Let's take a break from court reporting and get back to real life for a day. Since today was Easter, a holiday which I celebrate because it brings the family together, we all met up at Suzanne's house. We also celebrated my birthday, which happened to happen today, and Eric's birthday, which happened last Tuesday. And I'm sure there were other reasons to celebrate, but really, isn't that almost enough?

Anyway, a good time was had by all. Aiden and Kylie got new soccer balls, and they even had big kids to play soccer (and wiffle ball) with, so they were content. (And occupied. And mostly invisible.) Alex just likes being busy, which to him means opening and closing the cabinet doors in the kitchen, reading quietly to himself, and making his noise-making toys make noise. And eating, of course. He likes that, too, except for dill pickles. You should have seen the face!

Alex has a love/hate relationship with organization. He likes to mess some things up, but he also likes to put other things back together. Open doors and unbuckled straps are against his religion, apparently, because he will close and buckle any he happens to come across.

On the other hand, plastic bowls in a cupboard are destined to be flung around the kitchen at will, as are magnets on the refrigerator. He won't stop, either, until every refrigerator magnet is somewhere other than stuck to the fridge door. I'm sure this is all leading somewhere, but he's only 15 months old, so he can't tell us exactly what's on his mind. He just finds other ways to let us know.

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The bigger kids didn't stay for dinner (they have other branches of their family to endear themselves to), and I never caught them staying in one spot long enough, so there are no photographs of them from today. There are, however, a few photos of Alex and a couple of videos (one featuring Kylie), and you will find them here.