Easter Sunday

I love Easter! I love the Spring weather, I love coloring the eggs, I love egg hunts, I love the candy, and I love the reminder to stop and think of Christ's resurrection. Here are a few pictures of our Easter this year.

The boys woke up and found their hidden baskets. Derek was a little sneak and found his before we were ready, so I had to rehide it.
I love looking at all the little girls in their Easter dresses at church and this year I had one!
Later, we went to my parents' house, ate dinner and my mom made an egg hunt for the kids.
Each child is assigned a color of egg to find. It makes it a little more organized and even. It's very nice.
Holy smokes! I have three kids!!!
We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Egg Wars!

Egg wars have been a part of my Easter traditions since I can remember. After coloring eggs two people smack the same side of their eggs together. Whoever cracks the other person's egg wins. It simple, but man it's fun...even for me still today. And what child doesn't love a parent that gives them an egg and says "here, break it". Derek and Taylor had wars last year and remembered what it was about. So they were pretty excited to do it again this year. Derek was ready to go as soon as his eggs dried.
Taylor lost that battle.


Taylor's egg was the ultimate winner. It was indestructible. Dave figures that it's due to the multiple layers of egg dye on it. Way to go Taylor!

I think Taylor was champion due to the fact that he got two hits in for every one of Derek's. But I'm sure we could both be right. :)

Happy Easter Eve!

Derek, Taylor, and I colored eggs tonight. (Dave won't go near them. It completely grosses him out.) We actually had a lot of fun and the boys couldn't get enough of it. I still love coloring eggs myself and it brings back so many memories from my childhood.

Derek is holding up his favorite egg. Hmm...surprise, surprise...it's blue. He's LOVES the color blue.

Taylor really got into it...literally. :) He colored each of his six eggs but wanted to color more. So he took those colored eggs and dipped them several more times in several different colors. He created some interesting colors.And here are his "incredible hulk hands" to show for it. He was upset when I washed most of the green off.

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Our apartment complex held an Easter egg hunt on Friday night. The grass was covered in eggs! Derek was a little disappointed that they weren't really hidden well.
It was amazing to me that kids really do now how to pick things up fast. When we ask them to pick up their messy room they whine and complain that they "can't do it", but somehow when we ask them to pick up candy they make quick work of it. Hmm...


Here's a shot of some of their neighborhood friends.

McKenna obviously was not a part of the egg hunt, but I just had to add a picture of her cute smile anyway. This picture was taken that same day.

Happy 1st Day of Spring!!!

I am LOVING our Spring weather! I think going through a cold winter makes me appreciate these first days of warmth even more. I've already had 3 sunburns this month. The boys and I have spent too many hours playing outside. Well, they play with their friends and I chat with mine. :) Dave and I are in charge of the gardening around our apartment complex. I have never planted bulbs in my life, but the manager asked me to take on the project last Fall. I have been so nervous that my bulbs would fail and everyone would see my failure. So I was so excited to see the first of the bulbs to bloom! It's almost like they are my little babies.
Look how many more are coming up!
May this flower rest in peace.

Hours after taking this picture, it was pulverized by some little kid...petals strewn everywhere! Sniff, sniff. I've yet to find out which one did it, but that's how it goes living in an apartment. I have to release my attachment to these little flowers. I can't wait to see the tulips I planted! I will definitely plant bulbs again when I have a house of my own!

St. Patrick's Day

We didn't really do much for St. Patrick's Day, but it doesn't take much to make little kids happy....well, most of them. I don't know if any of you remember the post from Valentine's Day. Well, a very similar event happened on the morning of St. Patrick's Day. Derek woke up very grumpy and didn't appreciate his green breakfast. And once again, Taylor totally loved it. I'm noticing a pattern.
Who knew that putting a few drops of green food coloring into milk would make me "so cool" in the eyes of a 3 year old. He requested "green milk" the rest of the day.
Later in the evening I made this lemon cake with green frosting. It's the best I could do with what I had on hand.
Here's a picture of Derek 12 hours after breakfast. He snapped out of his mood very nicely. Cake will do that for anyone!
Taylor wore a green shirt with a green dinosaur on it. I told him that I couldn't pinch him because he was wearing green. So that night when it was time to change into jammies he said, with a bit of panic, "but you will pinch me".

McKenna's First Day at Church

I feel so behind in my "blogging"...like everything else in life I guess. This last Sunday was the first time we took McKenna to church. We've been paranoid about her getting sick, so we've been taking turns going to church with the boys. We have church at 9 AM so, needless to say, we were an hour late. It takes more time than you would think getting three kids out the door. It's hard enough getting one 6 week old ready. She of course spit up and pooped her diaper all in the process of getting her into her carseat. That set us back a little, but we made it.

These are the shoes I wore on my blessing day. I've seen them in my mom's cedar chest for years. I've always loved them and wanted to put them on one of my girls. My mom told me that she loved seeing my little tights all bunched up in the shoes. Now my little girl has the same issue. The shoes are yellowed and obviously in used condition, but it's special seeing her wear them.

McKenna loves her daddy.

She did it!

McKenna slept 8 hours straight last night!!!!!!! I was shocked! So why wasn't I able to?? Oh yes, a little 3 year old woke me up twice. Once because he doesn't like his bed and once because he had to go "pee pee in the potty". Sigh. Someday I'll get enough sleep. :)

We Love Parks!

Well, we were lucky enough to spend time with Dave's mom last week. To name a few activities...she babysat a couples times (while I bought McKenna's blessing dress and then Dave and I went to dinner), she took us to Costco (yum...frozen yogurt), and we took her to our favorite park out here. Here are some pictures of our time at the park.


This is our favorite park because of this cool swing. It usually has about eight swings on it. I think they took them down for the winter. But with several adults pushing you can really get this thing spinning fast. Dave wants one for our future backyard...yeah right! :)
He's a cutie isn't he, folks!?

Taylor the Babysitter

I was desperate to blow dry my hair this morning, so I enlisted the help of little Taylor. I told him that he was the "babysitter", which made him so proud to be the big brother. He stood next to the changing table and talked to McKenna and waved things in her face to keep her happy. He ran to tell me that she spit up, I cleaned it up, and then he ran to tell me that he wiped drool off her face. It was fun to see him take such responsibility and it was great to have a hair-do today! :)(Like his forehead wound?? He fell off a picnic table last week.)
Taylor requested that I put this headband on her.
McKenna is one month old! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. :(

Grandma Judy is Here!

Grandma Judy arrived this weekend to meet McKenna and await the arrival of another grandson (Dave's sister's baby). Here's a picture of McKenna and her proud grandma!
Derek and Taylor are finally over their colds. It took 3 1/2 weeks, but they are healthy! So they've been taking every opportunity to hold their sister.