Easter Weekend 2013

*This post is pretty long, and full of lots of pictures!*


Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Christmas is probably my most favorite, followed closely by Easter. After all, as a Christian, Easter is the center of my entire faith! Easter has also come to be a day where we spend time as a family, and create memories together that I hope will last a lifetime.

We started out by having an Easter Egg Hunt at my parent's house on Saturday. We had 40 eggs between two kids. It is so much fun seeing how much they truly enjoy looking for the eggs. They get so excited when they find one, and their little faces light up with joy!

After the egg hunt we had a traditional Easter lunch with ham, potato salad, and green beans. Yum! Jenny loves potato salad, and this was her first time to eat the homemade kind. She said she liked it better than the kind you buy at the store. 

Sweet cousins.

Allie Kay, my niece - already almost two months old! The sweetest, most beautiful niece in the world! :-)

I hope these two grow up to be best friends!

Aiden had a game that afternoon, so we took a break from Easter activities to watch his baseball game. He played well! He needs some more practice on catching the ball, what to do after he gets the ball, and what to do after he hits the ball. 

After Aiden's game we came home and ate leftovers. Then we colored some more eggs with Aunt Jillian. 

After we colored eggs it was getting late and time to come home. Everyone knows that the Easter Bunny doesn't come until you are asleep! We came home and the kids rushed to get their pajamas on and get ready for bed. We waited close to an hour to make sure they were fully asleep, and then The Bunny went to work.

The tradition in our house is that the night before Easter, we set our our Easter baskets in hopes that the Easter Bunny will fill them while we are asleep. This year, we were also hoping that the Easter Bunny would bring a basket for Sophia since she didn't have one. Last year on Easter she was only four days old, so she didn't get a basket.

 The Easter Bunny put out a trail of eggs from their rooms to their baskets! He also hid 20 candy-filled eggs around the house.

The Easter Bunny came! He brought Sophia a basket, too! 

Jenny and Aiden woke up bright and early this morning, before the sun had even come up! We woke up Sophia and headed out into the living room to see if the Easter Bunny had brought anything.

After emptying their baskets, we all got ready to go eat breakfast with my parents, my brother, my SIL, and my niece. 

After breakfast we went back to my parent's house and just hung out as a family. We went on a walk around the neighborhood and played Old Maid with Jenny and Aiden. It was just a fun time to be together as a family!

We had a wonderful Easter! We have so many reasons to celebrate and be thankful this year! We are incredibly blessed - Praise The Lord!! Christ is Risen! My Redeemer Lives! I am just beyond thankful for His sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" 
1 Peter 1:3

 "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said..." Matthew 28:6

Easter Egg Coloring 2013

Jaime and I colored Easter Eggs with Jenny and Aiden last night. It was kind of late when we got started, and Sophia was getting sleepy so we put her to bed. There wasn't much she could have done anyway except watch us.

This year we tried out two new ways to dye eggs. In the future, we probably won't do it this way again. It was messy, and the results were not very impressive. However, the kids loved it, so it was worth it!

The first way we tried was with shaving cream and food coloring. This is something that one of my MOPS friends told me about. Basically, you fill a cookie sheet with shaving cream. Then add drops of food coloring and use a toothpick to swirl the color around in the shaving cream. Then, you roll your egg around in the color swirled area. Once you cover the egg, you let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe off the excess shaving cream. The result is supposed to be an egg with a marbled appearance. Ours didn't turn out that way at all. Basically, they ended up looking the same as eggs dyed with regular egg dye. 

The other ones we tried were from an egg coloring kit that I bought at the store. It was called 24k Eggs. The reason why I didn't like this one was because you didn't actually "dip" the eggs. You painted the color on them. They turned out the way they were supposed to. Except that my kids like to mix the colors, which drives.me.crazy! ;)

In the future, we will probably just use the plain dye and do it the normal way. Much easier, much less stress, and much less mess! If you look on Pinterest you can find tons of different ways to color Easter Eggs! Who knew there were so many creative people out there? Obviously, I am not one of them! How does your family color Easter Eggs? Do you do it the normal way, or do you do something fancier?

Sophia's First Haircut

Last weekend we had Sophia's hair cut for the first time. She and Aiden both had the same lady cut their hair for the first time - she is also the same lady who cut mine and my brother's hair for the first time. Sophia did pretty well. She didn't like to sit still for that long so at times she moved around a little. 

Aiden's First Baseball Game

Aiden signed up to play baseball for the first time this year! He is in the Pre-T league with boys and girls who are three and four. Pre-T is similar to T-ball, except they don't keep score. It is just for fun, and to help them learn the basics of playing ball. Aiden is on the Orioles this year. He has practice twice a week, and games on Saturday.

Sophia is 11 Months Old!!

Dear Sophia,

I can hardly believe I am even typing this, but....you turned 11 months old last week!!! You are getting so big! I can't believe you will be one in less than a month!

You weigh 17lbs 14oz. You wear 12 month clothes, a size 5 shoe, and a size 4 diaper. You get 3 8oz bottles a day, and lots of table food. You very rarely ever eat baby food anymore. Not because I don't give it to you, but because you don't want it. Your favorite table foods are: Mac n Cheese, pancakes, hot dogs, and diced fruits and veggies. You prefer anything you can feed yourself.

You are love for us to hold your hands and let you walk. You cruise all over the place and I think you will start walking soon. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that!

You love to sing and dance! Anytime you hear music playing, you dance. I've even heard you sing a few times. You are saying a few words now: dada, daddy, mama, hey, hello, uh-oh, and bye-bye.

You are hearing the word "no" a lot lately. You love to play with things you aren't supposed to. Your favorite thing is the cords by the TV and the Wii controllers. You are very curious! :)

You have started playing the harmonica when we are at Grandma's house, you finally figured out how to make it make noise! You also love books! I read to you every night before bed, and you just listen so closely. I hope you will always love books!

Your first birthday party is in the works! I have decided on a theme, a date and time, and a guest list. I'm still working on decorations and other details. I can't wait!!

You get prettier every day, and we are so blessed by you! It is getting difficult to remember what life was like before you were born. We can't imagine our lives without you in them!

All About Aiden

Isn't that a catchy title? Original, I know. Just like my "Just Jenny" posts, I am planning to do "All About Aiden" posts as well. So, here goes....

Aiden is four years old. I will be registering him for Pre-K soon, and he will start Pre-K in August. I'm not sure how he has grown up so quickly. I heard someone recently say, "the days go by slow, but the years go by fast." Anyone who has children will tell you, that is so true!!

Aiden is my wild child. He is ALL BOY! He loves Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Batman. He would play video games all day if I let him. His favorite game right now is his newest one, Lego Batman 2 on the Nintendo Wii.

Aiden recently started playing pre T-ball. It is almost the same as T-ball, but they don't keep score. It's just for fun. He has been to several practices and his first game was supposed to be last Saturday, but it was cancelled because it was too cold.

Aiden knows his ABCs, counting, and colors. He is learning to recognize letters and can recognize most numbers up to 10. His favorite letter is the letter A, which he points out whenever he sees it! He can also write his name. We are working on forming the letters better.

I feel like Aiden is going to do great in school! He learns quickly, and behaves well (especially when I'm not around). We are looking forward to seeing how he grows and develops!