We Break for Spring!

Sunshine! It finally came and with it some warmer (though I'll take a few more degrees if anyone's offering) temperatures. Allie and I had the week off for Spring Break last week and we made the most of it, attempting to fit in many multiple breaks within the week. We kicked it off with some quality girls' time in the civic...yep, just us a few hundred of our closest friends on 95 heading south to North Carolina. The trip to see Grandpa and Grandmom was worth the drive, though. We made it to our first circus, and it was a great one to kick things off. It was the Cole Brothers' Circus and it was old school circus at it's best: straw, close-up rows of old folding chairs, and good-old-fashioned fun under the big top.

Who gave this kid a stick wrapped in pure sugar?

Yeah, she had an OK time.

If that old cage doesn't hold those tigers, I gotcha, Grandmom.

Allie dubbed the tiger tamer 'Belle' because of her long brown hair and princess-like figure.

She also dubbed herself a tiger tamer and 'flourished' and 'presented' for a solid part of the show.

Back at the house, she and Grandpa lightened things up from the serious business of tiger-taming and took in some laughs with Tink and her friends.

We wrapped up our North Carolina trip and headed back to Virginia (again, along with many of our closest friends on route 29 this time). We prepped for Easter with summer-like celebrations with friends.

First we met up with the Gonzales gang at the playground...

These kids are clearly already way cooler than their parents (no offense, Gayle and Pete).

Who isn't in the mood for group hugs when you're on vacation?

This dynamic duo slides with style.

Speaking of dynamic duos...Olivia introduced Allie to the joys of tea at the American Girl Cafe (we brought Jenny, she's a girl and the box said she's American, so we went for it).

Apparently tea includes giant milkshakes these days. If it comes with these giant smiles, we're not arguing.

At home, Allie requested a family photo while Abs was snoozing on her lap. We were happy to oblige.

Allie ran her first official 'race' the day before Easter, which was a proud day for her running Mommy. She and Brady participated in a 'Hippity-Hop Fun Run' (Gayle and I were the pit-crew). They did great and were extremely proud of themselves, as were we.

Game faces...on.

Bunny-buddies, planning their race strategy.

The Easter Bunny hopped in for a good luck hug.

Bring it, we're even tougher than we look.

You know what they say. Friends that run together...

Stay together :o).

And...stretch it out.

That night we celebrated with homemade pizzas, scooter-races and a glow-in-the-dark Easter Egg hunt, courtesy of our hosts, the Gonzales Family.

Everyone knows that a homemade pizza isn't a pizza without at least 1 inch of cheese. 

The big boys were pretty proud of their pies as well. 

Scooter chicken.

Close one.

You can never be too safe when using sidewalk chalk.

Don't let this still-frame fool you. These kids were dye-hard egg-hunters.

Surveying their egg-xcellent bounty.

We celebrated Easter Morning with Barb and Steve (Grammy and Grandpop) and Allie's great Memom. We've been attending a historic church in Leesburg and the pews are dated back to 1892. We discovered on Sunday morning that the side pews are exactly 5 and 1/2 shoulder-widths long. So we were cozy as we celebrated that 'After Jesus' boo-boos healed, He came back and now we can be forgiven.' This is more or less the version that we get from Allie when we ask her about why we celebrate Easter. She's got the highlights; we'll take it.

A smiling toddler in tulle certainly says 'Hallelujah!' to me.

And the stretchy-frog on her shoulder would agree.

Allie brought in the big guns for her last Easter Egg hunt. Memom and Abs were ready for duty.

Allie brought together four generations of Easter-Egg-Hunters to help her gather the goods.

But something tells me she just liked the company...

Happy Easter from the Eicholtz Family!

Spring Has Sprung...at Last!

Don't get me wrong. My Snow-Day stamina is unmatched, but even I am thrilled to see some sunshine and warmth heading our way. We're getting a whiff of what's to come with outdoor fieldtrips, farms, and fun, and I have to say...I like it.

We had what I believe is truly our final snow day on St. Patty's day this year. Which, in our house, means that you put on Elton John-esque Shamrock glasses and wear Christmas jammers all day. I can't say I disagree with the logic. I mean, when is it NOT ok to wear Christmas jammers and who doesn't like festive shades? Certainly not us.

Shamrockin' the outfit.

Say...SNOW DAY!

We probably would have had a big goose-egg on the day for festive St. Patrick's Day crafts, but with the Snow Day and a little Pinterest, we managed to pull off green chocolate chip cookies (my request) and a foam craft figure that somewhat resembles the hairiest leprechaun I've ever seen. 

Ready to put the snow behind us (but not 'Frozen'...Elsa and Anna are seasonless), we headed out to one of our favorite farms for an Easter Egg/Peep 'Hunt' last weekend. The challenge level was a little low, but the Peep haul was high. It was windy, and Allie out-lasted all of us, but it made for some good toddler-watching.

I'm honestly not sure if she's saying 'Peeeeps' or just trying to intimidate the competition.

Boots on, bucket empty...bring it, bunny.

This was post Allie-photo-bombing a sweet trio of toddler friends who had come to the hunt together. We made sure to tell the moms her name so they knew who the random girl smiling in the photo with her new buddies was.

Release the hounds! (I mean 3-4 year-olds.)

We told her to watch out for the ground-peeps...she didn't listen.

A payback photobomb from Grandpop mid sugar-munch.

Yep...stiiiiilll eating.

We haven't really made a big deal about the Easter bunny (it's enough of  a challenge trying to explain the real meaning of Easter in 3-year-old terms). For now she's just content that he's smiling and giving her candy and hugs...which reminds me that we should probably have that chat about strangers soon.

I don't know what these were, maybe chickens? Whatever they were, they were some pretty funny fowl.

The head cut-out shot. Never gets old.

Kind of like the 'sheer joy on a swing' shot. :o)

Ah, the corn pit. Genius. We opened our dryer door and had a bowl full of popcorn later that day.

Corn angels!

She'll take any advantage she can get.

Back home at 'my park.' 

Take note, friends. If you play your cards right, you too can be celebrating an early February birthday in April. Two of my lunch dates for our family dinner at Maggiano's with Barb and Steve. I'll take it!