Easter Eggs

Tonight we dyed eggs.  Levi picked a Pirate egg kit out of the Target ad a month ago.  He has been so excited about making pirates.  While we were doing the eggs, Levi ran around the table singing, "yo ho ho and a yo ho ho."  It was so cute and funny!

Here are the boys dying the eggs.

Ethan and I also bought a kit to make speckled eggs.  It was a good distraction while we were waiting for the pirate eggs to dry.  Here I am trying to show the boys how to "speckle" the eggs.

Here is the finished product.  The boys were supposed to give us their favorite pirate face, but only one participated!  

And then, because we just love to dress up so much, we had to get out our pirate stuff!

Here is Cale helping put the pirates together.  He did make the statement "this is the longest night ever!"  It was 10:00pm before we put the boys to bed tonight.  But I will say that this is the first year that it has not been completely stressful to color the eggs.  Plastic all the way until your kids are at least five! :-)

And now we are ready for our Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow night at Grandma's.  And for Pioneer Woman's Cherry Crisp that I am planning to make for dessert tomorrow!! Yumm!!!

Anna's first birthday

I am still trying to figure out a different model for the blog, so my pictures are a mess.  But here are a few!  This is actually the morning after the party.  I was playing dress up and Anna was playing with her new toy!

This was during the party.  Anna was not feeling well.  We think that she is getting a new tooth.  So....we had to keep her blanky close by!

I made a strawberry cake for the party and my sister in law, Hope, made the cookies.  All of it was wonderful and thankfully it is all gone now!

Posing for a family pic!

I tried to put her in the high chair to eat her cake and she was having none of it.  This picture was taken after I rescued her!

Her new dress from Nanny and Pepaw.  I may use this one for Easter instead of the one I was planning.

Over all it was a good party.  We had lots of food, family and friends.  Anna wasn't feeling good and she went to bed soon after she opened her presents.  We didn't hear from her until the next morning.  She was one tired girl!  

Getting Ready

I'm back!! I know that the two of you that read my blog are so excited!

Anna Paige is about to turn one! In some ways, it seems like it has been the longest year and in some ways I am wondering where the time went! So we took some pictures the other day for her birthday invitations and ended up not using them. I found something else that I liked better. So I thought that they would be fun for the blog.

Not sure what happened to this picture. It just uploaded weird. She really thought that the letters tasted good!! I could not keep them out of her mouth!

You would think that she is crying in the picture because I put the letter down in front of her, but that is not the case. I actually wiped her nose before I took the picture and that made her mad. She refused to hold the letter then and just cried until I took her inside. I makes for a funny picture though!

Hopefully the professional pictures will go better! (as long as she doesnt have a runny nose!)

July

So July has lots of pictures, especially of A.P.!!!

My sweet kiddos. Not sure why everyone's head is tilted!

Our family on Grandmothers front porch.
A silly picture.

The kids in front of the flowers.

At the fireworks show!

Sitting in the Bumbo!

Chubs!

E floating in Nanny's pool!

L jumping in!

My boys.

Ethan's baptism.

This is what A.P. learned at VBS!

Me and Cale at VBS!

I actually caught one of her smiles!

I think this is the only picture I have of just us girls!

Using her pretty bib! This is only for the drool! It is to pretty to use with food!

Watching T.V. on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

She is always joined by the boys when I put her down anywhere!!

Trying to get a picture of her curls right after her bath.

June

So E got to participate in his first piano recital this Spring. He did great!! He played one piece that his teacher picked out and then she asked him to play one piece that he had written.

He did great on both pieces. I am pretty sure that he didn't mess up at all! We are so proud of all that he has accomplished through piano with only 1 year of lessons!

He got an award at the recital for getting Superior marks at the Spring Clinic! He was the only young student that got to participate! We thought it was so funny to see him up there with all of the high school Juniors and Seniors! There were a few 4th and 5th graders too!

E with his teacher Ms. Shirley. We love Ms. Shirley! She has been such an encouragement to E this year! She always takes time to listen to the songs that he has written and help him in any way that she can. I could not have asked for a better teacher!

We decided to have a little cookout at the house one night. We all cooked our hot dogs and smores over the fire. The boys thought this was great fun!

We ended up staying outside until after dark. We had alot of fun teaching E and L to play ping pong and taking walks around the block. The boys were riding scooters and bikes though! No walking for them!

It was such a fun and relaxing night! The boys are already asking if we can do it again! I loved that we ended the night with a Bible story about Gideon!

The boys have both been really into dressing up as pirates! It is soo cute! L had already lost the eye patch by the time I got the camera out!! They call each other "Captain Hook" and "Smeed." The playground is the pirate ship. I love how they use their imaginations! (or maybe they are just copying their new favorite show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates!"

Here is A.P. before church one day! I was trying to catch a smile and was being very unsuccessful! I do love Sundays so that I can get her all dolled up!!

Here is Cale and the kids on Fathers Day!

They all love their daddy!! I cant blame them though! He is a pretty good daddy!!

One night I finally decided that I was going to need help if I was going to catch a smile on camera. So Cale and the boys entertained A.P. while I snapped a few pictures!! And we finally had some success! She is sooo pretty when she smiles!

Not that I am proud of her or anything!!!

This is what we do most of the time!! We all sit around and entertain her! It is amazing that she will play by herself at all! One of us is talking to her all of the time almost!! (yes, that is a Sonic cup in the floor! we had just made a night time Sonic run. it is our summer guilty pleasure!)

I just took this picture this morning! The boys are always asking to hold her and I dont say yes very often so I thought that I should snap a picture!!

Pictures during May

Here are several pictures that we took during the month of May. There were alot of things to celebrate during this month and of course we love documenting A.P.'s growth.

This is A.P. in a dress that my great grandmother made for my dad when he was a baby. It is 60 years old!!

A. P. all dressed up and ready for Baby Dedication. L wanted us to put her in the Bumbo seat. He loves for her to sit in it and is always asking me to put her in there!!

Here I am with my three kiddos. I am one blessed Mama to have three beautiful, healthy children.

My crew on Mother's Day.

A.P. dressed up for Decoration Sunday. One of my favorite things is Sunday morning when I get to dress her up in fancy dresses!! She is my own little doll!

This is E after his bath one night. He has become obsessed with his teeth. He loves to brush and floss. I thought that he looked like a little man on this night. I know the day is coming when he will be worried about his looks and will spend lots of time in front of that mirror! Ha! Right now I will cherish his being a little boy.

Our family at Decoration.

L's birthday was this month and he got a bicycle. He was so cute when he found it in the garage on the morning of his birthday.

L blowing out the candle on his birthday biscuit.

Pepaw and A.P.

L graduated from preschool during May. He got to hold the Christian flag during the program. He was so cute saying the 23rd Psalm and showing us everything that he had learned.

Grandma and A.P.

Grandma and her boys.

L with his teachers, Ms. Gerri and Ms. Annie

Our church had AWANA store during May. E had been saying alot of verses so he had alot of money! He bought this rocket with his money along with some other things. We took it to the farm the next day to try it out. It goes up very high and travels quite a ways. The kids (and Cale) have had a great time with it!

Cale trying to shoot the rocket off.

The boys during playtime with A.P. They love it when I put her in the floor. I am secretly afraid that they are going to kick her in the face or drop some toys on her. So far she has been safe......

A.P. loves to be outside! We try to get her outside everyday if possible.

A.P. and her daddy. Love at first sight!