Easter 2016

 It's Easter time once again.  The kids enjoy seeing the Easter bunny at the mall so we made our last minute effort to get over there to get their pictures with the furball himself.

 Tommy has no problem with creepy bunnies such as this but Charlotte was still very unsure.  She decided to stand beside the bench and just hold Tommy's hand.  The bunny hardly moved at all.  He was so creepy!

 On Sunday, we dressed in our Sunday clothes and headed to Rensselaer for Easter celebrations.

 This year our celebrations included trying to shoot a rocket.  You can see Adam and Brandon working on Carson's 15 year old rocket by the grain bins trying to get it to launch.  They never succeeded but it was fun to see them try!

 We had an Easter egg hunt for the littles. 

 Charlotte reaped the rewards of her basket.  Outfit change can be credited to my mom.  :)

While the big kids played guitar in the shop, Tommy and Charlotte performed dance routines on the trailer. 

 They crawled through tires. 

 They rode in tractors. 

 Tommy DROVE a tractor!!!!!

 They posed for recreated pictures.  Look at how big he has grown in 2 years.

 Brother and sister side by side too, of course.

I haven't had a chance to download all of Aunt Shiela's pictures but I did at least get this great one.  What a little model. :)

Happy Easter!!

Back to Easter Weekend...

Yes we have to go back in time.  Sorry the posts are out of order.  It's a long explanation that you don't care to hear so just continue reading and enjoy a blast from the past (two weeks ago). :)
So Easter weekend was a couple weeks ago.  On Saturday we didn't do much until after the kiddos naps.  It was 3:30 pm when we finally left the house.  Tommy wanted to go to the zoo so we headed over for a quick half hour walk-through. 

 Charlotte met the goats for the first time!!

 Tommy still isn't too sure about the goats.  He kept his distance. 

 After the zoo, we headed over to the playground.  It was incredibly busy.  It was the first decent weekend and everyone had the same idea. 

 We had a good time despite the crowd, which included a woman screaming at her daughter named Miracle.  We decided to get the heck out of there and head to another playground. 

 We headed to a much smaller park in West Lafayette.  Tommy realized he loves swinging. 

 Charlotte realized the same!

 Belly swing time!

 Who would have thought she would like swinging so much?

 More sliding! Watch out for that mulch!

 Then we walked over to the pedestrian bridge.

 I wanted to take some pictures to see if this might be a good family picture location. 

 Surely those trees will green up a bit soon!

 The architecture should be a cool backdrop but the shadows created at that time of day may pose a problem.

 

 We got to see a train pull into the station when we were there.  Tommy was super excited about that.

How fun is this picture? Andrew looks powerful crossing the bridge over the train with his brood, no? ;-)

We made a quick pit stop at a cafe/bar (yes both!) downtown. Those college kids working there were very confused seeing a baby in a bar (also coffee shop).  We could only go in one area.  Everyone stared at us while we were there.  Super fun! We didn't stay long.

 Andrew got a mocha and Charlotte wanted to share. 

 We went back for more train viewing as we crossed back over the bridge. It's rare that I'm in a picture so I have to post it!

 See what I mean about the shadows? Maybe not so good for family pictures but fun for random pictures like this. 

 What do you think? With greener landscaping and flowers in those pots, it might make an interesting background for pictures?

Such a beautiful day that day.  Perfect weather for bridge crossing. :) 

 One more landscape pic.  Bear with me. :)

 After we got back to the car, we decided to get dinner.  We were crazy enough to try the mall early evening on Saturday night.  We went to Panera because I knew they had an allergy menu.  It was a big hit!

 Charlotte slept through dinner and woke up in a great mood ready to take on the mall!

We walked around the mall and found this furry friend.  There was no line! We asked Tommy if he wanted to get his picture taken with the Easter bunny.  He said Yes.  We capitalized on this moment.  Tommy NEVER says yes to this kind of stuff. That's why he's never had his picture with Santa.  So for the first time ever, here's a picture of Tommy with a mall character.  They were both about to lose it when the picture was taken.  She used some sort of noisemaker thing and they both were distracted for 3 seconds for a picture.  So no crying! Success!!

 The Easter Bunny visited since the kids were so good for their picture!!

 Charlotte got some new shades! So hilarious.

Tommy got a snake! Who gets a snake for Easter? This guy!

 I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes.  I did snap a quick one of Charlotte before church. Another Zulily find! I had to buy it.  It was like a tiny pink baby business suit.  Adorable! Someone needs a diaper change though! :)

 After church she changed into something more comfy from Grandma. 

 Tommy rode in the tractor with Grandpa.

 Charlotte got some quality time with Great Grandma Katie and Great Aunt Debbie. 

We had quite the busy Easter weekend.  Happy Easter!