Happy Birthday Josh & Eva

Today is Josh's 37th birthday.  Can you believe he was once this little and cute?!

Happy birthday Babe, we're so glad you were born!

Also, a very happy first birthday to my niece Eva.  Hope you have a wonderful birthday little Bug!

Happy Birthday Jo

Today Joshie is four years old.

It's really hard to believe that our little cowboy used to look like this...

... and now he looks like this.  I think four is that transition age from baby to kid.  He definitely isn't a baby anymore, but it's so much fun to see him grown into a little man.  Happy birthday little Jo!

Spring Break

The week before Easter was the twins' Spring Break.  We tried to fill the week up with cheap, fun things to do.  Which isn't hard with my kiddos.  I could hand them two sticks and an old tire and throw them outside and they'd stay busy for hours... or until someone got hurt.  We started the week off with an over-nighter at Uncle Didi's farm in Bozeman.

The kids played together non-stop.  Didi gave them rides in his wagon he built.  They only got stuck once and the kids had a blast.  I always love it when cousins get together, they become instant best friends.

While there we also visited the Museum of the Rockies.

This is always a major highlight for us when we visit Bozeman.

I was especially excited because they had a great gallery installation with many post-modern, Expressionist, and Pop art pieces.  Any time I get to see a Jackson Pollock or Chuck Close first hand makes me a happy woman.

The Museum of the Rockies has this great kids section with a ton for them to do.

There was the Yellowstone part.

Which included a cabin setting.   The kids cooked us a lot of food.

 There was a fishing pond full of magnetic fish that you catch with your magnetic fishing pole.

Joshie filled his quota and carried them around in a backpack.

Daddy helped little Jo out for a bit.  Daddy gets really excited about magnet fish.  Imagine what he'll be like when JoJo catches and actual fish!

There were tons of costumes for the kids to wear around and pretend in.

 Here's Gracie on the fire tower.

 Danica decided the swan sculpture needed to be ridden on.

Liam and Joshie ended our trip in Bozeman with a good bed jumping and then we said our goodbyes.

 Josh had to get back to work, so the kids and I stayed on at the ranch for a couple of days.

 We worked on the yard a bit and the kids and Gus enjoyed the endless freedom of running around outside.

  Joshie found some old walkie talkies and preoccupied most of his time trying to make them work and saying things like "copy" and "over and out".

I love this picture.  So cute and down to earth.

Then you see the reality of what was going on.  My son does not like getting pictures taken and he had just discovered he had a sliver.  So his world was pretty much ending at this moment.

After the ranch we went home to prepare for the Easter weekend.  We made these cute Chick Cupcakes (this is a good one to do with kiddos, click on it for the recipe and instructions).

Jo especially liked his job of sorting the M & M's.  I think about half of them got sorted into his mouth.

Danica also got to join in the fun.  The only problem was that since she helped create the cupcakes she was acutely aware of their presence and for the next three days would ask for a cupcake every 5 minutes.

One day Gracie decide to make an Easter themed lunch for everyone.  Gracie is really into food presentation.

The made applesauce bunnies (using apple slices for the ears), veggies that were inside a plastic egg, and a hot cross bun (using a dinner roll and cheese).  She was very proud of her creation.

Overall we had a very fun and eventful Spring Break.  I don't know about the kids, but I was definitely worn out!

Easter

This past Easter weekend was a blast.

It started with the kids waking up and coming upstairs to their Easter baskets.

Our church had two services this year with the first one starting at 9 a.m.  So it was an early Easter morning in our household.

Maddie got orange Peeps.  She was super excited because she's never seen orange Peeps and that is her favorite color.

And of course there was the traditional biting off of the chocolate bunny ears.

Everyone with their Easter head gear.

Everyone with the bunnies Grandma Karen got them.

After baskets it was a whirlwind of me single handedly feeding the kids breakfast and dressing them in their Easter best.  I ran up and down the stairs so many times I was beginning to feel the burn!

Then I rushed everyone outside for a quick Easter picture before we piled into the van.  I'm pretty proud, we did make it on time and without any tears!

The kids had to stay for both services.  But they lucked out because they had an Easter egg hunt during both services.

It was kinda intense... there was cash involved... and of course candy!

And they ended up with way too much candy.  But it made four hours of church go by much faster!

Afterwards we rushed home for a snack and the Easter bunny came to our house, so egg collection was a must.

And to put the traditional Yakos lamb cake together.  Gracie wanted to do blue eyes.  This was my first time attempting this cake, hopefully next years will be a little less scary and the right ear won't fall off.

This is proof that I occasionally do wear dresses and skirts.  Rest assured, this is not becoming a habit.

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpas for Easter dinner and...

you guessed it, another egg hunt.

Yes, that was, count them, four egg hunts my children participated in.

They got way too much candy for a human their size.

This is what Danica looks like when she smiles while also trying to squint from the bright sun, while also saying cheese.

It was a fun day.  We were also exhausted by the end, but happy.  And we were especially thankful to be celebrating the resurrection of our Savior.  Hope y'all had a good Easter as well!