Easter Weekend Fun!

We tried to pack in as much fun as possible last weekend! Friday the kids stayed home with my parents and were spoiled with lots of outside playtime and grandparent time! When I got home from work my mom wanted to teach me (for the 1,000th time since I'm not a good learner of anything in the kitchen) how to make a scratch pie crust and a peanut butter pie. (For the record it was amazingly delicious!) Adalyn absolutely loves to cook and bake with my mom in the kitchen so she jumped at the chance to make a pie!

I captured a few pictures that I thought were pretty special. (Just don't look at the background of my messy kitchen!)

 Adalyn LOVES helping in the kitchen!

 Listening and watching so intently.

 I love how Adalyn is watching her Nana in this picture.

 Special girl time!

On Saturday I boiled eggs while the guys transplanted a small tree in the yard. It's always so nice when my dad is around because Jonathan has an extra set of hands to help with house projects! I think I am going to love where "we" planted the new tree. I think it's a huge improvement. Of course, bad blogger that I am, I did not get before/after pictures of it! But the point is that the eggs got boiled and after nap time we colored eggs!

I loved these bunny ears barrettes that I found in Target's $1 section! She thought they were awesome!

 REALLY excited. Cayden insisted on his bib since he was in his high chair.

 I love getting to make these memories with my parents. I still have memories of coloring the eggs sitting at their table. It's kind of surreal to see them helping my kids color eggs.

I love Easter and all of the festivities and memory making activities that occur without the commercialized pressure of Christmas. Such a special time! Now that the kids are getting old enough to participate in activities and are starting to understand the meaning of this holiday it makes it extra special. What a wonderful way to celebrate our risen Lord.

Happy Easter!!

We were blessed to have my parents in town to spend Easter with us! We had a full weekend of activities! (Posts coming soon.) Our Easter Sunday started with church then pictures (not everyone was thrilled with pictures...surprise surprise), opening baskets while lunch baked, lunch, naps (for ALL of us) and then an egg hunt in the front yard!

We attend a church that we love and we had an amazing Easter message! Afterwards we came home and attempted some family pictures. (We tried to take a few pictures before church too.) Of course none of them turned out perfectly. But we got a few cute pics. (The sun was a bit harsh but I'm not complaining because I don't remember a more beautiful Easter!)

 Adalyn was pretty proud of her "princess" gloves that matched her dress. Can you tell?

After doing outside pictures we took the kids inside to try to get a couple sibling pictures since they wouldn't stand still outside. We were bribing them with their Easter baskets:)

After lunch and naps, Jonathan "hid" eggs in the front yard. I was going to put a jelly bean in each egg but I got lazy so he just hid empty eggs. My kids don't know the difference. Every hunt they've done has been with empty eggs. Better off for me. My kids are crazy when they are hyped up on candy!

 Posing for a picture to show me their eggs.

 This cracks me up! While Adalyn was showing me her egg, Cayden decided to help himself to her basket.

 And Adalyn's reaction. Priceless.

We had a wonderful Easter and had lots of fun family memories made!

Easter Bunny!

Last Saturday we dressed the kids up in their Easter outfits and took them to take a picture with the Easter bunny. The place where we go visit Santa had a fake and a real bunny that you could take pictures with so we did pictures with both.

Adalyn is a fan of anything dressed up in a costume. (I'm not sure how she is my child!) so she loved the bunny. Cayden on the other hand was not a fan. The guy taking the picture kept trying to get Cayden to smile. I told him that I'm calling it a success that he wasn't crying and to just go with it. It did not turn out very cute but of course you have to buy the picture for memory's sake. Cayden was more than happy to say "bye bye" to the Easter bunny after the picture. Adalyn didn't want her time with the bunny to end and kept trying to have it come see their pictures on the computer when we were reviewing them.

Next they took a picture with a real bunny. Last year Cayden cried the entire time with the real bunny. This year he loved the bunny. The lady told the kids they could pet the bunny and they were so sweet with it. I don't love the tacky background, but I love how precious my kids look!

I hope you all have a happy Easter. I am looking forward to celebrating our risen Savior with my husband, kids and parents this weekend. Enjoy your families and the memories you will make!

Egg Hunt 2014

Last Saturday morning our church held their annual Easter Egg Hunt! Each age group of kids was on a different ball field (thankfully we have a ton of property with soccer and baseball fields) so it was nice that big kids weren't trampling the little kids.

We had a beautiful day for an egg hunt. Perfect weather! Jonathan took Adalyn to the 3 year old field and I took Cayden to the 0-24 month old field and both kids had so much fun. Jonathan said that Adalyn didn't realize it was a competitive sport until some girl cut her off and then she realized it was on! Of course the 3 year olds cleared their field way faster than the babies cleared their field so they came to join us while Cayden was still searching for eggs. That boy LOVES eggs!  Here are some pictures from the hunt.

I love this bunny shirt I found a consignment sale!

Hold up. I have to flash back to last year and how big my baby girl has gotten. Where has the time gone? Yet, somehow she wore those same shoes this week! Our kids' feet grow slowly!

And in 2012 for her first egg hunt...

What other time can a little boy wear a shirt with a bunny on it? His shirt got lots of compliments. It was the perfect shirt for the event! (Another awesome hand-me-down!)

The church leaves the eggs empty and I love that! Between the two giant buckets that my kids gathered we would have had crazy amounts of candy. Instead they gave a little gift bag to each child. It had a stuffed bunny, a small bag of jelly beans with the meanings of the different colors and a foam craft to do at home with the real meaning of Easter. The kids loved it!

 After the hunt we had to get a photo-op with Eli and Emalyn. They were checking out all their eggs!

 Is it too much to ask for both kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time??

Ok. One more flashback. I can't believe how old both kid have gotten! Hold me! (Also, I'm so glad it was warmer this year!)

As we were walking back toward our car, we walked past our friends' backyard (they actually back up to the ball fields) and we decided to hang out and let the kids play together. There were 5 different families there and the kids were having the time of their lives. The adults had a great time talking while the kids were occupied!

We had such a fun festive day! Adalyn keeps asking if we're going to hide her eggs in our backyard so she can find them again! And Cayden keeps carrying his bucket of eggs all around the house. I'm so thankful for our church and our friends. Such fun memories made!