Houston Easter

We celebrated Easter a week early so we could do all the fun stuff with our Daddy. It made for an action packed day! The kids woke up early to find their Easter baskets (which I didn't take a picture of....I was still in bed!) By the time I woke up, Sawyer had opened and eaten almost all of his candy. I finally persuaded the kids away from the candy to get on the Easter best and then we headed to church. I really loved how the kids turned out.

Unfortunately I think it is impossible to find a picture of me where I don't look like a dork. But I did make my dress and I was really excited about how it turned out!

After church we colored Easter eggs. Wait...right before we colored Easter eggs, Sawyer slipped in his socks on the kitchen floor and busted his lip. But then in true Sawyer fashion, he was back up and smiling after only a few seconds of crying.

So much for Easter pictures!! Then we colored Easter eggs.

Sawyer perfected his hands on technique and ended up with purple hands.

I'm hoping they don't last for very long! He also wasn't the most careful with the eggs and most of his eggs ended up like this

and my table looked like this

but we loved having our Daddy there to experience it with us!

Then the kids played while the Easter bunny sneakily hid the eggs outside in the grass. Kate and Sawyer (the purple handed monster) headed down the stairs and shrieked and giggled and ran around like crazy looking for eggs. A picture can not even capture how cute it was. But there were a ton of eggs and a lot of candy inside.

St Patrick's Day 2010

We have had a lot of fun with St Patrick's day this year! It started out with preschool at our house on Tuesday where we learned about rainbows and leprechauns. We made leprechaun hats and ate a fruit rainbow for snack time. I sure thought it was fun!

Then for FHE the night before (dad wasn't home on Monday) we set up a leprechaun trap, hoping to catch one and catch his pot of gold! Sawyer and Kate both liked testing it out and getting trapped under the rubbermaid box we had set up. The first time I did it he was giggling underneath it so much that it gave us all a good laugh.

When we woke up in the morning we were disappointed to have an empty trap, but the kids were excited to find some of his gold that he had dropped. The leprechauns had also done some mischievous things. The first thing Sawyer did was point on the chair hanging from the ceiling fan and say, "chair!" Then Kate started noticing the messes and the pictures hanging upside down and other little things. Those sure are sneaky little leprechauns!

We were lucky because Daddy was home this morning so he made a yummy breakfast of green waffles, which were enjoyed by all.

Afterward, when we were getting dressed, Kate was excited to find her green clothes but was disappointed she didn't have any green pants. She was afraid she would get pinched. I told her she had more than enough green to avoid being pinched!

Then we headed to the gym and then on to playgroup where one of the moms had come prepared with the makings of a shamrock scavenger hunt to find a pot of gold. The kids had a lot of fun running around and finding the candy at the end! It was an awesome idea!

After we came home and ate lunch, Sawyer went down for a nap (thank heavens! It was his first one since daylight savings time....3 days ago!) and Kate and I got to work making some leprechaun hats for me and Sawyer. We had found out that Chickfila (our favorite place ever!) was giving out a free meal to anyone dressed up like a leprechaun! So we headed over there for dinner with some of our friends and it was delicious and free! They had the placed decked out in green with balloons and green tablecloths and they were giving out samples of green ice cream with green sprinkles. Our lucky day!

I hope your St Patrick's Day was as lucky as ours! Now Easter will be here in no time...I had better get to work!

ooops

ooops #1:
Yesterday was gorgeous. Seriously sunny and warm and just gorgeous. We were outside playing in the grass for a while and then we got out the charcoal BBQ to start dinner. Sawyer fell asleep on my lap (because he apparently isn't napping after daylight savings time) and so Kate was helping Daddy get things ready. Ryan started up the grill and went upstairs to get the food and Kate came down all by herself with a big blue blanket for us to have a picnic. She kept saying, "I am so excited to have this picnic!" and she was so proud of herself for bringing the big blanket downstairs all by herself. She started spreading it out and I looked up at her just in time to see her back into the BBQ and brace herself with her hand straight into the coals! I jumped up and put Sawyer on the blanket and then got her and started pouring water on it. It was hard to see what was going on because her hand was black from the coals. Ryan ran down when he heard her scream and brought her upstairs to get it taken care of. Once they walked away I looked around and there was Sawyer, laying on the blanket, sound asleep!
Kate had a hard night but slept well and was so happy when she woke up and it felt all better. Just a big blister to show for it!

ooops #2:
The first night we were camping the kids were playing cute in the dirt and leaves and so I sat down on a curb to watch. When I stood up I heard a little rip and to my dismay I turned around and found a small hole in one of my favorite pairs of shorts! Once I stopped feeling sorry for myself, it was small enough that I could still wear them and so we biked and had some fun. Before dinner started, I had to run to Target and I went to sit in the car and I heard a riiiiiiiiip and I stood up to find this:

Kate thought it was pretty hilarious. Guess there is no hope for patching them!

And these last pictures aren't so much an "ooops" as they are a cute!

kids were made for camping

Ryan took some time off this weekend so we were able to take a trip up to Huntsville State Park and do a little camping. Kate was so excited! Thursday morning I heard Kate wake up and talk to Ryan in the kitchen.
Kate: "Daddy, what day is today?"
Ryan: "Its Thursday."
Kate: "What does that mean?"
Ryan: "We're going to the rodeo today."
Kate: "That means tomorrow is camping day!!!"
We have had a similar conversation every day this week.

The weather was perfect, in the low 70's and cool enough at night that you want to sit by the fire. The first thing we did was set up our tent and the kids were in heaven. Sawyer was jumping and then throwing himself down on the ground like it was a trampoline. The fact that it wasn't and it was actually really hard earth didn't stop him...he did it over and over again!

Once we got set up we went out for a bike ride to check out the park. There were lots of hills, which we aren't used to here in Houston. The kid's favorite was flying down the hill really fast. My favorite was riding behind Ryan (with his trailer loaded full of kids and a big pile of fire wood) as we slowly climbed a really steep hill and then hearing Kate call out, "Faster Daddy! Faster!"

While Ryan and the kids went on an adventure to find some kindling, I ran to a local Target to get silverware (this is the second time I have forgotten that essential item on a camping trip! Good thing Target was only 6 miles down the freeway!) and while I was there I found these fun glow stick balls marked down from $4 to $1! The kids loved them and it was a nice way to keep them occupied while we fixed dinner.

The next day we woke up and broke out the kid's new fishing poles. Kate was so excited when I brought it home from the store the day before! We practiced on land for a little bit and Kate got pretty good at casting.

Then we walked down to the pier to try it out in the water.

Ryan helped Sawyer and I helped Kate. Everything was going well until probably the 10th cast when Kate's pole went flying in the water. Did you know they don't make these kid's fishing poles to float when flung in the water? I think that is pretty ridiculous. Needless to say, it sunk before we knew what happened and Kate was really upset. Remember that Target 6 miles away? We made a second trip there for a replacement. Normally I would just tell Kate sorry charlie, but she really was so excited when she got the fishing pole at the store and couldn't wait to use it and kept talking about it and rode all the way there in the car holding it...I really had no choice. You would have done it too!

After we got back we rented a canoe. Our whole family thought it was pretty fun. We brought the kid's fishing poles but Kate nearly had a heart attack every time Sawyer tried to cast his into the water. (Her new fishing pole wasn't going anywhere near the water!)

Things I don't want to forget from this camping trip:

- Kate's excitement over everything. She kept saying, "This is the best camping trip ever!", "I can't wait to sleep in the tent!"...I wish I could bottle that up and feed it back to her in 10 years.
- I put the kids in the tent and went to go clean up. 2 seconds later:
Kate: "Mom, what was the crinkling sound!"
Me: "It was just some trash! Don't yell so loud when Sawyer is trying to go to sleep!"
Kate: "He is already asleep!" He was so tired he fell asleep in about 2 seconds.
- how snuggling Sawyer was when we were sitting around the fire right before I put him to bed. It made it hard to make the perfect smore, but I don't get it very often so I took it!
- the big black and blue bruise in the middle of Sawyer's forehead. That boy and uneven ground do not mix well!
- the kids eating almost an entire bag of tangerines on the way home...I couldn't peel them fast enough

Kate's favorite parts about camping:
Fishing
Going in my tent
Eating the food

faux Pottery Barn

I bought Kate his Pottery Barn Easter bucket in our pre-Sawyer days and I wanted one for Sawyer to match. So I decided to turn to my pile of scraps and see what I could make. The finished project isn't perfect but it will work for a yearly egg hunt.

Don't you just love this boy's cheese?

And I couldn't not post that last one. His face made me laugh.
We can't wait to smoosh this baskets into our luggage and take them to Tucson with us!