Easter and all that fun stuff!

So I know I am super late on this post but we've been busy. So here are all our Easter pictures. My mom had all the grandkids over to dye easter eggs. This was something we grew up doing with our grandma so it is a special tradition. The kids were having a great time but we did have one minor problem. After the kids were done, Blake decided he would mix the colors together. He's a boy and likes doing boy things (like experiments) so this seemed like a good idea to him. He accidentally spilled the blue dye all over my moms almost white carpet. It was a disaster. It took my mom hours of cleaning to get most of it out. There is still blue dye in the carpet but most of it came out.

The day before Easter Chelsea and I took the kids to a couple of Easter egg hunts. The kids had a GREAT time and Jack even won a huge easter basket full of stuff and a big stuffed easter bunny.
That evening we met Stan and Ivy for dinner. After dinner we came back to the house and they brought easter bags with lots of goodies for the kids. Of course, the kids LOVE the fun gifts. There favorite being the giant lollipop!


On easter morning we did our usual easter baskets. Emily set out carrots and water for the easter bunny the night before. Matt and I nibbled on them to make it look like a real bunny was here. When she woke up in the morning, the first thing she did was go check the carrots and water. She couldn't understand why the bunny nibbled on the carrots but didn't eat them. She was thinking that the easter bunny missed our house. Kids are so funny. :-)
After that we went to church and then over to my grandparents house for an afternoon full of yummy food, easter egg hunts, good family time, and games.
My parents and most of the grandkids. We couldn't get Lauren in the picture.

I love this picture of Matt. I can't remember what he was laughing about but I love seeing people laugh. It brings a smile to my face.

We haven't taken a picture with just the 4 of us in a LONG time.



Papa, Emily and Amanda playing checkers

Pictures from the easter egg hunts.

Easter Party at Preschool

Emily had another holiday party at preschool and once again a great time was had by all. She got all dressed up in her pretty new Easter dress (1 of 2). The morning started out with a school wide parade around the playground. All of the classes had made Easter hats and then the parents come to watch them parade around in their hats. Very cute.



After that, we went inside for some fun activities. They made bunnies and dyed eggs. Matt happened to have the day off (which was so nice for Emily) and he got to help Emily with her crafts.

Each class then went out to the play yard and had a visit with the Easter bunny. Emily went right up to him and was lovin on him! Jack was really nervous and didn't want to get closer then 10 feet away. But he had chocolate and Jack couldn't resist. After about 10 minutes of trying, I actually got a picture of the 2 of them with the Easter bunny. I would have taken them to the mall to get their pictures done with the bunny but I really thought it would be a complete waste of time. So this will have to do this year, no mall picture for us.

After that they came inside and had an Easter egg hunt around their classroom and then on to the party. They had some delicious food and had a great time.


Spending the day with Emily at school really made me proud of her. She has come SO far since we started her back in July of last year. She's really a good girl and has learned how to follow directions very well. She is very patient, plays well with the other kids, listens to the teachers and just all around really enjoys school and learning. I really like her preschool and her teachers and appreciate the great :-) deal my sister was able to get me.

Disney On Ice

Last weekend Matt and I took the kids to Disney On Ice- Disneyland Adventure. I had been to a Disney on Ice when I was young and I remember loving it so I thought that Emily would really enjoy it. Most of it centered around the Incredibles but it they had all the Disneyland characters which my kids, of course, LOVED. I had bought the tickets a while ago and forgot how good they were. We were about 6 rows up from the ice. So the show was right in front of us, but we were cold. We had a lot of fun together!

Vegas Baby!!!

Our much anticipated trip to Vegas has come and gone. Last Friday we drove to Vegas for the weekend. We met Greg and Amy and Mike and Becky at our hotel (the Westin) and had a fun filled weekend with some friends. I feel liked we laughed the entire weekend and we have some great memories to take away from it.

Bowling at the New Orleans hotel- I hadn't been bowling in 10 years and boy did I stink at it.




Breakfast at the Paris hotel

Dinner at Boa (a steakhouse in the Ceasar's Palace hotel) It was absolutely delicious :-)



We thought we were going to a comedy show. We were all so ready to have a good night of laughs. This was not the case. Danny Gans is a singing impersonator. There were a couple (and I mean like 2) parts that were funny but the majority of it was just terrible to have to sit through. The only up side was that they messed our tickets up so we got a 2 for 1 deal and didn't have to pay for the second ticket :-]. Luckily we know how to have our fun, the car ride home from the Wynn hotel was pretty funny. Poor Becky had a migraine the whole night and didn't get to enjoy the dinner or the terrible show.
Picture taken at the Danny Gans show (at the Wynn hotel)

Matt and I decided to take a couple of hours on Saturday night to walk around the strip a little bit. We made it through a few hotels- Bellagio, Paris, Planet Holleywood, Ballys...
Here we are in front of Bellagio

Here we are in Planet Holleywood

Is summer here yet???

Hahaha........This picture pretty much sums up the last 2 months. I can't keep their fingers out of their noses and mouths. Which is why I can't get them well......

I know I've been slacking on my postings but I just can't find the time to keep up with this and facebook. There hasn't been a whole lot of news to report from the last couple of months. Mostly just the usual stuff. We've had a ton of illnesses in our family this month. One or more people have been sick in the house for the last 6 weeks straight. I think that Emily probably started it at some point and then has taken turns with Jack passing it back and forth. We've had high fevers, low fevers, BAD coughs, bad colds, lots of green coming out, bad ear infections, asthma, a couple rounds of antibiotics (at least one for each of us), and ALOT of money spent in the ER, several office visits, and of course medications! Needless to say, I'm over it!!! These last few weeks have felt very long. I've been tired of dealing with grumpy sick kids. I've felt so bad for them that they feel so crummy. Just when they start to get better, they get hit with something else. This too shall pass.

Besides being sick, we're all doing pretty good. Emily's been up to the usual stuff. Preschool, ballet class, birthday parties, playdates, all that fun stuff. Last week I decided to chop off her hair. Bad idea. There's a reason why I didn't become a hair stylist, I'm NO good at it. But after a trip to the local Cool Cutz, it looks fantastic. And she loves it. The less hair, clothes, shoes, etc is all good for her. I have to really watch her. I can't tell you how many times she's asked me to buzz her hair like Jacks. Emily is really a lot of fun. She is the MOST hilarious kid. The things that come out of her mouth, it's like we're dealing with a teenager. She's going to give me a run for my money, I tell ya.


Jacks doing really good. He's FINALLY starting to talk a little bit. I was getting worried there for a while but he is saying some things now. He's in to everything! I think even more than Emily was. He's not a very good listener and pretty much does the opposite of whatever you tell him. He colors on everything (the couch, tables, walls, clothes, his body....you get the picture). The other night I walked in to see some beautiful artwork on the door to the garage. The lovely green marker accented the kitchen walls very nicely. He's very strong and destroys whatever he touches. It makes it fun to go over to other peoples houses. He's just a brut. But he also is the most loving, hugable, kissable, little bundle of joy.

Matts been busy with work. Just trying to keep his job in this very rough economic time. He puts in a lot of hours and traveling but it's paying off because the paycheck is still coming in.
I'm doing pretty good. It's been a difficult month. I got a sinus infection and had a couple weeks of REALLY bad migraine headaches. I'm still trying to manage them and figure out some way to get rid of them. I finally went to see my very busy doctor a couple of weeks ago and she gave me some meds that should help. We'll see. I can deal with being sick and taking care of sick kids. It's just when you throw in that migraine that makes it tough. On another note, I'm loving the time change. It's so nice to be able to take the kids to the park later in the evenings and enjoy the daylight a little bit longer each day.
Between bad sicknesses, we've had a little fun. We went up to my aunts house in Ventura to celebrate my grandpas 80th birthday this past weekend. I feel so blessed to still have my grandparents in my life. He's 80 and still has it going on. He still works as a principal, assistant principal, and teacher all the time. I think it's great. We had a great time at my aunts house.
My beautiful grandparents

Me, Emily, Kacy, my aunt Kerrie-Sue, my mom, my grandma


My Dad and Matt

Emily and my cousin Kacy

This parrot cracked Emily up ALL day. Everytime is squeeked she went hysterical.


Giddy-up horsie

We've had the chance to get together with some old friends in these past few weeks. I've been able to reconnect with some people on facebook, which has been great.
Something else that we did a few weeks back, that was fun, was we went down to balboa and took the ferry over to the island and walked around, had ice cream, watched the fisherman, went on the ferris wheel and merry-go-round, and pet some sea creatures at their little museum. The kids had never been on a boat so they really thought that was cool.
On the ferry

Dancing Jack


Ice cream face

We've had great weather and we're looking forward to even warmer weather to burn off all the germs in the house, out in public, everywhere. We are all ready to move on to the summer season. Matt and I have a little getaway planned at the end of the month to Las Vegas with 2 other couples. We are looking forward to getting away on a mini vacation. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the kids don't get really sick. Sorry it took so long to get this blog entry out.