Easter Weekend

What a weekend!  Let me just start by saying that I love everything about holidays.  The anticipation, decorating, shopping, special outfits, traditions, and especially getting together with close friends and family.

So back to the weekend... we started out with a visit on Friday evening to Isabela's house to see their new puppy!  I didn't get any pictures of her (I'm horrible these days) but we did get a few of the cousins together. 

 Rudy had so much fun visiting Isabela and meeting Grace.  She is a miniature Isabela Duschound and couldn't be any cuter.  Rudy was loving on her, too.  He was actually very gentle and got such a kick out of her "running" around.. she more hopped than ran because her tiny legs are about 1 inch long!  All of Isabela's toys were so much fun, add in that we were able to go outside and play on her playground and it made for a really fun trip!    

John had to work on Saturday so to mix things up and get out of the house, Rudy, Avery and I spent the day at Gran and Papa's.  We ran a few errands and went to Firehouse subs for lunch.  It was delicious and Rudy was diggin' the atmosphere.. lots of "Dada"s to point out.

 Here we are outside of Firehouse Subs playing on the firetruck.  It was so windy out and pretty cold so we were only able to hang out in the truck for a little bit while Gran packed up Avery. 

And we had to do some serious relaxing before the Easter Bunny made his visit... 

The Easter Bunny lined up a trail of Easter eggs leading to Rudy, Avery, and Rufus' baskets...

Sunday morning I had to keep Rudy and Avery in our bedroom while we waited for Dad to get home.  Rudy was anxious to get out to the kitchen to get some juice, he had no idea what to anticipate (I imagine next year will be a little different!).  He ran right past the trail and straight to his basket!

The first thing he spotted with his Thomas shirt, which had to immediately get put on (over his pajamas, of course). 

Next he found his new shoes and wanted those on right away... so off with his new shirt and pajamas!

 Then the chocolate and cheetos (which the Easter Bunny put in bags to look like carrots!)

 Avery was happy with her new toys and clothes, too!

 We tried to take Rudy back through the eggs and teach him to put them in his basket, but he wasn't really into it.  We have had eggs out around the house in the last couple weeks that are empty, so I don't think he realized these eggs were filled with candy.

 He just kept wanting to get back to his basket!  And who could blame him?  The Easter Bunny brought him some really great stuff!

We all got ready and headed to 8 am mass.  Rudy had the most fun climbing the trees out front when we were headed out.

 After mass we came back home with Gran, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa Cicci to open Easter presents from them.

 The bubbles were a big hit!...

 ...but didn't last long because Rudy wanted to do it himself (as with everything else these days) and indoors was just not the place for a thing of bubbles!

 Gran was up to some crafty work and made Rudy a basketball pillow and blanket.  He was thrilled when he opened them.  So much so that he grabbed them quickly and laid on the floor with them.  The pillow is now in his crib with him and he has snuggled with his blanket every day since.

 Gran also made us a large outdoor picnic blanket.  Rudy wanted to try it out right away and was rather peeved that he couldn't get the oreo's open! 

Dad and Rudy were working on putting on a new Disney CD... notice how Rudy has 2 of his new shirts on over his Easter shirt?

What a handsome fella!

And pretty little girl!

Avery ditched the dress because it was too much fluff and she just wanted to wiggle!

Then we headed to brunch with everyone where we met Uncle Kurt the Great and Uncle George, too.  Avery was exhausted!  It was a long morning!

And our last stop of the day was in Virginia, IL where we were able to visit with lots of John's aunts, uncles, and cousins and play outside!

We had to keep a close eye on that little boy because he likes to run off..and just keep running and running.  

It's incredible how much he likes being outside, though.  And ever since, he cries at the back door wanting to go out and play.  Unfortunately, the temperatures dropped again so we haven't been able to get out much.  Monday morning it looked sunny and Rudy was crabby so I hurriedly packed up him and Avery in the stroller and thought we'd run out for a quick walk... not a great idea... it was much colder than I thought it would be!  We lasted about 15-20 minutes and when we got back in Rudy was crying and holding his hands.  You know the feeling when your hands are so cold, they hurt??  Yea, well so does Rudy now.  But he didn't complain at all while we were outside.  We walked along the creek and saw ducks swimming and he was sooo excited!  He pointed to them and made his own version of "what a duck says" noise over and over. 

Can't miss us coming!

 Avery was snug as a bug and actually fell asleep for a nice long nap.  I can't wait to take walks on a daily basis right at her nap time!

And sadly, now that the weather has warmed up some, Rudy and I have been sick.  Darn stomach virus!  We had all kinds of plans this week and have had to cancel on everyone.  We are hoping this bug leaves our house very soon!