and far away from life you can feel when you are floating on the open ocean.
Easter:
Last year the boys loved the Easter egg hunt we set up for them so this year Chris and I were extra excited to plan and execute our Easter egg hunt. Last year, however, I felt that the boys were too young to enjoy coloring Easter eggs so we did not include them in our celebration. This year though they were totally able to participate so I bought extra eggs and egg dye for the fun. Being the pseudo hippie mom I am, I purchased all natural Easter egg dye (one step removed from making the dyes myself which I really wanted to do but was not able to fit in this year). The all natural dye included three colors, a redish color, a purplish color and an orange/yellowish color (that kind of looked like iodine). I mixed the dyes and brought the cups outside to my mom and Chris who were waiting with the boys. I then brought the hard boiled eggs for coloring. I handed the boys each an egg and explained to them how we were going to dye these Easter eggs beautiful colors. All the while, Chris and my mom are looking at each other and eying me sheepishly, kind of waiting for me to catch onto something. When I made no mention of the elephant in the room, one of them finally said to me "Um, Carrie, did you hard boil
brown eggs on purpose". It never occurred to me to buy white eggs for this project. Also, I used the free range organic eggs, you know, the kind where they practically give the chickens back rubs at night to make sure they are happy instead of a lesser egg for such a child centric task (aka, when things are going to hit the floor fast and often). Since the dyes are all natural (read between the lines: less than vibrant) we basically colored our eggs shades of brown instead of pretty Easter colors. The boys did not know or care that the experience was supposed to be any different, but the three of us were laughing the whole time saying this was one for the books. The best part for me is that I hard boiled the eggs a day or two in advance so I thought I was 'mom of the year' because I had them sitting in the fridge- ready for action to be pulled out at a moments notice. In the end, it looked like we had a box of wooden eggs for Easter. Live and learn I guess; this this one will make me laugh for years to come.
On Easter morning the boy got up, opened some presents from their Easter baskets and then went on an Easter egg hunt. The bunny loaded the eggs with either tiny pieces of Easter cookies, raisins, or stickers. They loved searching for the eggs. Once they figured out that they could guess if the egg had a piece of cookie in it by shaking it, they got really competitive. I even witnessed Brady trying to scam Brody with an unopened egg because Brady had already shaken it and knew that it did not make the "cookie" noise. They are so funny. The look of incredible excitement that they got on their faces when they found these treasures was so cute. I am happy I got some of those looks on film!
After our egg hunt we headed to Santa Cruz to spend the day with family. It was Aunt Kathy's birthday and cousin Megan's birthday (a few days later) so we had extra reasons to party. We celebrated with some kite flying on the beach, a beautiful brunch, and some cake. Aunt Kathy let the boys put their fingers right into her cake, that was definitely the best part (thanks for the pictures Kath)!
The next day we said goodbye to Nana. See you soon Nana, we miss you!
April was one busy but great month!
