Easter Morning

This Easter season we made a more conscious effort to remember the reason we celebrate Easter. We tried to get the boys to look past the eggs, candy, and Easter Bunny to really understand what Easter is all about. We did an egg hunt for Family Home Evening that had different things relating to Christ's death and resurrection. We watched a few Easter videos and had many other great intentions. However, I wasn't quite as organized as I hoped I'd be. I have some plans for next year and hope to be a little more on top of things so that we might do something every day leading up to Easter Sunday. If nothing else, when you ask the boys why we have Easter, they at least know that it is about Jesus dying and being alive again. They at least know what resurrection means!

The boys and their cute Easter ties!

Bentley doesn't exactly look happy (it was a little chilly outside), but I love these 4 crazy kiddos with all my heart.

The aftermath of Easter baskets!

Showing off their favorite thing from their baskets.

Bentley's first Easter!  This wasn't the dress I intended for her to wear, but it was in the 40's that morning and was rather cold outside, so her 'Easter' dress will have to wait.  However, my friend knitted this dress for her.  I love the color and she is just too cute, even though the wind was blowing in her face!

Easter Activities

The week of Easter turned out to be much more busy than we anticipated, but as usual, the boys loved every second of fun!! We had a few egg hunts and a lot of family time! I think it was a pretty happy Easter!!

All ready for Damon's class egg hunt.  His teacher Mrs. Davis was great and let us bring some extra eggs for Radley so he wouldn't feel left out.

Radley was getting nervous, but he handled it like a champ!

Damon and his friend Elvis comparing eggs.

He was so excited and happy after he got done!

Our egg dying was pretty minimal and mostly successful.  We only did 12 eggs (lame I know), but it had been a crazy day and week and we were happy we dyed eggs at all!!

All the cousins at an egg hunt one of the local churches hosted!

These two are pretty hilarious!  They just run around and play with each other, copying whatever the other does and laughing while doing it!  This is what they were doing to wait for the egg hunt to start!

Asher at least peaked to take a picture, but Radley wouldn't budge!

Kyler's with the big kids now.  He's in the camo sweatshirt gathering eggs.

Radley is serious about getting eggs, notice the tongue!!

Damon and Gentry leaving nothing behind!

Comparing buckets!  We aren't sure what happened to Kyler because he ran out in front of all the other kids but hardly had any eggs.  We think his indecisiveness effected the number of eggs he collected!  Damon had no problem overflowing his bucket!!  Radley did well too.

Trying to stay out of the cold wind!  I don't know if I ever remember such a cool Easter in Texas!

The boys on an unexpected fishing trip with Daddy and Papa!  They caught 6 fish (Daddy forgot to bring the camera closer to the water), threw tons of rocks, saw some turtles and frogs, LOVED riding in the back of the truck once they got on the dirt roads, and just had a great time!!!  Damon was convinced they went camping because we have been talking about it so long, but they were only gone for a few hours between egg hunts!

All the extended cousins waiting for the Dads to hide the eggs at the family egg hunt.

One Cool Dude!

Serious stuff, that tongue is out again!

Malia with her Easter Bunny that Grandpa Richie got them!

Love this cute face!!

After the hunt was over, all the kids found a spot outside to open their eggs and dig in, however, Damon went inside to be by himself to make sure his candy would not get mixed up with all the other candy.  You would think these kids never get treats or candy!!

One fluffy bunny!

Spring Break

I decided a while ago I wanted to go to Austin for Spring Break but didn't know for sure I would be able to handle it since I knew Kenney wouldn't be coming with me. I finally decided to take the chance and see how the kids and I would fare! Well, we survived and had a blast! It was a quick weekend, but so much fun. They said their favorite part was going to see Nanny and playing with their cousins. Well, that was pretty much all they did, so I guess it was a hit!

We were able to see two of my Aunts while we were down there, so that made it even more fun.  Nanny and Aunt DeeAnne got the boys some cars, puzzles, stickers and more, so they were set!  We also went to McDonald's and got Happy Meals which hardly ever do!  Aunt Darla took us to get frozen yogurt and had a pretty cool coloring book for them to color.  They keep asking when we get to go to Austin again.

After spending some time with Nanny, we spent the entire next day at the Payne's house.  We didn't go anywhere or have any plans, besides letting the kids play.  It was perfect.  All of them got along really well and they were happy as could be.  We played games, jumped on the trampoline, ate snacks, blew bubbles, ate some more, watched My Little Ponies (a new experience for us), colored, ate ice cream cones, etc.  They just played!  It was a fast and busy, but very much worth it!  We have one amazing family!

Bentley with her Great Grandma (Nanny)

Aunt Darla, Bentley and Nanny

Nanny and the kids (it's really weird saying the kids rather than 'the boys'  I forget sometimes there is a girl involved!)

Pretty much the entire time we were at Nanny's, she was holding Bentley.  They both loved it!

Happy Girl

These boys (and girl) were lucky to be able to see Aunt DeeAnne.  She spoiled them, and they loved it!  Radley had a lot of fun with her because she kept teasing him that she would take his blanket and Buzz Lightyear home with her.  He would just point at her and yell, "No!"  It was funny to watch.

Bentley never laid down at all!  There was someone to hold her the whole time.

Hook 'em Horns!  Aunt Darla is a big University of Texas fan.

Bentley got into it this time!

Nanny playing with the uncooperative Radley!

Radley continued to be difficult and the horns continued too!

Fun with cousins always starts early!

These kids found just a tiny bit of water and turned sidewalk chalk into body paint.  Radley was covered in chalk too, but was continuing his picture taking strike!

I could not believe how well they covered themselves!!

The new Blue Men group

Kyler wanted a close up picture of his face.  His paint was not very dark, but it was thick!

Kyler covered his legs really well.  This picture just makes me laugh; those legs are so skinny!!  I keep trying to shove food down his throat, but the only thing he eats well are sweets!!  However, he does eat; I promise!

Playtime with the Payne's wouldn't be complete without a little Just Dance!  It was funny because Shayla just turned on YouTube videos and let the kids dance, but they really thought they were playing the game.  After each song they would announce who won based on the 'scores.'

March Randoms

Here are a few random things happening around our house.

Just some goofy boys!

There are several Papa's that love this girl!  Now I just need to take a picture of her with one of them while she wears this shirt!

I was going through our deep freeze, and I found all these pecans.  We knew we had shelled quite a few bags of pecans, but didn't realize we had over 20 bags!!

Sweet baby girl tired from getting shots.

This was my project at the beginning of the month.  I wanted an entry table and asked Kenney to build one for me.  He started collecting wood pallets to build the table, a dog house, planter boxes for the garden and a couple other things.  One day while we were at our house in Childress, we found this table.  I thought it would be perfect and save Kenney some time.  He took off the top piece of the table and replaced it with 3 slats from the pallets.  Here is a picture after we replaced the top and sanded it.

Here it is in my entry way.  It fits perfect!!  I love it.  Now I have somewhere to put some holiday decorations and some family yearbooks.