Easter Sunday! 2013

What is it about little boys white shirts and ties? They just look so clean and handsome! They boys look like they belong on the cover of Baby Gap! Brett and I took them to the store to pick out their favorite tie and pants. We matched them. Yes. I'm that mom and I'm okay with it.

We had to order Daxton's white shirt in the mail. Now it's officially known as "my church shirt from the mailbox!"

My mom had given Tanner this cute Easter outfit and we thought their ties matched nicely with him. One day though, I will have all 3 in matching Sunday clothes.

Oh I'm a lucky mom. Maybe I say that because right now the house is quiet and everyone is sleeping, but looking at these pictures I feel so blessed. Look at these angelic faces Heavenly Father has entrusted me with. I am so grateful they are mine.

These are the 3 cutest future missionaries!!!

Then throw Brett in the mix... wow. That is one good lookin' group of boys!!!

They are my little rays of sunshine!

Easter at Grandma Linda's!

I realize every year I have the same posts. Grandma Nancy's house, My house, Grandma Linda's house all in order for Holidays. But it's what we do around here, it's fun and I love to remember the kids growing up from year to year. So here is yet another Easter post!

I recently got addicted to pinterest. It's a dangerous little website that inspires you to want to be crafty, to sew, cook, paint and get clever ideas for everything... including cooking. I came across these darling chick deviled eggs and gave the idea to Leesha, who makes our deviled eggs every year. They turned out sooo darling! Though, I'm still not sure how we all feel about eating an actual chick.

I've decided I can't keep up with chasing my kids around the yard to snap their every move of picking up an egg. Especially Isaac. He's fast!

Dax wondered the yard looking for his yellow eggs. He loved putting them in his little bag

He found one egg that was disturbing to him. It had feet coming out of the egg. (This was leesha's egg that she so cleverly packed into an egg for all the kids.) Daxton did not care for an egg with feet and tried to give it away several times.

I was too busy laughing so Aleesha cracked open the weird egg to prove to him there was a cute stuffed chick inside. He was shocked but surprisingly liked it after that.

Isaac loved his blue chick... but he's knows what this Easter egg hunt thing is all about!

I finally caught up with Isaac and his millions of blue eggs he found!

We managed to get a snap shot of the current 9 grand kids (plus one more... Ataka! Sadly, he left us recently to go back to Japan.) I'm always amazed how this picture turns out. We are excited to add two more boys to the bunch!

Hippity Hoppity... Easters on it's way!

I had some magic beans that were given to me for the boys this year. You have to plant them Easter night or they don't work. They resemble Jelly Beans... they probably taste like them too. But when you plant them, something magical happens in the morning! 

We almost forgot and it was pretty late when we planted them, but they still worked! 

Isaac anxiously awaited for his brother to wake up so they could run outside in the morning to see what these magic beans did. They found a GIANT FLOWER SUCKER! One was orange and one was yellow.

 

 They even spun, that's how cute they were.

Isaac searched the house for his basket, though the Easter Bunny really needs to step up his hiding spot because downstairs is not hard enough for Isaac!

He did find a magnifying glass in his basket. He has wanted one soooo bad. Mostly to fry bugs outside. Brett or I didn't teach him this. He learned it from our neighbor Bob (who is an adult by the way) and has talked about frying bugs ever since. Thanks Bob. 

Dax wasn't feeling great that morning... cause I don't think we ever have an Easter or Valentines day without sickness involved. But he still was happy with his little basket.

And even more happy when he found little candies inside. Not that I wanted him to eat a giant, blue marshmallow peep when he was sick... but he did, and he was thrilled about it. Happy Easter.

Easter at Grandma Nancy's

It was a beautiful day for an Easter egg hunt this year! Nothing like the rainy one from the year before. The kids had so much fun running in the yard finding their eggs. 

 Dax was looking for blue and eggs and was thrilled to find them this year.

 Lil' was pink and cute as a button!

Isaac was orange and had no trouble finding MOST of his eggs. Grandpa did try and be tricky in his hiding this year. Isaac found the Golden Egg for our family!

 We managed to get a picture of all the grand kids that were there.

 Even poor Jasmine cooperated in the sun for a minute.

Isaac dove right into the eggs finding chocolate and money in the golden egg. Dax was just happy with the chocolate (as you can see all over his face!) And his bendable bunny.

My boys are fascinated with Baby Jasmine. They hadn't seen her much until this point because of how much sickness we had flying around our family. Dax couldn't stop starring at her and neither of them wanted to give her up. They still fight over who gets to hold her.

The kids got to color eggs. Good thing too cause I bought the egg dye and never got around to coloring eggs this year. They still remind me we need to do that. We can color eggs in June, right?

Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys a butterfly pavilion. Basically, we order caterpillars and watch them grow up into butterfly's... more on that to come later. Isaac had been dying to watch them. Don't worry, we finally are doing it... in June!

They ended with making some Easter nest treats. It was a successful, fun day with the family!

Easter Bunny Hop!

Saratoga actually had an Easter celebration this year! It was super early... we had to drag the kids out at 7:30. Poor Dax laid in his bed with his blanket over his head saying, "no! I no wanna wake up." He eventually was happy and excited about the world. Not so much when we saw the giant Easter Bunny... but I can't blame him, a 6 foot rabbit would freak me out too.

At least Isaac liked him. I made Brett go stand in the picture and act like they like the bunny.

As we were waiting for the whistle to blow, I was telling Dax what to do. You run, run, run and grab and egg and put it in your bucket. He was ready! And so was his friend Taylor. The whistle blew, kids started running... there was a pile of eggs right in front of us for Dax to grab. I got all set to take a picture of him picking up the eggs in front of us all to realize, Dax was gone. I looked up and he was doing just as I said, run - run - run! He had his eye on the eggs in the middle and he wasn't stopping! He ran so fast passing so many eggs until he reached the middle.  It really made me laugh. Keep your eye on prize buddy!! 

Isaac ran over after collecting all of his eggs, he had a ton!!! The egg hunt was over in a matter of minutes, but it was really exciting for those few minutes. 

We said hello to Jake and Taylor and snapped a group photo.

Dax was excited he got marshmallow bunny tails and Isaac was just thrilled he had so many eggs! He was fast!! He had 3/4th's of his bucket filled up!

The egg hunt was at the new Neptune Park, we the kids played for a minute and then we left. 

Dax ate his candy in the car and Isaac blew his bunny whistle.

It was still so early we decided to take the kids out to breakfast to ihop. Breakfast is always a win-win with our kids, we had a great time!

The Last Easter Party! 2011

When a holiday comes around, it's a lot to blog about because not only do you have the things your family does, but you have celebrations for both sides of the family! So here are more pictures of Easter this year! We always get together with my family. This time, it was cold. I probably took it a little too far on bundling up Dax....

The mittens and hat probably weren't necessary and he took them off anyways, but a mother always prepares for any situation!

The kids had eggs all around the yard. Depending on their age, the eggs were hidden super easy, to super hard. Daxton's yellow eggs were beyond easy! You walked off the steps and they were literally in a line! All he had to do was walk over to one and put it in his basket. Walk up to the next one, and do the same thing. He was thrilled with the first one! And liked the second one.

By the 3rd, he trickled off and found the bunny outside to be more interesting. What about the other 8 eggs?! It took a long time to convince him to pick them up! Brett even threw a few in his bucket just to get it over with and so we didn't freeze to death.

This is my niece's bunny, Julie Roberts. She's super soft. (And incidentally, she's a boy... but it didn't fit with the name Acacia chose!) She always comes to the Easter party. What's Easter without a bunny!

Isaac on the other hand loved running around finding his eggs. They were all over. His color was green. In past years we have had to draw maps for where all the eggs were hidden. This year, we didn't and it took a bit longer to find them all. I'm pretty sure my nephew, Cayden had to give up on a couple because my brother-in-law couldn't remember where they were hidden!

We lost one of Isaac's but he finally found it at the end! SUCCESS!

The kids love opening their little trinkets. Aleesha got squinkies for the kids... which are apparently all the rage and the kids loved them! Isaac's were superhero ones. I'll be honest, I didn't even know what a squinky was.

Dax loved chatting with my mom. He kept walking over to her. She gave all the kids bunnies that pooped jelly beans. (Cause how may grandma's would do that?! They all thought she was awesome.)

We didn't tell Dax about the jellybeans, but he sure loved kissing this little plastic bunnies nose!

That is until he discovered the chocolate bunny... yes he ate this whole sucker. I'm surprised it didn't make him sick! He screamed if I tried to take it away.

For our craft project this year, we made rice krispie nests. Brett was the "model" for making the perfect nest! It looked great! He helped Dax. Most of the kids put in the colored coconut for grass, jelly beans for little eggs, peeps... but Brett didn't mess with any of that for Dax. "Less mess. Less for him to eat" was his motto.

Dax just had his fuzzy baby chick he played with in the nest. And he loved it!

Brett was right (I hate that!) Sometimes, the simpler the better! However, he did finally give him a few jellybean eggs.

Isaac piled it all on! The coconut, tons of eggs, peeps... he had a great time!

It was a really fun activity. The kids had a blast making them!

Because I clean my mom's house once a week, Dax knows the routine there. When all was said and done, he found the broom and got to work! That's my boy!

Kenz requested a picture with all of her nieces and nephews. I'm glad, cause getting this group together isn't easy! We have a cute bunch! (even the ones who refuse to wear shirts!)