Zoo Fun in April

One afternoon we met my friend and her son at the zoo.  Dothan and Joseph are best buddies.

Look at all of those flamingos!

Boys and climbing go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The boys were always ahead, hurrying to the next thing.

Anne by the Cassowary.

See the cute little wallaby?

Roseate Spoonbills.

All the kids together.

Little orangutan put on a climbing show.

Who listens better, little chimps or little boys?

April Stuff

We decided to try planting strawberries again this year, and we debated the best location for them.  They did not do well in the garden because of the heat and the wind.  We finally settled on a spot near our deck which would provide partial shade and some protection from the nearly-always-present wind.

One Saturday in April, Dan started work on the new strawberry bed.

In progress.

Newly planted strawberries!

Pretty wildflowers growing in our yard.

 We went out to eat at Las Palmas, a really good Mexican restaurant in Andover, for my birthday.

Anthony and Mommy ate chips and salsa, both homemade.

The big kids at their colorful booth.

Dan ordered this huge beer with his dinner.  Of course, when I tried it, he took a picture.

Pretty tree in spring!

The chicks keep growing.  This was one of their first times to be out in the big yard.

A big hen came over to check out the chicks.

We went to a Confirmation for Dan's nephew, Joseph, and niece, Bianca.

Pizza party afterwards!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Baby Joseph was 8# 15oz.

Now he is getting so big at 7 years old!

Butterflies!

In early April, a new butterfly came out of each chrysalis in our butterfly habitat.  Over the course of two days, we had five new butterflies.  It was neat to see them let their wings dry and then flit around.  At that point we started to feed them sugar water.  We let the butterflies go free on Holy Saturday.

A newly hatched Painted Lady Butterfly.

Yay, it finally opened its wings!

On Holy Saturday, we brought the habitat outside.

One last look at the butterflies.

First Anne reached in...

...and got a butterfly on her finger.  It soon flew away.

Catherine also got one on her finger.  The boys were unable to do so before their butterflies escaped.

It was a fun, easy project to do.  The kids really enjoyed watching the transformation of the tiny caterpillars into big, beautiful butterflies. 

Easter

More goodies for Easter!

Kids checked out their Easter baskets.

Annual Easter picture - the kids have sure grown!

We followed the Easter bunny after Mass.

Waiting for the Easter egg hunt at our church.

Go, Anthony, go!

He showed off his loot.

Easter dinner.

Later, Daddy and Joseph hid the Easter eggs.

Hunting for eggs.

We got them all!

Waiting for the next egg hunt.

New kittens born on Easter.

Ready for another hunt - we had about 4 in all!

Kittens, Easter Eggs, and Cinnamon Rolls

On the morning of Holy Saturday, the kids went outside to play with the kittens.

Four little kitties.

There were almost enough to go around.

Anthony found they have sharp claws!

Anne with Snow.

Patch walking all over Catherine.

Meanwhile, I had boiled a ton of eggs for coloring.  This was the first year we got to use the eggs from our chickens.  When they were ready, we got to work.

The first eggs were in the dye.

Catherine showed off her first egg.

The boys took their job seriously.

Sweet little Anne.

Anthony's shirt met with some dye.

Most of the dyed eggs.   Using brown eggs works wonderfully!

Playtime after coloring eggs.

Some of my first ever batch of homemade cinnamon rolls, made for Easter morning.