Easter

We had a great Easter this year.  I even planned ahead AND took pictures.  Amazing, right?  :)

The day before we joined some friends for an egg hunt and potluck at a park.  It was windy, but not cold.  We had a nice time.

On Sunday morning the kids found their Easter baskets.  We've carried over my family's tradition of hiding them the night before.  Alex was excited about his candy, coloring page, sunglasses, book, and CTR slap bracelet.

 Annie also had a CTR slap bracelet, candy, and coloring page.  Her other items were clip on earrings and an 'I Am a Child of God' necklace.  She was beyond thrilled to receive her first 'real' jewelry.

Logan was happy about his basket as well.  His was the same as Alex's, except a different book and his slap bracelet had 'Great to Be 8' on it.  He read his entire book at the breakfast table.  :)

Audrey (Jim's mom) gave the kids matching Easter outfits.  They were looking pretty sharp.

Those slap bracelets were a big hit.  :)

Annie was completely accessorized: necklace, clip on earrings (which she was sure not to lose at church), cute knitted purse made by Audrey, homemade hair flower created specifically for this dress, and slap bracelet (which stayed home from church).

By some miracle I snapped a decent picture of Abby!

We attempted a group photo, but Abby wasn't having it.  She wanted to crawl off and play, and was mad that we kept trying to put her back in the photo.  I think our attempts are funny, so I've included all four shots.  Annie has a beautiful smile in each picture, everyone else...not so much.

Alex!

This is probably the best one.

This one shows some fun personality.  I love these kids!

Birthday Baby

After Jim and I had our enjoyable all day date we stayed another day with his family in order to celebrate Abby's birthday.

I made her a basic cake.

When we were ready to give her presents, she only wanted to play with the sit n spin that was already out (something they bought for Logan years ago).  We removed it and she hollered!  Ha ha!

She knew what that cake was and wanted it!

She pretty much inhaled her first piece of cake and then demanded more.

 

Happy Birthday sweet Abigail!  You are such a light and joy to our family!

April Happenings

Alex has carried his bug house around with him nonstop since he received it for his birthday.  Thankfully, he's only finding ladybugs.  He even sleeps with his bug house.  Funny boy.

Me, "It's time to get dressed."  Kids, "But we're cold!"

Jim and I had a lovely day together a couple of weekends back.  We dropped off the kids with his parents and then headed down to Nauvoo to attend the temple.  After the temple we took our time coming back and made a few unexpected stops.  First we visited the replica of the old Fort Madison, and then we took a meandering route back (new to us) and discovered an Indian mound site.  That was really interesting.  We also had a nice meal at Red Lobster before finally returning. 

We've had some spring project motivation lately.  We've been working on burning garbage and scrap wood left behind by the previous owners and I'd had it with our messy, dirty garage.  We also determined that we needed a wheel barrow and some shelving for the garage.  Jim didn't think I could fit it in the van, so I took pictures to show him my success.  :)

I took a before picture of our dirty garage, but not an after picture.  Oh well.  I'm super happy that it's clean now.  :)

This sweet baby brings us such happiness!

Kids Say

Alex has been catching ladybugs constantly and keeping them in various containers.  This morning he told me, "My wadybugs are a happy family."

Alex, "Your phone made a noise, so I shut it off!"  Indeed he did...completely off.  I'm thinking we have some confusion about what it means when the phone rings.

As we were getting ready for Annie's birthday party, she grabbed a broom and started sweeping the kitchen, "I'm acting like a real princess because I AM a real princess."  We've taught her that real princesses serve other people.  Sweet girl.

Annie was telling me about her scripture reading (Daniel 6 and Jonah), and Alex got all excited when she mentioned the big fish.  He chimed in, "Yeah!  And the big fish spit him out on dry ground!  And he spit him out so he could dry off!"

Logan (age 7), "I'm getting close to my teen years.  I never thought I'd be so close!"

General Conference

We had another wonderful General Conference weekend yesterday and Saturday.  We watched the Saturday sessions at home, and then discovered a problem with our internet immediately afterward.  Some friends invited us to watch the Sunday sessions in their home, so we joined them yesterday.

Fun Day With Grandma

Now that part of Jim's family lives close we're enjoying the chance to spend more time with them.  Audrey and Elisa met us one day recently for a visit to the children's museum.

Annie was pretty cute doctoring her grandma.

Abby enjoyed unloading everything.

He makes a handsome doctor.

 

Audrey treated us to lunch halfway through our fun, and then ice cream afterwards.  Yum!  Abby was wiped out by the time we had our treat.  Thanks for a fun day Audrey and Elisa!

Flowers

These are some of the hair flowers we made during Annie's birthday party.  We were so happy with them, that we made a few more after this and the girls have been wearing them constantly.

 Annie has had a flower in her hair everyday since the party.

This was kind of random, but I thought it was funny and fitting with this post.

Annie received some gift money for her birthday, so she bought these decals to decorate her room with.  The girls' room is finally done!  I think it's pretty cute.  My frugal eye likes it, too; all of the cute coordinating things were purchased with gift money or were gifts.