Easter 2013

Saturday afternoon (after the egg hunt), I had to run to the store to buy eggs (which they were just about sold out of) because I had forgotten about dying eggs. 

The boys had fun making a massive mess.  

I'm not sure which got more dye; Kehlton's eggs or his hands!

Jessa had fun just being outside!

From the sounds and the level of excitement in our house Sunday morning, you would have thought it was Christmas rather than Easter!  The boys were very excited that the Easter bunny had visited in middle of the night.

Sharing their fun with Jessa, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

I kind of spaced doing photos before church, and Brychan had every stitch of clothing off within 20 seconds of walking in the front door once we got home.  So, Easter photos this year are mostly of Jessa, with a few of Kehlton thrown in.  

She was more interested in playing with the grass than taking photos.

I LOVE this photo! And Kehlton's outfit?  He did have a nice, Easter appropriate outfit on before church.  Unfortunately, it ended up completely covered in chocolate before we made it out the door.  This shirt and tie combo was what he absolutely insisted on wearing.  Between the boys there are several other ties he could have chosen from, but it had to be this tie with this shirt.  Gotta love him!!!

And finally?  Jessa just being Jessa.  We see this face all the time.  She loves making the noise that comes from sucking on her bottom lip.  I absolutely love this little baby doll of mine!!  And I have to admit, I had way too much fun having a girl to dress up for Easter!

On the way home from church, we asked the boys what they had talked about in Primary that day.  Brychan's class evidently skipped an Easter lesson and talked about the Holy Ghost.  But Kehlton surprised us all by telling us every detail about the crucifixion and Christ's resurrection.  I am always amazed at what they pick up and retain when you think they aren't paying any attention! I am so in love with my little ones and love that I get to be their mom.  I am so grateful for my husband and our beautiful family.  We hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours!

Easter Tradition

As per our normal family tradition, we spent the Saturday before Easter at the baseball fields for the City of Peoria's Annual Easter Egg Hunt. And, as always, we had so much fun!

The boys got to "drive" a fire truck (I promise they were much more excited about it than Brychan's face would lead you to believe!),

We played lots of different carnival games (this one they're flipping fish into a basket.  And, by the way, don't you love Jessalyn's rolls on her thighs??),

And waited patiently for our turn to hunt eggs!

Kehlton actually participated this year (last year the huge crowds freaked him out and he refused to do anything other than hold David's leg) and was very proud of his loot.

Hangin' out with Sparky

Our weather was gorgeous!  In years past it's been a little toasty, but this year was absolutely perfect. I was feeling bad for all our friends who were posting Easter egg hunt photos from various different states all bundled up in coats, mittens and hats.  Phoenix may have horrendously hot summers, but the rest of the year MORE than makes up for that! :)

Creative Juices

For the last day of our Spring Break, I took the kids over to Scottsdale to visit Lala at work.  Lala is a manager at a super fun place called Make Meaning, where you can make all sorts of fun things.  Soap, jewelry, candles, ceramics, cakes...it really is a fun place to spend a day.  It had been awhile since we had been there, so we made an afternoon of it!

The boys were spoiled rotten.  They started off making soap.  I think in all, we came home with 6 different soaps; all full of fun little trinkets and toys for the boys to keep once they use up all their soap.

We finally made Jessalyn's "Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament" while we were there (with her little footprints on it).  It's been on our to-do list since the beginning of December, but since our Christmas season kind of got derailed, the ornament was one of the many things that got put on the back burner.  But.  It's now finished and I love it, so that's all that matters, right?

After the boys finished with their soaps, and after an unplanned visit to the cute little candy shop across the courtyard, the boys moved on to make a cake.  They got to spray "paint" their base fondant...

And then decorated it with a lovely assortment of treasures.  Kehlton's side of the cake was Easter themed, and Brychan's side was all dinosaurs.

It was a fun afternoon!  Daddy had a scout campout that night, so we grabbed some dinner and a movie, ate the boys' yummy cake and had a slumber party in the family room (where Mommy was reminded that sleeping on the floor is way more fun when you're 3 and 5).

The Start of Beautiful Weather

It's been awhile, so I figured it was time to check in again.  We are staying as busy as ever and loving (almost) every minute of it!

Obviously, our biggest excitement this month was Brychan's birthday!  I seriously cannot believe he's 5 already.  If somebody could please just make life slow down a bit, I would greatly appreciate it.  He was so excited to take chocolate donuts (with sprinkles!) to school on his birthday, and then the day after we went to the zoo with Lala.

Last week, we had a small classroom event to go to at Brychan's school, and we got to sit and talk to his teacher for awhile.  She wants to write a recommendation for him to get into the gifted program for Kindergarten (which evidently is only available at one elementary school in our district - NOT ours).  We are so proud of him!! The kid doesn't miss ANYthing and is pretty dang sharp.  It'll be interesting to see how he does.  Now.  If only we knew whether we are going to be in Arizona for hime to start Kindergarten or Texas...

Anyway.  Back to birthday.

Kehlton LOVED petting the sting rays. 

He would have stayed right there all day long if we would have let him.

Checkin' out the flamingos

Lala and her crew

This monkey was so much fun! 

He was very interested in what everybody outside of his cage was doing,

and he obviously wanted some attention and/or treat. 

Either way, we had fun playing with him for awhile.  The boys thought it was great!

We are also loving our beautiful weather now that it's decided to be warm! 

 Jessa and I enjoyed playing outside for awhile today.

Now's the perfect time to come visit! 



We Are Still Here!

My mother sent me a text earlier this week asking if we were still alive. They hadn't heard from me and my Facebook page(s) and Blog(s) have evidently been too quiet for too long.  :)  We're still here.  Just insanely busy.  These days, our typical days look like this:

7:30-8:00:  Get up, feed Jessa, scriptures with Dave
8:00-8:45:  Feed boys (again; they typically help themselves to whatever they can scrounge in the kitchen before I get up), get them dressed, get myself dressed and get everybody out the door so we can...
9:00 - 10:30:  Meet up with a couple of my girlfriends to work out.
10:30-11:45: Get home, lunch, get ready for school and get everybody out the door again to pick kids up for carpool to school.
12:00: Drop kids off at school.  9 times out of 10, run by the post office on the way home
12:00-3:00: Try to get the house clean, some sewing, feed Jessa, feed me if I'm lucky, any other Kadydid work, pay bills, etc...
3:00:  After school snacks, go over school day, spend time with the boys, start getting ready for dinner and Dad to get home at 5:00.

After 5:00 varies with whatever day of the week it is.  Monday = FHE, Wednesday = YW, Thursday = Scouts.  Then usually, once we get the boys to bed around 8:00, I'm back to the sewing machine until 11:00 most nights. And starting next week, you can throw Joy School into the mix once a week for Kehlton.

I know it's no busier than most families; it just feels crazy for us right now.  And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Kadydid has been SO busy lately.  We're not sure what happened, but the shop has exploded, and we're grateful for it.  It just takes up a lot of precious time.  ;)

Enough about that!  Time for photos!

Jessalyn is seriously the sweetest little thing.  When she smiles (which is all the time), she smiles with her entire body - her arms shake and her face just looks like it's going to explode.  We LOVE her!!!  She's still sleeping like a champ, hardly ever fusses and just goes with the flow.

K.  So I bought this sweet hat for $1.00.  I think I'll definitely get my money's worth as it will probably fit her for the next 2 winters.

The boys still love Jessa just as much as they did when we brought her home.  They're always asking to hold her, play with her, kiss her, etc.  And it seems to be physically impossible for them to walk by her without touching, tugging, squishing or hugging her.  Luckily, she doesn't mind it at all.

Side note on Kehlton?  He hates Primary.  HATES it.  He's afraid of his teachers and will not go.  Even with David or I going with him.  Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

And just some more lovin' on Jessa.  Can you tell we really, really love her?  And I think she and Brychan will always have a special bond; there is just something between the two of them.  She will definitely always have a best friend in him!

Bye Bye Winter!

After a week or so of horribly cold weather, we are SO glad that winter is now over, and we are on to beautiful weather for awhile before it starts getting hot.  And before you all start laughing at how wimpy we are, we woke up one morning with our pipes completely frozen.  So see?  It has been cold!!

The boys found this little guy in the yard over the weekend, which is a sure sign of warm weather!  He's our first lizard of the "season"; here's to finding many more!

M.I.A.

As everybody I'm sure knows, December was not a very fun month around here. What is usually a month full of fun activities, outings and photos became a month of sadness, coping and healing. We started 2012 off with a murder and ended with a fatal gun accident. I'm seriously hoping 2013 is a little bit nicer to us!

So, amid all the chaos last month, here are a few photos we managed to get (and an advanced warning that there are photos of little boys and their tighty whiteys!)!

The first day of winter break was dry, sunny and warm. We were dog-sitting for some friends, and she was so kind as to dig several large holes in the back yard that made perfect mud pools for my boys to play in. They had a delightfully muddy time.

Fast forward to Christmas Sunday.  

We took lots and lots of photos, and ended up with a few cute ones with loving brothers,

And sly, half-smiles

Until we were DONE.

I just love this photo; her screaming face, her precious dress (thank you, Michelle!!) and those delicious rolls of chub on her arms that I just want to nibble.

Christmas Eve we had fun with Mark, Jocie and Hallie, and then Christmas was finally here.

Lala came over, Santa made his appearance, and we had a really nice day.

The boys had fun playing with all their new stuff,

And David and I managed to go see Les Miserables (which I LOVED).

It was a perfect, lazy day.

Now, we are spending the rest of our break playing

And modeling for Mommy.

Hopefully, life will start getting to be a little more normal this month,

 with a few more fun activities and a few more blog updates!