Happy Easter!

Easter snuck itself right in between the kids' birthdays this year, so we've been really busy with all three. When Xander was on Spring Break the kids decorated a bunch of crosses to take to the nursing home, so we delivered those one day last week when Xander got off the bus.

On Friday we decorated a few eggs.


Saturday afternoon Jason picked up some overtime, so the kids and I went to my mom and step-dad's. In one evening we celebrated Easter, both kids' birthdays and my mom's birthday. The kids had an Easter egg hunt when we got there.


Presents after dinner...


...then Easter baskets...

Xander had to wear his Helmet Heroes while he opened his Easter basket at home Sunday morning.

Jordis was mostly concerned with eating.


I was amazed that there was no fighting about the boutinierre and hair clip that I made for the kids, and they actually stood together and both faced the camera. It really doesn't get much better than that, it's much more cooperation than I expected and we were even early to church.

After church Grandpa, Grammy, MawMaw, PawPaw and Aunt Mo came for brunch to celebrate Easter and both kids' birthdays.

It was like Christmas morning and we are now very thankful that we don't need to buy our kids a single outfit to wear this summer.



What a wonderful Easter it was.

....life is worth the living, just because He lives.

Xander's birthday party

This year Xander had his birthday party at California Pizza Kitchen. I found out they had parties from their website and it was a really great deal when you figure in no cooking or cleaning your house, or having to entertain 6 kids. I made pizza shaped invitations and snack bags since I couldn't find any pizza themed items anywhere. I like to make things anyway though, so it was fun.

They gave the kids gift bags too with 3 coloring books, crayons, pencils and a coupon for a free kids meal.

First things first, the birthday boy was presented with his very own chef coat. They even embroidered his name on it for him.

Next they brought out all the ingredients for the kids to make their own pizzas.

Xander piled on the toppings.....pepperoni, sausage, bacon and pineapple. It was fresh pineapple, too, and so good.

While the pizzas cooked we took a tour of the kitchen, including a trip into the freezer. The pizzas were coming out of the oven about the same time we were finished.

He opened presents after the pizza and then we had cake and ice cream.

So much fun!

Xan's Birthday

Our little man turned five this week! I can't believe how quickly time passes. He makes us laugh every day. He asked me to make homemade peanut butter cookies for his class, so Jordis and I brought them in for his celebration (after verifying that no one had peanut allergies).

After lunch we let him open his presents.

Thanks, Jordis, for the cool Batman!

Parrain Jeremy, Aunt Sarah, Dominic and Autumn sent him a LiteBrite. They've really changed since I was a kid. There's a cool peg catcher at the bottom so you don't have to tote all the pegs around in a Tupperware container anymore. And it's battery operated so you don't have to sit right next to the wall where it's plugged in.

Enjoying his big boy laptop from Mom and Dad.

The card we got Xander had a cut-out sign you could put on your clothes that lets everyone know it's your 5th birthday. He wore it on his jacket when he was out with Jason in the afternoon and at Trader Joe's they showered him with six balloons instead of his usual one. He had asked if he could have two since he wanted blue and purple, so they brought him three each of both colors. Jason said it was a *great* car ride home from the store.


He was having cake the next day at his party so I made him a different treat for his birthday dessert.

He said it was his best birthday ever.

(You know, because he's had SO many)

Spring Break

Last week Xander's school district was off for Spring Break. Where I grew up Spring Break always backed up to Easter in some way, so this random week off at the end of March is a little odd to me. What a pain if you had to travel for the Easter holiday and then needed to hurry back for the kids to go back to school.

Anyway, we kept busy and tried to do a lot of fun things.....

Dressing up (Xander picked out this sombrero when my mom gave him $1 at the Dollar Tree).

We went to see the fish at the fish store. They like it when they find Nemo.

Our MOPS group went to Galaxy Games to play in the giant mazes and ball pits. I liked it here because they were big enough that parents could get in, too. That way you're not standing at the bottom convincing your kids to come out when it's time to leave. You can just go drag them out yourself.

The kids and I ate this entire large pizza while we were there.

We made monkey bread. I haven't had it in years and normally don't believe in letting them eat such junk for a meal, but the biscuits were on sale and I thought it would be a fun project to do together.

(Note to self: remember that the kids don't like rolling balls of dough and will leave you at the table to do it all by yourself.)

My favorite tree, without snow this time.

On Palm Sunday Xander was supposed to carry a palm leaf through the sanctuary with all of the kids. We made a deal that if he participated he could spend the afternoon running errands with me instead of going to quiet time. He agreed until we got there and then I couldn't get him to cooperate, even though his little friend Wesley was doing it. His teacher finally told me to leave and she'd figure something out. I was a little concerned, but he held her hand and walked around with her. There were so many kids it was hard to get a photo, but I got this one so we could show Daddy that he did it.

I took Xander to the Goodwill to look for Easter shoes. Last year I bought him brand new shoes for Easter and then he refused to wear them again for church or any other event, so I decided I'm not spending full price for shoes he won't wear. I found him a pair that looked brand new for $2.29, so after I discovered that they fit him perfectly I snatched them up as he was screaming at me that they don't have velcro, are too tight, etc. Then he said, "I'm not wearing them after Easter" to which I replied "That's exactly why I'm buying them." After he calmed down and I let him look around at toys we came across these...

They fit perfectly and he did pretty good navigating around, so I bought them since he had been pretty good for me on our outing and they were only $4. We were also able to find him some knee pads and he already has a helmet, so hopefully we can find him some elbow pads soon.

What a week it was!