April Showers Bring...Part 2

by Tricia

Playing hopscotch in our driveway – the outfit was ENTIRELY picked out by Madelyn. She has definite opinions when it comes to her fashion!

Look out Martha Stewart! Madelyn made some pretty awesome funfetti Easter cupcakes, which were exciting by themselves until she discovered buttercream frosting! Her method of applying sugar sprinkles to the tops is what I call the “helicopter” method – we had lots of sprinkles on the cupcakes, floors, counters, etc.

Madelyn’s first Easter egg hunt was on Good Friday, when we had dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Olson. She got the concept fairly quickly, but was mostly interested in opening the eggs to find the treats inside. And wow, were there plenty of treats!

All dressed up for Easter! It was so exciting to celebrate this special holiday as a family.

The Carlisle Easter egg hunt has been a HUGE affair, ever since I was a little girl. It takes about 45 minutes to hide all of the eggs. There are money prizes . . . nuff said – all of the participating grandchildren (all of us now adults) take it pretty seriously and bring running shoes or boots (depending on the weather). So with a toddler in the family, we had to resurface some of our old rules. For the first three minutes of the hunt, the low-lying eggs (i.e. the ones in the grass and barkdust) were fair game only for those under 3 years old. We explained the rules to Madelyn and when the start was announced, she went running around my grandparent’s yard as fast as her little legs would carry her. She was literally throwing her eggs in the basket and not even taking a pause as everyone cheered her on. I guess it doesn’t really come as a surprise that she is competitive - I’m proud to report that she tied for first with 30 eggs!

So what did we do with Madelyn’s prize money?? We took a visit to the tulip farm!!









The tulip farm was pretty fun and definitely something we will repeat, but hopefully in better weather. Madelyn had a fantastic time splashing around in the mud puddles (somehow she doesn’t seem to mind mud – just fingerpaints – go figure!) Once the wind and rain came, though, Madelyn got pretty cold, especially since her pants were soaked from splashing. She put her hood on, announced that we needed to go home, and started heading for the car. It wasn’t a short walk, so she ended up getting a ride from Daddy.

Labels: by tricia, cooking, easter, hopscotch, madelyn, pictures, tulip farm