Easter

As promised here is our Easter day in photos.  Grab a snack & settle in, this is gonna be a long one...

Lets start the day before with dying Easter eggs.

Maddie cried the next day when she realized that were were going to crack the shells & eat the eggs.

Easter morning all the kiddos get their Easter baskets first thing before church.  (Once again, please excuse the piles of laundry in the background.  I'm not gonna fool ya', they're always there.)

Their baskets are filled with a couple little treats, stickers, sidewalk chalk, Play-Dough, & very few pieces of candy.  As you can see they don't need the extra sugar.

As a pastor's wife I have the joy of getting everyone in their Easter best by myself & to church on time for an extra early service.

I woke up at 6am and we were still 15 minutes late.  This is because I insisted on taking a few pictures.  If I'm going to have a crazy morning of getting ready I want the cute pictures that reward all my efforts.

I want to have proof that my kids look good, because by the end of church they always look disarrayed.

 Overall I'd say they turned out pretty good for one Mom getting four kids under the age of 6 ready.

Joshie is not fond of having his picture taken, so I had a lot of pictures just of the three girls.

 Each girl got an Easter bonnet.

 They looked so cute & they wore them proudly.

I think Maddie looks rather Southern here.

I love this picture.

After church we went to my parents house for Easter dinner.

It was such a beautiful day.  The first one we've had all Spring!  Everyone soaked up the sun & enjoyed not having to wear a bulky jacket.

 At some point the Easter Bunny came & all chaos broke out.

It was fast & furious & the kids got way to much candy.

 Danica got to do her first egg hunt.  She got 3 eggs in her basket & then decided to re-hide those 3 eggs.  Next year she'll get the concept better.  But she loved eating the candy inside.

 Nice haul Maddie.

Good score Gracie.

 Let's see your's JoJo... oh, your too busy eating the candy already.

Way to much candy!

 It was even warm enough to run through the sprinkler before dinner was served.

Only a Montana kid could handle a sprinkler run in 65 degree weather... it really felt like a scorcher though after a long & cold Winter/Spring.

 You got to see the best of all my shots.  It takes me many clicks of the the button to get one good shot of so many little ones.  Here are some of the ones that did not make the cut.

Gracie's Pockets

I have had a horrible cold the last 2 days, & will be away from my computer today.  But I promise to do a big Easter post tomorrow showing all the day held for us, & most of all the cute outfits the kids wore.  So today I do a quick post for your entertainment.

As many of you know Gracie is quite the collector.  Not of one thing specifically, but basically anything she can get her hands on.  This morning I decided to wash her winter coat.  I'm going out on a limb her & hoping that they will not longer need their big puffy coats anymore until fall.  I tried this a few weeks ago & had to pull out the freshly laundered coats so the girls could go to school in warmth.  So wish me luck!

Anyway, as any Mom knows you must check pockets first before throwing something into the wash.  Nothing is worse than a crayon that makes it into the dryer.  I reached in & this is what I pulled out of those two small pockets in Gracie's coat!  Seems the girl has been collecting things on the playground during recess.  Bits of fabric, a piece of wood, a piece of medal, a bottle cap (I don't get that one at all).  Don't tell her, but I threw it all in the trash... I hope she doesn't remember that all these "goodies" were in her pockets.  And as always I plea with you not to turn her in to the "Hoarding: Buried Alive" show.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Grandma Bee

The circle of life has never been so evident in our family as it was today.  Yesterday we welcomed a beautiful new baby girl to our (extended) family, and this morning our family says goodbye to our sweet Grandmother.

Josh's Grandma Bee went to be with the Lord this morning.  We will miss her sweet & generous heart, her display of her love for the Lord, her sweet birthday cards for the kids containing the number of dollar bills that corresponded with their age, and her delicious baking.

She is the last of our Grandma's to go & she will be missed greatly.  I feel privilege to have known her.

Honored to have our first born wear her name proudly (the Elizabeth in Maddie-Rose Elizabeth is from Grandma Bee).  And blessed that she was able to get to know the twins (but sad that she never got to meet Joshie & Danica).

We will miss our Grandma greatly & cannot wait to see her again in heaven.  Thank you Grandma Bee for the role you have played in each of our lives.  We love you.

Happy Birthday... Times Two

Normally today's post would be solely dedicated to my sweet husband celebrating his 36th birthday today.

But now he has to share it because at 4:35 this morning my sis-in-law Amanda & her husband Aaron welcomed there sweet 5 pound 11 ounce peanut of a daughter into the world.  She is so cute, I wish I could jump over to Philadelphia right now & hold her!  Welcome new sweet little niece, we love you so much already.

And although his entry into the world was 36 years ago we are so blessed to be celebrating Josh's birthday today as well.  By the way, he really wanted to share his birthday with his new niece.  Yesterday he kept telling Amanda to hold out until after midnight.

For his birthday Josh will be eating a lot of chips, watching Fox News, drinking coffee, going on  a bear hunt & eating burgers.  This is all he wanted to do on his big day which makes things pretty easy for me.  Look at that tie, & haircut, & smooth pose...

... he obviously had been working on the pose for a while.  Happy Birthday Daddy & Hubby!

Bag Lady

Danica loves to to put clothes on by herself.  She's not usually successful, but everyday she attempts to put on pants, jackets, & shoes.  The only thing she is successful at putting on is necklaces.

Since she figured out how to put a necklace around her neck she decided she could do this with other items as well.  She often walks around with a towel, pj bottoms & backpacks adorning her neck.

But her most favorite thing to put on is this bag.  I don't know where it came from or how she got it, but it is her absolute favorite accessory.

She walks around all day with this cumbersome bag around her neck.  But don't dare take it off her, she will let you know how unhappy she is & then will immediately put it back around her neck.

It will be interesting to she what her style of fashion is when she's older.  Hopefully she's moved on from this weird felt bag by then.

Happy Birthday Liam

Here's a little shout out to my sweet little nephew Liam.  (Can you tell there are a lot of spring birthdays in our family?!  And I only mention the children... don't even get me started on all the adult birthdays... phew.)

He's one today & is the sweetest little man.  Look at that chubby arm... so cute.  Happy Birthday buddy!

Happy Birthday Joshie

 I can't believe our little man turned three today!  I swear I was just pregnant with him.  Where did three years go?!

 I can vividly remember the day he was born.  And how we thought he had dark hair...

... until we gave him a bath & realized it was a golden blonde.

Over the next few months it got lighter.  And now I would describe his hair as white.

Anyone who sees him first comments on his hair, it's kind of his trademark.

He was the best baby... I have no complaints.

And as he grew he only became more sweet & more fun.

Speaking of sweets, JoJo definitely has a sweet tooth.  He always wants candy or sugar added to things.

Thank goodness he's a diligent tooth brusher & flosser.

He loves to hunt & shoot things.  There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't play with his guns.

He's also very passionate about music & if this boy doesn't become a musician & will be completely shocked.

He's kind of a mama's boy, but he hates taking pictures.

But don't mistake the title of "mama's boy" to equal girlie... he's 100% male.

He loves to cuddle & I hope that never changes. (p.s. the pink socks are part of a Dad dressing the child catastrophe.)  I do hope however that he stops sucking his fingers soon.  But he's done it since he was born so I think that one will be a battle.

He adores his "gigi" (blanket) & has to fall asleep with the tags on his gigi touching his cheek.

And even though I would want him to stay like this forever...

... I'm excited to see where God takes him in life & the man he becomes.  And I'm honored that I get to be the woman who raises him & gets to be part of this precious boy's life.

I'm so blessed to have such a sweet little man & proud to be called his mama.  Happy Birthday JoJo!