1. Some birds live in the forest, but some birds don’t

2. Giraffe’s eat leaves, but wolves eat rabbits … and they howl like this “AwwwWoooo”

Both very true  :)

The house backs to the beach and the waves are perfect for 3 years olds so we have been spending much of our day running from the beach to the pool and back again (a perfect energy burn for toddlers!)

The dads took the kids out in the Kayak … the kids acted as the boat coxswain (faster, faster, over there) – Scott was a great listener!

elsie decked out in her swim cap (to hold her hair),  her goggles and her swim bubble (a great invention for self sufficient toddlers in the water) …

If we aren’t swimming in the ocean, we are swimming in the splash pool.

And favorite past time is jumping in …

More beach

Time to collect Shark teeth …

The yard is covered with fabulous shady palm trees which drop coconuts, scott spent an hour opening the treasure, we spent a few minutes gnawing on it, and then Scott and Mark whipped it into yummy coconut rice.

Elsie and Nicholas are perfect sidekicks – they spend most of the time swimming and then relaxing

They have managed to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs at least 10 times …

View from our rooftop where yesterday we had fabulous massages

Finally the superheros! We put the costumes on and the kids set out to save a baby turtle on the beach!

Today we are finally headed out of the house to do some exploring in the local town …  more to come

Josh was on hand just in case we needed him (also note the beer in his hand, I actually am not sure I have a photo of Josh without a beer in his hand).

Even saffie did some driving …

Our neighbor Meredith was also out and everyone took turns (3 year olds taking turns, can it be?) – Elsie opted to run next to the car while when she wasn’t in the drivers seat – whatever burns energy!

I got the starter outfits at target for $8 each, and Hobby Lobby was having a sale on La-me, 2 nights of sewing and basic superhero costumes are ready!

Batcuffs!

I would have put them on my mini-model, but she is snoozing it up! More photos from Mexico!

The instructor recommended we purchase a bike with pedals and bring it to class to start the transition. So for Elsie’s 3rd birthday – we headed to the bike store determined to select a unisex bicycle that our next child could share …  of course, Elsie and I settled on Purple with Butterflies. The bike is quite a bit heavier and pedaling is a whole new concept. She is desperate to ride the pedal bike and keeps at it …

Tonight after dinner Elsie and Mark were outside practicing – she burst in the house and wanted me to come and see what she could do …

Well done stinker!

This easter elsie was really into the Easter bunny. While at the mall she desperately wanted to sit on the Bunny’s lap and ask it some very important questions – sadly it turned out to be a Mute, but she waited patiently to get some tickles anyway. This is when my mom announced that Elsie was officially ready for Disney Land!

The next morning before Brunch, we decided to color some easter eggs – I find this wasteful because we rarely use any of the hard boiled eggs – but its tradition, so out came the coloring pills and cups. Elsie (with Grammie and Mommies help) followed the Martha Stewart sticker method …

We ended up with some very fabulous colored eggs spelling out Elsie – I vowed to make deviled eggs, but who am I kidding, I can’t cook.

We had brunch at the Flatz restaurant which is a humungous (Elsie thanks Murray from sesame street for that word!) buffet which is perfect for pregnant woman and boys.

The girls quickly made friends with the stuffed bunny – and so far saffie felt safe …

until you know who showed up. Saffie is very clear that she does not care for Santa, The Red Robin or the Easter bunny. Elsie on the other hand monopolized the bunnies morning.

The brunch was filled with many yummy treats – and elsie zeroed in the chocolate covered strawberries!

After brunch we had a mini egg hunt in our backyard with the girls – G.G. Ruby created her traditional candy filled nests and the girls had a great time hunting them down. (grammie did a great job of hiding the nests in very obvious places).

We also sent the girls on a mini-scavenger hunt to find their easter basket. This year I took photos of the places they were to look to find their clues which eventually led them to the baskets (again in plain sight!).

Happy Easter from the Sladdens!

Kevin has spent many weeks down here doing the framing, helping us select the subs and of course fine tuning the design. The wiring and plumbing is all done, the insulation has been blown (so the home theatre can be nice and loud without waking up the rest of the house), and the drywall is up and ready to be textured. At least now the dirty part of the job is done.

You may notice that we’re moving our office downstairs so we can set it up to exactly how we like to work. There is a lounge area in front of the wine room (despite my Dad’s warning that “you’ll never get through all that wine”), a service bar with a fridge and icemaker, a bathroom, space for our exercise machines, and a home theater.