All-Over Easter Weekend

Well, it was quite an Easter weekend around here.  It was a lot busier than expected, and actually some of it was not quite expected at all!  We started out on Thursday night with a Jacob-Mommy Date Night (and conversely, a Carter-Daddy night).  Jacob and I went to dinner at Chipotle, and then off to the Harlem Wizards game at one of the high schools in town.  The Harlem Wizards are a traveling basketball team in the same vein as the Globetrotters, but they are on a much smaller scale and do fundraising games.  This one was against a team of district teachers and a couple community members to raise money for all of the Greece PTAs.  We were going to go as a family, but then I caught a drift from Jacob that he'd be cool going with just me.  So I jumped all over that because we need more time with just the two of us.

The game was...interesting.  Definitely not the level of the Globetrotters, and perhaps a little too much focus on merchandise, but mildly entertaining.  The basketball looked promising, but they really didn't play a ton of it.  The teacher team did pretty well, all things considered, but every couple minutes the game got interrupted for a skit.  Some were funny, some were a little too drawn out.

The dunking contest was fun...

...but the conga line may have been a bit much.

In the end Jacob wasn't particularly impressed, but it was still a pleasant night out with him.

Unfortunately, at the end of the night he mentioned a sore throat, and because he's had strep going through his classroom for a week or two, we were concerned.  Carter and I were supposed to leave Friday morning for Buffalo, while Jacob stayed behind with Craig for the Knighthawks game.  Then Jacob decided he'd rather stay with us, but I wasn't a fan of that idea, either, since we had a busy day planned on Friday and he'd be exposing everyone to his germs in the process.  And, if he came with us, we wouldn't get him into the doctor until at least Saturday, if not Monday.

So, Friday morning we managed to sneak him into the doctor first thing.  He ended up not having strep, just a cold, but the plan was for him to hang out with Craig at the office on Friday.  That way, Carter and I could do our planned stuff in Buffalo, then come home Saturday morning to stay with Jacob all day while Craig was working.  Not exactly the peaceful, relaxing weekend we expected, but you do what you have to do.  Friday was the most important part, anyway, and we'd all get to go to Buffalo in one vehicle on Sunday, which was better anyway.

Friday was fun.  We went to my parents' church for their really nice Good Friday service, and Carter did well.  After that we went to Moe's for lunch with my parents, ran an errand, and went back to church to do their Journey Through Good Friday.  It's a walk-through Good Friday experience, starting with the Last Supper and going through to the tomb.  It wound through most of the building with scenes to reflect on and little symbolic activities to do.  We nailed sins to a cross, wrote the name of someone we need to forgive on a wall, touched a whip and nails like they used on Jesus, and placed a rock by a tomb.  They had a kid-friendly set of readings to go along with the adult ones, and Carter even got a little stuffed lamb to bring home.  It was really nice.  After that we went to my Uncle Jeff's house for our annual prunes and noodles dinner, which was fun (and tasty) as always.  Carter kept everyone busy by playing hide-and-seek (he is the worst player ever, but it's funny), and when we got back to my parents' house, he had a little time to sit with Grandpa and play on his iPad.

Saturday morning we left pretty early and got home by 9:45 to hang out with Jacob.  The boys had their moments as usual, but I guess all things considered it wasn't an awful day.  We did survive a three-stop outing without killing each other, so I guess that was good.  Dinner was sort of fun, because we got to use some of the eggs we colored earlier in the week:

Carter discovered he likes egg salad thanks to daycare, so I made him egg salad, and I made a family favorite, creamed eggs and asparagus, for me.  It just tastes like my childhood in spring!  We wrapped up the night with a Knighthawks win (that we followed from home) and a harrowing visit for the Easter bunny--Carter sleepwalked and had to pee (it's been a thing lately), and nearly caught the bunny in the act!  Good thing he was too out of it to know better!  It ended up being a late night because I forgot until the last minute that I promised I'd make cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

In the morning the boys were eager to find their eggs and baskets.  They were finding a lot of their eggs, but had a tough time finding their baskets!  Jacob's was particularly tough, and he was thrilled when he finally found it buried behind his lacrosse sticks!

Still looking for his basket, but excited about his eggs!

Action shot of the basket finding!

Carter got a chocolate bunny, some Cadbury mini eggs, a Kinder Egg, a chocolate soccer ball from Platters, a Hot Wheels stunt thing that looks like an aquarium, and a little hot dog vendor Lego set, which goes well with a bunch of other food vendors we have!  Jacob got a box of Platters chocolate, a bunny, Cadbury mini eggs, Warheads jelly beans, and a note from the bunny saying that he knows Jacob is a little particular about his stuff, so he left a little something for Mom and Dad to let Jacob pick out something.  Long story how that came to be, but we'll figure it out.

Right before we went to church, the boys wanted to open a wrapped gift Jacob found while hunting.  Inside was a box of magnetic tiles!

After the success of Carter's birthday tiles, I decided I wanted to get more (which I did with less guilt thanks to my Discover Cashback Bonus) because I wanted there to be enough for both kids to build epic towers without running out of pieces or arguing.  If I could encourage that with a few more tiles, it seemed like a good plan.  Neither kid was super pumped at that point, but stay tuned...

We headed to church, which was really nice, and then rushed home to change and get on the road to Craig's family.  I couldn't help but try to take pictures of my handsome boys, though.  "Try" being the operative word...

Not quite...

Better...sort of.  I guess this is Jacob's cool-guy, relaxed, model try-out look?

We hung out with family, ate our fill of yummy food, and relaxed.  Even though it was in the 30s outside, the kids still did the traditional Easter egg hunt.  The sun barely took the edge off of the cold, but the kids had a blast anyway!  Sadly this will be the last one at this house since Craig's brother's family will be moving soon, but it was a nice final hurrah!

Jacob and Carter were joined by two cousins, Craig's cousin's daughters, and the daughter of a family friend

We had a really nice day that stretched into the evening, and in the end we didn't get home until after 10!  Luckily Carter fell asleep in the car, so that wasn't too bad.  Of course, it apparently turned out to be too much for Jacob because he gave us a heck of a time on Monday morning when it was time to go to lacrosse camp.  The good news for him is that I was planning on working from home that afternoon so he could be there instead of Craig's office.  After our debacle over February break, we were extra careful to build in some extra time at home this break.  I'll be off with him on Thursday, too.  The challenge on Monday, however, was that I had to work all afternoon, leaving Jacob to keep himself occupied.  

After lunch he almost immediately dove into the new magnetic tiles.  The sets Carter got for his birthday gave us a wide variety of pieces, like arches, windows and doors, domes, and pieces that look like the top of a castle wall.  I picked out the new set specifically because it is all basic building pieces--large and small squares, and three types of triangles.  I felt like we needed more of those to build bigger stuff, or more structures at the same time.  I debated between a 60 piece set and a 100 piece set, but decided I'd just get the big set so I knew we'd have enough once and for all.  I figured I'd use some Cashback Bonus to knock down the out of pocket cost and ease my guilt in case they didn't go over well.  As I mentioned, initially neither boy seemed particularly excited (I think they were hoping for Legos--fortunately Uncle Brad's family hooked them each up with some of those!), but I figured that by the time they actually sat down to play with them, they'd realize how much more they had to work with and be excited...and sure enough, Jacob started it off with a bang!

He built an arena around his MegaBloks basketball court.  It included suites, a press box, a stage area, a loading dock, locker rooms, an eating area, and a practice court (made from Legos).

The stage area is behind the hoop

That open area is a locker room.  There's another on the other side.  Note the loading dock on the right between the locker rooms.

Top view - you can see the practice court in the upper left, and the loading dock in the upper right

Press box is on the right, on the middle level.  Shaggy and Scooby are broadcasting.  The top level has a camera man.

So, yeah, it was pretty epic.  Later in the evening he knocked this one down and started another one, and he stayed up way too late trying to perfect it.  It's not quite as epic as this one, but impressive nonetheless.  I like that he's using his creativity and that the tiles seem to be a hit.  If I can get them both to play together at some point, that will be even better.

So, all in all it was a good weekend and a decent start to the week.  The lack of spring is starting to get to all of us a bit, but we're looking forward to a weekend with Craig home.  Just a few more weeks of the season, then maybe playoffs...but by then maybe spring will actually show up!