Easter Weekend

Easter weekend ...

Dying eggs with Aunt Courtney

And finding them

There was lots of "throwing" the eggs into the baskets

Jackson "won" the egg hunt, but he kept sharing his eggs with Cooper, too.
Sweet.

Easter bunny came.

Charlie's eggs were filled with Puffs

Mawmaw Cynthia Bunny came, too.
The boys got buckets full of goodies.

Very excited!

Mmm.

Church went surprisingly well.
We were there for close to 2 hours.

Charlie fell asleep on Colin at some point during Mass.

Family picture. I think this one is a frame-er.

We went out for brunch at the Silver Fox.

The boys were incredible.

Silly, but really good.

This picture makes me smile.
This picture makes me realize how much Jackson and Colin look alike.

Charlie played peek-a-boo with his napkin.

Jackson thought that the ketchup in a "boat" was hilarious

Family shot (Courtney was our photographer).
Loving the expressions on all the boys faces.

McKinney Easter Egg Hunt

Colin's mom, dad, and youngest sister, Courtney, joined us for Easter this year. We had a great time. Made some more cookies (I'm done with those for a while, now!) Took the kids to an Easter event through the city of McKinney - Easter Egg Hunt plus some other "fun." Like a train ride that we waited in line for 1 1/2 hours. And when it was our turn, it was also the time for Cooper's age group to hunt eggs, so we missed that.
While Colin waited in line with Charlie, I took Jack and Coop to see the firetruck.

It's hard to explain about "waiting in line" to a two year old.
He kept running after the train, saying, "I RIDE! I RIDE!"

A nice officer offered to take our picture.
Jackson was in the mood to cooperate.


Jackson was excited to be taller than the tires.


And here it is, the long awaited train.

We were tired.

Let the egg collecting begin!

Was thankful that Cooper didn't get trampled by the 7 year olds.



Checking out their loot.

New Developments

Lots of new things happening in our house this week. First of all, and in my opinion, the best news - Charlie is only spitting up one or two times a day!!!! People, this is big time! I feel like throwing a party to celebrate. Hooooorrraaayyyy! And he is still as cute as ever.

Jackson decided he now wants to eat apples like his friend, Henry. So, no more cutting and peeling apples for me! Hooray! And it takes him like a year to finish one, so it's a great time-occupier.

He gets a little carried away and I have to remind him to not eat the core and all the seeds.

And, Cooper , he is potty trained. It was really, really easy. And I feel guilty for saying that, but it was such a nice surprise after how stressful it was the first go round with Jackson. But, I'm not taking it for granted. It's such a wonderful surprise that it is done! Only one set of diapers to buy! Hoorah!

Oh, I should explain the underwear. Jackson ran upstairs to grab a new pair of underwear for Cooper, and tried to throw it downstairs to us.

He loves his big boy "wutah-wear"


He also has fallen in love with puzzles. About 2 weeks ago, he wanted to do jigsaw puzzles, but wouldn't even look at what he was doing. He just insisted that I help him. Over and over and over again. I tried to show him the edge pieces, and matching colors, and he was completely oblivious. However, something clicked last week, and now all he talks about are puzzles. He can't wait to run to the coffee table and put one together when we get home.
I wouldn't say he is flying through them, but at least he is interested in trying now.

I'm so proud of all three boys.

Peter Rabbit

We started off Easter week with a visit from our own personal Easter Bunny. Jackson has named him Peter Rabbit, and we see him almost every day. He eats our weeds, and some of our flowers. I think he is actually a few different rabbits, but nonetheless, he's so much fun to have around! The boys feed him carrots, so he keeps coming back. And I'm hoping to teach him a few tricks before Charlie's first birthday (it will be a Peter Rabbit party) and he can be the entertainment.
While we were watching Peter from our kitchen window, Jackson really wanted to go out and play in the rain. Of course, it stopped raining when we got outside, so he was disappointed.

Jackson LOVES his umbrella - (thanks Jessica!)


But Colin kept shaking the tree for Jackson so he could pretend it was raining, and he was thrilled about that.

I just had the best memory about my dad.
He would open the garage doors (actually, it might have been before we had any doors) and he would put out two lawn chairs for us, and we would just sit and enjoy the storm.
There was no way I would have sat out there with all the lightning and thunder without him, but with him next to me it was so wonderfully fun.
I feel it is a gift from God when I have such an unexpected rich memory of my dad.

Warriors and Easter Fun

This past weekend our friends, the McCormicks came in town for a visit. We really enjoyed having them here - they're the best. On top of being just plain cool, they also listened to us talk about our kids nonstop the whole weekend, and seemed to enjoy hanging out with the kids, too. : )


On Saturday morning, brave David and Colin ran the Warrior Dash. They had a great time, and actually did it in like 31 minutes or something. It is a 3 mile run plus something like 12 or 15 obstacles. They want Elizabeth and I to run it next year. You get really dirty. And have to run 3 miles. And there is fire, and barbed wire involved. I hope I'm pregnant when that date rolls around : )



Elizabeth did some marathon shopping in Dallas, and I took the boys to swim lessons. Once that was over I brought them all to the doctor - since Charlie woke up early that morning with croup. Poor guy. Turns out he had double ear infections, too. He's getting better. I think. There is a lot of snot. And he wants to be held. A lot .




The boys got home around 2 or 3pm and before that I managed (with Eliz's help) to bake four cookies and "decorate" them - which was tricky since the royal icing should dry over night, and I let mine set for about 45 minutes. So, they were still wet when Colin and David got home.






On Saturday night I baked some more cookies and decorated them on Sunday. We brought them for our Mom's Group Easter Party at Shelley's house. They actually turned out cute, since I let them dry ...
The kids had a blast at the Easter Party! It's always a little tricky trying to fix lunch plates for all four of us when Charlie is on my hip - kept grabbing grapes off of the plate or trying to knock off the chicken nuggets while I was trying to get some salad. Anyway, no one choked and we all ate. It makes me think - how many kids can you have before you can't go anywhere without your husband around to help.