HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND

It's been a few weeks, but...

Easter this year for the Faucheux family, was an Easter "Weekend".

Friday... Coloring of the Easter Eggs

Decided to try something a little different this year, so instead of buying an egg-coloring kit, I used Kool-aid drink mix packets. Saw the idea on Pinterest, and thought it would be fun. It was definitely easy - just 2/3 cup of water to 1 packet of drink mix.

We had 8 colors to use

Marc's two-toned creation using the blue and purple (only the purple looked grey)

Grey liked the red-orange color, as you can see below with three eggs in one bowl.

His hands were red for three days.

Luke and his eggs...

Grey and his eggs.

All the eggs, ready to be hid and hunted Sunday Morning.

If I would have remembered to put them in the refrigerator, we could have eventually ate them. Oh Well!

Saturday... Annual Kesock Easter Egg Hunt

This was the second time the boys enjoyed this activity. Well, second for Luke. The last time we did this, was Easter 2009 and Grey was still growing in my belly. Miss Arlinda really goes all out for her Grandkids, and always includes our boys. She had 12 eggs for each child to find (one color per child), and then the three little guys had an extra Large egg with a bunch of little treats inside.

This picture was taken half way through the hunt.

Grey was very determined to find his Purple eggs.

As was Luke finding his Yellow eggs.

After a successful hunt, they dug right in to all their treats.

Best Buds, Quinn and Luke, took a moment away from comparing toys, to smile for the camera.

The Whole Easter Egg Hunt Clan

Luke, Quinn Nolan, Grey, Elise and Josie Nolan

Sunday... Easter Day

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house with full baskets for the boys.

I made cute little Initial Bunny tags, so the boys would know who's basket was who's.

The boys left the Easter Bunny a little snack...

The Easter Eggs were all hidden and ready to be found.

The boys didn't see their baskets right away. They first went to the Easter Bags that our neighbor, Alicia, dropped off for them the night before. Can you tell Grey just went to the bathroom... pants not pulled all the way up, undies showing, shirt rolled up?

Had to give Luke a little direction to the baskets.

They dug right in, showing each other all their little treasures.

Luke was excited to see Bubbles.

Then it was time for the little Easter Egg Hunt. There were only 12 eggs, so it went pretty quick.

Not sure what he's doing here.

Grey showing me one of his eggs.

They loved the little magnifying glasses that Miss Alicia got for them.

Showing me their new Easter Pez Dispensers

Easter Smiles for Mommy

Grey really liked all the stickers he got and the Pop Rocks candy.

Until next year's visit...

Happy Easter

SPRING BEAUTY

A couple of weeks ago, when I had a photo session, my client was about 30 minutes late. While waiting for them to arrive, I went exploring, looking for good spots to take little Miss Caroline's photos. The session was at the Beautiful Maymont Park in Richmond. I had never been there before then, and was just blown away with all that it has to offer... already planning to come back with the boys.

The first place that I found was the Italian Garden. This would be where we spent most of our time during the session, because of a little thunderstorm that decided to join us. Luckily we were able to take cover under the Rotunda pictured below.

The Wisteria was every where.

An absolute Gorgeous Cherry Blossom tree along one of the main pathways.

I waited on these benches which were near the entrance.

This last photo was taken down in the Japanese Garden. It's like Heaven on Earth.

Stayed tuned for more photos from this Wonderful Park, because I did take the boys back this past week during Luke's Spring Break.

RANDOM FROM THE WEEK

This is a sight that I have never seen before...

In the almost 9 years that I've know Marc, I've never seen him mow grass. Honestly, he's never had to before now. At our old house, one of the neighbor kids mowed the little grass that our property had. At this house, we still don't own a mower, but our wonderfully kind neighbors the Usas', lent us theirs. So, this past Saturday, as soon as we got home from Soccer, Marc mowed the yard... in about all of 10 minutes. Did y'all know that the smell of freshly mown grass is my ALL TIME FAVORITE smell?!!

To preoccupy Luke one morning this week, I had him help me with this little project.

We collected all of their cars, sorted them by color, then arranged them in a rainbow spiral. Here's Luke next to our Masterpiece.

Grey has recently discovered that he is now able to climb down from the top bunk all by his self. I told him I needed to catch him in action, but that he also needed to smile. So Proud of Himself.

My little "Jungle Boys".

They always ask me if they can be "Jungle Boys". Which means, they want to run around in their undies. Even though it's freezing in the house today, they insisted they NEEDED to be Jungle Boys. After coming up from the basement, I was quite shocked to find them playing on TOP of the dining room table. I scolded them first, but then grabbed the camera and told them to show me their best "Jungle Boy" Muscles.

SCHOOL TRIP TO THE ZOO

Last Thursday, Luke had his Spring school field trip. This year it was to the Richmond Metro Zoo. We had absolutely Gorgeous weather, and were joined by Luke's teacher, Miss Sarah. She didn't have any kids that she had to be responsible for, so she volunteered to help me. Yeah Us!!

The great thing about this field trip, was that there was no scheduled structure. We were free to do what we wanted, and to stay as long as we wanted. Once we ventured into the park, the first stop was the Prairie Dog exhibit. Didn't get pictures of the prairie dogs, but love this one of the boys watching them.

Eventually, we made it to the Best Exhibit the Zoo has to offer - the Giraffes. Unfortunately, I could not get a good shot of either boy feeding the Giraffes, but I did capture this one of Miss Susan helping Grey feed their new friend.

The boys climbed up (where they weren't supposed to) to watch the baby Giraffe.

He was just running up and back this little passage way. He must have just gotten really steady on his long legs, and was really putting them to the test.

Such a beautiful animal.

After the giraffes, we went to the (what I call) the Bird Cage. When we went two years ago with Grandma and Grandpa, Grandpa and Luke had a lot of fun in there. You buy a little stick with food on it, and these birds will come and sit on the stick and eat. Luke tried and tried and tried to get a bird, but had no luck. Grey eventually got one, and look at how excited he was.

After lunch, we took the tokens that the school provided for us, and went for a ride on the Safari Train. Grey looks pretty excited to get going.

Our tram car had a little stow-away.

Luke's BFF, Lucas, rode the Safari Train for a second time so he could ride it with Luke.

After the train, it was time to start heading out towards the entrance. We passed this parrot along the way. It was mocking Miss Sarah's laugh.

Then, as we passed the Gibbon again, I got this great shot. This little creature probably provided the most entertainment. He had this Incredibly LOUD yell, that you could pretty much hear all over the park.

And just like the last time we were at the Zoo, the last thing the boys did, was ride the Carousel. This time, they were joined by Luke's classmate, Miss Illyana. She was all about smiling for the camera, where the boys...

not so much. Grey was really proud that he was riding all by his self.

This expression doesn't show it, but Luke really did enjoy it.

Miss Susan, the pre-school director, asked me to take a picture of her staff. These are all the Wonderful Ladies that help shape the lives of so many little people in our community.

Luke's teacher, Miss Sarah, would be the crazy one in the middle with the Peace sign. Oh how he Loves her. Miss Susan is down front. Front Row L-R: Miss Brenda, Miss Angie, Miss Sarah, Miss Sam, Miss Debra. Back Row L-R: Miss Tammy, Miss Irene, Miss Cathy.

It was a Great Day at the Richmond Metro Zoo.

CASTING

This past Saturday afternoon, Marc decided to teach Luke how to Cast his fishing line - right in our driveway. He worked with him for about twenty minutes, and then Luke started trying to do it "all by his hoppy self!" Yes, I said "hoppy". Ever since Luke has been saying "all by myself", he has been adding an extra word in there that sounds to us like "hoppy". And now, Grey says it just like him.

Anyway, back to the Casting practice. I was so Excited to have captured this action shot where you can actually see the line and bait over Luke's head.

Looks like he caught a big one...

Working real hard to reel in the tree branch.

He'll do great once he's on the water.

BOY'S BATHROOM

After hanging some Photograph Art, the boy's bathroom is pretty much complete.

I ordered some canvases of pictures I took of the boy's toes and belly buttons. Their toes hang over the towel bar.

Their belly buttons hang over the commode.

Also over the commode are the beautifully carved wooden fish that our neighbor, Dick Buchholz, crafted a couple of years ago, when I was pregnant with the twins.

SOCCER... CONTINUED

So finally, Luke experienced his first team sport. This past weekend, the weather was nice, and he played in his first Soccer Match... well "Played" is the operative word.

This is from his first practice. It was pretty cold that day, back at the beginning of March, so they practiced inside. Coach Brad started out with a little team pow-wow...

then Coach Brad showed Luke the fundamentals of "dribbling" the soccer ball.

Game Day... March 31, 2012

Before leaving for the game(s), I got a picture of Father & Son... Coach & Player. Marc is also involved in the Upward Soccer program - he coaches one of the older teams, the Monarch's.

Luke plays for the Kings, which is for 4 and 5 year olds. The Upward system does a really great job at putting teams together that has a good variety of skill level, so some of his teammates also played last year.

Luke and his BFF Lucas, are all lined up. waiting for the whistle to blow and for play to begin.

Get Ready, Get Set, GOOOOO.......

He got right in there...

going All Out!!

Still chasing the ball (he's #3)...

He must really Love it, look at that Adorable Smile!

Out of all the players on both teams, Luke is the TINIEST.

Now he's starting to show his true self... not really all that interested, but after the game he explained to us his dis-interest. He thinks he's too slow to play.

"Luke, you're going the wrong way!!"

"Luke, what are you looking at? The Ball is in front of you!!"

Team line up for "Good Game" slaps!

Not sure if Luke is really going to be into sports, but WE SURE ARE PROUD OF HIM!!!

And he is Definitely NOT to Slow... He's SUPER FAST!!!!