Happy Hoppy Easter!

I almost didn't make it . . .

but I finished just in the nick of time!

Happy


Hoppy

Easter!

May you and yours have a wonderful Easter!

Love, The Bickels

Getting the energy out . . .

Todd is so good. He exercises on vacation.
(It is actually painful to write that.)

I, on the other hand, do not. I do not believe in it.

So when Todd gets this "exercising" notion, we all go to the park and while Todd runs, Luke runs too. Its a great neighborhood park, with two playgrounds and a big ol' field for running and getting all that energy out.

We are becoming more daring . . .


The "baby" slides were only mildly entertaining . . .

So we moved onto the big boy slides rather quickly:

And we are now confident enough to get on the big kid swings. Every time I remind Luke to "please hold on tightly" he thinks it is incredibly funny to let go. I do not think it is incredibly funny. It is incredibly irritating.

I love this picture of Luke . . . this is my happy little boy who is growing up far too quickly and knows all the buttons to push. The ones I didn't even know I had.

This is the normal view I have of Luke. His back as he is running away quickly.

We ran over to the track and cheered on Daddy while he ran. He is such a good fan of his Daddy!

Kennedy Quinn

I have been blessed to know Debbie now for 15+ years. I was so excited when I found out she was expecting her first baby! She moved down to San Diego about 8 years ago, which was convenient as she lives not too far away from my MIL.

Also convenient, Debbie's due date was over my spring break, so there was at least a chance of me being around when her little girl arrived. Luckily, I arrived on Saturday and little Kennedy Quinn arrived on Sunday! So Monday I was able to get myself to the hospital for a quick visit. (Thanks again to my MIL who let me borrow her car!)

Kennedy is the sweetest, most mellow little girl. I was so glad I came the day after to visit because the mass of visitors had already come and gone and I was able to be selfish with Kennedy and hold her a ton. She just slept and slept and was calm as she could be.

Getting out of the parking structure was no easy feat after the visit. I swear I had gone and pulled out some cash, as I wasn't sure where I was going to park. And then, when it is time to pay, I can't find the cash for the life of me. I hate that. So I pulled over and completely pulled everything out of my purse, out of any bags . . . and NOTHING. So I had to run back into the hospital to find an ATM, where I promptly realized I had left my wallet in the car. So I had to run back to the car, get my wallet, then run back to the hospital, get the money and then run back to the car. All while I was parked illegally in the hospital clergy's parking spot. No harm, no foul, I suppose. But boy, was I ever mad.

It was great to catch up with the Dugan clan and I'm excited that I'll see them in another few months when summer break starts.

The Horses of Tir Na Nog

My MIL is awesome. She works hard all week and on top of that, a few times a month, she donates her time volunteering at the non-profit organization The Horses of Tir Na Nog. Its a rescue group for horses that have been abused or neglected.

Linda asked if I would like to come along and help while I was down in San Diego. Little did she know that I have always loved horses and went to horse camp as a kid to take care of horses. So I jumped at the chance and off we went.

We started by mucking out stalls and moved onto brushing the horses. Its such a quiet time . . . brushing and talking to the horses. It was quite relaxing, especially after the last few miserable, stressful months. So I started with brushing Jewel, who was a sweet horse, and moved onto Angel. Poor Angel . . . she needed to be brushed badly. But it felt like I was needed, so I appreciated that.

Angel


My "tools"



Just some of the old winter coat brushed out. Dottie is in the background.



Me and my MIL: matchy matchy twins.


Linda and her favorite horse, Sundance:



Me and Tanner:

I was certainly exhausted and dirty after all the work of the morning, but it was such a great way to spend the morning.

Sleeping Beauty

I love my kid. I love that he loves good movies. It probably helps that I don't show him any others. I know that will change eventually, but for now, I can have him watch what I want to watch.

Right when we get to Nana's house, he goes straight to the movies and picks out Sleeping Beauty. Nice work, Luke-pie. He settled right down and was involved. Love it.

Los Osos

Let's be perfectly honest:

I really miss Brent and Sam. They moved down to the Osos about 8 months ago. It stinks when your friends move away. So we all miss them.

The upside?

Whenever we drive down to San Diego, we have a place to stop, hang out and spend the night before finishing our trip. We get to hang out, catch up and relax. I do love that. But the visits are few and far between and they've always been so good to us.

This time was no exception.

The Easter Bunny (read: Auntie Sam) dropped off an Easter basket for Luke. He was thrilled. I think we're finally getting the Easter concept. He found all sorts of goodies inside.

"Candy?"
"Not now."
"Football?"
"Sure."
*crash*
"No more football."
*rip*
"Now the football is broken. No more football."

We really just miss them. It's hard not to. You always want to keep the good ones close by. We love them. Luke really loves them. So it's nice to come and visit.

The Boys.

I'm so glad Luke has a buddy. Luke absolutely adores Jake and they have the best time together. Let's be honest: I can't keep up with Luke. That kid has so much energy, it is exhausting. So I'm really grateful for Jake who can keep up with him. What do they do?

• run
• yell
• jump
• run
• scream
• crawl
• run
• kick the ball
• run
• run
• run
• play with trains
• play with cars
• run
• run
• run
• run
• run

Before Spring Break, the Gartins and Bickels decided that we should celebrate with pizza and ice cream. The boys have their own little table to eat at, which is always entertaining. One pulls the table a little closer, then the other pulls the table back and it goes back and forth until one of the parents jump in to stop it. Then it slowly starts again . . . I figure that is a normal "brother" thing to do.

They had ice cream together which was . . .

COLD.


And Luke offered to share his milk. Sweetie :)

And then they ran more. The soccer goal was set up outside for all the boys (big and little) could run and play and run some more. Luke loves soccer. The kid just needs to run.

We know that coming soon, Luke and Jake will be in preschool together. If they think that Luke is intense, just wait till those two are in class together. Woe to the preschool teachers that have those two boys.

While we always have so much fun together, there is always the bad side. The anti-silver lining, if you will. The worst part is the leaving. Oh my. Luke pitches a huge fit. Every time. He hates hates hates leaving Jake. Yikes. It can sometimes be easier at our own house, but when it is at the Gartins . . . he is inconsolable.

I keep hoping that they more time they spend together, Luke won't have to get quite so upset if he knows he is going to see Jake again soon. So far, it hasn't made too much of a difference. But I'll keep trying!

Blanket Clubhouse

My mom is so clever . . . babysitting for Luke a few weekends ago, she set up a "clubhouse" under the kitchen table by throwing a blanket over it. Luke loved it. And with all the crummy weather we had been having, we (read: Todd) decided that we should construct a super blanket clubhouse. This was also on the heels of an episode of "Community" where a few of the main characters build a "Blanket City" on the show.

Todd is so good about this stuff ... Luke absolutely loved it and we all hung out in the blanket clubhouse for the afternoon. Todd, of course, had to use the two heaviest things in the house to hold the blankets stable. What did he use? My purse and Luke's car bin. Perfect.

Luke pulled all of his favorite toys in the clubhouse where he could crash them around. It has to be a boy thing.





There will be another post about Luke's solution to all his problems, but at least, this picture gives a hint.



Todd also devised a "secret entrance" to the clubhouse, which involved Luke squeezing himself through the cubby in the coffee table. It make me claustrophobic just watching him.

T Ball

For a chunk of March/April, there were just days and days of rain. This is problematic for anyone, but for an active 3 year old boy, this is the ultimate form of torment.

So it really did seem like a good idea to use the t-ball set inside.


Even though Luke has right-y tendencies, he will only bat as a left-y. Very interesting.

Sally's turn to bat:


Fielding practice:

I was really surprised/impressed at how good he actually was. He was hitting some really solid line drives straight into the kitchen (albeit, hitting the fridge . . .) or the occasional line drive at my head. Or the window. But no broken windows or electronics, so ultimately, successful.


Luke was even able to hit a couple of pitches from Daddy:
I think we'll wait till it gets a little warmer out and move the t ball set to the backyard. Trains will just have to suffice for now.