Family at Easter

I don't really remember last Easter Season. I think I was still in a daze from the new wee one in the family or hopped up on drugs or knee deep in laundry / grading. Whatever it was, I really don't think of last year as Tam's first Easter since it was all a blur.

With this idea, this Easter season we actually celebrated together as a family. We completed the Christian traditions of attending church service, as well as the heathen traditions of an egg hunt and baskets.

I had hid eight plastic eggs obviously around the living room. Inside the eggs, I placed 1 or 2 nilla wafer cookies. By obvious, I

mean right smack in the middle of the living room rug...as well as in his shoes, on his toy box, etc. At first, Tamlin wasn't quite sure what to think of the new eggs and was a bit frighten of the chair covered in blankets (under which his basket was hid). However, once Brian showed him that (A) the egg makes noise when you shake it and (B) inside held a treat, Tam thought this was an awesome new game. With his short attention span, he found about 4 eggs in the morning.

I kept his Easter Basket simple. It was filled with a few pieces of chocolate, a chocolate bunny, nilla wafer cookies, stuffed animals from relatives, a ball, and a new truck. Three guesses as to what was Tam's favorite part of the basket... yep, the truck. However, lately the ball has been getting a bit

of use around the house as well.

The day was beautiful and unusually warm. We didn't have to put on our Easter clothes and then bundle up in winter coats to stay warm :-) Tam even got to wear his new outfit from his great-aunts.

Since Brian had to work Sunday afternoon, we had Easter dinner a day late on Monday. Yummy slow-cooked ham. Happiness and full bellies all around.

In reference to friends' post on babyproofing and books...

We have MANY books. We LOVE books. Brian and I both *heart* reading. (Whoa, that was a bit cheesy). We have at least 6 bookshelves stocked with books. Many of our favorites are science-fiction and fantasy novels, but we have some non-fiction tomes thrown in for flavor.

Tam currently is into books, especially if they are about cars or are lift-the-flaps. He is VERY into car magazines. He will actually sit still in one of our laps and patiently turn through a book if it is about trucks.

We are not worried about him not having reading material... and, as of yet, we are not worried about him ripping up the "grown-up" books. He has not pulled our books off any of the shelves, even the ones within his reach. This may be because we keep certain shelves and buckets just for his books and he readily knows where these are in the various rooms of the house.

Knowledge is power = encourage reading!

Clothing score for the weekend

I just switched over kiddo's clothes from 18months to 24month sizes. The 18m were a tad too small; Tam's big head wasn't fitting through the tops and the pants were becoming high-waders circa "Revenge of the Nerds". However, with this size jump, these new larger clothes are, well, BIG, with some much more so than others, depending on the brand. In the end, most of this size has room for a bit of growth over the next months. People warned me they grow fast...

I according to the latest edition of Reader's Digest, I'm frugal and NOT a tightwad. Frugal being that I enjoy saving money/getting a deal/not paying retail. Tightwad equating to one who takes it too the extreme, such as reusing toothpicks and rationing toilet paper. So, how does a frugal mom keep up with a growing boy? I certainly don't get this many new clothes every 3 months! Well, I had been stocking up on 24m/2T sizes at the mom2mom sales around here this winter. Additionally, I am looking forward to the spring season of yard sales that are just beginning to start. This weekend, I just couldn't pass up a killer sale at the commercial store, Babies-R-Us. Their promo was an additional 25% of clothes that fit in their reusable canvas bag. Score.

I hit the shop right after opening when there wasn't many other parents (or parents to be) present yet. I found a good amount of clothes for Tam for this summer, as well as a few outfits in 3T and 4T sizes for the future. Plus a few blank shirts that I plan to personalize with freezer-paper stenciling. With BRU clearance sales AND the 25% deal, I walked with a bag full of clothes for $50...roughly $3.50 per item. Bargain, since this is just a smidge more than I usually pay for used clothes. Now, I think I might be set with keeping Tam clothed for the next few months. Tam's favorite? I red t-shirt with McQueen from Cars movie on the front.

The final deal for the day was that Babies-R-Us sells 7th generation all purpose cleaner. This company is supposedly a green company that utilizes thyme and lemongrass to combat bacteria instead of harsher chemicals. Earlier this year, I tested this product in our microbiology lab to see if their 99.9% bacterial killing claims held true. Results of the testing was that even at 50% concentration, 7th generation killed E.coli and S. aureus 100% of the time. Excellent. The bargain was that they were selling the bottles at buy one, get one 50% off. Two bottles that I can dilute down to 4 bottles, means that I got a huge discount! One bottle for each of the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and kiddo's room. Ah...it is the little things in life that make me smile.

Playing at the park

So I'm a tad behind on the blog...I totally blame the weather and work for their dual distractive force. When the first wave of gorgeous spring weather hit, we all went out to a nearby park to play. This is the same playground we frequented last year too. It is conveniently right next to my school.

Jungle-gym, swings, slides, and merry-go-round all make for a fun excited time with a wee one. Tam brought along his "current" favorite match-box car. He had a blast dragging it around

clutched in his fist as he attempted to climb the different elements. He would climb up the steps and play peek-a-boo with us through the various bars and platforms

Then, we showed him how he could push the car up the slides. This wowed him for a while, especially when Brian went to the top of the slide to catch the flying car.

Then, we showed Tam how to slide DOWN the slide himself with or without his car. His huge grin was fantastic! He is even big enough now to go down the short slides by himself and not fall backwards. This is a quite a big improvement from last year when we held him or laid him flat on the slides.

After we played on the playground for awhile, Brian discovered a basketball that was left behind. As soon as Brian started bouncing the ball, Tam went flying over to investigate. He was laughing his little head off at his dada. I thought it was hilarious to see our little munchkin try to catch and carry a ball that was nearly as big as he was. Tam would run after the ball, try to grab it, accidentally kick it away, giggle like a maniac, and run after the ball again. Repeat.

Hmmm.... we may need to keep an eye out for a basketball this summer?

Here at the bottom of this posting, you can see the photos of Tam from last June (7 months old). He's gotten so big so fast!

I'm so putting this on one of Tam's t-shirts!

Wordless Wednesday...

Check back later for more updates: Easter, Swimming, Taxes, Signing, and Science