Easter Sunday

We had a GREAT Easter weekend with family.  We headed to D's brother's house where half of us camped out and the other half decided the warm house sounded like a better option!  :)  D, J, and Lo made it all night in the tent.  Z came in at 3:30 am FREEZING!!!  The kids LOVED hanging out by the fire and Aunt Deb is so creative and helped the kids make up stories that each person got to tell part.  Very fun.  S'mores with Giant marshmallows, Family and Food.

This is all the cousins that were there for the Easter egg hunt!! :)

 He finally figured out that he could put the eggs in the bag instead of carrying them all.

 Eating the goods after the hunt!

 After two days of hard play, camping with little sleep, no naps, and lots of food, all the kids (and D) crashed an watched HOP!  Look at that 'Palmer Zone'  :)  

Easter Sunday was a very special day.  My niece 'C' was blessed in church.  She is such a cute special little one and we are so happy she is a part of the family.  I loved thinking of Christ this day and how much he loves us to die for us so we can be with the people we love forever.  LOVE EASTER!

 Everyone fell asleep on our way back to D's brother's house.

 J woke up when she hear the click of the camera!!!

 So, I was hoping for a little bit better of an Easter picture with the kids in their outfits, but they had all just woken up and were NOT in the mood to smile.  Everyone was sooooo tired.  But don't they look BEAUTIFUL anyway.  I LOVE them!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday!

Yep, that's right!!!  My Z-man is FOUR!!!!!!!  I can't believe it!  Z is such a great little guy.  He came out laughing and hasn't stopped.  He laughs ALL the time and will do anything for a smile/laugh.  :)  Z is great at his colors and is learning letters.  He can write his name and gets sooo excited when he does it.  Z LOVES his gymnastics class and would love to go everyday.  He loves playing soccer with his family and can't wait to be 5 so he can go to school.  :)LOL  :)

I'm SOOO glad I have my Z-man.  He helps me smile everyday.  :)  He fills my heart.  :)

Z wanted a cookie monster cake for his birthday! :)  COOOOKIIEEEEE!!!!

SOO EXCITED!!!!!!

I'm FOUR!!!!!!

Licking the cake badder!

Runnin' the Half

Every few years D and his brothers get this crazy idea to run races!! ;) And this was it.  They ran the 1/2 marathon in Lexington and they all did GREAT.  It was a very hilly race and they were all pretty tired at the end, but they were awesome.  The kids loved playing around while they waited for their dad's to run by.  We all Cheered as loud as we could (and got some dirty looks) when our dad ran past.  We loved being out and enjoying the day.  Good job D!!!!  We love you!

 

Coming to give the kids high 5 as he passed.

 BROTHERS!!!!!

 our cute family!

I'm Lovin' It!

The good weather that is.  Z, Meg and I ventured to the park the other day.  They LOVE riding their bikes!  And luckily the park is about 1/2 mile with a nice paved trail to it.  PERFECT!!!  :)

Look at those awesome bike riders!! :)

 We've also had some rainy days and we had some ducks visit our back yard--the run off. :)

Come to find out they were here last year too.  Maybe they will have baby duckies!! :)

 Also lovin' the McD's.  They have a wonderful play place and when D is out of town, we venture there for a break.  :)   

 We also have some movie parties :)  LOVIN' IT!!

 And we get to WALK to the bus stop instead of drive... Love.ING. IT!

Why do I buy toys---take 2

Again, Why do I buy toys???  LOL  Z and Meg used their lunch plates as frisbees for about an hour.  :)  They had to keep it on the floor, so I don't know if that counts as a frisbee, but.... it works.  :)

Z and Meg are little buddies.  They know everything about each other--even what buttons to push.  ;) 

Check out those castles!!!  Plastic cups ROCK!

I came to Dance, dance, dance, dance.....

Last night we had the wonderful opportunity of attending Lo's 1st grade music concert.  It was 1st graders in outerspace.  The program basically took them back to space to take the aliens back.  :)

My ABSOLUTE favorite part was the last song.  Lo was ROCKIN' out!!  He has some moves and really loves to dance.  :)  He is a crack up.  We were able to go to Lo's class afterward and he showed us all the things he's been working on.  He was so excited it just bubbled out of him.  He introduced us to everyone, showed us all his work, where he sat, etc. etc. etc. etc.  He was so happy and fun to watch last night.  :)

You have to watch this video VERY closely.  We didn't have very good seats, but Lo is on the right side of the screen and you have to watch carefully to see all the details of his dancing...  SO FUN!!!!!

This is his 'home' version.  I thought I'd try to get a closer video of his dancing. :)

 Do you see Lo smiling at me?  I was bummed I forgot my camera... iphone will have to work. :)

You can't see Lo in this picture because he's a bit further down the line, but I thought I'd add this one to show his music teacher.  He was SOOO great.  Lots of energy and you could tell the kids loved him.  He's like a musical grandpa.  :)

 Playing the instrument.....

Oh, how you make me smile!!!!

Why do we buy toys??

I think as parents we buy toys for our kids with several hopes in mind....  

A hope that they learn from playing with the toys

A hope that they will be entertained so we can get a few things done

A hope that it makes them happy

And more and more.............

...........................................................................

Well, more often than not, this is the scenario I find in my house...

All the toys are nicely put away in the basement

and my kids use chairs, blankets, BROOMS, etc. to make fun...

Today's special?  a choo choo train balance beam.  You have to go around the circle of chairs

then jump off and balance your way down the two brooms... :)

This entertained them for quite sometime today... :)   

Can't wait to see what we come up with tomorrow.  If anyone wants a basement full of toys, 

let me know!! J/K

flying high, sleepin' and my sunglasses at night!

We have had an interesting weekend here.  Crazy more like.  Friday, I had LASIK surgery.  It was quick and mostly painless.  My eyes started to burn pretty bad after the numbing drops wore off and continued to do so for about 6 hours.  Finally after sleeping that off, the burning was gone, but it felt like I was opening my eyes under water.  Kinda foggy like.  After about 48 hrs, that began to diminish and I'm getting better each day.  :) I can still tell my eyes are healing, they aren't totally there yet, but seriously, SO COOL!! I can see 20/20.  COOL!!!

While I've been recovering Darin has taken the brunt of 'home life'.  Check out this awesome plane/car he helped Z-man build!  Cool, ya?  I think so!

Poor Meg was sooo tired one day.  She took about a 4 hr. nap.  I went to go wake her up and this is how I found her.... :)  she started to get out of bed, but fell back asleep before making it all the way out.... LOL  Looks pretty comfortable, huh?

This is a horrible picture, but these are the glasses I get to sleep in for a week, so I don't rub my eyes in the night.  They are REALLY annoying to sleep in, but every night I sing, "I wear my sunglasses at night...."  Awesome!!!!

Soo,  there is our eventful weekend!!!