Long overdue - Easter & Spring Break post + Isabella's Adoption Day anniversary

Two years ago, Isabella "legally" joined our family.  We had a little celebration in her honor of her adoption Friday night, but -- after a busy day at daycare, she crashed early.








Here comes the barrage of Easter photos (finally)....  

Some surprise Easter packages arrived at our house this spring complete with egg-dying stuff, books, puzzles, candy, cookies.  wow.  (Thanks to the grandmas, the kids were well-stocked.)   

Mercer had a friend over to decorate eggs.  


Isabella got in on the action too, of course.  She is VERY determined to do what the big kids do.  oh what a (joyful) mess it was! :)

 

On Good Friday, I did not have to work at either job so I took the opportunity to tackle a spring caterpillar egg carton painting project at Isabella's school.  The pieces of this project were left over from Isabella's Hungry Hungry Caterpillar party and they "had" to be used since we didn't use them back in November.   

It was a little stressful to keep the kid's hands out of their mouths, not hitting their friend with something that was paint-coated, and not flat-out painting themselves.  It was a giant giant mess.  Really giant!  But, I got it out of my system.  Did the painting project with little kids.  Check.  (maybe it would be better for the next toddler class when they're 3 & 4 instead of 2 & 3??)  oh well~ the kids seemed happy~

Next on the docket:  an egg hunt.  And - it did not take long for Isabella to discover there was candy inside.  And - not too much longer for the little ones to start grabbing eggs out of their friend's baskets.  Oh - the woman who is the teacher of the 2-3 year olds... what patience she has!

After participating in the Easter egg hunt at Isabella's daycare, I went to a party at Mercer's school.  They had cupcakes and read a book.  It was quite a bit more contained.






My spring break at school aligned with Mercer's spring break, so we decided to hit the road.  We went up to North Carolina for a few days to visit family.  It happened to be Easter weekend; we did some fun Easter-related things while there.

At home, we missed our neighborhood egg hunt due to baseball, so we had 2 hunts while in N.C.  We hid eggs at my mom's house (what a kook Mercer has become when he gets in front of the camera!!) and then again the next day at my grandma and grandpa's house.  

(The great-grandparents got to "partake" in an too.)  Mercer found the golden egg at each house - which he was pretty excited.  

  

Easter morning, the kids awoke to find baskets with toys and books in it. Mercer seems to be really into meerkats right now. He was happy and has slept with this little guy every night since he got him.  

Mercer and I went to a nice church service at the church where my family attended.  They had a play and did a reenactment of some of Jesus' last days, the last supper, the Crucifixion, the resurrection, and some of Jesus' days shortly after.  We've talked about most of this before, but it definitely had to sink in / become more real to him after seeing it.

We went to the NC Zoo with my mom, but left the camera phone in the car, so we got no pictures.  Mercer wanted to see the meerkats, but they had just relocated them as their habitat is being renovated.  Isabella was OK during the entire visit, but really lit up and got excited when she saw the elephants this time.  



We saw Uncle Eddie, Uncle Mel and cousin Emma briefly.   We also some time with my Aunt Becky and Uncle Tony.   

The kids got to take SEVERAL trips on the "mule" riding around the different areas of the farm & looking at the neighboring animals.  And - of course - Isabella had to hug on the dogs.  Such an animal-lover!

And - a ride on the ol' spring horse always brings about a giant smile!  (Isy is wearing the sweet little lamb slippers that I absolutely LOVE.  Mercer wore these at Easter when he was just one and learning how to walk (April 2009 blog post).  Isabella at almost 2 1/2 is wearing them.  She's a tiny nugget.  He was giant for his age.  Just thought it was worth a mention!)   

We enjoyed our quick trip up.  Glad we got to spend some time with family -- and especially my grandparents.  My grandpa just turned 90!!  The only pic we got of my mom was a selfie that I took of them.... I'm holding Isabella off to the side - who didn't want to be put down / who wasn't cooperating.  















As if the week weren't complete.... we came home mid-week so I could take my 2nd to last Master Naturalist class.  (I'll write more about that later.)  

The next day, we packed up the car again and headed to north Georgia.  We rented a "historic" cabin at Vogel State Park which seemed cool until after the kids went to bed and the other residents (mice) paid us a visit.  Isabella is no longer sleeping in a crib, rather, she's on a mattress on the floor.  EEK.  

We moved her up to Mercer's bed and - even with rails - she fell out in the middle of the night.  Needless to say - Todd and I did not sleep well.  Once the kids went back to sleep after the change in arrangements (which was tough / they wanted to talk and giggle and play)... they slept like a rock.  Isabella even slept through the fall to the floor! 

 

The park did not charge us for that first night and relocated us to another cabin.  It was infested by ladybugs - but that was a welcome exchange!  (and - Isabella got to play with them after she grew to no longer be afraid of them.)  We were technically outside the park for the rest of our stay in our next cabin, but it still had a nice view of the lake across the state road.

The park had an AMAZING waterfall which was created off to the side of the lake. 

 Not sure if it was the sound of the loud rushing water, but Mercer decided to strike several goofy poses in front of the waterfall.  Hmmm... 

(Might I add - in the center of the park is a GORGEOUS lake with the mountains in the background!!) 

Todd and Mercer went fishing and played putt-putt during Isabella's naps.  Mercer and I took a tour around the lake from a peddle boat.  We hiked and searched for letterboxes.  

We also visited a couple of destinations near the park including a place called Sleepy Hollow run by a Disney retiree.  


We picked up some fantastic ideas for kids play houses and forts there as well as a cute hand-made birdhouse (not this giant one, though).

We hiked to the top of Brasstown Bald - the highest point in Georgia.  Surprisingly, there were a ton of flies along the trail.  There was an interpretation center at the top and the kids had fun climbing on the train, sawing wood, seeing the taxidermy animals (which Isabella kept talking to), and talking to these - well - kind of creepy animatronic people.  

Afterwards, we headed to the lakes that were visible from the top and ate a picnic lunch in this beautiful spot.  The kids had fun watching boats speed by. 

For some reason, I was in to profiles. Maybe it was the background?  Maybe the lighting at lunch?  Every now and then it's good to catch it, for their faces get less and less baby-ish in each passing year~  And look at those fantastic curls on both of them!!

We really enjoyed the park and can see going back year after year.  In fact, we booked the same 3 days there mini-vacation in one of the new (non-historic) cabins next April.  (I went into one while the cleaning crew was working on them.  They don't have as much character, but they're cute and they look like they're built tight.  Hopefully mice-free!)

One of the very last things we did before we headed home... we turned in Mercer's Junior Ranger log.  He earned his first (deer) badge!  Todd and I worked with Mercer on a lot of activities outdoors so that he could earn this.  (in this photo - a proud moment - was a little overshadowed by some tears... right before being presented with his badge:  he got a giant splinter in his finger on the way to the park office!)  poor guy.  But - he's so excited that he can get his next badge before he's 8 years old (that's his goal~)

We are very proud of him! 

   

Spring is finally here! - oops. never finished this post!

(At left) Mercer is VERY proud of these purple cups... they're called "speed stacks."  He bought them with his own money and stacks them / un-stacks them ALL the time.  It's something that a bunch of the kids at his school are doing.  It's sort of an obsession with everyone for some reason. 

These pictures (above) were taken at the Atlanta Science Festival at an exhibit at Emory University and the pics on the right from home in the "studio."  These were taken in late March on a rainy Sunday.  They never got posted.  Oops! So much for the (rainy) spring-is-here blog post~~

Mercer is playing with smoke from the liquid nitrogen that's being poured in the "instant" ice cream and he's doing a bit of human bowling on a plywood disk with a leaf blower attached to reduce friction.  

the COOLEST thing, however, was one of the Emory Students built a Reuben's Tube... it demonstrates sound waves pushing on compressed gas in a tube.  Light the flammable gas on fire and it's is a FASCINATING demonstration of a transverse wave in motion.  Enclosed is a direct link from the internet on this as my videos weren't as crisp (with Isabella crying in the background):  http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Rubens--Tube:-Soundwaves-in-Fire!/  (click on the video buttons to see the demo)

SCIENCE rocks~  :) 

In March, Mercer was named as "Master Agent First Class" in his Mission Possible Kids service organization that he belongs to at church.  Yay.  He's completed a lot of "missions."He's done so many positive things for other people in other countries (where the items they make and letters they write get shipped), in nursing homes (where taking field trips to deliver the items made & visiting in person), and even doing good for some folks in our church.  He has a lot of fun doing it and we are happy that he is serving others.   

7 years + 17 years

Mercer turned 7! 

He does act a lot older sometimes, but he also still acts like he's a little boy sometimes.
















He asked to go to a nearby pizza restaurant on his actual birthday and then we went home / had cupcakes.

We had a bowling party for him to celebrate his big day.  It was a lot of fun!  And - definitely the way to go because the swanky bowling alley took care of everything!  Well... almost everything.  

Todd was in charge of keeping things going smoothly on the alleys while Rose Marie and I took turns chasing Isabella.  An active 2 year old at the bowling alley -- not too relaxing, but overall it was more relaxing than cleaning the house before and after a party PLUS chasing the 2 year old as well.  It was hard to get a good photo of her.  She was being a little stubborn and wouldn't smile.  Oh well.

Mercer's updated stats:  4', 3"  (93%).... 61.8 lbs (88%)

Todd & I rang in 17 years of marriage.   We went out to dinner and went for a scoop of ice cream at a trendy little craft ice cream shop.  Also - although a little cheesy - we rode the ferris wheel that's set up downtown.  (a night-time selfie to prove we were on the thing as seen in the background~)

Mercer has started baseball again.  The team name.... the Mets.  hmmm....

Isabella's tumble tots class has ended.  She knows that when she puts on her little blue leotard where she's going.  She pats her belly when she wears it and says "tumble."

She is at this REALLY great age.  She has been learning how to count, learning colors, and shapes.  Mercer grabbed onto this really quickly too when he moved up to the toddler room.  It is fascinating to watch.  But - it means that they seem more grown-up and a little less baby-ish.  (sniff sniff!)  A cute side effect of the toddler room, however, is her learning to sing songs such as the itsy-bitsy spider... baa baa black sheep... etc.  LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!

Mercer and I have been doing some mission / service things together lately.  At church, he's in a group called Mission Possible Kids.  One recent project had the kids making "inspiration rocks" and later - delivering them to residents of a nearby nursing home.    Tonight, he and I went to an event where (collectively) all of us made 25,000 meals to be shipped to a poor country to help counteract huger (location t.b.d.).  A little pack of vitamins and minerals went into each bag, a scoop full of protein, some freeze-dried vegetables, and some rice.    

Mercer and I also went to this venue that had some room vignettes set up depicting different stages in 3 children's lives.  The venue - called the Compassion Project - raises money to send children in developing countries to school.  Mercer asked about the rooms and wondered why they were so small / where the rest of the houses were.  I'm glad that we had the opportunity to talk about how the rooms were pretty much all that an entire family had -- something that was smaller than our kitchen... and that we are extremely fortunate to have all that we do.

Here is a sweet little photo (that I LOVE) of the kids.  Mercer was in the kitchen doing his homework.  Isabella came up to him and hugged him.  He hugged her back.  By the time I grabbed my camera, they had turned around.  I wanted to get the shot of them hugging without them knowing, but this one was cute too!