Springtime and Celebrating

We've been celebrating all the signs of Spring these days...like things blooming! This is the impatiens plant that Brie gave me for Mother's Day last year. Love that it's making a comeback!

What else comes Springtime? Fun holidays! We started with Sebastian's Passover play at school. His teacher was the mean Pharoah...

and Sebastian was the cutest little plague EVER (a frog)!

He and his friends got to eat many yummy things at their seder!

We also sang and danced...

At the grandparent Tot Shabbat--so glad you could join us for it, Gammy!

And, look, we got to take home Simcha the dinosaur!

And Sammy showed off his homemade matzoh (while Sebastian photo-bombed)!

What else spells Springtime for us? Lots of tasty meals out on the deck.

And Jenga! (I know...that's a stretch.)

And a DIY project, of course! (What visit from Gammy would be complete without one??) The chair to Brie's vanity had some pretty old fabric on it...

So we removed it, and added a colorful print...

That goes nicely with her new bedspread!

Back to Passover...I made my (almost) famous matzoh ball soup...

And we enjoyed a wonderful seder at home. Everything was delicious!

And it's always fun to see my seder plate in action! We added two new foods to our seder this year: cashews--to honor our armed forces serving overseas, and oranges--to remember those who are marginalized by society. We got the ideas from this interesting article.

Brie found the afikomen, which as you can see from her face, was thrilling. Ha!

The kids had Good Friday and Easter Monday off, so we organized a playdate with friends from their old school. Simcha joined in!

The littlest buddies had an especially good time!

On Saturday, we walked to the park behind our house and enjoyed a lovely (and free!) egg hunt. Even Sammy participated--it's been years since he did an egg hunt!

Like most 2-year-olds, Sebastian was content with about five eggs.

Brie's friend Gigi joined us. They made the most of the "Easter bunny whiskers" face-painting and free balloons. ;-)

The kids had some extra special Easter treats to wake up to on Sunday...thanks to Nonna!

Guess who found the goodies first??

The chocolate has been a huge hit this week. HUGE!

Yay, for Nonna's Easter cookies, too!

Our long weekend wrapped up with a fun trip to Montgomery Park, where everyone took a turn on a cool new swing. See how Sam and Sebastian could swing together?

And Brie FINALLY lost a top tooth! That darn tooth was taking its sweet time, but it made its exit on Monday night after baths. Can you tell that Brie was gleeful? Ha!

Hope everyone had a very happy Passover and Easter...and that you're enjoying Spring!!