Mama's Memories for M: Easter Bunnies and Science Marches

M ~

Hi, Boo! So...April started with you and Daddy stopping after your 9 year pictures for a date with some pasta. Yum!

In keeping with that food theme, we also got to all spend a morning making lunches for the homeless community in Columbus with Hashtag Lunchbag. It was you and Daddy's second time but my first time. We made over a thousand lunches and you and Daddy even got to deliver a batch. It was a great way to spend time together as a family while trying to help our local community as well.

our friends that we met to help out...
Kelley, Michael, Jay, and Katie

That same night, we even got to try out Daddy's new church. You helped out at the welcome tent with Daddy's buddy, Shannon, and were a huge asset with that awesome smile of yours.

The week before Easter was St. Phillip's traditional Easter egg hunt. Memaw and Papaw (and of course your cousins) were so happy to see you. Papaw also resumed his role as the Easter Bunny again. Such a good sport!

Uncle Kevin, Papaw, and Daddy

this is the basket you won ~
you were very excited!

you with your cousins, aunt, uncle, and
Papaw the Easter Bunny

Later that same day you had a play-date with your buddy, Jalysa (and her twin brother Jeffrey). What a spectacular day, right?!

Suzy finally got the all clear (yay!) and I think she is really enjoying her time back outside in the grass and feeling that warm sunshine where she no longer has to worry about me yelling at her to slow down, don't jump, or calm herself. Thank goodness for a smooth recovery.

And then...oh crap. Look who found my Monster (energy beverage). Late bedtime tonight, I guess!

And speaking of friends getting into things together, Easter Sunday was getting closer and closer so I decided to help you, Darion, and Anabelle color Easter eggs together. When finished, you all got the bright idea to sell them to the neighbors for $2 or $3 each. I didn't think you'd make any money but sure enough you made $15 total ($5 each)! Wow. I learned two things that day...1) our neighbors are very sweet and 2) being cute helps make sales!

Easter finally came and the following bunch of pictures are from all of our festivities. Enjoy! (because we sure did!)

early surprise from Lao Lao
(TMNT basket)!

You wanted to leave a carrot juice smoothie for the Easter Bunny the night before Easter, (It smelled like a garden).

We had your usual Easter egg hunt as soon as you woke up and the finale was this scooter in the bathroom.

I think you like it!

And the big booty of eggs that were full of candy and gold coins!

And airplane cookies! (you fell in love with these ginger snap type cookies when we went to Atlanta recently...how did the EB know?!)

Test drive.

Lao Lao also made birds' nests for us to eat for breakfast...little hash brown cups with bacon and eggs in the middle. They were fun and delicious! Leave it to Lao Lao to come up with a quirky and fun recipe.

Each of us got to take turns on your new Y flyer scooter. For once, one of your fun toys has a weight limit that supports the kids and the grown ups. Yay!

Then Courtney came over and we gave her the Easter basket we made for her and you also helped her find a bunch of eggs that you and Anabelle had hidden. It was nice to have her join us for our festivities and she even got to come to Pat and Connie's with us too!

the kiddos with their Easter baskets

We had our annual Easter lunch with the Wilkinsons at Pat and Connie's, then enjoyed watching you kids spread out through the yard for the traditional egg hunt. Below, you are (im)patiently waiting with your cousins for the adults to say you can go find Pat and Connie's eggs.

The following two pictures are Papaw getting busted helping you find an egg.

On the hunt.

Found all the eggs and got all your candy, now you are sugar-buzzing with Sam.

And of course, the obligatory Wilkinson Easter family picture. Everyone bitches and moans about taking these particular group shots (except for Memaw and me) but I know they secretly appreciate having these timeless keepsakes of memories.

And we even got a picture with just our little family...including Courtney. It's been great to have her here and in our family over the last year and a half while she's in school. She's such a good egg. We will miss her this summer, for sure.

Once Easter was in the bag, it was back to business as usual. One morning I took a half day off work so I could take you to a doctor's appointment. We got done super early and so instead of taking you to school and heading off to work, we stopped at IHOP for pancakes with our extra time. Best decision ever!

And speaking of business as usual, you have had to buckle down even more with homework toward the end of this year. Luckily (?), GG enjoyed "helping" you with homework this month too. Ha!

And a big craze from out of nowhere in April was Starbuck's Unicorn Frappucino. They only sold these concoctions for a week. Why? Who knows. Evidently, they changed colors and flavors (supposedly) as you drank it. Everyone and their brother was freaking out about it so of course we had to try it too. I had you and Darion split one and Daddy, Audrey, and I split another one. They were jam-packed with sugar but for under $5, totally worth it to see what all the fuss was about. Sometimes you just have to try the gimmicks for yourself.

That same night, you and Audrey were watching silly videos together. Not sure if the videos were all that funny or if you were both on a sugar high, but I love watching the two of you giggling together.

While we had a lot of fun this month, we also participated in some activism at the Columbus' March for Science on Earth Day weekend. Not only was there a rally and a march, but there was a big event at the Commons with all kinds of local organizations that promote caring for our environment. It was a great event. I am always reminded of what a good little city we live in on days like this. Yay, science!

Lao Lao let you borrow her phone so you could take some pictures of the marchers from your vantage point, which the next pictures all show. Pretty great shots, kid!

my shot of you snapping shots

capturing Lao Lao's signs

The picture below shows not even a fraction of the marchers...there were SO many!

Lao Lao even made us our own lab coats to wear
for the march...pretty awesome, yeah!?!

Here you are contributing some of your own artwork (an Earth with a heart around it) for one of the local vendors. Nicely done, M!

Look, it's a scientist hula hooping!

These were some of my absolute favorite signs at the march!

Then, once home, we decided to enjoy our environment even more first hand as we took Suzy for a walk to begin strengthening her leg again. This was her first walk on the trail since her surgery. She did great.

you, me, Lao Lao, Anabelle, and Suzy
in the trail mirror for bike traffic

Later in the week we noticed that the woods behind our house are blooming like crazy and so you, Darion and Anabelle decided to start carving a fort out of the overgrown honeysuckle in the back yard. Technically, this is a totally invasive weed so I definitely don't mind that you are using it for something fun (and it smells great too)!

Since we are spending more time outdoors, GG let us know he does not like being stuck inside when we are all hanging out outside. Look at his pissed off face. Ha ha!

And then...3 kids, 1 dog, and 2 grown ups (who were just trying to watch tv) in 1 big bed...why, you might ask? One word ~ thunderstorm.

Finally, your Meddy Teddy arrived (a Christmas present from Audrey that has been on back order since forever)! You were so thrilled and it is adorable. It's a pose-able teddy bear that can do yoga with you. Super cute!

After doing several walks with us, I figured Suzy was finally ready to try running with me again. We both were so psyched to be back on the trail together, as you can see below. Exhibit A. Sun's out, tongue's out!

The following picture is basically just for my own posterity, so humor your old mama. Lao Lao bought tickets for us to go see Trae Crowder (The Liberal Redneck) and his comedian friends at The Funny Bone for an early Mother's Day gift. It was nice to have a night out with her and these guys are so kind, smart, well-spoken, and witty as hell! Trae is on the far left, and his buddies Drew and Corey are from left to right. Big thanks to Mom (Lao Lao) for doing this and big thanks to people like these guys for doing what they do. Political and social commentary within comedy...my favorite.

On one particularly gorgeous (even if a little chilly) day, we decided to swoop the dogs up in the car and take the family (plus Anabelle) to Hoover.

Suzy insisted on sitting on my lap in the front seat
(can you see me in the picture?)

I was so worried Daddy was going to fall in in his clothes.

That tongue is my favorite.

Sweet old lady, Almost 14 but still likes to get out and enjoy it all.

Slightly late but better late than never...we finally got your 9 year old pictures back! Daddy took you to get these done and I think they turned out great! My big kid!