Easter Morning

Alex was quite happy that the Easter Bunny managed to find him on Easter morning, despite the move to the new house.  He scored a new pair of garden gloves (something he really wanted, since he lost one of his old ones), a yummy chocolate bunny, a punching balloon and a Curious George puzzle.  He enjoyed having the clues read to him to help him find some of the presents, and of course, the paper Easter grass immediate became the latest "garbage" for his garbage truck.  

Let's Go to the Movie!

As part of our moving day activities, Alex and I went to the movies for the first time!  This is the first movie that Alex remembers going to, although he did go to a movie when he was about three months old.  We went to the theatre in Emeryville, because I thought that he would enjoy "Born to be Wild" which was playing in IMAX 3D there (hence the 3D glasses in the pictures).  It is a documentary about two women, one in Borneo and one in Africa, who have dedicated their lives to raising orphaned orangutans and elephants and then returning them to the wild.  Alex really liked the movie and was quite enamored with the baby animals.

During the previews, which were very loud, Alex asked me why they were "being so loud" and then when the previews were finished he asked "where the guys who are going to sing?"  It would appear that he thought that we were attending a live show, like we did when we went to the Nutcracker.  That was his only reference point, so I guess he thought that there were going to be live performers.  Sorry, no live orangutans or elephants here :-)  We also saw a preview for Cars 2, which is coming out this summer, so I guess we know what the next movie he goes to see will be!

Egg Decorating!

On Saturday, as part of our day out and about to avoid the movers, Alex was invited to join Johnny for Easter egg decorating and an Easter egg hunt.  It was a fun way to spend the morning, with the boys both being quite adept at coloring the eggs and decorating them with stickers.  After the decorating, they went out into the backyard for an Easter egg hunt.  Auntie Carrie did a nice job of hiding eggs filled with yummy treats, which the boys sampled on the back steps.  Thanks to the Lee Family for having us over to participate in this fun activity!

More Happenings

Walking to the Farmer's Market



































Easter Egg Hunt at school

We've been keeping busy here, despite the lack of posts.  Alex had quite a few occasions to search for eggs over the past few weeks.  There was an Easter Egg Hunt at school, along with a nice potluck last week.  The kiddos had fun searching for eggs in the small play area which is directly outside of the classroom.

Campout

Loving the campout idea

All a blur...lots of fun jumping on the new bed

Last night we ended up deciding to campout at the new house for the night.  We haven't moved in yet, but we did have a new mattress delivered there last week, so we brought out sleeping bags and pillows and decided that we could go "glamping" at the new house.  Alex and Xena both had fun, although it was Xena's first time there and she seemed a bit confused as to what we were doing.  This morning, we walked down to the Farmer's Market and bought some of our favorite strawberries from Rodriguez Organic Farms, some char siu bao, organic eggs and coffee and then headed back home.  It's a nice mile or so walk to the area where they have the Farmer's Market and I think it was enjoyed by all.  We met another of our neighbors and got more of the scoop on the neighborhood and found out that there are even more kids who are Alex's age.  I think in total there are about five or six three and four year olds, and then of course as is typical, there are many siblings arriving this year too.  Should be pretty cool!

Moraga Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, we took part in our first "official" Moraga activity, the Easter Egg Hunt put on by the Moraga Junior Women's Club.  It was held in Moraga Commons and it was a beautiful day to enjoy.  Alex had fun meeting the firemen and exploring the fire truck, meeting the Easter Bunny, hunting for Easter eggs, jumping in the jumpy house and enjoyed some treats on the lawn under the nice warm sun.  He told me later in the day that he really had a fun time and especially liked the Easter Bunny, although from the photo above, you could not necessarily tell that he liked the Easter Bunny.  It is however, quite an improvement over the Santa picture from December.  It was a fun day and just the first of many more fun events at Moraga Commons, I'm sure.

Home Sweet Home!

Besides a hard drive failure on our computer, there is another reason why I have been so delinquent on posting to the blog.....ready for it?  We are new homeowners!  Whoo-hoo!!  As of yesterday afternoon, we  have the keys to our new family home, which is located in Moraga, about 15 miles from where we currently live in Oakland.  It is a nice community with great schools, parks and bike trails, and we are very excited about our future there.  We put in the offer over President's Day weekend and will move in over Easter weekend.  So, we have been busy doing all kinds of paperwork, packing, and lining up a variety of contractors to do some tree work etc.

Alex is quite excited about the new home and is making sure that we plan to bring all of our important stuff there when we move.  The first thing he asked me about was our toilet.  He wanted to make sure that we were planning to bring that to the new house.  I assured him that there were toilets there which would work very well for us.  Other items that we have asked about include our insect jars, the kitchen pans, and Legos.  The enclosed backyard will be so much fun for both Alex and Xena.  I don't think that they quite understand just how much fun that will be.

We'll have plenty of room, so if anyone is looking to take a little vacation, come to California and visit us!  You're welcome to stay.  We're still just four miles from the BART line, which can take you all over the Bay Area.

The Peacock Lives!

The photos above are from two separate occasions during the past week where Alex has felt compelled to put on his peacock costume and dance.  He puts on a good show!  So happy that he likes the costume enough to still use it months later.

Wheeee!!!

Having a blast at Simon's birthday party at Pump It Up last Friday!  Not the best quality picture, but you can get the idea of just how much fun he was having.

California Academy of Sciences

On Tuesday, Alex played hooky from school and we visited the Cal Academy with Carrie and Johnny.  We wanted to get the boys out together on a special outing one last time as "only children" before Johnny and Alex both became big brothers.  It was a beautiful day and the museum was not very crowded at all, which made for easy navigating.  We toured the rainforest, checked out the aquariums, hung out with the penguins, had some lunch and played in the Early Explorers Cove.  As you can see from the photos above, the boys had no fun at all, especially with the penguins!  It was a perfect day, and it happened none too soon, as Johnny became a big brother yesterday!  Congratulations to the Lee Family on the arrival of a healthy baby boy.  We can hardly wait to meet him!

The Happy Lawn Care Man

Who knew that lawn care was so much fun?

Off to trim some trees

Happy, Happy

Doing some "lawning" as Alex calls it.

Alex is very enamored with the lawn care people who come to our neighbors houses.  Every time they come in their truck, Alex is mesmerized watching them and then wants to imitate what they are doing.  He loves "lawning" as he calls it and is creative in his use of tools (for example:  a teeball stand can double as a leaf blower).  One can only hope that when he is a teenager he will still be so fascinated with all of this and willing to do the "lawning".