Happy Easter!

Easter was pretty low-key for us this year.  The kids and I spent Saturday helping my Dad clear out some stuff from his garage while Dan and some friends from the ward went to watch the PGA tournament near our house.  This meant that we ran out of time to color eggs--maybe we'll do it this week sometime :).
On Sunday morning, the kids got up around 6:30 am (I LOVE daylight savings time!) and we snuggled for a little bit until Candy woke up around 7.   We talked for a few minutes about the real reason we celebrate Easter and then let them out to hunt for eggs.  They were pretty excited to find the 10 eggs each that the Easter Bunny left behind.  They also each got a little purse and a set of tinker toys (hand-me downs from my little brother) to share.  The tinker toys are a BIG hit.

We had a quick breakfast before Dan headed to choir and the girls and I finished getting ready.  They looked so cute in their dresses!  I finished the dresses with a few days to spare and the girls had been trying them on all week.   They were excited to get to wear them out of the house.  They had gotten little stretchy pearl-like necklaces at a party a few weeks ago, so I told them to go get those and while upstairs they also grabbed their gloves (from the same party).  I figured if ever there was a Sunday where they could wear gloves, Easter was it.

Necklaces, check.  Gloves, check.  Balls, check. :)

 Oh the joys of trying to get a good pic of a 5, 3, and 1 year old.

I was going to crop these to just Brookie, but I loved Candy's goofy faces in the corner!

Megan...

Candace...

After church, we took a few more pictures (since now I had Dan to help me).

This was the best one we got.  Don't mind Megan's tongue sticking out.  They are cute though, even when they're being goofy.

We hosted dinner for my family later in the afternoon and had a great time.  I made my first brined turkey (yummy) and we had a delicious meal.  My brother and his 4 kids came over along with my Dad and Sally.  My other siblings from Houston were suffering on a cruise (Carrie) and in Barbados (Tyler), so I'm sure they were sad to miss our dinner :).
Our backyard egg hunt for the cousins got rained out, so we hid them around the house instead.  It was a really wonderful Easter.  One of my favorite parts of this Easter was the chance to sub in Brooke's sunbeams class and to share my testimony of the resurrection during sharing time.  I love the children in our ward and it was tender for me to be able to talk with them about that.  I was pretty teary during junior sharing time, but held it together better in senior!  I am so thankful for Jesus Christ who died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and who makes it possible for us all to overcome death and be resurrected one day.
Happy Easter everyone!

St. Patty's and an Easter Egg Hunt

We did manage to remember to wear green to church on St. Patrick's day.  Or at least the girls and I did.  Dan on the other hand, had early meetings and I was asleep when he left...and I didn't remind him!  Oops.  Thankfully, he was only attacked with pinches AFTER church at the T family's house when we went over for a lovely dinner of corned beef and cabbage.  We contributed to the authenticity with 2 loaves of Irish soda bread which were actually quite delicious.  I should make them more than once a year. 

 The rest of the week was pretty uneventful.  Candy enjoyed some chocolate pudding on Mar. 18.

Then on Saturday, Mar. 23 it was the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  We had 3 excited girls.

 Megan refused to look at me.  And she chose her own clothes--a minnie mouse shirt and size 3T pants.  They were a little short but I think her circumference hasn't changed since she was a toddler, so they still fit fine other than that :).

We saw lots of friends there.

And then the Easter bunny came out and the 0 to 2 year olds were off!  Once Dan started singing "clean-up, clean-up", Candy really got the hang of things and picked up quite a few eggs (including one chick-fil-a coupon--yes!)

The Easter bunny made his way over by us--the Megans were thrilled to say hi.

Candy couldn't wait to say bye.

Cute Kenzie.

Megan and Brooke were pro egg hunters.  After their group finished, the kids all jumped in some blow-up jump things and then we headed home.

Then to round out our fun weekend, Aunt Carrie came over for dinner on Sunday (March 24).  These girlies love their Aunt Carrie--especially since she willingly reads Pinkalicous over and over again.

Spring Break Campout!

My brother Shad had a blast camping on a lake front shelter site at Lake Livingston state park last year.  In fact, he had so much fun that he booked 8 of the 10 shelter sites for 3 nights (March 13-15) over spring break this year and invited us to come!
We brought our buddies the T family, my sister Jamie and fam drove down from Dallas, my sister Carrie came, and 3 families from Shad's ward.  It was a blast.  The kids ran and played and fished all day, the adults chatted and played and fished all day, and Shad set up a movie projector on the back of one of the shelters each night.  It was just about as perfect of a camping trip as you could want.  I loved watching the sunrises and sunsets over the lake, and the quiet lapping of the water.  I searched pinterest for food ideas and we had such yummy meals the whole time.  And we really enjoyed the time with friends and family.  We might have to make this a tradition!

The sunset on March 13.  I will admit this was NOT my favorite camping day.  I spent the morning finishing our camping prep, loading the car, driving the hour to the campsite, unloading the car, setting up the shelter, feeding the kids dinner, etc--all on my own since Dan needed to conserve vacation days and wasn't coming up until after work the next day.  But we pushed through and bedtime came and I survived :)

My nephews fishing.  I love this pic.  I love those boys.

Our family's shelter

Shad caught the best fish of the trip on that first evening--it was big!

We enjoyed our morning on the 14th.  We'd been cold but not uncomfortable through the night and had a nice simple oatmeal breakfast.   

Brooke and Megan's favorite part of the trip was having command of their own flashlights.  They loved them.

I even tried my hand at fishing on Thursday.  

And proved--I still got it!  Look at that fishy!

Megan T and Chloe became fast friends.

Candy and Kenzie were such cute buddies--they got so dirty everyday but had so much fun.

We went to a ranger talk on Friday and then rode bikes over to a little park.

Silly girls playing in the piles of dead leaves.

Silly girls playing in the afternoon.  They all enjoyed trying fishing too.  Therefore my brother Shad spent a great deal of time every day re-stringing fishing poles and replacing lost bobbers.  He's the best.

The inside of our shelter.  Dan and I slept on the air mattress downstairs with Candy in the pack-n-play (there's also a picnic table down there).

Megan and Brooke's beds up in the loft.

You can't see it, but that's a bald eagle right there in the middle--really, it was!

We saved our best meal for last--lemon curry dutch oven chicken--yum, yum, and yum.

The last sunset (March 15).

All 12 grandkids from my family---age 12 down to 20 months

My family minus Dad and Tyler

Our family--looking pretty rough but we got a pic :)

My sister Jamie and her fam...

Our great buddies--the T family.  We are so glad they came along!

One more silly shot

Love this pic of Brooke and Maddie

And---we successfully wiped out the girls.  This was about 5 minutes into the ride home :)