easter 2016.

our easter weekend was lots of fun.

we spent the majority of our weekend with the leavitt side of our family, the weather was beautiful, and we got to have matt home for a 3-day weekend!

highlights from our weekend include:

- i'm not sure i would call it a 'highlight' per se (mostly due to the stress we felt from holden's clumsy enthusiasm!) but we did dye our easter eggs as a family activity on thursday night. and then...

- on saturday afternoon, we rolled said eggs down a hill into fish creek park. it is a leavitt tradition that has been happening for decades. i always feel a lot of anxiety when we do this because i know exactly what i would think if i saw a large group of wild children rolling stinky, hard-boiled eggs down a pretty hill (ie. they would be rude thoughts!). and this year, due to the unusually warm spring we have had, there were all sorts of people out walking/riding/running on the path at the bottom of the hill we roll down, dang it! luckily, our leavitt group is too large for the average person to confront.. so people most likely just think mean thoughts about us, rather then say them to our faces! for the record, i am told that the eggs gets cleaned up by animals by the next morning, so that makes me feel better. and the kids sure think it's a hoot.

- we frosted egg shaped cookies. they didn't turn out quite as pretty as i imagined, but they had oodles of frosting and sprinkles .. and i love frosting and sprinkles!

- the easter bunny came to our house on saturday night, while the boys were asleep. he brought chet and holden each a new book and some tasty treats. the easter bunny also remembered to bring a little something for tad - which is more then we can say for santa! the big boys had a blast searching for their eggs, and equally as much fun eating chocolate eggs and skittles for breakfast!

- chet and holden spent hours and hours each day playing out in grandpa and grandma leavitt's backyard. i am not sure who finds more happiness in them playing outside - me or them?!

- tad got all sorts of love from his girl cousins between the age of 9 - 12 (ede, ava, emily, ali) this weekend. those girls are too sweet! chet and holden were both born within a few months of other cousins, which was nice because they now have lots cousins who are the same age as them. but tad is a loner - he is the only new leavitt cousin since holden was born. and, although it might be harder for him to find a buddy to play with in a couple years, right now it makes him quite the novelty for the baby-lovers. he is spoiled with attention! 

- we got to have our friend, josh cooper, and his new wife, meghan, over for dinner on friday night. we used our new raclette grill - it was delicious. it was fun to get to know meghan, and it was so fun to see josh in love.

see the easter egg banner hanging behind our family? those easter eggs were our big craft for the easter season this year. i printed off some easter egg coloring pages, the boys painted them with watercolors, they dried, i cut them out, and then we glued them on string to hang about and spread easter cheer. there were SO MANY EGGS! so our house (and grandma and grandpa leavitt's house) are both decked out in strings and strings of those things! luckily, they turned out super cute!

these are the eggs before we cut them out:

he got it!

chet transitioned from his strider bike to a two wheeler in a matter of hours, so i was kinda bummed that holden wasn't totally feeling the two wheeler when we gave it a few tries in arizona last week.

i knew he could do it but, for some reason, he was really worried.

turns out, the bike we were trying down there was just a little too big (in holden's opinion).

this afternoon, we took chet's old bike out on the ridge in midnapore to give it another go. 

holden wasn't thrilled at the idea. but i put on my cheerleader attitude and, with just 1 hour and a bag of jelly belly's for bribery, he totally got it! 

holden is 3.5 years old and is riding a two wheeler.
we are so proud of him. and he is pretty proud of himself too :)

click here to see.
(please ignore my dorky jogging beside him.)

while holden and i (and tad) learned how to ride a two wheeler, matt, chet, and chet's new bike went on a big ride down in fish creek.

i liked watching matt and chet going on an adventure and doing something that they both have a love for.
that boy is growing up!

we have a SIX year old.

oh my word, where has the time gone?!

i can NOT believe i have been a mom for six years already.

that is nuts.

chetty turned 6 on st patricks day.
and that boy is pretty dang thrilled to be 6 - he now needs 2 hands to show you how old he is!

to celebrate his birthday this year, chet got to do a few smaller things, rather then one big bash, and he thought that was super cool.

first, my parents took him (and holden) to build-a-bear and out for pizza.

second, we had a birthday picnic while in arizona for london, ben, and chet. chet got sung to and had his own special cake (vanilla. no frosting. lots of sprinkles. - just about the lamest cake you could ask for!)

last, but not least, chet got to have a sleepover with haden and holden on the eve of his birthday. we had cake before bed and donuts in the morning. it was all sorts of healthy fun. grandpa larry joined us for the cake part.

chet got to pick out a new bike for his birthday as his gift from us. it was a bit stressful for him to make such a big decision, but he is thrilled now that he has. the most important thing for him when he was looking for a bike was that it had a kickstand! his last 2 bikes were too small for one, so a kickstand is something he has waited patiently for.

that boy is a sweetheart. i just looOoove him. all 6 years of him!

some words i would use to describe chet are:

SWEET- he turns around and waves goodbye to us about 12 times when we drop him off at school. and he runs to give us a big hug when we pick him up.

IMAGINATIVE - chet loves to play. and he is so good at. no screens needed. he loves to pretend with his toys, and is wicked good at creating stuff with lego. 

GOOFY - school has brought out an odd side of chet we didn't know was in there. he has thee dorkiest dance moves and such a little boy sense of humor!

AN EXCELLENT BIG BROTHER - enough said. this boy has oodles of love and patience for holden, and he absolutely adores tad.

CHIP-LOVER - he asks for chips for dessert every night and it drives me crazy. desserts are supposed to be sweet, dang it!

HANDSOME - when i look back at pictures of chet over the years, he has certainly changed. but one thing that has not changed is how ridiculously handsome i think he is.

TENDER - he has feelings that are easily hurt. goodbyes are very hard for him.

CAREFUL - he isn't quick to step out of his comfort zone and hates to get in trouble.

BIKE-RIDING MANIAC - for a boy who isn't especially interested in athletic things quite yet, he is darn good on his bike.

STUBBORN - when he has his mind set on, or against, something, he is immovable. and i like to think that will be a useful trait one day.

SMART - he has a great memory, does well in school, and has a passion to learn new things.

HELPFUL - what would i do without this boy?! he sure knows how to step up and be the big brother.

i am so proud of the boy chet is.

he is a sweet, sweet boy.

we are lucky that he is all ours!

another successful AZ trip.

we had a whole lot of fun on our trip to arizona.

duh.

we always have fun there.

as per usual, the weather was perfect. we came back looking all sunned.

and we were all so happy to spend time with my parents and the hughes family.

one of the highlights of our trip was when matt and i got to sneak away for 24 hours of kid-less-ness.

we went on a hike, spent the afternoon lying around the pool at our resort, went to a movie, and ordered late night food to our room.

we will need to try another kid-free getaway.. as soon as i stop being so paranoid about leaving them!

matt and i were spoiled with lots of other little opportunities to sneak away without the boys. and i am honestly not sure who thought it was more awesome.. us or the boys?!

other things we did:

played in the hot tub and pool every day.

daily trips to playgrounds.

bike rides.

we tried to teach holden how to ride a 2-wheeler. he hasn't got it yet, but i don't think we are that far off.

warm night walks.

night time dips in the hot tub.

matt and i hiked camelback mountain twice - once with just us, and once with some of the hughes people.

matt played a round of golf with my dad.

matt also went on a a trailride with my dad and his new side-by-side, named 'rosie'.

chet, holden, and i got little rides around the neighborhood in rosie.

i got to go on runs outside every morning.

we toured ASU campus.

visited with the fox family.

celebrated the birthdays of my mom, london, chet, and ben. (it was also my parent's 30th anniversary). so. much. cake.

chet and holden got to go to build-a-bear, in honor of chet's birthday.

trips to target!

cafe rio.

late night adult games.

cousin time!

this is proof i survived another flight with 3 little people.

this is holden looking like a nasty teenaged boy who is too cool to smile for his mom. haha.

my mom caught this picture of chet running out to see them in the airport.
think he was excited?!

tad loved napping outside. must've been all that fresh air.

and the big boys loved to play with their toys outside.

build-a-bear.

my parents let chet and holden pick whatever bear they wanted.

chet picked a camo bear, with star wars music, and a fancy army uniform.

holden picked a superman bear, with superman music, and pajamas.

camelback hike #1

panoramics never really work for us.. but this is a panoramic picture from the top of camelback.

my lizard hunter.

building trucks with grandpa.

camelback hike #2.

not only did these few family photos turn out really nice, but this was also theee quickest, most painless photo session ever!

i LOVE my family.