Tea Party

I joined Madelyn for this tea party which she set up all by herself. On the menu: broccoli and cheese! (Okay, I sliced the cheese)
 

Everyone's posing for a picture!

Bubble Bath Fun

Normally Madelyn declines bubbles in her bath, but she must have been in the mood for them this night.

And boy we did we get a lot of bubbles!

 

Oops, I overexposed this picture but it's too fun not to share. 

 

 

Tulip Festival

I"ve always wanted to visit the Tulip Festival at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. It was a windy afternoon, but we  managed to enjoy ourselves anyway.
 

 

 

Madelyn just happened to dress in camouflage for this photo!

Hugging the tulips.

 

 

On the Cow Train.

 

I just liked the way this one neat tulip was all alone among the white ones. 

Sprinkler!

We took advantage of the first(-ish) sunny Spring day by frolicking in the sprinkler. Well, not we, so much, as Madelyn.
 

 

 

 

She enjoyed doing some "water ballet" and posing for my camera. 

Extraction and First Tooth Fairy

Madelyn had to have her first baby tooth extracted at the dentist. It was a traumatic experience, but the Tooth Fairy made everything better. Please read the full account of this story, including my miraculous tooth rescue, by clicking here.
 

Madelyn dictated this letter to the Tooth Fairy:

And received this one in return, along with a tiny My Little Pony: 

Monkey Bars

Just a few pictures I took on my phone when Madelyn learned to go across the monkey bars unassisted!
 

 

 

 

Then we went to Red Robin for a treat so here's a cute picture of Daddy and Madelyn there. 

Happy Easter

After our exciting party the day before, you might think we'd be all Easter-ed out. But nay, Madelyn set out her basket for the Bunny to fill a la The Night Before Easter story we read at bedtime.

In the morning she was delighted to find a new stuffed bunny in green PJ's along with a few other little trinkets and treats. 

And we certainly couldn't skip the traditional egg hunt.

Kezia thinks these eggs smell yummy!

Happy Easter Madelyn and Daddy!

Later we boiled our eggs and colored them, complete with magic designs and messages drawn in white crayon. 

Madelyn digs in to one of our finished colorful creations.

Our Big Easter Party

We decided to have a fun Easter party for Madelyn and her friends --mostly just for fun, but also in an effort to forge more connections with the families in our community.


Madelyn helped me make some of our awesome refreshments, including these adorable "bird's nest" treats.

Here's the finished tray of nests, complete with eggs and green coconut grass


Thanks to help from my mom, dad, and brother, (and only 3.5-hours of sleep for me!) we had everything ready to go at party time.

Grandpa Winkel and Madelyn enjoy a plate of brunch-y goodness.

I was glad that all of Madelyn's grandparents came to the party.

 In addition to a cute bunny-pop craft and some Easter coloring pages that kids could do throughout the party, the "main event" was the Easter Basket Hunt.  Each child found the piece of yarn with his/her name on it attached to the floor and then followed it criss-crossing through the room, around chair legs, over the table, etc. until finding an Easter basket full of surprises at the end!

I was worried it might be mass chaos, but the activity went really well and everyone loved it! There were 16 children there, between ages 2-10. So it was a great game for everyone.  

Two of Madelyn's friends from school: Austin and Brayden
Ready to start the basket hunt

And another school friend, Dylan
Enjoying these super-cute Easter-egg ring pops

Happy Easter Party!

You can read more about the event details on my other blog here.