Great Birthday!

Today started off with Matt feeling sick enough to call into work and take a vacation day. But after he slept for a few hours, he was feeling a bit better. He then offered for me to go shopping while Natalie was napping and Nathan was approaching his nap time....so I did, with Nolan of course. We went to the mall, and I looked around, but unfortunately couldn't bring myself to buy anything (this is why I do not like to shop). The mall has a great play area for kids, so Nolan got to play for a while, and we also saw the Easter Bunny. When we came back home, I told Matt that I'd really like to go out for dinner instead of staying in. So we decided to head back to the mall for dinner and to let all the kids see the Easter Bunny.

We ate dinner at Garfield's, and it was really good...I especially enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to clean up afterwards! When we sat at our table, Matt told our waiter that it was "mommy's birthday". So after our main course, the gang from Garfield's sang a birthday song to "mommy"! Natalie however didn't care for the singing, and burst out crying about halfway through the song....I'm sure this did a number on their egos!


After dinner, we headed to see the Easter Bunny. There was one family in front of us posing their newborn baby with the Easter Bunny. The photographer must have taken at least 6 shots trying to get that perfect photo...which is what you do with just one little baby. Then came the Cook kids. We had them all situated around the Easter Bunny, but the photographer wasn't quite ready for us, as she was still checking out the people ahead of us. Natalie was busy telling the Easter Bunny about her shoes and her shirt and making sure that he knew who he was.....just saying "Natalie shoes, Natalie shirt, Easter Bunny". I was surprised that neither Natalie or Nathan were afraid. Nathan sat beside the Easter Bunny, and kept reaching up and touching his shirt, then cracking up laughing about it. Nolan was just ready to get this pic over with because he was ready to go play in the play area. The first pic was not very good at all, so we opted to take another photo. While the photographer was trying to get the kids' attention, Nathan rolled right off the bench, but thankfully I was in time to catch him. After the second shot, the photographer was trying to talk us into taking another one....but Matt and I knew that this would probably be the best we would get, and knew the kids were growing restless (probably the Easter Bunny too). And besides, these candid, unposed pictures are great....these are OUR kids in these pics....not models! Natalie doesn't get how to "smile" for the camera, Nolan puts on a fake smile (gets that from me!), and Nathan is hooked on his thumb! So this pic saves the true moment for us!