Catch Up - Not Catsup

We had a crazy April and I haven't had a real chance to blog until now due to travel, family visits to our house, and a monopoly on the computer for academic purposes. Casey's school semester is over now, however, so I finally get to use the computer for more than the time it takes to look up "garden soil fungi." Yippee!

We visited the Adlish family in Sparks for almost two weeks (Gavin and I did, that is - Casey left after the first 5 days in a huff because he couldn't hold the tree yoga position on the Wii Fit...just kidding. He left to go back to work.) and celebrated Easter and Gavin's 2nd birthday with them. The night before Easter, we sat down and dyed eggs together just for the fun of it. We certainly weren't going to hide those because we didn't want the cats to find them or Gavin to demolish them (read: crush, throw, step on, take a bite out of). It was Gavin's first time dying eggs, and he loved it! He took a timely nap on Easter Sunday which allowed us to fill almost 30 balloons with helium and place them in the living room as well as fill and hide plastic Easter eggs. We had a little egg hunt for him when he awoke, and he really loved pondering on the location and rejoicing in the spoils of candy-filled eggs. He wandered around "thinking" and saying, "Hmmm," as if he were playing a very difficult game. It was pretty fun to watch him gather all the eggs and get chocolate all over his face.

We then let him into the living room where he walked through a field of balloons, and he LOVED it! The price we paid for a party pack of balloons and helium tank was well worth the look of sheer joy and wonder at the ceiling full of color and magic. The few Blue's Clues balloons we had were a hit as well.

My mom's family and my Grandma Adlish came over for Easter dinner, which was rounded out with some yummy ham. Way to go, Grandpa! (He always buys the hams and Mom cooks them.) After dinner we sang to Gavin, ate spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and Blue's Clues on them, and had dangerous caramel brownies (Tina-style - you know the yumminess of these brownies if you have ever been a roommate of Tina's). Thanks so much, everyone, for the gifts - we didn't expect anything but to get together and eat! You are all very generous.

After that madness was over and Casey had gone home, we mostly hung out and went to the park a few times. Gavin is king of the slide, and he made sure that his Grandpa was there every step of the way! We had a great time and are so grateful to have such wonderful family. Thanks for everything, guys, and we hope to see you soon!