Easter Fun!

Happy Easter! We got to go to Doug's grandmother's house for the weekend.
"Granny" is 84 years old and has more energy than I do! She was so wonderful to us - it was a treat for sure! I think my kids ate their weight in powdered donuts! We decorated Easter eggs in the garage. It was fun and only a few cracked!

The finished product. . .

Easter morning baskets

Our attempt to get a good Easter picture of them before church.

A friend's "attempt" - much better. He's a professional!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Last Post - November. . . oops!

It has been way too long since I have posted. My opera schedule in January was horrendous and although I have been off for a few weeks, it took me that long to recover I guess. We are chugging along with work and school and just trying to keep everyone content in our family - not an easy task! I guess to be truthful, being content is not always the goal because the definition of contentment varies from person to person in my family. For Briley, it would be either having a friend over every day, or getting a present. For Braden, it would be playing non-stop with Mom or Dad, or getting to go to the zoo or museum every day. For Blake, I am sure it would involve a constant buffet of cookies, donuts, juice, and no one ever telling him "No" (although he would be allowed to say it to whomever, whenever:)). Seriously, we are very blessed with great kids, but each day brings a challenge with new phases and new things to teach them. Braden is beginning to play so nicely with Blake. It is good to see. And he is also starting to understand that certain days Mommy works and can't play much. Briley has become a very easy going kid for the most part and I would venture to say out of all my kids, she is the mosts easily contented right now. She is still doing great in school and we have had a great year so far. Next week is spring break and we are downhill from there. Crazy! I can't even believe she will be in first grade before I know it.

This was my attempt at a kid shot for a present for Doug this Christmas. I actually got them all looking and smiling, no easy feat.

Our self-timer attempt at a family picture Christmas Eve.

The much toiled over Gingerbread house - very stressful! Not the "family bonding" time I had envisioned when purchasing the kit!

The kids outside "fixing" Braden's bike together. Playing on the driveway is their favorite thing to do together.
My too cool boys!

Doug and I took a few days to celebrate our 10th anniversary a few weeks ago to San Antonio. What a nice time to be kid free and reconnect! I could go for that monthly!

Random Assortment of Posts

Well, there is no theme to this post. Just some random things from the past week or so.

Braden said one morning, "I really need to water the plants. I keep forgetting to do that and they need water." And then he watered the plants! He is such a sweet boy. I have been enjoying having him home with me and seeing his personality develop away from his sister. He is such a good big brother, too! Blake is such a ham. Always trying to get into something or do something funny. He decided to use Daddy's sneakers as puppets!

Doug did such a good job planting some flowers and mulching that I had to take a picture. Okay, we will NEVER win yard of the month, but I still think its great!

WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! Our new van!! We are loving it so much. Now, if we can only sell the old van. Any takers? Its a steal of a deal!

Briley was our cute little Pilgrim on Friday's Thanksgiving Feast at School.

The pilgrims and Indians together . . . with Capri suns?!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HALLOWEEN FUN!

We had a fun night on our street last night. Briley was Madeline, Braden was a pirate (he was Batman at Family Fest on Sunday but wanted to try something different last night), and Blake was a giraffe (a willing participant even!). Each year we end up going to just a few more houses. Now that we have three collecting candy, we had quite a load of junk by the time we were done with our little section. Doug coommented on how well the kids behaved while we were out, listening to directions, even Blake. I said I wasn't surprised because it was something they wanted to do - listen to mom and dad = get candy. Easy concept, right? If only it was that easy all the time. The kids had fun seeing all the decorated houses (some of which were scary) and then dumping all their candy on the floor and eating to their hearts content. (one night a year they get to do this, so its not too bad, right?!) After several pieces of candy, Briley got up and said, "Mom, can I have a piece of cantelope?" I thought this was hilarious - I guess eating fruit justifies the hundreds of grams of sugar intake??! Well, she gets it honest - I made myself go further and faster on the treadmill today to make up for my "samplings" (you have to make sure they are safe, right???). Well, I am sure I didn't put a dent in it but at least I tried. Blake even got into it this year, walking up to every house and then trying to get inside each house. That was a problem. Especially if there was a dog in there - he LOVES dogs! Now, onto Thanksgiving and Christmas. . .