Hut, Hut, Hike!

Today was a beautiful day (hit the 70s!) so we went out for a little family hike in Pinckney about 30 minutes north of Ann Arbor. It looks like it will be a really beautiful place once the flowers and trees start blooming. It was pretty brown, but we still had a good time! Brian's looking forward to taking his moutain bike out there soon.

This is one of my favorite milestones. It creates so much more free-time for Mom! :)

Mom and Sydney.

Dad and Wes hiking along.

Bottle break!

Cute little flip-flops.

Pinecone wind-up...

And throw!

Family picture by the water.

Sydney got herself some Vitamin D on the picnic table while the rest of us had sandwiches.

Wes travelled with his tractor from the Little People barn set he got from Grandpa and Grandma Swensen for his birthday. He's a big fan of tractors now, along with trains. He always likes to have the tractors dig.

Poor girl fell asleep on the Boppy when we got home. She hiked herself out!

Choo-Choo! Wes is 2!

Today was Wes' 2nd birthday! After a beautiful and sunny day with a bunch of playing outside (thanks to the Hoopers!) and picture taking, we had a train birthday party to celebrate!

Brian got me these flowers since it's Wes' birthday! This weekend I'm going to get my traditional massage that I get to celebrate the fact that I was in labor 2 years ago!

Wes anticipating his birthday cake.








Bringing in the birthday cake!
















The birthday song! (Brian forgot he was recording at the end...)












The cake! It's a train cake in the shape of a number 2.

A different view.

The number 2 cake after I took the trains off.

Opening presents! Sydney's a good helper. :) Wes got a ton of great stuff. Thanks to everyone for coming!

Eating cake...that's a big bite!

Pretty bow...pretty little girl!

Everyone enjoying the party. Our guests were the usual MBA friends as well as our neighbor and her 2 kids (her husband is a 2nd year MBA).

The Thomas ride-on train Wes got from Mom and Dad for his birthday. (We bought it on Craigslist! Yay!)

This is the tricycle Grandpa and Grandma Hanks got Wes for his birthday. His sweet Thomas slippers are from Mom and Dad (also from the same Craigslist buy).

Happy, happy birthday Wes! We love you!

A Very Eventful Easter Weekend

We had a very fun Easter weekend with Kevin, Naomi and Brooklyn here. Wes enjoyed 3 Easter Egg Hunts which was fun to watch but gave us more candy than we need!

Happy Easter from the Hanks! Our little family ready for church.

My mom sent a little Easter package and this ballet bunny was in there for Sydney. It's a big bunny, but Sydney's getting so long!






Such a sweet little girl.

Wes using the checkbook box and the dishwasher as train tracks.

The Downers Grove Hanks got here on Friday night after our kids were in bed so we started the party on Saturday morning. Our mall had this area where the kids could pet some baby animals so we headed on over.

Wes petting a bunny.

I was impressed that Wes wasn't afraid of the animals. He's sticking his hand right in the cage!

He was, however, afraid of the big Easter Bunny that we met at our housing complex's Easter Bunny Party.

His first egg hunt! He got a few eggs and he was happy with that.

Brooklyn had fun on her hunt, too!

After an afternoon of naps (for the kids), errand-running (for the moms), and relaxing (for the dads) we dyed Easter eggs!

We had a special Star Wars egg dye kit. Obviously Kevin and Brian were into it as well as Wes!

Sydney was ready for bed at this point, but she had to be part of the action!

R2D2 and Yoda in egg form. (Brian did dye the Yoda egg green after this picture was taken.)

The kit came with a cool Darth Vader helmet that Wes enjoyed playing with. Wes is wearing his Yoda shirt to commemorate the event.

Sydney fascinated by her Easter egg.







Wes is getting really good at identifying colors. Here's a sample of his skills. :)

Easter morning egg hunt.

Looking for an egg.

Sydney hanging out during the egg hunt. She got that little ball in her Easter basket.

Easter pictures! Wes (temporarily) inherited this outfit and hat from his cousin, Mitchell.

Sydney soakin' up some Easter Sunday sun! (Yay for no snow this year!)

Easter kisses! :)

Wes, Sydney, and Brooklyn in their Easter outfits.

Playing outside.

Naomi and I got the girls coordinating shirts and took some cute pics of the little cousins!

Kevin and Naomi left around noon and then we went to church. After church we had a great potluck Easter dinner hosted by Steve and Jonelle with all of our LDS MBA friends. (L to R around the table: Jonelle, Marti, me, Christie, Bruce, Brian, Brian Hall, Laura, Andrea, Tyler, and Steve...Shawn's taking the picture.)

The kids after their egg hunt. (L to R: Ezra, Felix, Sydney, Wes, Hayden, Jack, and Carter.) Notice that Sydney's the lone girl with all the boys! Wes got his cool Thomas shirt for Easter.

This is a picture from a while back when I was watching Hayden. I came around the corner from the kitchen and Wes and Hayden were both reading. So cute!

The other week we met Brian at the business school for lunch. Wes thoroughly enjoyed his pizza!

Sydney in one of the really tall chairs in the new business school building. I'm excited to see her in this same chair a year from now around graduation time!