Easter Easter Easter

 Happy Easter, everyone!

 We had a fun-packed weekend that started with an egg hunt in a neighboring town.

 We met our friends there and Orelia was so happy to hang out with her friend after getting her allotted four eggs (ha).

 The egg hunt was sponsored by the fire department, which was a big part of the draw for us.

 And much to everyone's delight, they had fireman costumes to try on.

We had to wait in an excruciatingly long line to ride on an antique fire engine, and for the first time (ever?) Orelia asked me to take this photo of her.

The fire engine ride was a thrill for Bennett, so it was (almost) worth the line.

 That night our friends had an Easter party, and the kids were thrilled to keep on celebrating.

 Bennett was especially thrilled by the bounce house.

 I've never seem him enjoy a bounce house as much as this, and I think it was because he could hang out in there bouncing around by himself for a change.

 While everyone else ate dinner Bennett just went outside to have the bounce house to himself.

 It made John and I laugh since Orelia has always been drawn to where the most people are, instead of being drawn to solitude.

 He arranged all the balloons on one side of the bounce house and hid behind them and laid on them, as content as can be.

Orelia and I had to leave the party early to go to a birthday party that night, but luckily we could stay for the egg hunt.

These eggs were filled with toys, and John walked around helping Bennett get his equal share.  My friend who threw the party included some whistles in the eggs, which one can be assured will be out on the curb for trash day this week.

 Easter morning John took the kids on their normal Starbucks walk, and I set out to Easter Bunny the house (though we actually tell the kids these baskets are filled by us - less hiding on packaging that way).

 These eggs were filled with candy, so there was even more motivation.

The Easter Bunny took note of Orelia's weird candy habits (who doesn't like Reese's, Snickers, Milky Way, etc.??) and provided her with plain chocolate or jelly beans.

 Bennett was fairly blasee about the whole thing until the realized candy was involved.

 Then he hopped to it.

 I just love the little way he bent down to pick up eggs.  I'm not sure if it was the too-tight pants or his two-year-old self that made him scrunch his knees together like that.

 The Easter Bunny is very specific about how many eggs are hidden at our house, so we didn't stop until all had been accounted for (lest Harper be left to find the extras).

 Orelia was SO excited every time she opened an egg to find Kisses.

 Bennett was happy to find any candy at all.

He can't get enough chocolate in his life.

 The cap off our egg hunting weekend we went to our fourth and final egg hunt at a friends' house.

 If the kids couldn't figure out how to find eggs by now, then they don't stand a chance.

 Bennett was a little slower on the draw than his sister.

 Daddy was always around to lend a helping hand when Bennett needed it (especially since if we told Bennett out loud where to find an egg, and older kid would hear and snatch it up before Bennett could grab it).

 Orelia carted around her new "Bun Bun" (bunny) that Auntie Joyce made her everywhere she went.

 Once he wasn't allowed any more candy, Bennett retreated to the sand box for a little bit.

 Orelia, true to form, wanted to stay close to her best buddies.

 Or if they were busy, she wouldn't mind a push on the giant swing by one of the big kids.

 Bennett methodically moved the grass back and forth for so long that I thought he might have a future in that one day.

 John spent a summer (or more?) mowing grass when he was growing up, so maybe Bennett comes by in naturally.

What a busy and unbelievably fun Easter weekend we had!  I hope you had a great holiday too!

Hula Girl

After seeing Moana, Orelia started trying to hula dance at home, so I knew when we went to Hawaii she would love to learn how to hula.

The lessons are for a minimum of two people, so Uncle Bobby joined in the fun.

Orelia, of course, loved choosing her own costume.

One might say Bobby didn't mind choosing his costume either.

Our teacher, Hulalei, was sweet and knowledgeable and the perfect instructor for these two rowdy students.

Every morning Orelia would ask if it was time for her hula lesson yet (because that was one of the main events we had been prompting her with leading up to the vacation).  Finally the day arrived!

Hulalei taught Orelia and Bobby a dance about going to the hukilau.  The song is mostly in English, so it's a bit easier to follow the prompts.

While I hate to admit it, Bobby was pretty fantastic at learning hula in an hour, but don't tell him I told you.

Orelia got to perform her dance for me, Daddy, and Bennett after the lesson, but even more special, she got to perform the dance at the Grand Wailea stage one night with one of the hotel hula dancers who was extra sweet to her.  This girl loves a stage and a chance to perform.  We love our hula girl!

Whole Self

 These photos are totally unrelated to the post, and if you don't want to read a few paragraphs about me, then feel free to just skip this one.  :)

 Recently I've been feeling a bit more "whole" than I have for the past year or so.

 I think now that I'm two and a half year post-pregnancy (last pregnancy, too) and a year and a half done with nursing, I am finally adjusting to my body being my own again.

And on top of that, I'm also finding that not just my body but also my self is more my own as well.

 While motherhood is extremely fulfilling, it isn't all-fulfilling, at least for me.

 In that while I love my job and am so happy with what I'm doing, it isn't as if child development are my ONLY interests in life.

And I've recently realized that reading the internet on my iPhone isn't exactly an "interest," and is merely a way to kill time (whilst somehow not enjoying much of that time in the end).

 For the kids' preschool, part of the program includes night classes every other week for the parents.  In one of the night meetings for Bennett's class, the topic was parental fulfillment and happiness and there was discussion about the things that the adults in the room were interested in and filled their time with.  We were encouraged to think about the ways we spend our time and what things we do that make us happy (I mentioned photography and going for walks).  It wasn't as if that meeting was so life changing for me, but it did cause me to reflect a bit and realize that I wanted to prioritize certain things I did over the time-suck that my phone had become.

 In the past two months I've renewed my interest in art and I've taken up watercolor painting.  It's just a hobby I do for myself - mainly during nap time - painting my friends' kids or flowers around the yard.  Words can't even really express how much more I enjoy this over an extra thirty minutes on the internet.

 I'm spending a ton of time walking around my neighborhood with headphones in my ears.  The weather has been phenomenal, but even when it's not, I've found a walk in the rain is better than no walk.  Maybe I'm like Bennett - if I'm cooped up inside too long I start to go a bit stir crazy.

 I used to spend tons of time talking about and listening to music, but since we moved to California, I primarily listened to Top 40 radio in the car and that was about it.  Right before John and I went to New York I created a play list of "walking around" type music.  Ever since we got back from New York, I can't stop remembering my old favorite bands and listening to hours and hours of this music that makes me smile and relaxes me.  This also coincided with the realization that both Orelia and Bennett were paying slightly too much attention to the songs playing in the car, and every song I heard seemed to remind me of that saying "little pitchers have big ears."

 Photography and reading are two interests of mine that have remained constant pre and post children, and I hope to keep it that way.

 I'm also dipping my toe back into the waters of health, fitness, and cooking again.  It's surprising how quickly I've felt a difference when taking better care of myself.  It takes more time and energy to cook,  grocery shop, etc., but somehow it seems to be worth it so far.

Today on my midday walk this blog post came to mind and while it seems very self-involved, this is my blog and I'm sure my parents and mother-in-law read to the end.  Thanks, guys!

The conclusion is that I'm feeling a bit more like a whole person these days.  If each person is a puzzle, I'm feeling pretty complete right now in ways I wasn't a few months ago (I was fine before but feel better now).  Not that watercolors or music are essential "pieces" to my life necessarily, but they help round me out a lot better than reading Facebook ever did.  I'm feeling like not just "a mother," but "a mother AND..." which makes a big difference.