Easter 2011

 We had a wonderful Easter in Omaha this year. It was full of food, fun, friends, and family, as usual!

The kids and I started the holiday off with an Easter Egg Hunt with a large group of my amazing friends...there were 30+ kids involved....yes, lots and lots of filled eggs. It was a cold and rainy day for that egg hunt, but we still had lots of fun!

(pictures courtesy of my dear, talented friend Teigan...thanks;) )

The babies sure enjoyed playing with all the Easter eggs once we got home!

Here's Clara again, trying to get up close and personal with Katy.

Next up was a fun Easter Egg hunt with the cousins, and their friends!

First up, dying Easter eggs with Aunt Bekah

Before the hunt Jack sat down with all the kids and they opened Resurrection eggs, which has the Easter story, and talked about what Easter is really about.

 

 This year we wanted the hunt to be a little more difficult for the older boys, so we let

the little ones out first.

 Next came Tyler and Evan. This year they were a little baffled that the eggs weren't just out in the open...they actually had to LOOK for them this time! It was fun to find places to hide them, and watch them search.

Next came Easter morning!

 Katy's first Easter dress, I am so in love with this dress on her!

For Easter dinner we went over to our friends, the Fillmore's. Sherrie was my best friend in Omaha, and our kids were best buddies too. We miss them so much! We had such a yummy dinner and enjoyed plenty of play in their awesome backyard.

And finally, to finish off this overload of pictures...

our Easter 2011 family picture

Que the JAWS music....

(I can't take the credit for this cute post, I got permission to copy this from Bekah's blog, it was just too funny not to include it on our blog as well. Thanks Bekah!)

Here is the sweet baby Katy...she is the prey!

 And here is Clara, looking super innocent, slowly circling her cousin, inching closer and closer....

 At first she just gently nudges Katy with her head.

 When you tell her to stop she gives you this goofy smile and starts to pat Katy on the head.

 Another nudge with her head....

 Then, an attempt to pick Katy up.

 Thankfully, Jacob stepped in the protect Katy from the BABY MONSTER!

 He must have been sleeping on the job this time.

 But really, a baby as cute as this couldn't be that dangerous.....

Or could she?

I loved this post because it so perfectly played out a daily occurrence while we lived there. Clara was always patting Katy on the head if left unattended (and always gave that mischievous little grin when told to stop). Its probably a good thing we moved out when we did, Clara was definitely getting quite confident in her ability to pester Katy!

Fun with the cousins!

We had to close on our house while we were on our trip to the East coast, so as if packing for a two week trip with three kids isn't difficult enough, we also had to move out of our house! Jack's brother, Jimmy, and his wife were so gracious to let us live with them for a month before we moved to Colorado. While this wasn't always an easy situation with 6 kids in the house, it was a fun opportunity to let the kids play non-stop for a month! There was a lot of laughing, giggling, running, jumping, fighting bad guys, playing Ben 10, Bakugan, Pokemon, playing with Lego's, playing on the iPod and computer, plenty of Wii, playing outside....and a little bit of bickering here and there, but not too much. Now, get ready for an overload of pictures! (Pictures courtesy of Bekah....we always had to have one adult manning the kids and one with the camera so we didn't miss any fun memories!)

Clara loved Uncle Jack so much!

 

Tyler and Jacob love to wrestle

 

Show me some muscle!

All the kids wanted to join in on the fun with Katy

 

Oh I just love this little girl!



Getting the babies to sit still for this picture was no easy task

Bekah had asked Tyler to play with Katy so he put his head in her lap and let her slap the heck out of it. This is a common occurrence at our house, they have great fun letting her do this, and she does too.

Like I said, plenty of Wii....mostly Super Mario Brothers and a little Wii Party

Just before we left there were a few super hot days so we got to get the pools and water guns out!

These boys are the best of friends!

 

Here they are, at 6 months old, in the same pool...only in a small corner then, now filling the whole thing!

 



 It was fun to have all the kids at the table for meals, sometimes it would be a little frustrating with how silly they got, but all in all a fun time



Delaware- Spring trip part 2

After Jack and I met back up in D.C. we drove up to his parents house and visited with them for a few days.  

We enjoyed eating out with them a few times....I still dream about the Friendly's ice cream......

The kids had a lot of fun playing in his parents basement on the air hockey table and the basketball hoops.

While we were there Katy got her first two teeth!

 

Jack and his cousin Jack.

Katy with Jack's wife, Rebecca

 

We were able to spend some time with a few of Jack's extended family, this is the kids with their 2nd cousins, Kaitlyn, Brandon, and Angelica

We were able to stop by Jack and Rebecca's house to play with Angelica, get the mother load of girl hand-me-down clothes (THANKS!), and play a little in Jack's police car. Jack is a Delaware State Trooper.

Jacob wasn't so sure about being in the car, but Tyler and Angelica had a grand ol' time:)

We had such a wonderful time on our visit with them, hopefully we can make it back to the east coast more often than every 6 years!

One last thing we did was make a quick stop by the Washington D.C. LDS Temple and the visitors center on our way back to the hotel before we flew home. Such a beautiful place, even with the afternoon traffic in full fury not too far from here, you feel such a peaceful feeling visiting temple grounds.

We had so much fun on our trip and were glad to be able to visit with family and a few friends. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our life!

Don't be in a Hurry...

Excuse my ramblings, I had to put these down somewhere.....

This past Sunday there was a lesson given that really made me reflect on my life, and more specifically my role as a mother. The subject was "Don't be in a Hurry to...."(-fill your life with business, waste your time on nonsense activities, forget the first commandment, .....fill in the blank!) The one thing that I have been thinking about is that I am always trying to rush TIME. I complain that I don't have enough time to do things as a busy mom of three kids, but at the same time I sometimes find myself saying "Ugh, I can't wait until they are older!" I have three kids, but definitely feel like a new mom still. I am constantly trying to do better and not wishing the kids to be older, but wishing them to stay young longer!

I still haven't figured out how to have more good days than bad as a mom, but what I do know is that time is flying with these kids! Sometimes I still have a hard time coming to grips that I have 3, THREE kids already!? When did that happen? I thought I just graduated from high school last year? How is my little baby starting Kindergarten next year? How is my little girl crawling already?

So as time flies by I have so many things to work on....How do I gain more patience for the slow way my little ones get things done? How do I let my wish for perfection go and just let them scoop the cookie dough on the pan in their messy fashion splattered in whichever spot it lands? How do I teach them respect for others and themselves? How do I teach them what it means to work hard? How do I teach them to be who their Heavenly Father wants them to be and not what the world wants them to be?

If there is one thing that I have learned in this past year (and has been on my mind every single day) is that our time with our loved ones is precious and our time is not our own. We just don't know when we will hear the last "I love you", give the last kiss, or hear the last giggle. I know we can't live our lives in constant fear, and keep our loved ones locked up all day, but we can be thankful for each day we have with each other. I can be thankful and savor the good and the bad moments of motherhood. I can savor the giggles, the silly imaginations, the snuggles, the sweet potato stained smiles, and even the 12, 3 and 5am night wakings, the toothpaste smeared sinks, and the stinky diapers. I can use each day as it is meant for, to learn and progress. Though motherhood/life doesn't come with a manual, thank goodness I don't have to figure it all out on my own. I have amazing parents, sisters, grandparents, friends, scriptures, prayer, apostles, and prophets to learn from. I have my husband to take the journey with.